Systems Integrator Stratasys Cuts Staff Shifts Focus

By Leslie Kraft
StrataSys is eliminating almost a quarter of its staff to refocus business from technology installation and basic systems integration to management-strategy consulting.

The company is cutting six of its 26 positions, StrataSys officials said, but will continue to operate from its Miami headquarters at Capital Plaza 1, 10700 N. Kendall Drive.

Since its inception in 1995, the privately held company had focused on installing Internet infrastructure for businesses. The group is changing its structure because of continued weakness in corporate technology spending and a trend for business executives to tie further technology and staff investment to specific bottom-line initiatives, said Arnie Girnun, a founder of StrataSys.

"Organizations have spent a lot of money on technology systems for human resources, finance and customer service, but they are now interested in customer-facing technology that can impact their sales levels," Mr. Girnun said. "When the economy comes back, the spending for technology will still be there, but it will be for more value-added, strategic-planning systems and programs."

StrataSys will try to work with companies’ top executives to integrate technology with their strategic plans through TriNext, the company’s patented process that combines "proven practices in people, process and technology," a company statement said.

"There is a value shift happening in technology where executives realize there is a certain amount of it that is necessary to keep the lights on, but then there is the next level that provides competitive advantage," Mr. Girnun said.

StrataSys’ move reflects of a nationwide trend for technology companies, said Alan Penchansky of the South Florida Internet Alliance who markets technology companies.

"It sounds as though StrataSys is making the tough decisions necessary for it to be able to go forward in a new climate," he said. "Companies began to shift around three years ago away from activities such as installation and basic systems-integration work, where margins were not good and where the need was becoming filled.

"The technology companies that can do the analysis of business processes and provide strategic solutions will be the successful survivors," Mr. Penchansky said.

The service StrataSys now provides has worked well for the human-resources department at Miami Children’s Hospital, hospital officials said.

The StrataSys program "allows a director of human resources to have information concerning their employees at a click of a button rather than waiting for an HR representative to research the question at hand," said Janette Arias-Lazo, a human-resources assistant at the hospital. "It allows HR reps to quickly solve issues surrounding the employee’s (forms) and provides for quicker and more accurate processing."