Aberdeen Broadcast Services

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the TV and digital media manager of Living Church of God. We have an outreach effort called Tomorrow’s World, and I manage the TV program for that effort. I also manage our website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aberdeen Broadcast Services?

We have a half-hour TV program that needs to be distributed to a whole bunch of TV stations around the country and the world. The issue is we lack the in-house capability to produce the programs in certain formats, which are proprietary to the stations that receive them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Aberdeen helps us format the programs in the way we need. Then, they take our closed captions files and embed them into those programs. After that, they deliver them to the stations. They do this for 5–20 programs a week. Aberdeen has also done Portuguese translations for us. They’ve done German and Dutch translations before, but we don’t have those services at this point.

What is the team composition?

I’ve personally only worked with Steven (Senior Sales Engineer), but my team works with two more people on the Aberdeen team.

How did you come to work with Aberdeen Broadcast Services?

They’re proprietary with some of the stations that we’re on, so we have to work with Aberdeen if we want to work with those stations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent more than $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2011, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’ve been dealing with Aberdeen for a couple of years now, and we’ve had zero problems with them. They're in a position where they can be a problem for us, but they’re not a kink in the rope or a weak link. They go in, come back, and finish the task. On top of that, they don’t slow us down or impede us; there’s been no bottleneck at all at any point for us. 

Other problems come up, but Aberdeen gets things done, so the problem feels like it never existed. Moreover, when something happens, it’s on us. If we give things to them late, they can charge extra, but they don’t. They simply get the work done, make it happen, and move on with life. 

How did Aberdeen Broadcast Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Aberdeen has been fantastic in terms of project management, and that’s why I like dealing with them. They don’t cause any problems, and they’re never late. Based on the interactions I’ve had with them, they’re very process-oriented. I attribute our lack of problems to their systematized process. On top of that, they’ve been very responsive. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The fact that we’ve had no issues with Aberdeen highlights that their systematic processes are critical for the engagement. There can be human errors, but we haven’t experienced that with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve been told that their prices are higher than their competitors. I’m willing to pay more, but their pricing structure can still be considered. That being said, they’re proprietary, so they don’t have a lot of competition. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have everything ready. Make sure that the Aberdeen team has the right specifications, and give them what they need to get everything done.