Avaya revealed in an SEC filing they are planning to reduce operating expenses by at least $135 million to a high of $235 million in its next fiscal year which starts this October.
One published report in the U.S. said the company was planning worldwide layoffs. From the SEC filing Avaya reported that it saved about $100 million in 2012 by reducing spending in areas such as supply-chain, real estate and something called “employee head count management”. The company currently has more than 17,000 employees worldwide.
The SEC filing does not go into any details on employee head count management or layoffs. CDN did contact Avaya about possible reduction of staff in Canada. An Avaya spokesperson said “(Avaya) is following a corporate strategy to drive profitability and increase efficiency in order to best serve our customers and maintain market leadership.”
Recently the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based communications and collaboration systems vendor appointed Dave Vellequette as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In this role, Vellequette replaces Anthony Massetti, who is departing Avaya. Vellequette joins the Avaya Executive Council and will report to CEO Kevin Kennedy.
Kennedy said Vellequette’s deep financial expertise and track record of success make him an excellent addition to Avaya’s senior leadership team as Avaya continues to focus on serving our customers and maintaining industry leadership with compelling business collaboration and communications solutions.
Vellequette was most recently the chief financial officer of JDS Uniphase Corp., a role he held since 2005. Vellequette fits the profile of recent Avaya hires as has worked for Cisco, back in 2002. He joined JDS in 2004 as vice president and operations controller. Prior to joining JDS, Vellequette was vice president of worldwide sales and service operations at Openwave Systems.
