Robotic Process Automation firm Automation Anywhere starts layoffs – Moneycontrol 

Automation Anywhere, a Softbank-backed Robotic Process Automation firm, starts layoffs at the back of COVID-19 outbreak.

“The company will reduce our workforce and realign organisation in order to better meet the business demands,” said CEO Mihir Shukla in a Linkedin post on April 27.

The company did not specify the number of employees laid off.

“After observing the COVID-19 pandemic unfold throughout the world for nearly four months, we have made a difficult decision,” Shukla said. “Though we realize this could not come at a worse time, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business in more than one way,” he added.

The company was valued $6.8 billion and raised $290 million 840 million. Softbank, its biggest investor, has invested $550 million. In an earlier conversation with Moneycontrol, co-founder Ankur Kothari said the company was growing at a breakneck speed and the opportunities were huge.

However, COVID-19 has significantly changed the company’s growth trajectory. Shukla said, “While we still expect to have double digit growth this year, it will be lower than the growth we experienced last year.”

While there is huge demand in healthcare, public sector and technology, others have been negatively impacted and this in turn will impact the firm. “We believe that a faster growth rate will likely return in the midterm, but the exact timing is uncertain. To compensate for this, we have modified our operating plan which calls for a reduction in our workforce,” the post read.

As a result of the pandemic, the company will also need to refocus on their products and services to reflect changing customer needs such as cloud. “As part of this refocus, we are accelerating our cloud and hybrid-cloud options and offering new solutions with faster ROI by combining many of our products. This strategy was in place before COVID-19,” Shukla said in the blog.

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