1. Sustainable revenue growth
Keeping pace with changes in the ways people are demanding and consuming content is at the forefront of the minds of industry leaders and decision makers across the media and publishing industry. The move away from print towards digital media is changing how publishing houses generate and deliver content and the need to cut and control costs has never been more vital.
So it is vital that businesses in this sector can keep track of the investment made in each brand and revenue stream so as to identify and focus on those that are most profitable for further investment while scaling back on or eliminating the less profitable.
To make these sorts of accurate and timely decisions with confidence, a business needs to know that its underlying management reporting solution is robust, accurate and timely and delivers a true reflection of what is going on at any given moment in time.
2. Revenue recognition
The CFOs and FCs we talk to tell us frequently of the challenges they face when solving the problems associated with revenue recognition. Different streams of revenue are recognised in different ways. So for example subscriptions revenues can only be recognised when the product or service is delivered whereas advertising revenues fall due when the advert is published or broadcast while events and exhibitions are paid for on delivery of the event.
Many businesses, both small and large, still find themselves having to manage these variations in a very time consuming and inefficient way; typically relying on Excel spreadsheets to solve the problem. This error prone approach can leave the organisation vulnerable to reporting inconsistencies in their accounts as well as suffering from inaccuracies across key information. The consequences of such inaccuracy and misstating/misrepresentation of accounts can be far reaching and can even threaten the survival of a business. So it is a serious matter which requires attention.
By implementing an automated, rules based revenue recognition process these challenges can be overcome. In selecting a solution with an open architecture an organisation can build and define its own business logic and rules and seamlessly integrate it with its content and delivery systems. As a result the business will benefit from a single version of the truth with data from all its key solutions being held in just the one place. This approach improves accuracy in reporting and analysis through the removal of the need for any rekeying of data between different systems into Excel as well as the need for manual calculations which are where errors proliferate.
3. Digital disruption
The digital era is inescapable and media and publishing businesses are seeing digital revenue streams surpassing traditional print revenues. As a result and in order to survive and build a business model for the future, businesses need to respond and transform the ways they do business and deliver content in the digital era. It’s all about embracing change, capitalising on opportunities to restructure, reorganise and recalibrate their businesses. Focus on the profitable and divest those less profitable business areas or operations. And the key to success is to make such change happen without having significant disruption and cost. Technology is the enabler in this digital landscape and businesses need not feel handcuffed to the older, more traditional systems to facilitate these essential changes at a crippling and often prohibitive cost. There is a choice and we are seeing increased demand for solutions that are agile and responsive to change and allow complex system changes to be made quickly, cost effectively, at any stage of a project lifecycle and with minimal disruption.
4. Workforce optimisation
People are undoubtedly an organisation’s most valuable asset but they also represent a significant overhead which needs careful management.
The media and publishing industries are by definition people centric where each and every employee is responsible for the value it creates for customers and stakeholders. But it’s a rapidly evolving sector where change is frequent and can be marked. As a result the skills expected in staff flex and change rapidly which also makes individuals highly marketable and sought after. So having a clear strategy in place that helps with the optimisation of the workforce is key but the challenge is to increase staff productivity while also enhancing the attractiveness of the workplace to reduce staff churn rates.
With any workforce optimisation strategy a solid platform needs to be in place to allow a business to understand its workforce precisely in terms of what they do and the value they create. Ensuring the right number of employees are in place, equipped with the right skills and at the right time is a critical.
– A human capital management (HCM) solution can provide comprehensive support for all aspects of the organisation’s hire-to-retire cycle and payroll processes. Designed to be accessible and intuitive for everyday users, it should empower people- and service-focussed organisations, ensuring that they can make all the on-going updates and adjustments themselves, to tailor their systems to their organisation’s specific requirements and processes and to keep them in step with business changes.
5. Cost and efficiency
Although we are seeing signs of an on-going economic recovery, a focus on the need to reduce cost and be more efficient remains across the media and publishing sector. Printed media distribution is in free fall, advertising choice and therefore value is under pressure and the competition for audience is greater than ever. Having undertaken essential cost saving programmes, management must still keep a close eye on every aspect of outgoings to maintain the equilibrium.
ERP plays a vital role in this monitoring process, and used correctly aids performance management across all functional areas of a business, highlighting areas of success as well as concern. But we are seeing a move away from the more traditional ERP platforms as businesses seek more cost effective, flexible and responsive solutions, i.e. solutions that can adapt and change as a business does. Increasingly businesses are looking for a breadth of functionality to meet their business and finance information needs but without the price tag associated with implementing and upgrading some of the traditional, heavyweight vendor solutions like SAP and Oracle.
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