Digital navigators drive Sensis sackings

Decline in the use of Gregory's and UBD street directories puts print on the road to extinction.

41 employees within Sensis’ print street directory business were made redundant last week, along with a further 141 staff in other divisions. According to Stephen Ronchi, Sensis spokesman, the layoffs were a result of Australians moving away from the traditional street guides in favour of new technology.

“While the print street directory continues to play a role in the way Australians navigate, digital navigation tools and online mapping products are increasingly becoming the preferred navigation choice for many Australians,” he said.

“With this in mind, Sensis has made the decision to begin the transformation process to transform its Location Publishing business from a print-led business into a digitally-led organisation.”

Ronchi asserted that print is still central to Sensis’ business, citing that almost 7 million Australians use a Yellow Pages print directory on average each month.

“Print directories are also at the heart of our multi-channel network which includes print, online, mobile, satellite navigations services and online mapping sites,” Ronchi said.

“Through print, we are able to collect our customer’s advertising content once and publish it across our multi-channel network.”

Earlier this year, Print 21 unveiled that Sensis – which has print contracts with PMP – had begun printing its Yellow In The Car directory in Asia. Ronchi said that PMP is still the current printer for both the White and Yellow Pages until June this year with discussions underway as to what the future holds.

“We are continuing to work with them [PMP] and others to explore a range of measures to meet our long-term goals and as this work is still underway, no decisions regarding our future contract have been made,” he said.