ARN

BlueJeans scraps Aussie office leaving 10 people jobless

Reportedly lays off 40 per cent of global workforce

Video conferencing vendor BlueJeans Network has closed its Australian office in a global restructure that will see 40 per cent of its workforce laid off.

The decision has led to 10 local lay-offs, with Sydney and Melbourne staff understood to have been given two days’ notice before the intended closure on 6 December, sources have revealed. 

The decision will affect BlueJeans’ channel team, under the leadership of partner and alliances manager, Ashley Allen, plus sales, technical staff and customer success managers.

The vendor confirmed to ARN that it would continue to sell its services in Australia and New Zealand -- where there was no on-the-ground presence -- through its distributors Ingram Micro and Polaris. 

“BlueJeans’ strategy for Australia is to continue to support our partners as they sell to and service customers in the region,” a  spokeswoman said. 

“This includes our strategic distributors Ingram Micro and Polaris. We also continue to have local customer success resources in Australia to ensure our customers are well-cared for, as well as an engineering team in New Zealand.”

The Asia Pacific regional VP and GM Luke Richardson, who was previously Sydney-based, is understood to have been deployed back to the US, but was unavailable for comment when approached. 

According to Business Insider, the Silicon Valley company will cull 40 per cent of its 500-strong workforce -- around 200 people -- in an effort to become profitable by its next fiscal year ending 31 January.

In an update from BlueJeans CEO Quentin Gallivan, the company currently generates $100 million in recurring revenue globally but intends to “optimise resources to accelerate [its] path to profitability”.

“This strategy provides durability and longevity for BlueJeans and enables us to be a financially independent and focused supplier of the best video meetings solutions for our customers and partners,” he said.

BlueJeans first landed in Australia in 2013 as a potential competitor to the likes of Cisco and Skype and signed its first distribution deal with VExpress

It later signed a deal with Ingram Micro, expanded its global channel program and now counts around 60 partners in A/NZ, including Telstra.

The lay-offs at BlueJeans come just weeks after “huge numbers” of staff across Australia were laid off at cyber security vendor Symantec in the lead-up to Christmas.