Posted on: Saturday, May 26, 2001

Honolulu software developer Axean cuts back

By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu software development firm Axean Pacific is eliminating most of its management staff in a move by its California parent company to cut costs in a time of slow economic growth.

Axean will cut its Hawai'i staff by five to 10 positions, including those of chief executive officer Dennis Daley and chief operating officer Pamela Rigg, Rigg said yesterday. By June, the firm will leave its 30th-floor offices in Grosvenor Center downtown and move to a smaller, cheaper location, Rigg said.

The company, which has a staff of several dozen employees, will maintain a local engineering staff to work on existing Hawai'i projects. But the engineers will now be direct employees of Axean Group, the firm's Orinda, Calif.-based parent company, Rigg said.

"Everyone in the information technology industry is trying to cut costs," Rigg said. "We decided if we managed human resources, payroll and those types of functions from California, it's not necessary for us to do that here as well. It's more logical for us not to have any redundancies."

Axean becomes the latest technology company to cut back Hawai'i operations in 2001. Ohana Foundation, hotU, WorldPoint and HighSpeed communications are among the companies that have reduced their work forces this year.

Each has cited industrywide factors including the slowing national economy, the tough venture funding environment and a new emphasis on cost control.

Axean Pacific came to Hawai'i in March 2000, one of the first recipients of newly instituted tax benefits for technology companies. The state gave Axean a six-year moratorium on income and general excise taxes.

At the time, Daley predicted 800 percent growth over three years.

"We've been up and running for over a year, and it's just good business practice to look where you're spending your money, and look to tighten your belt," she said.