BlackBerry Ltd NASDAQ:BBRY TSE:BB has finished its long drawn out turnaround process and is focusing back on achieving growth, according to an internal memo to its employees, reported Reuters. Chief executive John Chen said that the layoffs that begun three-years ago in now over.
“We have completed the restructuring notification process, and the workforce reduction that began three years ago is now behind us,” Chen wrote in a memo sent out on Friday.
No more layoffs
Chen said that excluding any sudden circumstances in the market, the company will look forward to adding more employees in areas such as product development, sales and customer service gradually.Chen, also, showed his gratitude to those who stayed with the company during the process.
The Canadian smartphone maker has reduced its workforce approximately 60% over the past three-years to transform itself. Once the market leader of smartphones, BlackBerry continued to lose market share over the past four years to Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL iPhone and rival devices running on Google’s Android Operating System.
Chen is regarded as a successful turnaround strategist, and he is determined not to abandon the Smartphone market even though core strengths areas like Mobile data security and mobile device management are given more importance, as of now.
Also, he said that the company will no longer slash workforce like it has been dong, from the peak of 17,500 in 2011 to just 7000 employees. The CEO believes that the company can make strategic acquisitions to enhance the areas that will increase the future revenue.
BlackBerry on right path
Chen is just few months old in BlackBerry NASDAQ:BBRY, but has quickly moved in the direction of reviving the company by selling non-core assets, agreements to enhance the manufacturing and supply chain of the company and raising funds by selling off company’s staggering real estate holdings in its hometown Waterloo, Ontario.
Chen wrote to the employees that Blackberry seems to be on the right track to recover, and is confident that the company will achieve what it intends to by posting positive cash flow by the end of current fiscal year.
Just a week ago, BlackBerry NASDAQ:BBRY acquired Secusmart, which is a privately held German firm working in the field of voice and data encryption. The deal would help the smartphone maker to retain security sensitive enterprises and government agencies.
Back in 1990, Chen was the chief strategist behind transformation of Software maker Sybase Inc. He said to the employees that BlackBerry has right organization as well as team to implement its business strategy, and added that there are “no margin for error to complete BlackBerry’s NASDAQ:BBRY turnaround to success.”
