September 2014
www.tvbeurope.com
TVBEurope 41 Feature
be re-apportioned to support this? “R&D is not really re-apportioned because the R&D team that was working on the Quantel products continues to do so. But what we are starting to get is those areas where there are some savings by working together,” says Cross.
“But also – and it is true now for Snell, although I don’t know what the situation is historically – our R&D team has had an open chequebook for recruitment purposes for many years. Finding those exceptional engineers is really difficult but if we find one, we recruit them. “We are trying to build up our resources, and to that end, hopefully by NAB, I’ll be able to talk about another acquisition,” he added. “We are looking for extra resources all of the time, and it is not about shedding what we’ve got.”
Historically, many acquisitions have been hit by poor strategies. But there is now a steely professionalism in the air around all of the recent consolidations
we have seen. “I call that acquisition fever,” says Cross. “It’s about people who just have to acquire. We do not. We will acquire again, but only what’s right for us. That’s why we have not been acquisitive in the past, because it would have been too easy.
“I get inundated with offers of companies that are on the market, but very few of these are a really good fit,” he added. “Quantel and Snell fit together like a glove, and other acquisitions will be for a specific purpose.
“The industry is changing; the world is changing. It is changing at a faster rate than it has ever done before; therefore you have to be flexible. That is one of Quantel’s advantages. We are a company that is owned and managed by the majority of the shareholders, and we are able to make decisions very quickly. Most things do not need any external approval so the management team within Quantel and now Snell can make all the decisions that affect them. “We are able to respond to changing needs very rapidly, and I do not see anything that is an issue. My background is in IT and it is amazing really because 25 years ago I was building data centres and sharing resources across large corporations for the first time,” he continued. “You would have petrochemical companies like Shell and BP in the same data centre, but they could see why they would be able to get a better service, and be able to focus better on their business by doing that. Here we are 25 years later and the same thing is happening in broadcast.”
What Cross wants to achieve at IBC is the market recognising Quantel and Snell as one organisation, one technology. “If we could achieve that, it would be fantastic,” he says. “We understood that the market was really
concerned when we did the acquisition, as they always are about acquisitions. We have kept all the products and roadmaps going, but increasingly I want to come together as one entity.”
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