Agility Digital Media, Inc. debuts in Gainesville offering innovative and e-business solutions for the new global marketplace.

By William J. Eyerly

A few minutes into the Monty Python movie classic "The Meaning of Life" a woman in labor is wheeled in "Keystone Cops" fashion into a chaotic hospital emergency room. In the midst of the confusion, her physician constantly calls for more and more useless high-tech equipment to be brought in. As time runs out on him, he calls for the penultimate in glitzy gadgetry: The great big machine that goes 'Ping,' in the vain hope that this most advanced piece of technology will finally save the day.

This farcical depiction of technology for technology's sake has become all too common in today's fast-paced economy. For many business owners, computers, web sites and related e-commerce has truly become much like that pinging monstrosity depicted in the movie. They feel pressured to use yet another technological gadgetry that “will make them more competitive,” make them more money, or solve a problem they didn’t even knew they had. 

But more then anything, business owners know that any online or e-business strategy is an investment and they want to see the ROI. 

That’s where Agility Digital Media, Inc. (Agility DM) comes to the rescue. Agility DM is a new Internet and software development company specializing in e-business and custom web applications. Together with its technology partner Florida Digital Turnpike, they actively engage in emerging Internet technologies such as e-business platforms, portal software for specific industries, broadband access, as well as application and database hosting.

In the wake of last year's stock market crash, some business owners may look at the Internet as a passing fad. "Nothing could be further from the truth," says Harald W. Kegelmann, president of Agility Digital Media. "In the fifteen years that I have been on the Internet, there hasn't been a single day that the number of users has declined. There is no question that we have moved into the Information Age and the Internet is the driving force."

"We see a lot of opportunities in the small and medium business market," adds Agility's CEO and Director of Marketing Mitch Kehn. "The highest growth portion of this market are businesses with less than 50 employees. Many companies in that segment feel a need to participate in the network economy in order to stay competitive, yet they don't know what they need or how to transform themselves. With the slowdown of the economy, small businesses have to do more with less. That’s where the real potential of the Internet comes to play: the Internet is not so much about selling your products and services online but looking at your business processes and the flow of information in your company and developing innovative solutions that will save you time and money."

Agility's goal is to be the single point of contact and thus the single point of accountability for the integration of the Internet into the strategic plan of a business. Their services include consulting on and development of a strategic plan, development of a web presence, as well as online and offline marketing.

CONSULTING
Many companies find themselves at the mercy of outside IT firms who may be more interested in their profit margin than providing value to their clients. “If your spouse goes to a garage to change a tire and comes back with a $1,000 bill, you know that you’ve been take for a ride.” says Kehn. “How can you tell whether a projected $20,000 price tag for a web site is worth your money?” Agility DM can provide businesses with a second opinion on such a project. A few dollars invested here might save thousands down the line.

WEB DESIGN
One of the most dramatic changes over the last few years has occurred in web site development. "Seven years ago, when I was teaching the first Internet class at Santa Fe Community College you could develop a web site with a simple text editor in a matter of hours." explains Harald Kegelmann. "But today, there is an ever growing list of specialized software packages, programming languages, and protocols used in web development and they are becoming more complex every day. It is no longer adequate to simply enlist the help of a friend or the kid next door to build a web site.

“Image is everything! This truism applies especially to a corporate web site,” Kegelmann points out. “Many companies begin to understand that visitors of their web site determine the credibility, professionalism, and the quality of services and products of a company by the quality of the company's web site.” Agility DM can provide companies a professional looking online presence with entry-level packages as well as more comprehensive solutions.

E-COMMERCE
Agility DM offers several levels of shopping carts with full e-commerce services from start to finish. In particular, they can provide a business with an online store by establishing a merchant account to accept credit cards, register and host a domain name, setup a secure server for secure credit card transactions and ultimately transfer credit card payments into the merchant's bank account.

E-BUSINESS
Agility DM can help a business to operate more efficiently and provide more value to their client by transforming existing business processes with innovative web-based solutions. These solutions increase efficiency by giving employees ready access to data when they travel and telecommute, as well as providing customers with 24 hour support and account information.

MARKETING
”There are 40-million web sites on the Internet and yours is one of them.” Agility DM’s Marketing Director Mitch Kehn is fond of saying. “Most companies underestimate the task of attracting visitors.” One has to use a combination of old and new media to advertise a web site. Agility DM offers an range of marketing plans, both online and traditional, with an eye on the needs of the client and the available budget.

EXPERIENCE
"The primary focus of Agility Digital Media is to provide custom tailored Internet and e-business solutions," explains Mitch Kehn. "From experience we recognize that technology (complex as it may be) is not the problem that a business wants to be solved. In consultations with clients, we invariably find business people frustrated by high marketing costs and inefficient processes. We’ve learned that businesses do not want us to build a science project for their company . . . they want a return on their investment and see that it will save them time and money in the long run. In the client's mind, the use of Internet technology is almost incidental."

“In our industry, trust has taken quite a beating over the last two years,” says Kehn. “As we travel around the state, we meet many companies that got burned by fly-by-night operations and sales reps that were more interested in getting a quick signature on a contract than delivering proper service. This will not be the case with Agility Digital Media,” Kehn points out emphatically. “Since 1995, we have seen this industry grow, evolve, and mature. We’ve seen and we know what works and what does not work on the net. 

There might be cases where the Internet is not the right sales or distribution channel, nor will a web based solution save time or money, nor will it generate money. The client might have a great idea but the target audience might not be ready for a change and therefore unlikely to adopt a web based solution. If that’s the case then we will just tell our clients that the implementation of such an idea would not be a good investment at this point.”

Establishing this level of trust is a key component in Agility Digital Media’s strategy. Both principals envision a long-term relationship with their clients and that can only be guaranteed by mutual trust. They will help them define some specific IT goals and map out a timeline for implementing these goals. From experience they know that smart businesses place tremendous value on continuity. Jumping from one developer or IT professional to another is terribly counter-productive.

Early on, Kegelmann and Kehn made another strategic decision by becoming an IBM e-business partner and to use the IBM line of products for e-business solutions. “While Microsoft wants to get into the Internet market, they are still very much focused on the desktop,” says Kegelmann. “IBM has a much better track record for enterprise software and high end database applications. At Agility DM, we use IBM e-business software running under the Linux operating system on a robust IBM server. Downtime of web sites is practically unheard of.”

A GLOBAL VISION
In the true spirit of the Internet, Agility DM is implementing a global perspective in hiring their staff. Many employees are multi-lingual and have lived and worked in Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Central America. 

Over the last ten years, Florida's population has grown by 25 percent. With growing markets in South America, Florida has become a hub for international business. Many multinational corporations have their headquarters in Florida. For many of those companies Agility DM can develop multilingual web sites, communicate with their overseas partners in their native language, and develop marketing strategies for an international audience. 

“Language and cultural differences will always be a challenge, but we believe that technology and economics will provide commonality that transcends national borders,” says Kehn. "Our ideal client would be a business or individual that is creative and forward thinking yet is rooted in traditional business values, says Kehn. "This individual has realistic expectations. "The dot-com explosion inspired a lot of flaky get-rich-quick schemes, and frankly, I'm glad that the hype is behind us. But I do not believe we've seen the bubble burst on the Internet business. I think that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg."

"I think that, for a lot of people, the omnipresent "e" in e-business came to stand for "easy" more than anything else: easy life, easy money, easy business. But I think we all know better today. I, for one, have never been more excited, and more optimistic about e-business – and that has everything to do with the wacky period we've just come through, a necessary learning experience in hindsight."-Louis Gerstner, CEO of IBM

About Harald W. Kegelmann:
Harald W. Kegelmann serves as President of Agility Digital Media. He is also President and CEO of Florida Digital Turnpike (FDT), a Solutions Partner for Agility DM. FDT is a regional Internet Service Provider based in Gainesville.

Mr. Kegelmann is a fifteen-year veteran of the Internet and has worked on national and international Internet projects. From 1991-1993, as a principal researcher on the Florida SchoolYear 2000 Initiative, he was directly involved in linking Florida schools to the Internet. 

For the past ten years, Harald has taught Internet classes and has given Internet workshops for private corporations. In 1995, he founded Florida Digital Turnpike while he was a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Florida State University. 

About Mitch Kehn:
Mitch Kehn is CEO and Director of Marketing for Agility DM. In addition to a 15-year stint as a professional radio broadcaster, he served as Director of Content and Marketing for a Tallahassee Internet media company from December 1996 through June 2000. Mitch's well-rounded background has been key to success in project management. He can communicate effectively with programmers, graphic artists, marketing and IT specialists

As an interactive advertising specialist, Mitch has won numerous Addy Awards on the local and district level and one campaign in particular that was promoted to national competition. The Addy Awards, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, honors the best creative and marketing efforts in the United States and Puerto Rico