Business review 2008

I have spent most of my working career in Marketing as a Product Manager. This basically means that I work on developing and managing products or services offered by companies.

This year I did a bit of an about face and moved into a sales role. I guess I have spent most of my working life dealing with sales.  I can only assume I have learnt something about this field. I guess it is a natural progression (or not).

I thought if I have spent so much time in and around sales, why not try it for real. So I did. Given the ‘World Economic Crisis’ we are experiencing, it probably hasn’t been great timing. Funny thing this ‘World Economic Crisis’.  The reality, is that we made and spent too much over the past few years. Where we weren’t making it, we were borrowing and now that we are finding it a little harder to make repayments. Our greed is to blame, simple as that.

So in this tighter economic environment I decided to try my hand in sales. Baptism of fire. In actual fact I think I have done OK. I am learning along the way. The industry I have moved into is software, marketing both Carbonite and AVG. I actually manage the marketing and sales for Carbonite which is an online backup service. On the AVG side of things I look for corporate level partnerships, essentially looking for organisations who have clients (lots of them) and who would benefit by introducing Carbonite and/or AVG to their clients. So ISPs are a key market for me.

Prior to this role I was with McMillan Shakespeare. Again in Product Management. McMillan Shakespeare is essentially an administration company for Salary Packaging services. Product development was difficult at MSA. There just was no process. Instead there were lots of ideas and important people who wanted to see them fulfilled no matter the realities. But it was interesting and working with A Podesta (CEO) taught me a few important things about seeing an opportunity and chasing it. I also had the opportunity to work on some key relationships with companies such as DSE, Harvey Norman and Dell.

MSA is a market leader in its field, but it was also needing to realign itself with its core strengths. It has been very successful for a very long time, but competitors have also been succeeding at its expense (in some cases) and so the market has become tighter, margins lower and a re-evaluation needed.

Next year will be tighter, everyone will be looking for a cheaper alternative, however we all still need to live. So if the TV dies, we will still buy another, maybe not the latest and greatest plasma. Through the work I do with AVG, I hope to be able to introduce AVG to lots of customers who haven’t been exposed to it. Hopefully giving them a great deal that will make them buy anti-virus for the very first time or switch across from a more expensive alternative.

Carbonite will also make its mark. Its profile will grow, we will settle and launch a few key partnerships that will give it greater exposure. Online backup is still new in Australia but the value proposition offered by Carbonite is fantastic. $6 per month for unlimited backup. Now we just need to wake everyone to the fact that if you have a PC at home with pictures, emails or other important files on it, you should be backing it up regularly. The simplest way to do this is online with Carbonite. Try it free for 30 days.

See you all in 2009.