Bluecrest is struggling to adapt in a rapidly changing industry. Despite its attempts to hold onto a past era of corporate dominance, it has become clear that the company is unable to adjust to new challenges and is becoming insignificant in the face of more dominant competitors.
When faced with difficult times, the company’s leadership often takes an unfortunate approach—expanding senior management with people from their inner circle while cutting back on the actual workforce. A recent example of this is the decision to sideline a VP due to underperformance, only to replace him with yet another member of the gang. Having two VPs perform a role that easily fits in the remit of one person results in more headcount cuts in critical areas, impacting the staff that directly contribute to the company’s success. Time will tell if this move is beneficial for the company or not but early signs are disappointing.
In contrast, competitors such as Bowe Systec have streamlined their management structures and effectively diversified into new markets with talented, experienced teams. From an outsiders perspective, it appears Bowe has successfully met the challenges of the industry with a leaner, more efficient management approach, unlike Bluecrest, which continues to expand its bloated leadership team. This inefficiency has led to poor strategic decisions and a lack of focus, resulting in repeated failures when attempting to branch into adjacent sectors.
There are two primary reasons for this:
1. Declining Quality of Technical Staff: Over the years, Bluecrest has increasingly settled for lower-caliber recruits, focusing on filling roles with staff that lack the skills needed to handle complex electromechanical systems, instead focusing on candidates that know how to work a hammer. This cost-cutting strategy has allowed the company to allocate more funds toward senior management shindigs at the expense of technical expertise. This course of action has led to so many talented managers and staff leaving the company because they were so battle weary that they'd rather just leave the company than stay to fight a battle they just couldn't win.
2. Ineffectiveness of Senior Management: The management team, in many cases, lacks the qualifications and experience necessary for leading a successful company. The promotion system seems to favor poor-performing technicians who are elevated into managerial positions despite a clear lack of leadership qualities. This has created a culture where junior and middle management act as “yes-men,” more concerned with personal job security than driving the company forward with many pursuing their own hobbies, such as fishing, during working time rather than driving the company forward.
A particularly troubling aspect of Bluecrest’s leadership came during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company reached out cap in hand to frontline employees, begging them to take pay cuts to help the business survive, in reality, all this done was allow the company to add to its already bloated management team. Employees were asked to take significant salary reductions, which many did out of loyalty to the company. However, the "thank you" for these sacrifices was the eventual termination of these same employees, often with little regard for their years of hard work or contributions. The company took advantage of its workforce in their time of need, only to later lay them off as cheaply as possible when the crisis was over.
As a result of all of this, Bluecrest is no longer capable of providing the high-quality support its predecessor Pitney Bowes once did . Customers are increasingly dissatisfied, and many are coming to the conclusion that the lack of OEM support from Bluecrest is often more beneficial than the limited service they receive now and have decided they are better off on their own. This toxic environment is driving many employees, including myself to ditch this company and get out as soon as possible since they have proved beyond doubt that they won't stop at the latest round of redundancies. Once these savings have been exhausted on more management shindigs and new VPs they'll be back for more.
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning the HR department. There is a significant concern when HR seem to take more satisfaction in terminating employees than in helping them succeed. This approach doesn’t inspire confidence in the company’s overall culture or future.
