Kneip CEO Neil Ward issued a statement on Monday about the future of the company in which he announced that “we’ve made the difficult decision to make some people redundant.” Management has reached an agreement with the Kneip’s staff delegation on a social plan that will see 70 people, out of a total of 200 employees, leave the company.

“We’re committed to supporting our people through this period by providing training and resources to help them on their path to a new career elsewhere,” Ward wrote.

The company, founded 27 years ago by Bob Kneip, who stepped down as CEO in 2017, specialises in data management and reporting solutions for the investment funds, insurance and banking sector.

Ward, who was appointed CEO in 2018, says the company has spent the last three years transforming its business to focus on digital technology and an agile approach that will allow it to compete in a fast-changing market. “But today we must absolutely try to reduce the fixed costs, which are too high a burden, and the technology deployed makes it possible to do so,” Ward told Paperjam on Tuesday.

Kneip has decided to adopt a “partnership model” that allows the company torefocus on its core business, become more efficient and mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. It will outsource much of the non-core operations and engineering. However, the 70 layoffs “affect all services,” says Ward. “Both sales and operational functions and management.”

He told Paperjam that the decision to cut staffing levels was “only partially” caused by the covid-19 crisis. “It is clear that the current crisis makes the work of our sales people difficult to find new customers. But it is largely motivated by a concern for greater efficiency in the years to come,” Ward said.