Daniels quits Times Online, joins Trader Media Group

“My new broad mandate is to build a digital department and manage the group's digital products, services, and sales,” Daniels told Bizcommunity.com in an exclusive interview yesterday, 17 June 2009.

“I left The Times Online as publisher and head of the Avusa iLab at the end of May 2009 and worked there for approximately two and a half years.”

Asked to explain why he felt he had to suddenly leave The Times Online, which seemed to be doing pretty well under his leadership, Daniels replied: “I am exceptionally proud of what I accomplished at The Times Online and believe that I've left behind a pretty decent legacy.

“The full extent of what my team and I have achieved over the past few years will only be revealed when the Times site relaunches in the next few months, and I know that it will be another proud moment in my life even though I've moved on.”

“My decision to join the Trader Media Group (TMG) was based on the unbelievable vision and enormous potential that I believe exists in the company both locally and abroad - TMG operates in several countries across Europe in addition to South Africa - as well as the personal challenge of establishing and growing a profitable digital business from the ground up. Opportunities like these don't come around everyday!”

Looking forward to meeting the challenge

Building the group's digital business is something Johannesburg-born Daniels is looking forward to, and surely it is going to need a considerable amount of creativity, efforts, human resources' commitment and definitely huge financial muscles.

Asked to estimate the financial cost of such a complex project, Daniels said: “It's still early days and I don't think it's something you can put a price-tag on since many great ideas don't have a cost attached. That said, I do believe that one of the key areas to success is going to be employing and retaining the right people, which is something we will definitely focus on and more than likely where the biggest expense will be.”

Education and transformation

Like they say, every kingdom has its leaders, culture, people and problems. It has been almost three weeks already since Daniels has been in his new job, and certainly he could not expect the working environment and other challenges to be the same as at Avusa.

“The first challenge is getting to know and understand the company, the culture and the people. A further challenge, when entering a predominantly print-based media company, revolves around education and transformation, as this is often a major stumbling block and one of the reasons that print media is in such trouble globally.

“On the technical side, the biggest challenge is going to be redesigning and choosing the right technology and strategy for our websites, which are now in excess of 10 years old.”