SurveyMonkey Trims in Australia, Plans Hires in Canada

DIY survey firm SurveyMonkey is to downsize its Australian sales team, reports suggest, with six staff set to leave by March 2017. Meanwhile its base in Ottawa, Canada, is expected to adds dozens of new recruits during the year.

According to www.thetechportal.com , the Australian move is part of 'the global transition of the firm's market research product Audience back to self-serve'. Two weeks ago, the firm announced it was winding down its SurveyMonkey Intelligence mobile app analytics service, after just eight months, due to a lack of customer interest. The company's MD Asia Pacific Tony Ward will also leave early next year, according to reports.

When SurveyMonkey announced in March this year that it would make around 100 of its 750 employees redundant, CEO Zander Lurie (pictured) explained the policy: 'When you have a healthy business like we do, you have to have high standards when you enter a new business, and you have to recognize it strategically when you're missing the mark. The products and solutions in place were not going to generate long-term value for SurveyMonkey. We have some big ideas for that business and we're going to get to work in retooling it'.

The company says the latest changes will affect little more than a hundred of the more than 55,000 businesses using its services across Australia, a country where it is growing at 116% year-on-year. The Sydney office will remain a key centre for the firm in Asia Pacific.


Meanwhile reports suggest SurveyMonkey will hire 'dozens of staff' in Ottawa, Canada next year. The company acquired a presence there with the purchase of Fluidware in 2014. Numbers have crept up from 75 to 90 but may rise a further 50 percent in 2017, according to quotes in the Ottawa Business Journal and Globe and Mail. Lurie apparently told the latter publication that the company is also looking to build a data centre in Canada in the coming year.

Web site: www.surveymonkey.com .