In a statement e-mailed to ZDNet Australia, HP said consolidation of some remote support to the Kuala Lumpur (KL) centre "will enable HP to leverage a significant investment made by the corporation, while delivering a consistent high-level of expertise at a cost base that will keep our services competitive".
An HP spokesperson declined to comment on how many of the support team would be made redundant, saying in an e-mail "we do not know how many people will be affected yet and are still working through that level of detail".
The spokesperson also said while redundancies would happen as part of the process, HP would look to redeploy staff where possible.
The jobs to be shifted are, according to the vendor, primarily low-level technical support positions currently located in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. It is understood face-to-face meetings are presently underway between management and staff in those locations over the decision.
"The way a client interacts with HP will not change and high-level technical support will remain in Australia," the supplier said. The spokesperson conceded, however, that low-level support calls would be answered in KL.
The vendor said transition to the new arrangement would be completed by the "end of 2006".
The KL centre, established in 2001, has "a very high level of technical capabilities" and is compliant with the ISO9002:2000 quality management system and the BS7799 information security management system standards, HP added.
So, will hp’s retail prices also now drop by the same amount as their lower wages costs? And after Compaq bought out DEC with thousands of jobs losses, less competition, increased prices, reduced quality, wealthier executives, then hp bought out Compaq, with exactly the same results again, hp still feels it necessary to continue to charge western prices whilst paying asian wages. Hmm…
If a company wants to do business in a region, take the citizens money, seems the least they could do is provide more employment opportunity for those people.
Won’t be buying anything hp ever again.