Front Porch Digital has announced that Phil Jackson has been promoted from chief operations officer to chief strategy officer. In his new position, Jackson is responsible for driving innovation and strategy for Front Porch Digital. “Phil was the brains behind our LYNX cloud CSM service and our newest product, DISTILL, both of which were the first of their kind and approach long-standing industry challenges in innovative ways. That inventive thinking is immeasurably valuable to Front Porch Digital,” said Mike Knaisch, president and CEO of Front Porch Digital. “This newly created role will provide Phil with the time and resources necessary to accelerate Front Porch Digital’s exceptional growth trajectory in media and entertainment and beyond.” Jackson is assembling a core team from within Front Porch Digital, coupled with project-based virtual teams and a short list of key technology partners, to spur innovation on several fronts —through rapid prototyping, light-agile development methodology, and direct customer engagement in the innovation process. “This isn’t just an R&D function that looks at the latest buzzwords or IT trends in an isolated manner. This is a serious attempt to collaborate with our customers to understand their principal pain points, and, in solving those problems, bring new thinking and techniques to market. We want to build on the capabilities of the LYNX, DIVA, and SAMMA systems, which are the foundation of Front Porch Digital’s success,” said Jackson.
Barco’s results prompt possible disposals
Disappointing sales to the government and industrial sectors, and issues around its LiveDots business have prompted Barco to issue a warning and to consider the disposal of some of its business units. With approximately € 512m in orders and approximately € 500m in sales, Barco’s results will be respectively 8% and 17% year-on-year for the first half of 2014.
Barco’s order book at the end of 1H14 remains healthy at € 480m, which is 9% higher than at the end of 1H13. Consequently, the results for 2H14 are expected to be ahead of 2H13, although consolidated revenues and EBITDA contributions for the entire year are expected to be slightly lower than in 2013. The company is evaluating several expressions of interest in the acquisition of some its businesses. Barco says it is evaluating the different proposals and will decide whether or not to pursue such offers before the end of next month.