I think this is just another example of a decision where Apple believes chasing the almighty dollar to please large institutional shareholders is best. Also, contrary to popular delusion, staff come first, then customers.
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Apple to Eliminate Several Business and Event-Related Retail Positions
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Thanks guys, I read through all these comments. I really appreciated the outlook of the former in-store Business people. I remember how odd I felt when an Apple Store person said "wow, if you order $5000 you get a business discount". I'm like, immediately thinking of how I can do that? It does seem like unnecessary staff to me, but sorry to see the one-on-one instruction go. Some of my friends got some good use out of that. I have not been in an Apple store for about 5 years, they just aren't where I usually drive anymore. Fun to read about, though, thanks! Cheers!
Sunsetting? For f or God sake (take your pick). Who invented this this expression? Made redundant surely. Not that the staff concerned care which it is.
Apple is planning another shakeup within its retail stores, according to a source who shared the company's plans with MacRumors. At the end of April, Apple plans to eliminate certain retail positions, including Business Manager, Business Events Lead, Events Coordinator, and Events Lead.
Apple Store Leaders began informing affected employees about the change earlier this week, and many were caught off guard by the sudden sunsetting of specialized positions that have long existed at retail stores.
Our source says that the elimination of the Business Manager position is something of a shock because Business Managers lead the Business Team and are responsible for bringing in up to 20 percent of overall store sales.
"These managers have established relationships with various small and medium businesses in their markets," said the source. "Their position is highly specialized and often times not easily understood by retail leadership who do not have experience in B2B sales." Existing managers, senior managers, store leaders, and market leaders are currently unfamiliar with the "complex sales cycles involved with B2B engagements," so Apple's retail change could have a significant impact on business sales.
Employees who currently hold positions that are being eliminated have been told they can take a lower level (also lower paying in many cases) position or take two months of severance pay. "This comes as a rude awakening to employees who have always felt Apple has had their best interest," said the source.
Managers and affected employees have been notified about the imminent change, with a broader announcement planned for an all-hands meeting that will take place on Sunday, April 23. Apple may share more information on the reasoning behind the elimination of the positions and its future retail plans at that time. On its "Jobs at Apple" page, Apple has already removed "Business Manager," as an option, a change that was made recently.
The sunsetting of these specialized retail positions comes following some major retail changes that were introduced in mid-2016. Three new retail positions were added, including Pro, Creative Pro, and Technical Expert, and several other positions were renamed.
Article Link: Apple to Eliminate Several Business and Event-Related Retail Positions
I've purchased computers for my small business from my local AppleStore Business Manager. You can't compare a £500 Dell to a £3000 MBP.
I'm sure large businesses don't go into their local AppleStore because most large businesses don't buy Apple computers.
This is the dumbest move ever. 10 years at Apple in B2B. This is infuriating.
Question was rhetorical. A company will axe something not needed. Point blank. Why would Apple be any different in keeping people not doing anything substantial for them?
200 is a nice easy number that relates with 1000 by 20%. No need to get worked up.
Many retail companies have been creating new job titles with double the job duties resulting in the need for less employees in stores for a while now. It saves the company money but it's bad for the customer and the employee as well. It's sad to see Apple go this route too.
The company has always done this as long as I have been there and there has never been an issue with that scheduling practice. People, at least at my store, appreciate it because it means they don't have to stay really late or arrive really early. Sundays are typically more relaxing, retail-wise, and the hours are typically shorter.
What troubles me more is that I know this is going to shock a lot of people. The position has slowly been commoditized as the whole store has been given the responsibility of connecting retail with new businesses. There are some really high-profile businesses that you would recognize who exclusively get partnered with a specific store. Nobody would have thought that a part of the retail experience that has been focused on so intensely would suddenly see a position removed. That's the shocker.
A lot of misconceptions in this thread from people who have obviously never worked with their local business team.
I find this very disappointing, my local Business Manager is great and is my primary contact with Apple.
Buying from the business team at an Apple Store doesn't mean you have to go there in person. I use the ecommerce portal and devices ship right to us. I only visit the store to drop/off pickup repairs.
But having the relationship with the business manager is great. No need to worry about an appointment, he'll get me right in. If I go in the morning right when the store opens he'll pull me out of line and up to the front so I can get out of there and back to the office.
As others have said he can help get me things in short supply or simply have something waiting for me to grab and go with only a PO# in an emergency.
I personally see this as a bad move since it'll effect my ability to do business with Apple.
I find this very disappointing, my local Business Manager is great and is my primary contact with Apple.
Buying from the business team at an Apple Store doesn't mean you have to go there in person. I use the ecommerce portal and devices ship right to us. I only visit the store to drop/off pickup repairs.
But having the relationship with the business manager is great. No need to worry about an appointment, he'll get me right in. If I go in the morning right when the store opens he'll pull me out of line and up to the front so I can get out of there and back to the office.
As others have said he can help get me things in short supply or simply have something waiting for me to grab and go with only a PO# in an emergency.
I personally see this as a bad move since it'll effect my ability to do business with Apple.
Indeed, businesses are operated to turn a profit, however, a sensible business with a long term strategy does not peeve off its staff, its business user base and desk top user base at the same time, whilst I add making incredible mark-ups on the underpowered toys it now sells.
For the record I started with Apple Computer in 92 with a LCII, gravitated to DTP requiring decent hardware and software by the late 90s and embraced the concept of the iMac with great pleasure. I type this on a Mac Mini - not updated since 2014, and use a Thunderbolt Display, now abandoned by Apple.
Never owned a iPhone, have owned a iPad, have owned a iTouch and need both a portable and desktop upgrade shortly, usually investing in the highest spec Apple offers. Guess what, all they offer now are coloured toys, laptops unable to run 32G RAM and desktops not upgraded for years, unless incremental upgrades of iMacs constitutes real updates?
Still, MS and Dell are now making some decent kit, whilst Chinese Telcos are ripping Apple apart on the mobile side in the markets that count, namely China and India.
Angela has run nothing other than a clothing store. She has no knowledge of running a business that has offered services from the beginning. I was hired in as a business specialist (handled business w/in the retail store I worked in) 13 years ago. So that service has been around in one form or another for over a decade. I'm not sure what she's doing, one to one offerings and now the elimination of the business manager and event teams? Don't get it.
A lot of internal speculation is that the Lead Genius position is next. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we saw it happen inside the next couple of months.
Apple will be going more depot repairs and next to nothing in store so this is coming soon. Minor fixes in store only and no need for repair techs. There's no money in it.
There's plenty of contrary evidence, though, including the collaborations with IBM and SAP. It may be a different pro focus from what you're looking for.
You joke, but I know someone in exactly this position. He walks in and leaves with like thirty iPads for his business. That said, the real test here is whether he can do that without the positions being axed here. My guess is that he will still be able to.
The problem with Apple Stores is they don't do custom configs
I avoid them like the plague as they're full of bearded snowflake hipsters , and that's just the staff
I avoid them like the plague as they're full of bearded snowflake hipsters , and that's just the staff
The company has always done all hands meetings on Sunday, except for special launches and Steve's memorial service.
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Yes I do. I was a business manager for several years. Apple has never known what to do with this role and has mishandled it since it's inception. I left the company with pending legal action against them after a cover up occurred on my rights being violated both personally and professionally. I filed a case with Apple ER and HR with extensive supporting documentation that included text messages, voice mails, email exchanges and recorded conversations (which I still have in my possession) that proved my rights were severely violated and they tried to sweep it all under the rug. The head of retail HR was involved and they sent the Regional Leader out to meet with me personally and tell me that they found my claims to be true and accurate but were choosing not to action on them (I have this conversation recorded as well). I was told to go about my job and not to worry about what had happened. That's when I left and sought legal action against the company. What's curious is they do not mention the market Business Leader in this post. The Business Leader over sees all of the Business Managers in a market. If they keep the Business Leader but get rid of Business Managers, that is a mixed signal. But then again they never knew how to manage this role anyway. I am happy to share my extensive story with anyone that wants to know. Including all of my evidence.
Sunsetting? Are you serious, MacRumors? Please, please, please, send this writer off to a journalism course, pronto.
Apple Store Leaders began informing affected employees about the change earlier this week, and many were caught off guard by the sudden sunsetting of specialized positions that have long existed at retail stores.
They are trying to develop a more-focused business to maximize returns for their shareholders. That's the kind of business they are now; it happens to every company after their visionary leaves. This results in getting out of anything that isn't a big driver (regardless of its halo effect). Consider Xserve, Airport, effective-abandonment of MacPro for business, and the dumbing down of pro software like Server, Final Cut, etc into prosumer-friendly solutions. To supplement they have developed partners to fill in some of the gaps, like IBM for business services or LG for 5k displays.
It sucks for everyone but the shareholders but it's also not a new phenomena.
http://www.businessinsider.com/irre...es-when-they-lost-their-founders-2011-8?op=1/
https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-visionary-ceos-never-have-visionary-successors
https://www.ft.com/content/b22933e0-b618-11e5-b147-e5e5bba42e51
I worked for Apple retail for 8 years and recently quit. It was actually an awesome time during the Steve years especially, we were so small and really had to convince to buy Apple products. The business teams were pretty important in building grassroots support back in the day. It's still a fun job, but it's just about volume nowadays and kinda feels like a sweatshop.
Apple is watching the news guys. They see all these retail companies going under and it makes them nervous. They have 60,000 retail employees now. All they care about is squeezing productivity out their massive workforce. Small changes can save massive amounts of money.
The Creative Pro, Technical Pro or whatever positions are a joke. That's just about internal morale and making people believe they have an amazing career path. You could go work in corporate, but that's maybe worse than retail. They work their engineers to death for stuff that is not very rewarding to accomplish. I suspect Apple may have a talent crisis on the corporate level at some point. They always exploited people's love for Apple to get them to work hard, but I think finding those type of people will become difficult. People have jobs such as shaving milliseconds off the amount of time the button spins when you buy an app. No thanks
Apple is watching the news guys. They see all these retail companies going under and it makes them nervous. They have 60,000 retail employees now. All they care about is squeezing productivity out their massive workforce. Small changes can save massive amounts of money.
The Creative Pro, Technical Pro or whatever positions are a joke. That's just about internal morale and making people believe they have an amazing career path. You could go work in corporate, but that's maybe worse than retail. They work their engineers to death for stuff that is not very rewarding to accomplish. I suspect Apple may have a talent crisis on the corporate level at some point. They always exploited people's love for Apple to get them to work hard, but I think finding those type of people will become difficult. People have jobs such as shaving milliseconds off the amount of time the button spins when you buy an app. No thanks
