lhummel@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (08/31/90)
I have some things to say about Howard Diamond, who is now Commodore's Director of Education. Although I don't know him personally, I have seen a fair amount of his work from before he went to Commodore. To begin briefly, I think that he UNDERSTANDS WELL the higher education market, and that he is probably aware of the obstacles to breaking into it that CBM faces. During the years when I was a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, he worked in the Chancellor's office putting together deals with companies like Apple, IBM and Zenith - the kinds of deals that really made it impossible for the Amiga to get anywhere. Today, there are labs full of those other computers all over campus. They started by trickling in...machines on extended loan, and then 1-for-1 matching grants. I remember a time back around '85 or '86 when some Apple reps. pulled up with a truckload of Macs and said "Where do you want 'em?". Paid off for Apple in spades, it has. So much so, that they lured Mr. Diamond away to work for THEM. It was in the school paper and everything (I still wonder what sort of insider funny-business might have been going along with that deal). Imagine my surprise at the 1989 DevCon in San Francisco when Harry Copperman told us that they had just hired this guy from Apple! And then there is the "Micro Order Center". Every incoming freshman gets a nice letter from the Chancellor telling him or her how UIUC recommends that they purchase a computer and how they can get a sweet deal on an Apple, IBM, or Zenith. No kidding it was a sweet deal. Basically, they were buying at around dealer cost and at prices that eat up any cost advantage the Amiga held. When I showed the price lists to a regional Commodore rep in Chicago, his eyes bugged out. Commodore was not price competitive in higher education and would not be for three more years. I understand that a lot of schools are in similar cahoots with Commodore's competitors. I'm sure that what I've been saying so far is not new to anyone at an American university of any consequence. Now, something that Howard Diamond had a hand in that is quite impressive is our campus Computer Fair. In past years, when attendance was in the low thousands, it was held in the Illini Union. This fall, with expected attendance on the order of 10,000 (or more, so I hear), it is being held in the Assembly Hall. The format has consisted of a vendor's room - a ballroom with fair-sized booths from every microcomputer and workstation manufacturer who had any illusion of doing business on our campus. And then there was the exhibit room, where faculty, staff and students showed off all of the neat things they were doing with computers. Amigas were rare, bordering on non-existent. A LOT of faculty, staff, students, and townspeople were sold on computers by this event. Howard Diamond was responsible for setting up this opportunity. Where was Commodore in all of this? Well, the local users' group (CUCUG) was out in full force, with two tables showing demos. To help things along, one of the members brought in his Roland S-550 MIDI sampler and a studio monitor. We were loud, colorful, enthusiastic and exciting. Reps from OTHER vendors would come and gawk at our display. But where could you buy an Amiga if you wanted it? How could you get a machine on loan for your department to try out? How can it be tied into the campus network? What about peripheral purchases and support? Can you have a rep speak us to arrange some sort of grant or special deal for setting up a lab of the machines? Why doesn't "Central Stores" (parent of the "Micro Order Center") know anything about this computer? (The local dealer was of no help, usually showing up halfway into the show with an Amiga 500 and a bunch of virus-infected disks.) We all know the answers to these questions, and they aren't going to make any of us happy. About the best we can do is be assured that Commodore finally has someone working for them who knows that these are the sort of questions people in the higher education market ask. Howard Diamond knows, because I had seen his name always popping up in the thick of things along these lines. I don't envy him, though. About the biggest factors in his favor are that he does have the best computer to sell, followed by an understanding of what it takes to succeed in higher education. It goes downhill from there. Not only does CBM have to start investing the needed dollars to break into the market, but they also have to work though a small, often incompetent dealer network. Apple and IBM only started going through dealers after they sqawked about stealing sales. It was the "corporate presence" that really did the selling, which is even more important given the fact the local Amiga dealer (and I use that term generously) wouldn't take a real initiative even if it were rolled up in a joint; the last time I recall them having anything in the local paper was when one of the owners was arrested on assault charges. While I doubt if Commodore has to put up with dealers that are a bigger turn-off to the buying public than this one (the only one) here in east-central Illinois, I think that most people readers would agree that a large portion of the current crop of dealers is as much a liability as an asset in their current form. I can't say for sure whether Howard Diamond has the wherewithal to break CBM into this very demanding market that he helped create. The days where it was easy to "brute-force" it are over. CBM is in a better position now for using "finesse" over "brute-force" (i.e., the "strategic sale" over the "media blitz"). I haven't seen any action HERE, though. I'm hoping to hear that CBM will send a contingent to this year's Computer Fair here. At least, they have someone who knows about things like this for a change. He probably knows from experience that Amiga owners promote their machines better than anyone, and that they simply need to be backed up by people who are skilled at shaking a hand, sculpting a deal with a genuine understanding of the customer's needs and the market they represent, and closing the sale with professionalism and authority. To summarize, if there is to be a "Dave Haynie of Higher-Education Marketing", then Mr. Diamond is probably that person. I don't know how much of CBM's starting to turn around is due to Howard Diamond, but if he can muster the resources, I think we will continue to see good things while he is there. Hopefully, it will be for considerably longer than he was at Apple! < Lionel UIUC Class of '89 (B.S., C.S. in Engineering) Working for, but not representing Motorola, Inc., Urbana Design Center