Moving SAM Forward

Last year, the newly combined Snell-Quantel appointed long-time industry veteran Tim Thorsteinson as its new CEO. Recently, TV Technology Editor in Chief Tom Butts sat down with Tim to discuss the latest on the Snell-Quantel merger-which resulted in a new name: Snell Advanced Media, or SAM-as well as the state of our industry and how important the upcoming NAB Show will be to SAM.

TV TECHNOLOGY: When we spoke at IBC, I got the sense from you that you really wanted to ramp up SAM's presence in North America, you didn't feel it was adequate based on past history with Snell and Quantel.

TIM THORSTEINSON: Right, it was pretty fragmented. Frankly, they (company employees) had to come back to the U.K. for stuff too often because we didn't have the skill sets in the geography. For example, you need experts in the market that can articulate your IP roadmap and can consult with key customers. If you're flying people in from elsewhere and they have funny accents, you don't appear to be a global business. That's been my experience in the past.

TVT: Do you feel the North American market is more provincial than other areas of the world?

THORSTEINSON: I find all areas of the world to be very provincial. The Japanese market loves people who speak Japanese. In the old days, people in Asia were quite impressed if somebody came from headquarters that had the secret answer, but its less so today. I think you need to have competent, local people everywhere in the world if you want to grow your business. We try not to say anymore, When they get up in the U.K., well be able to give you an answer. Thats not the right answer.

TVT: Are there other things that have changed in the way business has been conducted in this industry in the last five years?

THORSTEINSON: It's a lot less relationship-oriented. If you know people, they'll take an appointment, which is nice, but it may be one.

TVT: The decisions are not necessarily made by the same people anymore?

THORSTEINSON: No, and the other thing is if you take somebody into an account, you can take one suit like me that has a band of knowledge, but the other person with me better be very technically competent because the customers are going to get right down to bit-rates and a level of technical detail that Im done with in about 15 seconds. You cant have layers of guys in shiny looking suits; people arent impressed with that anymore. They dont have the time because theyre more thinly staffed than they used to be and theyre under tremendous pressure.

Tim Thorsteinson

LINK:	http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0002/moving-sam-forward-a-talk-with-t...
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