Fast cars, and fast publishing. If you’re a publisher with several monthly or weekly publications, looking to increase productivity, check out our up-coming breakfast briefing with the PPA (Click the link for more information.)
The 2019 FIA Formula One season begins this month and it got us thinking.
No, not thinking about the racing, the glamour, the locations, the champagne, the celebrities, but rather how F1 leads the way in revolutionising automotive and engineering technology, and how PCS is working to do the same for publishers. Yes, it’s a bold statement to link us to F1, but hey, we’re a bold company and there’s logic to our argument.
Speed is synonymous with F1 – the speed of the cars, the speed of pit stops, the speed of mechanics repairing damaged cars, the speed of development by engineers to make incremental improvements in a bid to find those extra few tenths or hundredths of a second, and so on.
Such speed is based on many factors, including continuously practicing, efficient work flows, intelligent planning and motivated people. These principles also apply to what we do for customers, after all, automating repetitive and manual tasks to significantly increase productivity, free up staff to work on what they are good at and improve efficiency is what we are all about.
For publishers, changing the way you work and putting in the right processes at the right time can kick start the benefits of a truly efficient workflow. Consider what a difference it would make if you could get your publication produced more quickly, more smartly and with the opportunity for it to look better.
Naturally, such a change can be a major transition, particularly if you are moving from a legacy system. There may well be reluctance in the business to make such an investment in time and resources, but as the saying goes, fortune favours the bold.
We recently began working with one client that made the transition from a legacy job-bag based system to an all singing, all dancing solution.
Our wide-ranging support includes implementing software that manages written content and images throughout the client’s portfolio of publications, integrating with current digital Content Management Systems, advertisement management software and interlinking with our printing and fulfillment house. New workflows, sign off process and functionality, content management across print and digital, image and copy archives, and search functionality.
Using such a level of automation enables print and digital publishing to stand on an equal footing by creating a content-first approach, rather than a print-first at the expense of digital, or vice versa. This also provides a platform to bring print and digital teams together and work in partnership as the lines between the online and off-line worlds are increasingly blurred.
Continuing with the F1 link, there are plenty of other key learnings publishers can take from the super productive and efficient world of automotive engineering, both F1 and domestic car production. Many companies will adopt various processes and concepts, such as Kaizen. Under this model problems are opportunities. It’s an optimistic method that gives people of all standing in a company the opportunity to come together as a team to overcome problems, which is achieved by constantly fixing what doesn’t work and improving on what does. Quality control is a big part of the Kaizen concept.
This again links to our drive and commitment to strive for excellence in the publishing industry because of how we embrace technology to solve problems by utilising the right technology solution.
