properly with the right group, your building will be able to gain a better perspective on the market, on product trends, and the competitive landscape in your area. Plus, it allows your building to take control of the process, rather than letting the cable providers dictate what they might want to sell to you.
Here’s how a sample process works. The first step is to understand your building’s needs. Every condominium association is unique. Take into consideration many factors: your resident profile (age groups, presence of children, employment status, ethnicity, work-at-homes, etc.), your mix of owners versus renters, your amenities, your size (number of units) and the local competition. Secondly, it’s important to understand the community’s level of satisfaction with the current provider, and the current products offered (both in bulk, and not in bulk).
You might want to know: what speeds do residents subscribe to? Are they satisfied with their current options? Have they experienced outages, reliability issues? Is it a good value for the money? Gaining this perspective, particularly from an independent third-party who is not a board member or a vocal resident, is very important. You want an objective view point and assessment of your building’s needs. This analysis includes a review of your current wiring infrastructure as well. A professional needs assessment for your building will form the basis of the bid process. This is important as it forces the cable providers to bid on “your needs,” not the provider’s needs.
The bidding process should include a representative of the building, so that you are able to see and monitor all correspondence with the bidders and get copies of every bid, and responses to questions. Upon completion of the bid process, your consulting firm should provide you with a summary of each bid, along with comparisons on key data points: speeds, TV products like DVRs, terms, pricing, etc. At this point, the cable committee should meet with your consultant to review and discuss all of the bids. Which one best fits your building’s needs? The “best deal” is the one that best addresses your unique needs.
The final step in this process is negotiating the new bulk agreement. The most important element of this stage is to be sure the final agreement reflects all of the commitments made during the bid and proposal process. If service reliability is an issue, do you have
26 | COMMON INTEREST®
adequate protections in the new agreement to create service standards and requirements? What about the plans for an upgrade or an equipment swap-out? Is this documented? Additionally, do you have provisions in place to address future changes to market conditions?
While hiring a consulting firm can be a great decision, there may be reasons why it does not always make sense. For instance, it may be expensive for a very small building to go this route (with costs exceeding the benefits). Additionally, there are some consulting firms which understand the technologies, but do not know the community association industry very well. There are many national consulting firms which may not understand the dynamics of your local cable TV and internet market. For instance, an east coast firm may not know the providers or their programs in the Chicagoland market very well.
Some consulting firms are actually “brokers” who really represent the cable operators, and not the condo associations they assert to represent. This can lead to making costly, or one-sided decisions in favor of the cable vendor and not your community.
It is important to conduct your own due diligence on a potential engagement with a consulting group. What is their reputation? Who have they worked with? How has it gone? By engaging with one, you are not giving up your right to make the decision; you should be gaining the advice and resources of an expert to help you with the decision.
This may not be a perfect for all buildings.
The importance of the selection process for bulk cable and internet services has changed dramatically in recent years. The “go it alone” approach of yesteryear may have been appropriate when there were fewer choices, products and limited needs. Today’s marketplace is dramatically more complex, and the assistance of a third party consultant or advisory firm to guide your team through this process could be very beneficial in reducing the expense of the service as well as the overall product satisfaction of the community.
With a good process performed properly, your property may be rewarded with the right cable TV and internet program and bulk services that meet your community’s long term technology needs. Your neighbors and future residents will appreciate your efforts in this process very much!
A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60