Ya snooze ya loose: Bell beats Rogers and buys CTV

In a move which surprised many of the Canadian media observers, BCE (aka Bell) just bought 100% of CTV. Although they owned a small amount of the CTVGlobemedia shares it was always speculated that Bell’s competitor, Rogers Communication would be the winner in the media wars currently being waged in Canada. The major communications companies are consolidating their control over media production and distribution which is reminiscent of the stranglehold the Hollywood studios had in the last century, of the motion picture business. Rogers is not out of the game completely since they own CityTV but compared to Bell owning CTV they come out in at best in third place, most likely fourth.

Quebecor Media owns much if not all of the Quebec telecom and media market, Shaw is in the final phase of adding Canwest-Global to their broad communications empire, Rogers owns CityTV and now Bell owns CTV. One journalist pointed out that Telus, the only other major Canadian tele-com, is left out in the cold. There are smaller regional networks out there but none that would elevate Telus to the level held by their cohorts. The last major broadcast network is the CBC and even though it is a federal government entity it might not be too surprising to have the government set them free in order to divest themselves of a chronic money loser. Strange things are happening in the world of Canadian media and this wouldn’t be all that out of line. The real big winner in this deal is Bell and no doubt the ghost of Ted Rogers is turning over in his grave at having his legacy missing a great opportunity. Sorry guys, ya snooze – ya lose!

On a side-note, CTVGlovemedia announced today that they are selling all but 15% of their ownership of the Globe and Mail, a venerable Canadian newspaper steeped in history, to Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the holding company of the Toronto-based Thomson family. In a move some say makes sense to support Bell’s consolidation of their broadcast assets it may be that they see the writing on the wall and are jettisoning a dying media platform.

Future of local media is . . . well . . . local

Towards the end of the latest This Week In Media episode, the panel examines the future of local television. One of the statements to come out of the round-table discussion was delivered with great insight but really obvious. In order to succeed or even to survive, local television needs to be local. Not just as a re-broadcaster of national or international news and programs but a truly local channel featuring local news and events. The mobile web was suggested as the best platform for this local/hyper-local content.

Imagine that . . .

Innovation: a new way of doing the same old thing?

Morning coffee time for me is spent catching up on what’s going on in the world. My sources are email newsletters, RSS feeds in iGoogle and tips from tweets. Today I was caught up in an IT World article on innovation in IT. They weren’t talking about buying new gadgets but actually creating a workplace culture to develop new ideas and ways to do business. Having worked in IT for almost twenty-years, I understood what they were talking about and I’ve seen these ideas before. The IT World article shows shining examples of IT process innovation. Most IT departments, particularly in large organizations are sweat-shops. The pressure is on to find ways to have programmers write one more line of code a day and the help-desk to answer one more phone call an hour.  But is finding a new way of doing the same old thing – only more of it in a shorter period of time – truly innovative?

In the current economy businesses are struggling to just keep alive and survive until things turn around. Managing to the margins through cutbacks  is one way to get through. In other words – finding new ways of doing the same old thing. Finding innovative ways of doing business or even innovating by developing a new business can be a stretch but it may pay off in greater rewards.

The future of computer tech support

In answer to this article from Bill Detwiler, “Will Society Always Need Us Geeks?”, my answer is yes! Not just on the consumer side of things but in business computing as well. As a matter of fact I expect that small and medium enterprises need IT pros more now than ever. Either in house staff or contracted support. The CBS – 60 Minutes video that Bill includes in his article is a little older now but most of it is still relevant. In the video segment they identified three types of technology users: do it yourself, can’t do it themselves and those who think they can do it themselves. Since I sell computer technology into both the consumer and small business market I get to see all three of the above on a daily basis. The consumer and the business user have some needs in common:

• low priced computers, which is easily achieved now that computers have become commodities;
• simplicity and ease of use, most times this is something that can be achieved – with a little help;

After that the needs change between the consumer and the business computer owner. Business want their technology to work, they want it to work now, need it to be reliable and if it breaks – they need it fixed in a hurry. Because computers in this group are a business tool, businesses can’t afford to be without it or they lose business opportunities – AKA money! Consumers on the other hand  are willing to wait for technology to work for them even as painful as that wait can be.

Here’s my sad tale of woe to illustrate my point. Two years ago I purchased a laptop computer with a one-year extended service plan from a big box store. When it failed recently (during the extended service period), I took it in for service and waited a total of thirteen weeks for it to be repaired back to working condition. It came back from service twice  during that three month period – and had to be sent back the next day when it was found that the original problems hadn’t been solved and on one trip discovered a new problem had developed. I still have a desktop computer so production wasn’t stopped dead. After a month of waiting for the laptop to be serviced, I bought a new one because we just couldn’t be without a working portable computer. Thirteen weeks is a long time to be without a computer. A consumer can tolerate it – barely, but a business can’t and shouldn’t.

If you’re a small business owner, try to avoid being in the group of technology buyers and users who think they can do it themselves. On the other hand, don’t tolerate poor service from your technology support people. There are geeks who play with technology and then there are professionals who know technology and understand the value of computing that works in support of your business goals.

Dean

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Strategic Online Marketing

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Advanced Systems

Corporate Computer and Network Specialists

Microsoft retail stores – a grand experiment

There is some leaked info regarding the Microsoft stores which are scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Many pundits and industry folks think this is hilarious and doomed to failure (MS had a store in San Francisco that bombed years ago). A common opinion is that instead of emulating Apple (or Google, or – the list goes on) MS should stick to what made it rich and famous – software. Let’s not forget that MS is a multi-billion dollar enterprise composed of many separate billion dollar entities. When you are that huge, you can pursue many different opportunities. Some work, some don’t. While we can laugh at them cloning Apple stores, or going after Google with MicroHoo and Bing, the fact is they also have some solid and far reaching products and services which anyone who touches a computer these days is impacted by.

We will not see a MS store in Red Deer and that you can pretty much count on. At present we don’t even have an Apple store and probably never will. Although there were rumors that Mosaic (Apple’s outsourced retail marketing partner) was going to bring us an Apple store within a big-box store (I won’t mention the name but the initials are F&S) it doesn’t look like they completed the deal. BTW: Red Deer does have some great Apple retailers and Apple fans, but a dedicated store just isn’t financially viable.

On the other hand there are some great MS business partners here in town and those types of VAR’s and integrators are what steadily fuels MicroSoft’s billion dollar operation. Products like the Zune and Microsoft Press and their foray into retail store fronts are a pleasant and relatively harmless diversion. Unless you are a MS stock holder, but that’s another story.

Dean

_Sponsors_________________________________________

Nova Media

Strategic Online Marketing

_________________________________________________

Advanced Systems

Corporate Computer and Network Specialists

Quote of the day – Susan Cramm

Susan Cramm is an IT leader who coaches IT and business managers on how to get along and play well with each other. This quote is from her Harvard Business Review blog and the post: How to get IT and the business working together.

Your business processes are fueled by IT and mastery in managing IT (the asset, not simply the organization) is table stakes to lead in this lean, flat, fast-paced, and risky world.

Note: the bolding of “the asset, not simply the organization” is our addition.

Dean

_Sponsors_________________________________________

Nova Media

Strategic Online Marketing

_________________________________________________

Advanced Systems

Corporate Computer and Network Specialists

NAS Drives, a quick and easy option for data growth on small networks

With burgeoning data requirements in even the smallest of businesses, simplifying access to it becomes a major headache. Obviously, dumping data on a PCs internal hard drive isn’t a viable option anymore. The complexity increases with the advent of devices like laptops, smart phones and PDAs, hooking up to the LAN and trying to access data conveniently through a central location.

A NAS (network attached storage) box is an acceptable option for small business networks. Not only are these devices small, but they are equipped with hard drives which can store up to 4TB of data, and connect through an ethernet cable into a network port or router. You can also plug in a USB device such as a printer, to NAS device and make it accessible over the network. These devices are ideal for small offices with 10 to 15 PCs for compact, centralized storage accessible from anywhere, including over the Internet.

_Sponsors_________________________________________

Nova Media

Strategic Online Marketing

_________________________________________________

Advanced Systems

Corporate Computer and Network Specialists

Security flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer – what’s the risk?

Microsoft has issued a new security advisory for a critical security issue that could potentially enable an attacker to take control of a users PC by way of Internet Explorer (IE) through the Microsoft Video ActiveX Control on Windows XP and Server 2003 platforms. Microsoft offers a work-around in its advisory to let users disable the ActiveX Control in question. According to the advisory Microsoft is currently working on a security update to fix the flaw as well.

This time around Microsoft Vista users are not at risk. Thanks to the way that Vista provides permissions to IE, this particular flaw doesn’t pose a risk to Vista users – only XP users. Considering that there are so many Windows XP clients and Server 2003 hosts running out there – this could be a risky flaw for most of us.

Check out the workarounds as provided in the MS security advisory and take appropriate action.

New relationships and exciting times

There hasn’t been much coming out of this blog of late. Busy, busy, busy with other things. Such as BRASSmedia and bobbing like a cork on the sea of Web 2.0. The original intent of this blog was to voice my thoughts on IT management and put forth new ways of doing business. That won’t change much but there will now be other topics of discussion. We (meaning me) have just taken on a new role in a new relationship and we’re quite excited.

Direct sales for Nova Media, a strategic online marketing consultant and developer based out of Lacombe Alberta. Peter DeWit, Nova Media’s CEO and I have worked together on a fusion marketing project and when we sat down to discuss this new relationship it seemed like a natural fit. My role is a simple one – develop new relationships with businesses and organizations in need our services.

One of the things I always strive for is quality and integrity in business and my personal life. What excites me about representing Nova Media in the market place is that Peter and his team do more than just develop web sites. Peter’s experience in traditional marketing gives him a great overall view of a clients place in the world of the web. An end to end online marketing solution. Web sites based on a content management system, graphic design, branding, search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns, ecommerce and ongoing measurement of the impact and effectiveness of your web precence.

We’ll still use this blog to talk about IT’s role in small and medium business but we’ll now broaden our scope to include our work in the world of the web and how it impacts an orgainizations day to day operations.

Dean

False economies – PC refresh delays can cost in the long run

ZDNet has posted an article commenting on a report from Intel regarding the total costs of ownership of PCs and how small and medium businesses delay in refreshing PCs to save money now can cost in the long run. So true. Deferred maintenance is an easy and immediate cost savings when faced with decreased revenues. Having been their myself I can attest to the ultimate lash-back when PCs past their prime start to fail.

Before you slash your PC budget or burn it to the ground entirely, consider a blend of new PCs and a maintenance plan for the ones you plan to keep. There’s a cost to keeping your computers up to date but a price to pay if you don’t.

Dean