Netbyte down but not out

By ADAM GIFFORD

Auckland web design and hosting firm Netbyte has laid off its production staff, citing the collapse of Biolab's Onezone marketplace site as the last straw in an increasingly tough market.

"We had geared up to do a lot of work for them," said managing director Scott Wilson.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, work from local affiliates of United States or global companies had dried up.

"In the last four weeks we've had $70,000 of potential work go from being as good as signed to being nowhere."

In April, when Mr Wilson and his wife, Penny, bought back a 50 per cent stake in the company owned by Infinity Group, Netbyte had 15 staff.

Attrition and redundancies had reduced that to what Mr Wilson called "core" staff such as sales. Other people would be contracted when needed for projects.

"There is an enormous amount of talent ... and there is not as much business as there was last year, so it is evolve or die," he said.

"Asia Online is in voluntary liquidation, WebMedia has its troubles, but Netbyte is not going to go down.

"The founders still own and run and work the business.

"What we realise is that what keeps us going is work talent, and talent needs to be worked, not pandered to.

"The contracting model is better for the business we operate in. Owning the talent is not viable," Mr Wilson said.

He confirmed that some of those laid off last week were not paid redundancy, but instead offered work on contract.

"Because of the relationship we have with them, it's likely ex-members of staff will be our first pick," he said.

"These people are not telling us what to develop for clients - that comes from what staff we have left."