Today ScheduALL announced that its ScheduLINK transmission management and optimization software is being used by satellite communication services company SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES to manage bookings across its special events and occasional use departments in The Hague, Netherlands, and Princeton, New Jersey.
Other fans of the management optimization software were announced on August 25 in SatNews. ScheduLINK is being used by Independent Television News (ITN), major independent producers of news, entertainment, and factual content across a range of platforms from TV to mobile and online.
SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES offers occasional use capacity on a fleet of more than 25 satellites across the globe, and the ScheduLINK software provides real-time resource data and booking tools that empower the company to meet customer needs quickly and proactively while maximizing the use and value of its satellite channel inventory.
“Right off the shelf, ScheduLINK provided a good foundation for our booking operations, providing an easy-to-use and intuitive scheduling process, and rapid access to reliable data that together speed transactions from end to end,” said Samantha McCloskey, vice president of Special Events and Occasional Use Services at SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES. “ScheduLINK’s powerful management and scheduling tools made it easier to respond to our customers’ needs for breaking news and live events.”
“We are excited to be implementing ScheduALL across the U.S. fleet,” adds Kelly Heflin, senior director of Occasional Use Services at SES AMERICOM. “Having a system that will support our global fleet will deliver a wider range of opportunities for us, while giving our new customers fast access to the satellite space they require to deliver timely, competitive news reports. Within minutes, we can send the footprint and rate card to the client via e-mail, which is something we weren’t able do prior to using ScheduALL.”
SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES’ team in Europe and the PMOC in the United States take advantage of ScheduLINK’s powerful bandwidth configuration tools to leverage available capacity to the best advantage of the company and its clients. ScheduLINK gives the bookings team a clear snapshot of available resources and connectivity; flexibility in scheduling each satellite transponder and pipe; and specific customer, cost, and rate data that enables them to quote a service during a call and, minutes later, confirm the booking via e-mail. To ensure quality of service, the ScheduLINK software addresses technical variables, such as availability restrictions, equipment requirements, and required bandwidth capacity, and uses this information to prevent multi-parameter conflicts, technical mismatches, and double bookings.
Equipped with these scheduling tools and robust client and capacity data, bookings staff also can be proactive in offering space to clients as breaking news events unfold. This capability opens the door to enormous profit opportunities by enabling the SES teams to prepackage and quickly offer its customers the means to deliver timely, competitive news reports. Management within the special events and occasional use department uses the software’s comprehensive cost center allocations and detailed business analysis and reporting across customer, activity, and resource to demonstrate the profitability of the department and the value its capacity allocation brings to the business as a whole.
With the recent merger of SES AMERICOM and SES NEW SKIES brands under a single administrative umbrella, the companies have upgraded the ScheduLINK system and launched a trial system for scheduling and billing across both operations, complete with a Web presence for the entire suite. The expanded software system is expected to go live in October 2009.
