Today, publishing is faced with the challenges of decreasing profits and fluid loyalties along with the daunting task of turning content into a global resource through digitization. This transformation can be geared through syncing the infrastructure with publishing value chain. A publisher tending towards digitization of the publishing value chain would have to completely revamp the way of carrying out the process: including XML-based authoring, digital asset integration, content conversion, multi-channel delivery, author-collaboration, online stored, federated repositories, metadata and digital rights management.
Implementing such a digitization involves not only Big Data but use of humongous memory. A global publishing house would have to make sure it consistently updates its technologies, strives for higher output and gradually expands its availability to other locations. Each of these changes will involve intricacies that have to be put together for creating complex-high performance-machine.
Thus, the publishing value chain has to undergo a critical evaluation of their present IT architecture. They have to become able to respond to the expanding storage, computer powers, delivery of content across devices and especially, the availability of support during peak timings.
The three major points of transformation for the publishing houses should be: content delivery networks, web support system and next-gen data centers. Setting up these points would ensure that you can establish access to the content anywhere-anytime encased in seamless experience.
Content Delivery Networks
Educational organizations are driving towards providing their students with highly engaging and interactive form of teaching, which involves the use of 3D, live video-streaming and high-definition graphics. These types of content must also be accessible through different devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops) that students have. This implies that publishing houses have to set up Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructures which work around the clock and are error-free.
When you design the CDN, make sure it has capacity to reach across geographical regions, along with data repositories which are continually updates to provide precise content. Keeping a ROI calculation would ensure that delivery quality is high.
Web Support Systems
Publishing houses form a spectrum of websites depending on the kind of business unit and subject they are dealing with. Slowly, such websites have become factories for producing revenue, since purchases are easy and smooth. Your publishing house should have high performance with strong security structure, ready to respond to high-loads. The support to users should be multi-faceted with the ability to reach you through live chat or instant call/message.
The members of your infrastructure should undergo regular health checkup. This will prevent misuse of the servers. Security and compliance should be updated in the payment gateways, accompanied by live transaction monitoring systems.
Next-Gen Data Circuits
Gartner reminds us that data centers have to walk along with the changing technology. For this reason, data centers reaching the age of 7 years are already obsolete.
Next-Gen Data Circuits (NGDC) could respond effectively to this need. Instead of being purely centered on content, they create a circuit where the users and their experience is primary. It takes into account future needs of the company. Server-virtualization and automated tools are a major part of NGDCs. The shift to next generation is completed by moving into a public or private cloud where costs can be managed better, accessibility can be improved and services can be delivered easily.
The ideal way to set up NGDC is to use physical servers along with public-private cloud servers where each layer is embedded with business apps. Many consider taking their content creation and market research applications to public cloud (like SunGard Online, Amazon Web Services and VMWare). However, since there is great competition in functionality and information is often sensitive, it is best to use a private cloud. You could send across finance and HR apps to public cloud.
Publishing houses can go a step ahead and create a utility for managing the cloud services. This will also promote accurate monitoring and management of the architecture.
Digitization is a huge opportunity for publishing houses to mold their futures by not only catering to authors better, but to become hubs for promoting engaging education as a global resource accessible to all. Publishing houses need to set up Content Delivery System that scales across devices and geography along, Next-Gen Data Circuits which are user-oriented and loaded with high performance as well as a robust support system. This will spell the leap to next stage of evolution within publishing.
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