Start Your Engines

If there is one thing that can make a great sales team even better, it is a solid traffic system. Vendors continue to add new functionality to give management and sales teams easier access to the information they need when they need it—and in the format they need it in. Here is a look at some of the top offerings at this year’s NAB:

Topping the list of new BroadView Software features is “secondary-event management,” allowing the user to create “styles,” or rules, for managing secondary events. Also, expect a library-management and asset-management feature that gives facilities an integrated means of tracking their library materials.

The first fruits of the Harris acquisition of Encoda Systems will be on display as Harris lays out a vision it hopes will keep current Encoda customers in the fold long term—and attract new clients as well. A new wrinkle: a brand-new version of Encoda’s traffic and billing system designed specifically for the cable-network business.

“It will tie into their content-delivery strategies, especially for the international or global market,” says Bob Duncan, SVP of sales and marketing for Media Management Solutions, Harris Broadcast Communications Division.

Marketron’s TV Traffic solution will have a number of new features that the company says will reduce redundant data entry, optimize inventory and, in turn, increase revenue.

A new traffic automation interface that allows real-time integration of the traffic system with the automation side of the house will be demonstrated.

Marketron will also complete integration with Media Ocean, giving two-way communication between stations and agencies to minimize make-goods, discrepancies and redundant data entry.

Check out Workflow, a multilevel contract-approval process that gives management unlimited control over entry, a step OSi says can get account executives back in the field with no downtime.

“Gone are the days of not knowing where a contract might have stalled in its route to approval,” says Ed Adams, OSi president. “Real-time views allow the sales staff to know exactly why a contract was rejected, and they can even modify and release the line back through the process within a matter of seconds.”

It also allows routing groups to be configured in nearly any way possible.

It will be a quasi-family affair at VCI’s booth as two of its partners, OneDomain and Peter Storer & Associates, demonstrate integration of their systems with VCI’s Stars II+. Also to be touted at the show are new features for the VCI Cube, including “threshold” functionality.

“It allows the user to discern, through the use of color, areas of over-achievement and, more importantly, areas where action is needed,” says Mary Blair, VCI manager of software development. “All a manager needs to do to see where action is needed is zero in on the red figures.” (The user can also choose the colors). A new feature enables users to employ their own formulas without having to export data to a spreadsheet. “This matches the versatility of the VCICube with the flexibility of a spreadsheet,” says Blair.

WideOrbit is branching out with Master Control Automation software, dubbed WO Automation. The company is using source code from Novus Development and integrating it into its own traffic software. Applications include satellite recording, digital library and management, media prep, and schedule and archive management. Another new module, which is separate from the ones for WO Automation, will also be available for promos. Take note: WideOrbit is setting up shop in a suite at the Bellagio, not in the Convention Center.