IBS Integrator facilitates digital book distribution at NDC/VBKCustomer Story Dutch publisher NDC/VBK’s search for an Enterprise Application Integration system to manage data came to end with the implementation of IBS Integrator, signifying a new chapter for the company. Using IBS Integrator as a building block, the company can adapt and develop its business more rapidly. “IBS Integrator provides so many possibilities, that we are able to use the solution for a number of other areas. Although currently being used in only our book-related operations, we see a host of opportunities to put it into action in our newspaper operations,” says Hans Oorthuis, who is responsible for the company’s software systems. Where the publications industry has generally been careful to take the plunge from traditional offerings to multi-media, development at NDC/VBK has taken place at lightning speed.
Purchases via the Internet are rapidly increasing, as is adaptation to multi-media within the newspaper section. Of vital importance is the management of the flow of data. “The expansion of e-publishing has resulted in ever more data being generated,” explains Oorthuis. “We wanted to be able to follow this information from application to application. Not only did we want this automated, but the data needed to be able to transfer seamlessly from one system to the next.”
NDC/VBK, as the name suggests, is the result of the merger of two firms, which created more difficulties in the form of a large number of disparate systems. There asides, vast amounts of external data are generated for deliveries and financial transactions. With the help of IBS Integrator, all of these systems are connected and the information processed effortlessly.
Digital distribution
The newest innovation for NDC/VBK is the offering of electronic books via the Internet – so called e-books, where customers receive their purchases in the form of a PDF document. “The popularity of e-books is steadily increasing,” adds Oorthuis. “It’s just not viable to manually transfer orders into another system. Costly and tedious, such work is also prone to a massive mistakes.”
IBS Integrator has been an important aid in collecting all elements of the process and connecting them: in the case of e-books this is both internal and externally generated data.
Orders need to be converted into different file formats – Excel, for instance – before being transferred to the publisher’s central warehouse, which is usually prone to error. This is especially true of various theme sites from which books can be ordered: a complex array of different systems, both internal and external, need to work in unison in order for the sites to be functional. IBS Integrator handles all of this with ease, allowing such sites as www.rouwboeken.nl to operate smoothly. With such a large range of possible theme sites, it is anticipated that this area of business will grow significantly in the next year.
High tempo
IBS and NDC/VBK are no strangers to one another, with IBS having previously supplied the company with a financial system. The decision to go with IBS Integrator reflects NDC/VBK’s increased tempo and a strengthening of their partnership with IBS. Hans Oorthuis was familiar with IBS Integrator and asked a group of colleagues to look into the solution a little closer. "I was convinced at the first meeting. My colleagues felt the same way and the choice was an easy one to make. Implementation of the system was relatively quick and, above all, allowed for a great deal of flexibility."
"Of course, there are costs associated with a new system, especially at the beginning. To assist us with getting things up and running, we negotiated to include the services of IBS consultants for a period of four days. However, up until now we’ve only needed one single day of help," continues Oorthuis.
Success
This year will see the most business-critical data being taken care of by IBS Integrator, with more being added during 2008. Already IBS Integrator is handling far than was originally intended. Says Oorthuis, ”We’re allowing the areas that the application looks after to expand, based on the success it has already demonstrated. Currently, the solution handles only our book operations, but we believe the system can also provide added value to our newspaper divisions.”
“With all the possibilities created by the EAI tool creates, we are looking into new options. For instance, we’d like to offer a self-service facility on the homepage of our newspaper. Although we’re not sure how this would work exactly, we are certain that IBS Integrator will play a major role in achieving this,” Oorthuis concludes.Ota yhteyttä, kerromme lisää » |
