Publisher Reed Elsevier is reportedly merging back offices across its three operating divisions to achieve annual savings of £100 million. Following the restructuring, the business units will be purely customer-facing activities, including product development, sales and marketing. The rest will be integrated. The programme, internally referred to as 'One Company', is seen to be the biggest shake-up in the recent history of the 127-year-old publishing house.
According to media reports, Reed is already outsourcing about 5,000 jobs, a good portion of it being to low-cost centres in India, the Philippines and China. Chief executive Sir Crispin Davis expects most of the new efficiencies to come from smarter working. The publisher is centralising procurement under a new global head. A new IT chief will merge 140 data centres into less than 40. In addition, other departments, such as human resources and administration, will also be merged.
The company recently completed the sale of its Harcourt US Schools Education Business to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group for $4 billion. Some $4 billion will be returned to shareholders in mid-January.
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