Digital Transformation of the Publishing Industry

Embracing digital transformation is the key to survival in today’s business world. Many companies are struggling with the consequences of fast-changing technology and digitalization. The publishing industry, for instance, is competing with the availability of free content, trying to engage a declining readership, and navigating different platforms for content distribution. All these trends have led to a decrease in revenue generation. Forward-thinking companies must not only cut costs but also embrace the digital revolution to meet changing consumer needs. They need to move away from the traditional organizational structure and business model to become agile, future-ready firms ready for the new digital world.

The Need for Digital Transformation in the Publishing Industry

The need for digital transformation in the publishing industry is highlighted by a paradox: people are consuming more content than ever, but traditional publishing houses are seeing their business dwindling. Explaining this paradox is easy: people’s reading habits have changed. They have gradually moved from print to digital devices to consume the content they want in the most readily available format. Therefore, traditional firms must follow the lead of newer, future-thinking organizations, such as Google and Facebook, that have adopted new technology to meet the needs of modern readers. The publishing industry will have to make its services mobile and digital first, with a focus on readers’ online behavior. To incorporate these changes, they will need to adopt a data-driven technical infrastructure that can ultimately lead to interorganizational cultural change, better consumer reach, and more revenue generation.

Publishers need to be able to predict what readers within specific geographies and demographics click and read. This consumer knowledge requires creating dynamic content adaptable to multiple devices, developing artificial intelligence (AI) to predict browsing and interest levels, and using advanced analytics to automate subscription and workflow management for global streamlining. Therefore, publishers will need to adapt to such changes to suit the digital imperative.

A Deeper Understanding of Digital Transformation

Digital transformation includes a series of processes and system changes to maximize the efficiencies that happen in response to changes in the technological landscape. These processes and system changes include metadata, content storage, content agility, findability, and automated collaboration.

Metadata refers to a set of tags or labels that can be applied to files through automation to enable faster browsing via the semantic search system.

Content storage helps unite various silos of network drives, folders, and shared content within a central repository of files in the cloud. This type of system further streamlines the process of sharing material between various departments and eliminates issues related to conflicting document versions.

Content agility describes publishers’ ability to respond to external demands for content by efficiently repurposing existing material. Regardless of the publishing date or year, publishers can easily access and release any content as brand-new.

Findability refers to publishers’ ability to access the most relevant content as quickly as possible. Metadata and content storage enable the “findability” factor for an enterprise to function correctly. Findability ensures that a searched clue yields the most appropriate results.

Automated collaboration allows geographically scattered people to work together on a common task, such as real-time editing of a document. This type of workflow enables faster content development on an enterprise level.

How Do Publishers Benefit?

Publishers win when their work is released faster, with the widest possible reach, and with a long lifespan. Digital transformation lets them meet these goals.

In an optimized workflow enterprise system, tasks outside content production can also benefit. For instance, sales and research teams can make informed and better business decisions by leveraging the best digital assets. Digital transformation also allows publishers to repurpose material by chunking it into modules, depending on the rights and licensing agreements. Additionally, metadata can help publishers optimize search capabilities so that it is easier to discover and use the content.

MPS Limited has years of expertise in digital transformation, which can empower publishers to be responsive to changing market demands. Have you transformed your content? Contact us to become future-ready.