Publishing Giant's Success Story

HarperCollins Publishing

HarperCollins Publishers is the world’s second-largest consumer book publisher. With publishing operations in 18 countries, 200 years of history, and more than 120 branded imprints worldwide, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year in 17 languages and has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, and the Man Booker Prize.

Challenge

HarperCollins faced a number of challenges common to large publishing organizations:

• Maintaining internal systems that were difficult to sustain and rapidly becoming obsolete
• Managing routing and approvals across multiple locations without a centralized content management system
  — Some divisions had schedules that were built and tracked manually, independent of the CMS.
  — Some content and metadata were delivered manually to retailers and channel partners.
• Managing multiple delivery formats, often relying on third-party vendors

In short, updating traditional systems and processes was necessary to meet the escalating demands of the market.

The RSuite Solution

HarperCollins needed an enterprise-class solution to simplify, centralize, and speed up processes…all in a high-volume, fast-paced production environment. HarperCollins selected RSuite and began to see improvements almost immediately. Carefully managing change together with the Contiem implementation team, HarperCollins began to simplify what had been dozens of steps in multiple systems into a few simple workflows centralized in one technology.

Furthermore, using industry-standard technologies and formats (such as XML) in user-friendly ways, RSuite allows HarperCollins to automate workflows and quickly deliver version-controlled content and metadata internally across multiple locations and to external partners. RSuite also allows for the production of multiple delivery formats from a single source at scale. RSuite’s centralization and automation give HarperCollins a significant resource for completing projects more efficiently and within budget.

Results

HarperCollins Publishers has been an RSuite customer since 2013. With 350+ RSuite users around the world, completing more than 3,000 workflows per month, HarperCollins relies on RSuite to manage and automate the production of book covers and interiors as well as eBooks, with the following benefits:

• Reduced time for print and digital composition
• Lower costs for external composition
• Greater control of content with improved quality
• Ability to use familiar tools such as Word and InDesign – but more effectively
• Shorter time-to-market eBooks earlier, faster, and with less cost
• Increased efficiency and lower cost through automated distribution
• Improved reprint and edition management
• Increased employee satisfaction