UPDATED: Hell for Dell as 30% staff layoffs loom
Amid news PC shipments nosedived for the seventh consecutive quarter, rumours are swirling that tech giant Dell is cutting its workforce.
Allegedly feeling the pinch due to a diminishing PC market, the company is also downsizing departments such as enterprise software and software.
According to an exclusive report from UK tech publication The Register, Dell will “axe up to one in three workers in its US & EMEA sales team."
“We're hearing from two sources that Dell is making 30 per cent of its sales and marketing staff in Europe, the Middle East and Africa redundant while cutting 20 per cent of its US-based sales staffers,” the article claims.
“One source said: "Precisely 30 per cent, across EMEA."
“There is no word on what's happening on the sales floor in the Asia Pacific region or the rest of the Americas region.”
The news follows the worst decline in PC market history, with analysts claiming the industry has “bottomed out.”
As reported by The Channel this morning, worldwide PC shipments totalled 82.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 6.9 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to preliminary results by Gartner.
Representing the seventh consecutive quarter of shipment decline, at present, Dell’s market share stands at 11.8%, behind fellow market stalwarts Lenovo and HP.
In reaction to the growing speculation of job losses, Dell issued a statement saying it “continuously evaluates and implements opportunities to improve our operational effectiveness and allocate our resources.”
“When necessary, we'll continue to make tough decisions to help ensure our long-term success -- some of these decisions may affect our workforce,” the statement reads.
“We are committed to building upon our multichannel approach to serving customers -- channel, online, and direct -- and are investing in sales coverage and training."
IT Brief approached Dell New Zealand for comment on the speculation, with the tech giant issuing the following statement via email: "As you may have seen in other stories, we have said Dell has taken steps to optimize its business, streamline operations and improve its efficiency over the past few years.
"We continually review our operations in an effort to remain competitive and determine where we can add the most value to customers. We will continue to make prudent business decisions over time."
Revitalised?
Despite the looming layoffs for the company, when speaking with IT Brief in November last year, Joe Kremer, Dell’s vice president and managing director for South Asia, Australia and New Zealand, claimed Dell had a renewed ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ and the passion and energy of a technology startup after going private.
“The outcome for our customers and our business in the long term becomes even more important,” said Kremer, speaking at the Dell Enterprise Forum in Melbourne.
“We’re approaching it with that level of passion and energey and entrepreneurial approach to how we think about the business.
“There’s no question it’s a little unusual for a founder of a $50 billion company going private, and he’s putting more money in, and very keen to run things as a private company.”
