Sensis chases online quotes

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 22 June 2011 17:55

IT Industry - Strategy

Sensis, the directories arm of Telstra, is building a new range of quotation engines that will let small and medium businesses offer instant online quotes to consumers searching for a particular product or service. It's the latest in a series of initiatives the directories arm of Telstra is taking in order to reinvent itself for the online era.

Speaking at a Trans-Tasman Business event in Sydney today, Sensis CEO Bruce Akhurst, said that the new quotation engines were being developed as a result of the company's purchase of Quotify. He did not however provide any indication of when the new quotation engines would be made available.

The challenge that Sensis faces is that while SMEs generate around 60 per cent of the nation's GDP, only 17 per cent have any form of digital strategy. The company is increasingly acting as a consultant to the nation's 800,000 SMEs as they grapple with the issue.

While most SMEs understand that they have to develop an online presence, few knew how to go about it, according to Mr Akhurst.

The challenge for Sensis is that there is no one 'right' digital approach - it has to offer a range of options to meet different customer needs.  The one-size-fits-all approach of a printed Yellow Pages directory does not work in the online world; 'Digital is rewriting the advertising rule book,' Mr Akhurst acknowledged.

Meanwhile Sensis itself is having the rule-book shift under it. Just last week Sensis was stripped of its digital media arm which Telstra has decided to merge with BigPond Advertising and Telstra Classifieds to form a new integrated digital advertising business.

While he made no mention of this in today's address Mr Akhurst acknowledged that 'There is no such thing as a single form of advertising to meet everyone's needs.' This was leaving SMEs with a 'digital dilemma' about which approach to take in term of traditional and online advertising and marketing.