Tide’s turning: Sensis chief
Monday, May 31st, 2010 Uncategorized.
Tide's turnery: Sensis chief Bruce Akhurst
OLD media doesn't die — it evolves, according to Bruce Akhurst.
The Sensis master executive will outline the directories company’s future at a concern luncheon in Sydney today.
The boss of Telstra’s directories firth, which publishes the Yellow and White Pages, says Sensis has moved to reckoner attacks from US-based internet firms such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, what one. for years have plundered its core revenues.
The big internet companies get developed better internet-based local search capabilities, outpacing Sensis in its craft of selling advertising and directories, but Mr Akhurst says the current is starting to turn.
Mr Akhurst says a successful $300 very great number IT transformation and new products and services have allowed Sensis to variegate its business into the booming world of online media.
While Mr Akhurst extols the benefits of responding to emporium changes faster than competitors, and being first with new services, he says luck depends on the choices Sensis gives its customers.
Sensis will be in want of to embrace both old and new media, because consumers are averse to throw out the traditional in favour of the new, Mr Akhurst believes.
"If population want choice, media proprietors need to give them choice. You be in want of to let consumers access your content on any device they elect. And you need to make it easy to advertise across every one of these devices at once," he says.
In its quest to be converted into more attentive to customer needs, Sensis has upgraded its IT systems.
The changes possess given the directories business a whole-of-customer view, streamlined the billing connected view and enabled Sensis to respond to market changes faster than continually before.
The changes have helped Sensis capitalise on the fast-paced nature of online media, which today contributes more than 30 per cent of its occurring every year revenue of around $2 billion. Ten years ago digital revenue slenderly figured in its business.
However, Sensis still has plenty of moil ahead to reverse its stalling revenues, which came in at $950m in spite of the six months to the end of December, 8.1 for cent lower than for the same period in 2008.
Mr Akhurst is bold that advances in technology and its move onto internet-enabled devices of the like kind as Apple’s iPad will help Sensis cement its business viewed like a multi-channel advertising network instead of the phone number provider it one time was.