8.10.11 Adam News & Info

Thanks!! So simple yet has stumped me for months! :-[

canadaluvsadam Debbie Paumard
by runawaysu
Jingle Ball 2011 Lineup t.co/6t1pSHf via @933flz Let's get Adam's percentage higher come on Glamberts we can do this RT!!!
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Yes, the emails that in the past delivered the pre-sales codes did come from AO. You need to sign up there, then in your profile ask for newsletter, 'x' both fields, if you see two. Save. and then go back into your profile to check that your profile change has really taken, just to be sure. Some people reported that this was behaving flaky for them, did not happen to me, so just reporting what I heard.

Yes, there were emails at irregular intervals, making announcements like GNT-DVD is not available in Blue-Ray...that kind of stuff. But during concert time we also received these emails that contained those codes that we needed for fan-club presales. As Adam-storm approaches I bet you there will be more letters and therefore an opportunity for you to verify that you are now receiving them.

Now how all that will be organized for next concert tour, I have no idea. In principle, I think they only used the existing email data bases, because they could not get their own going at the fan club in time. But are they really that much better organized two years later? I sure don't see it. In fact of all places in the world where I have ever had to leave my address and credit card information, this is about the most troubled I have ever been about that stuff not being professionally handled.

I have never seen a bunch of people so clueless about how to run a back office or a basic logistics and customer service department as these bunch of people that were hired there, I don't know, based on their eye color or something....

With regards to Ground Ctrl, here is the deal. Outsourced IT firms run as effective and smoothly as the people who manage them request it. My impression is that they are un-managed and un-controlled in this case.

It's like telling your travel agent to organize a vacation for you, but give him no specifications. Chances are you have a lousy vacation. And no, that is not the travel agents fault. IT projects are designed and made-to-order projects, not cookie cutter. You need to sit down and specify what you needs and wants. Your IT partner is thankful for that, they want a happy customer too and they know that if you don't explain your needs that you are going to be in the end not happy. It sucks for both sides. You can probably tell, I do speak from some experience here an believe me, sometimes I really wish they would hire a few people with competence. It is not that much of a rocket science.


But I don't think they have anyone who knows how to do that kind of management or that they even see their problem. And if Adam our do-it-yourself-man chose a few friends, instead of people with the right kind of competence, then I bet he did not choose one person with a functioning left half of a brain. Just the way he personally rolls, not a critique - he is an artist, not a logistics manager. But probably a true observation.

I hope eventually his new management will point the deficiencies out to him and engage here on his behalf. But we will have to see what roles they take on on his behalf and how this all will work.

As far as AO itself, that is a dinosaur system within RCA, in its design stuck somewhere in the mainframe generation of software development, but it is a far bigger thing then just AO. RCA is hanging all these fan sites and probably a ton of other stuff we don't see onto this one old system and they don't seem to have either the will or budget to modernize the whole thing. It is totally crazy to keep this running the way it is and expensive. But they cannot just take AO out, they need to disassemble the whole thing and obviously nobody had the stomach for that within RCA in the past. And it will have to be seen whether in that new management structure there is somebody in the leadership that realizes that and allocates funds and support to getting that done. High level overhaul, including a reasonable outsourcing strategy, not futzing around with a few screens or fonts.

And if there are tons of licensing agreements with other companies tied to this system, as we have recently learned, untangling that is not a small task.

I was reading on another board where it was mentioned that Lane's blogs had disappeared from ALF. Can't verify since that place confuses me, but if true, could this have something to do with 19M dissolving? I would be sad if Adam lost Lane. Plus, if she's gone, will those of us who haven't received the pic from CW ever get it?