Novell Shake-out Hits EMEA sales divisions

Networking company embarks on major restructure as channel takes greater responsibility for sales and marketing

Struggling networking developer Novell has wielded the axe on 15 per cent of its staff across Europe, Middle East and Africa in a restructure that pushes responsibility for sales, marketing and technical support over to its distributors.

According to channel sources, sales and marketing divisions will account for most staff losses. Sales teams will be reformed on a geographical basis to concentrate on customer demand. Novell previously had two sales teams, focused on users and resellers.

One source estimated that up to 30 per cent of staff could face the axe in the UK. A number of people are understood to have left Novell on 16 May, including instructional services manager Linda Shelly and authorised education manager Debbie Ambrose. Anders Brismo, MD of Novell?s Nordic subsidiary, was also a victim of the restructuring, and 25 out of 100 staff in Germany are believed to have been laid off.

Tom Schuster, UK MD of Novell, admitted he had implemented a major restructure but refused to comment on specific changes. He confirmed that distributors were playing a different value-added role by managing the resellers.

?I?ve restructured the organisation to ensure we work closer with distributors such as Ingram, CHS, Azlan and Computer 2000,? he said.

?Our role is now to create the demand for the resellers and explain to customers how to reshape their IT strategies. Our industry is developing rapidly. Today resellers are much more knowledgeable in the sales area.?

The firm has implemented initiatives to empower resellers with sales and marketing skills, setting up a Web site to offer its 3,200 gold and platinum resellers direct communication and marketing information. Partners automatically receive various marketing tools each month.

Novell has also expanded its reseller training and accreditation programme, allowing dealers to sell its networking products to SMEs and corporates.