AOL Bites Another Bullet

AOL, once THE largest ISP in the world, has been shrinking over the past years as more and more people get access to other avenues to the Internet. AOL itself hasn’t helped matters, with its isolationist and sometimes bizarre ideas of what customers will accept. Today’s news doesn’t sit well.

It was announced that, on the heels of a less-than-stellar profit statement, AOL will be laying off some 7% of its worldwide workforce. An interesting tidbit that came along with the news was that this cut comes from a very tender spot - its help desk workers. Don’t forget, AOL is still a huge company serving some 17 million customers. Any cut in people helping customers is going to do two things - drive even more frustrated customers away from AOL as they find they can’t get help with their problems, and second, it throws a few tons of newbies to the REAL Internet. Fortunately, there are plenty of knowledgeable people out here to help them find their way.

[tags]aol,newbies,help desk,workforce,layoff,telephone support[/tags]