What BlackBerry needs is not more Canadian office space

I would imagine that at some point over the past year, employees almost needed a BlackBerry smartphone just to talk to their coworkers across the sea of empty desks.

Layoffs create a weird sort of geography in companies. No one downsizes in such a way that a sense of group dynamic stays intact. Instead, those that remain tend to be spread out, with large swaths of empty cubicles adding to the air of tragedy that comes with saying good-bye to coworkers. If nothing else, BlackBerry’s decision this week to sell off much of its Canadian real estate holdings -- some three million square feet of space -- will solve that problem.

Canadians might wonder what this means for BlackBerry’s commitment to its roots, and the impact it will have on one of the country’s most important technology clusters. Those close to the community there aren’t worried, though.

“The tech sector in Waterloo region is diverse and continues to perform very well. In the last year alone, we have seen the creation of 500 new startups,” said Iain Klugman, president of Communitech, a hub for local entrepreneurs. He also pointed to the Ontario government’s $217M Northleaf Catalyst Venture Fund announced on Monday. “It will strengthen the sector by increasing the amount of domestic venture capital available to help our companies grow.”

Jay Klesitz, CTO of Antvibes.com and a self-described startup enthusiast who created a hiring site called wtechs.com, pointed out that the University of Waterloo remains a top engineering school and source of talent. Freeing up some space may prompt more companies to dig their roots in Kitchener-Waterloo. “BlackBerry selling off its real estate can be seen as a positive,” he said.

Investors will probably see it as a positive for BlackBerry as well. In fact, since around the time John Chen was appointed as interim CEO, the stock has been up about 30 percent. That’s still not great compared to a year ago, but it suggests a reversal of fortune is still possible.

Much like Chen’s decision to outsource considerable portions of BlackBerry’s manufacturing to Foxconn, getting rid of empty office space will boost efficiencies and add yet more cash to the company’s considerable reserves. It may also make sense for a mobile computing firm operating in the 21st century to make better use of teleworking and virtual teams -- BlackBerry no longer requires a building with the word “BlackBerry” on it to continue to employ plenty of Canadians.

What happens to the real estate is ultimately less important than what BlackBerry does with the products it used to develop and sell out of it. On Tuesday AirWatch, which makes software that helps control and manage smartphones and tablets, was acquired by VMware, a much larger organization. That means BlackBerry’s competition in one of its key segments, mobile device management, just got a lot stronger.

As he prepares the firm for a refresh of its technology and go-to-market strategy, divesting of its physical locations is all part of Chen getting BlackBerry’s house in order. Now that it’s operating leaner and meaner than ever before, it doesn’t necessarily need as big of a house.