Today, Corbis announced the next step in its concerted pursuit of profitability. In a phased plan that will be implemented over the next six months, the company will restructure its international sales operations, resulting in the closing of eight office locations and cutting approximately 125 positions.
Ivan Purdie, senior vice president of sales and service, has the challenging job of figuring out the 21st-century sales model. With Corbis since 2005, Purdie assumed leadership of global sales in the beginning of this year and has spearheaded the six-month-long process of research, customer consultation and analysis that culminated in the decisions announced today.
Though Purdie contends that Corbis has always had excellent customer service, he says that today's business environment demands moving to a higher level. According to the company's research, image buyers want the combination of the ultimate Web-based transactional environment and customer service that facilitates finding the right image or license type as quickly and efficiently as possible.
To achieve this goal, while introducing a new level of operating efficiency, Corbis is moving away from brick-and-mortar in-country operations to centralized regional service centers. Two new multilingual customer-service facilities will be established in Europe and North America; however, Corbis will also keep mobile business development teams in the major advertising and media markets of Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.
However, Purdie says that Corbis offices in Belgium and the Netherlands will close, with service-related matters subsequently handled by the new European center. "We will leave people in the country," he adds, while conceding that office closings will inevitably lead to certain in-country services becoming obsolete. In particular, a number of support positions will be eliminated.
Given the international scope of the sales and customer-service restructuring effort, all geographic regions will feel some effects. Yet Purdie says he has not observed signs of declining corporate morale. In contrast, he describes "a sense of optimism, purpose and hope for the future" among those who have been observing the company internally and externally. "Nobody wants to reduce the size of the workforce," he adds, "but we knew we would have to make some difficult decisions to achieve profitability."
New Corbis CEO Gary Shenk believes transforming the company's sales and service will make it more competitive. According to the company, the restructuring has nothing to do with current business performance; both Shenk and Purdie describe the move as management's desire to sustain company momentum. Purdie points to the recent acquisition of Veer, whose employees and offices will not be affected by the planned changes to Corbis operations.