An Interview w/ @JCollardOmnivex
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
A recent move by Omnivex to divide its Moxie software into two parts is already paying off for Omnivex, based in Concord, Ontario, says Jeff Collard, president.
“We announced at our users conference in September that we were dividing Moxie into Moxie Enterprise, used by our big clients, and Moxie Commercial, a lower priced product aimed at smaller businesses, giving a lower barrier for entry but who eventually want to scale up,” says Collard. “It’s a kinder, gentler Moxie which will make it easy for companies to move up when ready.
“Surprisingly, the first customers to jump on it were a municipality, the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon, and a utility, New Brunswick Power. This was a lower cost of entry for them with an easy path to expand to an Enterprise solution later.”
Moxie Commercial will support up to 50 full functional Players. The company also launched Quicklink, a browser based tool in the Moxie Enterprise suite that allows control content on their digital signage from anywhere on any device.
At this time, Omnivex is running about 135% compared to last year, and has gained approximately 60 new Enterprise clients, says Collard. Among these are strong representation from automotive manufacturers, the oil and gas industry, and the mining sector. Omnivex is also particularly active in the military sector and has long been involved in the sports sector.
“We’ve also added strength to our staff,” says Collard. “Chris Devlin joined us as director of sales about a year ago from Computer Associates, where he spent 10 years running channels, five years of which were in the UK as senior vice-president running their Commercial Division as well as their channels for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Rob Adams
“Our recent addition is Rob Adams as director responsible for development, product management, and technical operations and services. He joined us from ADFLOW Networks where he was executive vice-president of operations.“
In September, Omnivex held its first users conference with attendants from the US, Canada and a strong contingent from Europe.
“We discussed the roadmaps of where both Omnivex and the industry were going, educational issues for both users and customers, and the challenges faced by users,” says Collard. “Among the topics were the Internet of Things, data visualization, and the shift in responsibilities for CIOs.
“Digital signage is more than just information for retail. It’s about really helping people to do their jobs better. The magic is in how data is used, why it’s important, and the way signage will be used in the future.
“In terms of CIOs, their jobs are moving from systems of record to systems of engagement. Their responsibilities used to be one of keeping control over things and how to manage them. Now they are moving into marketing, helping to drive revenue and engage people. Marketing budgets are usually about 10% of sales. Everyone needs technology to better spend those marketing dollars. Here’s a window of opportunity for CIOs. They have to do more in this way or be replaced with something else.
“As for digital signage, there has to be a focus on data to really move forward.”
Within the next year, Omnivex plans to offer a Moxie Cloud, which Collard says will help the company broaden its reach.
Omnivex is privately owned by Collard, Doug Bannister, CEO and chief technology officer, and Corie Bannister, CFO and COO.
Asked if Omnivex was interested in ‘outside money’ from investors, Collard says. “We have a pretty good cash flow. There are two ways of looking at outside investment. Sure it would allow us to hire more staff and so forth, but it would mean giving up control.”
We got the feeling that Omnivex’s current management isn’t interested in giving up that control for now. But, as the saying goes, ‘Never say never’.
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