The changing role of Traffic personnel and the high-tech software revenue management systems they use goes under the microscope again this year with TDGA’s launch of its annual Software Satisfaction Survey.
“The policy of our non-union ‘guild’ of traffic professionals adopted a product neutral position ten years ago, but we seek out users of the 30 or more traffic software systems once each year and ask the actual users of the products to rate their satisfaction on support response, advanced features to meet the changing technology needs of Radio & TV stations, networks and streamers,” said Larry Keene CEO of the TDGA.
The association of traffic personnel made some modifications this year to also take the temperature of the changing workplace. We’re interested to see the impact of increased workloads caused by HDTV & HD Radio sub-channels, hubbing, Streaming and website advertising on a trend to consolidate nearly all the revenue flow through the traditional Traffic Department.
The study is nationwide. Membership in TDGA is not required to participate. Because of our strict need to guarantee confidentiality, we actually host 35 or more website URLs, with identical survey questions, but a different online address for each individual product brand. Vendors cannot acquire the results of any submission. TDGA guards the data and releases them to the industry in January of 2010.
Stations and personnel benefit dramatically by having access to an overview comparison of ratings from users of the products, especially when “shopping” for new software systems. Because TDGA does not link individuals to responses, it’s impossible to provide full reports to all participants. So they provide an overview to the media, and detailed brand-by-brand summaries on their members website once the full tallies are released in January.
To participate (Radio and TV), send an e-mail to [email protected] and identify your specific media type and product in the subject line. Example: Radio: WideOrbit; Television: ProTrack, etc. (Don’t say Harris or Wicks; they need to know which of the group multiple systems you use, such as DeltaFlex, VT, OSi, Paradigm, Marketron, etc.) TDGA will reply to your email by providing the exact URL online address for that specific products survey.
This year there are 20 questions and the completion time is being estimated at approximately 4-5 minutes.
