November 2008 Archives

Couple this with the idea of having a national CTO and you begin to realize there could be a massive shot in the arm for the tech sector next year. Specific areas to get the boost include wireless, broadband equipment and telepresence/video.

One salient prediction according to Lipman? Greater FCC appreciation of VoIP. Basically good news for most in the industry and with a little luck, this momentum will carry across the tech space making 2009 a much better year than some of the gloomy analyst estimates.

The media is on a site tour here in Huntsville, Al. Low and behold
Adtran does small scale manufacturing right here in Alabama. This is
one of the few companies in tech which I have seen building in the US.

Adtran investors, worry not - the company builds in China too.

Afraid of lead paint? Adtran is quick to point out that quality
control in China is the same as in the US.

Maybe the toy industry can learn from them?

With financial markets in turmoil and Jerry Yang being responsible for more or less botching the Microsoft deal, it is obvious he needs to step down. The only question is why did it take so long? Here are thoughts on the new CEO Position and what has to happen:

1)      She/He has to be from an entrepreneurial new media company

a.       If you hire someone well-known from the go-go days of the nineties - with no small company experience, Yahoo! will continue to fail

b.      Google is competitor #1 and acts like a small company

                                                               i.      There is no other way to compete with them

c.       Find a person who has seen business transform as a result of the web. Someone dynamic and able to change quickly

2)      Speed: make this the number one imperative throughout the organization

a.       Roll out new products and services as fast as possible

3)      Mobile

a.       There needs to be a renewed focus on mobile browsing and search

b.      Ink deals with every carrier you can while you can

c.       Be everywhere

4)      Promote yourself

a.       Mail, sports, news, finance - there are just so many areas where Yahoo is a leader

                                                               i.      Why not promote this fact?

                                                             ii.      Tell advertisers how great your company is

5)      Brag

a.       Yahoo is so understated I felt that #4 on its own would not do the trick

                                                               i.      The company needs to be vociferous

                                                             ii.      Remind us why we use and love Yahoo

                                                            iii.      Throw traffic numbers around

6)      Act like the underdog you are

a.       Yahoo's culture is one of a market leader

b.      While this is true in many sectors, customers and Wall Street don't see it this way

c.       Become entrepreneurial

d.      Hire new people as needed to make this happen

e.      Get leaner

f.        Get meaner

7)      Push the toolbar

a.       The Yahoo Toolbar has access to so much rich Yahoo content

b.      Go on the offensive with the toolbar

c.       Give the toolbar access to the best content from around the web - ESPN, CNN, etc

d.      Make it difficult for users to ignore the toolbar and get them to adopt it and likewise build search volume

8)      Copy Google

a.       Obviously it is good to be innovative but on occasion it makes sense to "borrow" ideas

b.      Give developers some free time to work on pet projects just Like Google

c.       Yahoo has so much potential to push new services to an entrenched audience

d.      They just need to roll out more and more of them at a faster clip

e.      This could even cut development cost

f.        Put relevant ads in Yahoo Mail. Why would you not do this?

There are just so many ways to maximize revenue at Yahoo and it is bewildering that this internet legend is still struggling. I truly wish them well but they better find someone quick to get this steamship turned.

Today I am at an Adtran media event in Huntsville, Al. Here is a shot from
my hotel. Right now we are listening to Adtran CEO Tom Stanton. More to
come.

I have written about Vikram Saksena in the past - and as CTO of Sonus, I have had the chance to speak with him a few times and have always been impressed at how he has been able to discuss the intricacies of providing advanced communications services in a straightforward manner. This is one of the reasons I invited Saksena to keynote the latest ITEXPO - where he did a great job.

Saksena is moving on to Tellabs and I wish him well. The question is how will Sonus replace him and will this high level departure increase pressure on the company at a time where other execs have recently departed as well.

Today, TMC launches its Blog Aid program to help people out of work stay in the public eye - in order to improve their hiring prospects in a tough economy. In the last few months, many good marketers, PR people, engineers and others who have been laid off. These potential Blog Aid bloggers have a good deal of quality commentary and information to share which could be very useful to the TMC community of online readers.

TMC is offering these new bloggers - especially those working in the communications and technology industries, a venue to voice their thoughts on the spaces where they have expertise so as to allow them access to the 2-3 million global visitors who come to TMCnet on a monthly basis. In this way, these people who need assistance will not be forgotten and moreover will potentially develop a following which will lead to new freelance or permanent positions. 

• We do not want this program to be used as a venue for people to "get back" at companies who let them go.
• We also do welcome bloggers who are employed.

To become part of this program please email Greg Galitzine (ggalitzine (at) tmcnet.com).

Here are some of the news items which caught my eye recently with some commentary:

Nokia predicts the recession and a lack of credit will reduce cell phone sales. Nokia Siemens too says there will be a slowdown next year. The company further thinks the fourth quarter will see industry volumes fall by 20 million. This isn't too surprising.

Sun is laying off 6,000 workers and with the high-end server market in trouble, some are saying the future of the company is uncertain. Many techies I have spoke with are upset that the company hasn't been able to better monetize the many great products it has come up with over the years. They say this out of true admiration for Sun.

Oracle is selling an on-demand CRM solution to Olympus America - this is great news for Larry Ellison and company and shows that Oracle can not only sell software but hosted solutions as well. The challenge for Oracle is that they have such a large group of products to sell and promote, it is challenging to get the message out about all of them. Other more targeted SaaS companies are able to focus, focus, focus on SaaS.

American Airlines will now allow cell-phone based boarding passes using bar code technology. This will work on domestic flights out of select airports.

Microsoft is offering 0% financing to business customers in a move to jump-start sales. As I said yesterday, anything companies can do to help customers with financing will help boost sales. In fact, companies who have the capital to do such things are at a serious advantage over other companies who cannot.

Is service the new sales? According to Greg Gianforte, CEO and founder of RightNow, not only is this a true statement but sales is the highest form of service. In a recent podcast interview with Yours Truly, Gianforte explained how companies are focusing more heavily on service and moreover how his company is providing CRM solutions to customers which lowers costs and increases productivity.

He further explained the details of his book titled Eight to Great which focuses on how to provide an exceptional customer experience. In addition the enthusiastic CEO explains how the hosted model his company espouses coupled with proprietary technology which makes a hosted application seem like it lives on a local computer is enabling his company to take share from traditional CRM software companies.

I almost forgot to mention the bit about the bull riding - but if you want to know what I am talking about, you will have to listen for yourself.

Finally, Gianforte explains what the future will look like - in terms of updates, what his customers are looking for and most importantly what we can expect to see from RightNow in the upcoming years. It was a great podcast and I hope you enjoy it.

In an environment where leases and credit are becoming more difficult to come by, truly innovative companies who are able to do so, are coming up with new and innovative ways to extend credit to customers. Moreover, at least one company, ShoreTel has a new leasing system they call FlexGuard. What is it? Simply, a lease for ShoreTel unified communications solutions with a system replacement guarantee.

The company calls this a "fee for use" program which is similar to a SaaS solution in that you pay for the service you use. In addition, end of lease options are more flexible allowing customers upgrade on their terms.

In today's economy, coming up with innovative financing options is as important as producing great, money-saving UC solutions; so hats off to ShoreTel for coming up with new ways to satisfy customers demands.

Here at the ScanSource IMPACT NOW 2009 conference in Orlando checking
out the HDX 9000 HD video demo. The quality is amazing and the price
maxes at $25k. You can start at $7k or so for a lower quality system.

Thanks to Polycom's Steve Hart and Sara Gonsher from ScanSource for
assistance on the demo.