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Turn on a radio or television almost anywhere in the world, and chances are the signal you receive is being broadcast with hardware or software from Harris Corp.’s Broadcast Communications division. Harris Broadcast Communications is one of the leading global suppliers of broadcast and new media technology to radio and television networks around the world, with customers transmitting content to billions of people in more than 100 countries on six continents every day.

Harris moves only in one direction – the future, notes Harris Morris, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. The company has invested heavily in recent years to expand its product offerings for broadcast, entertainment, retail, hospitality and other new media customers transitioning into the digital media realm. 

“Digital media has created an opportunity for the industry, but also a great deal of complexity,” Morris says. “From analog to digital and from digital to high definition, we see a lot of markets growing through that change, and we provide a full spectrum of product solutions to meet the different standards around the world.”

Going Digital

Innovation is critical to the expansion of digitization, Morris says, and Harris offers a class of TV and radio transmission products focused on power, space and interoperability. “There are huge operational requirements for digital transmission that can be particularly costly for countries in the developing world,” he remarks. “Our transmitters stand apart in terms of power and efficiency, which helps to minimize operational costs and deliver benefits from a green perspective.

“We are investing real dollars to deliver real functionality to make our products interoperate as seamlessly as possible,” he continues. “At the end of the day, we like to solve customer problems. We try to help our broadcast customers increase their success rate of tackling tough challenges, such as handling new media and distribution platforms. If you can increase their success rate, you can increase their bottom line productivity and return on capital.” 

Another Industry First

In addition to the spread of digitization, Harris has identified the unification of Internet Protocol (IP) technologies and traditional broadcast hardware as an emerging trend. Historically, broadcast hardware was built to serve a specific function, but now that it utilizes similar components found in standard information technology (IT) hardware, this potentially opens the doors for more competitors. “The good news is nobody in the IT world has yet to do that at broadcast quality,” Morris notes.

In February 2011, Harris introduced Selenio™, the broadcast industry’s first integrated media convergence platform. It combines traditional baseband video and audio processing, video and audio compression and IP networking technology into a single platform. “The convergence of baseband and IP capability into a single platform enables customers to quickly add revenue-generating services – from standard definition, high definition and 3-D, to mobile and Internet broadcasting – without requiring an expensive investment in new infrastructure,” Morris says.

Moving forward, Harris wants to continue its focus on markets that have been developing rapidly, particularly the “BRIC” countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. “We structured ourselves so that each of our global sales regions has a BRIC country in it,” Morris says. “They are like an anchor tenant, meaning if you do well in those countries, then there could be great business surrounding them. We see great potential in the ‘-stan’ countries as well as Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and Latin America.”

But Harris does not limit its growth solely to geographical expansion. “We also want to grow in terms of taking our technologies to new or adjacent spaces,” he says. “Change is the new constant. Product life is now 18 to 36 months as opposed to five-to-seven years, which has really caused the industry to change. Our long-term vision is to excel in our core, at the highest level of economic value that we can, with things like interoperability, innovation and improving returns.”

New Ways of Thinking

Morris was appointed president of Harris Broadcast Communications in February 2010. He oversees 2,000 employees working globally across the division’s three divisions that offer products, services and solutions for traditional broadcast, cable and new media operations, including digital out-of-home networks. Previously, he served as vice president and general manager of the media and workflow area of the Broadcast Communications division.

The Harvard Business School alumnus takes a nontraditional approach to management, he admits. “There are people who subscribe to an older school of thought that you can claim value from your customers and preserve your profit stream,” Morris muses. “We talk about ‘deserving’ not ‘preserving’ the customers’ money. If you really understand what your customers need and can delight them and deliver business results for them, they will be able to share their success with you.”

Rather than micromanaging, he believes in empowering employees and giving them the right tools to do their jobs. “You don’t want everyone to be similar because you need a tapestry of skills to be able to make things weave and work together,” he advises. “In a world where organizations have intrinsically more complexity, you have to stop swimming against the tide and realize how you can use the talents of a good, diverse team to benefit the organization.”