Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding By W. Timothy Coombs

I was asked by organisers of the  New Zealand Communication Association to do a key note speach at their 24th Annual conference which was held at the Heritage Hotel in Auckland on 12th & 13th December, 2011.

The theme for the conference was “Convergence”. This lent itself to discuss topics around convergence of of ideas, technology, cutures and nations, academic disciplines and education and industry.

It was a good opportunity to interact with the people who are shaping our university students minds in the area of communications.

Some of the papers discussed at the forum included:

• Josephine Ellis, AUT University. “On-line feedback and the Facebook effect” and  “A research journey by way of the classroom”.
• Dr. Lara Giles, EIT. “Meta-literacy”.
• Dr Kane Hopkins, Massey University. “How New Zealand organisations are using Facebook: A public relations perspective”.
• Jill Clark & Leta Roache, Whitireia.  “Grunting and Snorting on Facebook and Twitter: A Boomer’s Guide to Communicating with Gen Y”.
• Hamish Robertson Dr. Trudy Rosenfeld and Dr. Joanne Travaglia, University of NSW. “Communicating in Ageing Societies: Diversity and Dementia Looking to 2050”.
• Jacqui Hartley-Smith, EIT. “The jigsaw puzzle”.
  Arjan Van der Boon, MIT. “Teaching in your pyjamas? Online Learning with Wimba – The Student Experience”.
• Peter Bruce, Northtec.  “Building Stakeholder Engagement Capability”.
• Nuddy Pillay, MIT.  “To blend or not to blend, that is the question: the perceptions of students on the impact of the face to face and Web Based learning environment on their learning”.
• Susan O’Rourke, AUT.  “Teaching journalism, newspapers, convergence and the Arab Spring: Reflections from Oman”.
• Dr. Rosser Johnson. AUT.  “Cosmopolitanism, commercialism and food television: a case study of Tegal World Kitchen”.
• Debbie Page and Elna Fourie, Wintec. “Leaps and bounds, or a technological divide in the communication classroom”
• Una Wildon, MIT. “Process Based Learning: The Convergence of Teaching and Assessment in Writing courses”.   
• Nippy Paea, MIT student.  Whakarongomai ki taaku nei Reo:
• An Investigation into key factors in the engagement processes between Institute and Iwi
• Saarah Gul, MIT student. Investigating Facebook: The Impact of Facebook usage on the youth in New Zealand
• Manisha Jyoti, MIT student. “Perceptions of homosexuality and homosexuals among different Christian believers”.
• Trish Baker (Wellington Institute of Technology) and Jill Clark (Whitireia New Zealand). An introduction to cooperative learning. 
• Josephine Ellis, AUT University. This workshop to get participants to look at their own areas of teaching practice to identify research questions

My own talk focussed on Convergence and Conversation and how, for better and for worse they are changing how businesses and organisations respond during times of crisis.

I discussed examples of organisations where Convergence (media, technology etc) was beneficial and also where this same concept made lives difficult for company and organisational executives. 

Media Convergence can work against organisations :

• Organisations have less time to respond
• Organisations are global even if they are localy focussed, are forced to consider how their actions are seen beyond country boundaries 
• People (customers, voyears, onlookers) will comment on issues even while not understanding the facts
• There are always opposing viewpoints ready in the wings to be quoted or published online
• Private conversations become public faster and are more available
• Company execs are expected to be available – whenever…wherever.

Media Convergence can work for organisations : 

• Organisations have more media avenues to add to their toolbox
• Everything organisations and companies  do is visible Internationally
• People will go with their gut / brand allegiances / values and this will be demonstrated visually through social media
• Opinions  can be “heard”, published and commented on the minute you want them to be. The power is now with consumers as opposed to with media alone.

We discussed the necessity to have a plan in place for the unexpected and how to achieve outcomes by using the strengths of “Convergence” to our advantage and how to minimise the effects of the negatives. I have attached an example of one of the many and growing texts on the subject for those interested.

Evan Johnson CEO Onesource

CSG Limited of Australia has announced today that it has acquired the Onesource New Zealand businesses which include Konica Minolta Business Solutions New Zealand Limited and Leasing Solutions Limited for $132m NZD.

Konica Minolta New Zealand, a market leader in the provision of document management and print solutions, along with specialist equipment financing company Leasing Solutions Limited, has been sold to leading IT services and print solutions company CSG Limited of Australia.

CSG is one of Australia’s leading IT services companies providing end to end integrated technology solutions in all major Australian markets. CSG is the largest independent document solutions provider in Australia and the only ASX listed company head-quartered in the Northern Territory. CSG has significant expertise in the provision of integrated technology solutions to business and government.

The transaction has the full support of Konica Minolta Business Technologies in Japan, which will retain its 10% shareholding in the New Zealand business, as part of a long term joint venture relationship that ensures exclusive distribution and support of Konica Minolta products and services to the New Zealand market. It also facilitates direct access to Konica Minolta’s substantial research and development and manufacturing resources in Japan.

CSG is acquiring Onesource from the management buyout team led by Evan Johnson, which purchased the businesses in 2005.

Onesource chief executive Evan Johnson says the Konica Minolta and Leasing Solutions businesses have prospered under the current ownership structure and management team. Despite a difficult recessionary environment in recent times the businesses have continued to develop, grow and produce strong returns. Having come through the recession in good shape the businesses are well positioned for the future.

Mr Johnson says that teaming up with one of Australasia’s largest IT and print services companies and retaining the continued support of Konica Minolta Business Technologies in Japan will position the New Zealand business very strongly for continued success and growth. We are passing from one successful ownership structure to another – with an opportunity to build on the great results we have achieved in the past several years.

Mr Johnson will retain his role as the Managing Director of the New Zealand businesses and will join the CSG Australasian Steering Committee to support the development of the CSG business on both sides of the Tasman. “This is an exciting opportunity for our business as we combine our leadership position in New Zealand alongside a highly skilled team in Australia with the resources, the ability and the desire to embark on a significant growth programme.”

Mr Johnson will join a high powered team of print industry experts; including Philip Chambers, the current Chairman of CSG and ex Managing Director of Fuji Xerox Australia; David Ward, the ex head of Sales and Marketing for Fuji Xerox Australia; and Denis Mackenzie, the CEO and foundation shareholder of CSG. This team has worked together in the past very successfully and are looking forward to the opportunity to join forces again to set the market alight.

“From a customer viewpoint, the new ownership has a number of advantages,” Evan Johnson says. “Clearly CSG has significant financial strength and views Konica Minolta New Zealand as a long term, strategic business. The keys to success in the document solutions market are providing tangible value for customers, and matching high quality products with outstanding levels of service and support. We have excelled in all these areas in a difficult climate and we will continue to invest to ensure we stay at the top.”

Both Konica Minolta New Zealand and CSG are the largest independent document solutions providers in their respective countries. There are clear synergies between the two businesses. Evan Johnson says that the new ownership is extremely exciting for staff and customers.

According to Philip Chambers, “Onesource was a standout acquisition target due to its outstanding performance in the New Zealand market and the high calibre of the management team.”

The New Zealand businesses will continue to operate as independent operating companies within the CSG group.

Ends.

About CSG Australia
CSG Limited is one of Australia’s leading IT services and print solutions companies providing end to end integrated technology solutions in all major Australian markets including the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.

CSG is the largest independent document solutions provider in Australia.

CSG is the only nationally listed company head-quartered in the Northern Territory. CSG is the largest ICT Company in the NT with significant expertise in the provision of integrated technology solutions to business and government.

Their client base is broad and covers both government, small to medium and large enterprises in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

CSG offers services through three main business units: Managed Services, Enterprise Services and Print Services.

http://www.csg.com.au

Konica Minolta Business Solutions New Zealand
Konica Minolta Business Solutions New Zealand Limited is a unique, independent, Australasian-owned and operated business. Our clients benefit from our local management presence and ownership. Through our previous incarnation, U-Bix, we have been working with New Zealand businesses for over 35 years, helping to efficiently manage information flow and harness new document technology.

90% of Konica Minolta New Zealand is owned by CSG Australia. CSG Limited is one of Australia’s leading IT services and print solutions companies providing end-to-end integrated technology solutions in all major Australian markets. CSG is the largest independent document solutions provider in Australia and the only nationally listed company head-quartered in the Northern Territory. CSG has significant expertise in the provision of integrated technology solutions to business and government, clearly complimenting the Konica Minolta New Zealand business.

10% of our company is owned by the Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Japan. This connection gives us access to world acclaimed solutions, research and development, while still allowing us to service and support our customers with an award winning local service team.

Our goal is to be New Zealand’s leading printer and document solutions company; already we lead the market in solutions integration, office colour, production print and black and white printer/copiers and are now well placed to further consolidate our leadership position.

In addition to our connection with Konica Minolta in Japan, we have long-standing partnerships with other international technology leaders such as Oce, Hewlett Packard, Oki, Toshiba, Monitor, Create/Form, Alto and Alchemy. In fact, we have the most extensive hardware and software range in New Zealand.

www.konicaminolta.co.nz

Leasing Solutions Limited
Leasing Solutions provides leasing products for office technology equipment. Key customers include Konica Minolta New Zealand and other businesses such as Cogent Zintel, who operate in the telecommunications market.

Leasing Solutions commenced operations in 1995 and has been successfully managed by experienced financier, Peter March since 2002. Leasing Solutions is a stand-alone business in New Zealand

About Konica Minolta Corporation
Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc., is a global market leader in digital copying and printing. The group was formed on August 5, 2003 following an exchange of shares between Konica Corporation and Minolta Co., Ltd.  The merged entity has five operating companies and two ‘common function’ companies (research and development, and management support services).

Largest of the operating companies is Konica Minolta Business Technologies which carries out manufacturing, sale and related services of copiers, printers, facsimiles and related supplies.  Other operating companies handle optics, photographic materials and film technologies for medical and graphic imaging. In the latest quarter, Konica Minolta Business Technologies reported net sales of 144 billion yen, making up a substantial portion of the consolidated net sales for the group of 262 billion yen.

Ok.  I have on occasion wondered what all the fuss is about, as I am sure you have. However after around 6 months on Twitter and using it as a tool to learn, connect and engage with people, I have come to the conclusion that, together with an integrated campaign of other traditional and new media – it can be a very powerful business tool . Twitter is no longer cosmetic for me, but of real value. So this post is not aimed at Twitter users , but at clients, associates and acquaintances that ask me why? How? When ? What? questions about Twitter.

The function and form of Twitter changes for me daily and over the course of the last six months I have used it to:

• Follow international and local experts and see what they are doing around media, PR and social networking, Goals , Guitar and many other interests.
• Share interviews with successful people on my other blogs livemygoals.com and the nzherald Inspired People Blog
• Share thoughts, links and stories that we deal with through our own clients at Alexander Communications, to (have actually been contacted by journalists following up on tweets / newsworthy clients  for opinions on a  business issue
• At times I have used it to diary personal moments of triumph and discord (as you do!)
• I’ve steered clear of the spammers and wierdos and managed to learn something new each (or every other) day and share it.
• I’ve organised meetings
• I have retweeted links and posts that resonated with my value system
• I have shared articles and opinions that I have enjoyed
• I have laughed until my stomach hurt at funny videos shared at opportune moments
• I’ve also shared articles which we have arranged on behalf of some of our clients when I believe they have something interesting to say
• I’ve captured moments on my iPhone camera and shared it – from concerts, (international stars and my daughters home made ones!), situations (traffic, beautiful scenary, scenes of interest) and other hobby related things.
• I’ve linked my Twitter feed with Facebook so that I can share some of this with people I chose to have on my Facebook profile. We are all interested in similar things.
• I’ve searched for ideas and comments on latest # hashtags on issues, people etc.
• I’ve downloaded stuff from links shared.
• I’ve “listened” to conversations and noted the tone and content and internalised ideas.

So you see – it can be frivalous, but actually fullfills an increasingly important role both for R & R and for business – that is as long as you don’t have addictive tendencies… 

In which I would say, Put it down. Walk slowly backwards. Turn and run as fast as you can.

New Skills in PR? John Bell wrote in his blog Digital Influence Mapping Project about the “ideal practitioner of the future.” A kind of idealistic view of the skills and the person required for the new communications environment.

Skills

• Create an integrated marketing and communications strategy
• Deploy live ‘listening posts’ online and offline
• Design and deploy an advanced search engine optimization program
• Plan and run a new media relations program inclusive of head-of-the-tail and long tail “media”
• Identify & engage with influencers online and offline
• Manage communities
• Integrate new technologies into their own lives
• Model measurement and performance metrics including new “engagement” metrics
• Run quick pilot programs and evaluate on-the-fly
• Train staff and clients continuously

(What am I leaving out)?

I would add to this that to really communicate effectively in the New Zealand context on behalf of clients, communications advisors need to have, or have access to the traditional PR skills as well.

The two different skill bases (with some overlap) make for a winning combination. Would you add any skills to this list in the New Zealand Context?