DailyDOOH

Back in April 2013 I was invited to Dallas to present at the multi-day kick-off that officially saw RMG Networks and Symon Communications merge into one.

Left to my own devices on the first evening, an evening that saw Garry McGuire take all of his RMG Networks people out to dinner, and separately Charles Ansley do the same (unfortunately for the last time ever as it happened) for his Symon Communications people, I pondered on how exactly best to present the challenges that lay ahead for the (combined) new business.

First of all, let’s not beat around the bush, no-one (apart from the money-men who saw the cash and revenue locked up in Symon) understood why a media company was buying a technology services company. Symon was making very good money and doing well (if a little stodgy in parts, it was still the BEST solutions partner for corporate communications by a long way) and you can only guess at the feelings of those Symon employees who saw Chicago money and a West Coast media mentality come to Dallas, effectively take their business, kill their brand and (eventually) fire their executive management team.

It’s also obvious from the light trading on NASDAQ and the dramatic fall in the share price that Wall Street investors did not get this marriage either. Apart from STRATACACHE, Symon was the most profitable digital signage solutions business this industry has ever had.

To the then credit of Garry McGuire, Greg Sachs and Charles Ansley I was not only given a full hour to present, I was also given free reign and no one asked to vet or see my presentation in advance.

What to say then to such a varied audience? How to balance what both companies had done so well against what they could have done better AND indeed, what big opportunities they had missed.

I haven’t received many standing ovations in my long speaking career but in Dallas I must have hit all the right notes because I was also interrupted half way through my presentation by spontaneous applause (the topic at hand I believe was Symon’s misguided belief in mobile and a certain ex-marketing director). I hung around the company get together for the next two days and at least two dozen people came up to me and said how much they agreed with what I had to say.

If I can try to summarise my then thoughts on Symon, they were:-

• Symon is very good BUT could be much better.
• Forget mobile, it has taken your eye off the real prize (i.e., insanely profitable corporate installs)
• Your focus on corporate installs was more sensible than you can ever imagine
• Forget about retail and ad based networks (with a big warning not to go there)
• Your software and services are well thought of by Fortune 500 company call centres so why on earth haven’t you taken that and sold ’employee communications’ to the rest of those businesses?
• Your content is cr** (yes I said that and I meant it) and you need to seriously up your game (the result of this one remark was the fabulous RMG Networks Executive Briefing Centre – you will be hard pressed to find better content anyway at the moment)
• You have a brilliant sales team in the UK (and you can learn from them)
• Internationally you can do more

I left the audience with a reminder that the industry did not need another Wireless Ronin and said “the future of digital signage may well be in your hands” – a statement that I sincerely meant. With money, ambition, good people and a corporate heritage the world of employee communications really was their oyster.

What I am hoping for now is that the REAL Symon has NOT been destroyed in the past 12 months. From the outside looking in, it is probably easy to imagine a demoralised work force, a software business run into the ground, leaderless and rudderless. We also hope that the rumours that RMG Networks are about to announce a deal with Intel, which would see RMG license Intel (nee Ryarc) RCM software for use in retail and at the lower end of hospitality is not true or if true will be IMMEDIATELY crushed by the new CEO before it sees the light of day.

So what then did happen? VCs are good at getting rid of previous management but I am sure it was never the plan to quite-so-quickly force Charles Ansley out of the door. Here was a seasoned veteran who unlike zillions of others, actually knew how to make money in this game. His experience and contacts were invaluable. Sure, sometimes we figured that some of his hiring decisions were weird; exhibit (i) the aforementioned Marketing Director, exhibit (ii) Oscar Elizaga who poor old Garry inherited (despite our protestations) and who sold nothing in 12 months of tenure before being fired) but Charles would have been the ideal head of RMG Enterprise Solutions (as Symon was effectively unceremoniously renamed) and would have been of invaluable help to Garry and the rest of the new executive team going forward.

• #stoopidmistake1 was getting rid of Charles Ansley (either too early or ‘at all’) and ditching the Symon brand (and way of working)
• #stoopidmistake2 was taking their eye off the ball in the media business. I’ve glossed over most of the travails that have beset RMG Networks’ Media business. It was a then-company that struggled when it was Danoo, a division of RMG that started getting really good traction when it started to focus on Airlines, Airport lounges and the like but quickly got distracted when at the behest of a shareholder (who should be shot for even suggesting it) acquired the distressed assets of Akoo – thus getting it into the maelstrom that is known as the ‘Mall Media Segment’). Of course it also got distracted in a big way with an ‘Office Media Network‘ – it’s hard to see the strategy of this, other than the clinching of a USD 4 Million solution sale to Regus (by the old Symon we might add) with the promises of riches to come from ad based revenue AND we all know how that has turned into a non-payment lawsuit
• #stoopidmistake3 was not hiring (or keeping) good executives to support the CEO (see also #stoopidmistake1). Garry is super smart, a visionary, a great presenter, a brilliant networker and deal maker – he is however NOT a good negotiator nor particularly good with operational issues. Not only does he (as visionaries tend to do) like to change his mind often, he can fall into the trap of setting the bar far too high for his employees. Those who cannot reach it, struggle and nothing gets done. Good operational people know the strengths and weaknesses of their people and delegate tasks accordingly
• #stoopidmistake4 was not having a COO earlier. It is probably no surprise that shareholders had to wait for Garry’s departure before seeing the appointment of a COO – Loren Buck (a super smart, well organised, professional, loyal and long time Greg Sachs associate – who is far from being a board crony, despite Ken Goldberg’ assertion here) has only now just been made Chief Operating Officer – a move that should have been done 12 months ago!

The new CEO Bob Michelson, has a lot of decisions to make going forward; is the combined media and solutions business entity still viable as a whole for example?

We believe it is, but we also believe that Symon was the best asset it ever had. For it to have been seemingly run into the ground the way it has is a travesty.

Let’s hope for the sake of all the shareholders and employees that “This horror will grow mild, this darkness light.”