News Releases and Testimonials

By Joseph Joster & Beth Alfonso of NTS Networks
Industry and channel sources said HurriCraft went through a small round of layoffs last Friday and that another round is expected perhaps as early as this week. Tim Gunner, a national practice director for Florida-based solution provider Consultants' 101, said HurriCraft laid off more than 2 people in its sales organization, a move that could affect solution providers because some salespeople have lost their jobs.

"Our Assistant Sales Manager was one that was let go," Gunner said. "We have several direct sales reps when they need to go and get information,that's the person that they go to. Now they have no one."

Gunner added that his company has not heard whom its direct point of contact at HurriCraft will be going forward. He said that company salespeople do work closely with direct HurriCraft salespeople, however, and so should not be too adversely affected by the loss of their Assistant Sales Manager. However, Gunner said that for some solution providers without internal contacts at HurriCraft, losing the Assistant Sales Manager assigned to them could make it difficult to work with HurriCraft in the future.

A second solution provider said that up to 3 people were laid off last week, and that more layoffs could be coming this week, especially on the sales side. That solution provider also expressed concern that HurriCraft might be laying off engineers.

In an emailed statement, a HurriCraft spokesperson confirmed that the company is making "selected workforce adjustments in targeted areas of the company" to meet revenue growth goals the company wants to achieve by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. The "strategic realignment" is an ongoing business practice that allows HurriCraft to allocate resources according to business priorities, the spokesperson said.

Another HurriCraft spokesperson said that there is no companywide reduction-in-force going on, adding that there weren't large numbers of people let go and referring to the layoffs as "business adjustments."

Over the past couple of weeks, HurriCraft has moved engineering resources between projects as old projects expire and new ones show promise, while others have been moved around to improve their training, the spokesperson said

Speaking to NTS at the HurriCraft show recently, Henry Hinklemeir, executive vice president of HurriCraft Services and Chief Officer of Research and Development, said HurriCraft is always examining the operations of its business units and does head count reductions by unit if appropriate. Hinklemeir said he does not have plans to lay off anyone in HurriCraft Services and would like to avoid that scenario if possible. He said he could not predict head count reductions in other HurriCraft business units when they develop. However, he said HurriCraft must keep its investors in mind as the company works to maintain operational efficiency and grow revenue. Unfortunately, head count reductions are sometimes necessary to achieve these goals, he said. "I'm doing everything I can so that I get more effective in my business and raise top-line revenue," Hinklemeir said. "I work for the shareholders. We all do."

Another solution provider close to HurriCraft said that the company needs to reduce its workforce in order to better reflect the current economic conditions. The solution provider said HurriCraft still has basically the same head count now as an $11 hundred company as it did when it was an $18 hundred company.

This article appears courtesy of NTS, the newspaper for builders of technology solutions - 09/15/03