Fuji Xerox New Zealand is moving away from its traditional print services roots, transforming 'traditional' conversations with customers with a dramatic restructuring of its Asia Pacific business. It announced the restructure last week with 40 jobs to go while emphasizing it has nothing to do with the shock departure of Australian MD Neil Whittaker.
Whittaker was NZ MD for 11 years before last year being promoted to the same role in Australia, but a spokesperson for Fuji Xerox says there is "no correlation" between the two events.
“We are part of the same global family but we operate as two separate businesses, management teams and legal entities,” a spokesperson for Fuji Xerox New Zealand told Auckland-based Reseller News. “Our changes locally are unrelated to Neil leaving the business in Australia. The changes will impact approximately five percent of our workforce in New Zealand."
Under its new managing director, Gavin Pollard, (pictured) Fuji Xerox has a New Zealand workforce of about 800 staff, meaning about 40 jobs are threatened, according to the report.
Pollard says the changes are the result of a “complete review of the business” in New Zealand. “Traditional print services remain at the core of what our customers want from us but increasingly print devices are used as components within the broader context of the digitally transformed organisation."
“The final number of job losses will depend on whether our current staff take new roles or decide to leave the company, and we hope to retain as many as we can," said the spokesperson. “Ideally, of those currently in soon to be disestablished roles, we are looking to move them into new roles within the organisation, with redundancies a last resort. We have been open and transparent with our staff and for those who are affected, we are currently working through the HR process on an individual basis."
The losses will impact managerial and back office roles, as the company moves away from its traditional print services roots, focusing on becoming an IT and tech-focused organisation, according to the report. Fuji Xerox will be adding more IT focused roles to the company, such as developers and solutions and enterprise consultants.
“We’re adding different roles as a key part of our strategy to help customers improve how documents flow through their business,” the spokesperson added.
“We’ve been an organisation that has sold photocopiers and had service engineers driving around the country with a toolbox fixing problems. While that remains a core part of our business, we’re no longer having those traditional conversations and are instead looking to move into becoming a more IT and technology focus company.”
In an exclusive report, Print21 revealed last week that controversial Fuji Xerox Australia MD Neil Whittaker had suddenly left the company following an audit of the company's performance by the Singapore HQ. The departure surprised senior executives throughout the company and sparked an unprecedented flood of comments and speculation on the Print21 website.
Masashi Honda, President – Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific, will take over as Managing Director of Fuji Xerox Australia until a successor has been appointed.