Borland to shed 300 staff

Borland Software is cutting staff by approximately 300 as part of an internal restructuring, the company said on Wednesday.

Borland will reduce its workforce, now at about 1,400, by 20 percent to align company investments with a strategic focus on the application lifecycle management space. The reductions, most of which will occur overseas, are part of an effort to re-scope international operations to focus on highest-priority markets in North America and parts of Europe and Asia, Borland said.

“We’re taking a broad, objective look at how we’re serving international markets,” said Mike Hulme, senior director of product marketing at Borland.

“We believe these changes will not only streamline operations, but will also better align our resources for success in the enterprise,” said Borland CEO Tod Nielsen, in a prepared statement released by the company. “These changes are designed to get us to an operating model that can more effectively support our long-term strategy for growth and profitability.”

Upon completing the workforce reduction, geographic consolidation and the planned divestiture of the company’s Developer Tools Group, Borland anticipates annual savings of approximately $60 million.

Other changes include:

* Operating the Developer Tools Group as a separate entity to ease execution of the divestiture. Borland does not yet have a buyer for this group but has had inquiries. “We’re going through the process right now” of working on a short list of potential buyers and getting down to terms, Hulme said.

* Combining the company’s sales and professional services functions to create a new Field Operations function.

* Folding customer support into Research and Development to ensure better customer responsiveness.

* Creating a new Business Operations function to focus on aligning internal processes and systems toward serving customers. Business Operations will be headed by Borland Senior Vice President Chris Barbin.