How Technology can solve issues in the Publishing Industry?

Publishing as an industry is a well fragmented and developed sector consisting of two subgroups, the traditional print media, and printing. The print media generally focuses on the needs of the customer, whereas the printing business primarily works on media which are physically produced.

Issues faced by the Publishing Industry
In the last few years, the publishing industry has been facing quite a few problems. The publishers face challenges in different forms. Some of the issues have been addressed:

• Monetization: Nowadays, people look for free content resulting in a decrease in printing. Due to the availability of content online, the importance of printed materials has reduced. This has invariably resulted in a decreased profit.

• Readers look for quick access: Today’s readers look for an immediate and easy source of knowledge and want to share it which cannot be done with printed materials.

• Looks matter: In spite of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, looks surely increases the attractiveness of a book. In the 20th century, the books generally ended up with photos of the authors.

Role of technology to solve the problems
In the late 15th century when William Caxton introduced the printing press in England, he must have not imagined how drastically technology would change the publishing industry in the time to come.

• The Role of Digital Technology: The resurgence of the publishing industry took place with the entry of digital technology. It is no longer limited to ink and paper. The industries are seen to publish different forms of work both in digital forms as well as in hard copies. Readers have rapidly got accustomed to reading e-books on their tablets and smartphones. Digital media and print media have started to work together.

• Revenue growth and recognition: The industrial leaders do keep in mind the change in the requirement of content. The revolution from print to digital media has changed the working of publishing houses and the need to cut down the cost is felt across the industry. As a result, it has become important that the business knows about the investments made and the revenue gathered. This will enable them to focus on profitable cases and scale down the non-profitable ones.

Revenue recognition is generally seen to be a very difficult and time-consuming process. So, an automated system can be implemented to overcome the challenges faced in revenue recognition. This invariably will result in better business.

• Optimization of the workforce: Manpower is an asset in every organization. However, it demands careful management. This evolving industry results in changes because of which, nowadays the quality of employee is chosen over quantity. The right strategy has to be used for workforce optimization. This can be done by using human capital management (HCM) system which can be used by every employee every day and it will keep all the records including changes in the organization.

• Customer Service: The management should keep an eye out with regards to the relationship of the publishers with potential customers. A customer relationship system (CSM) can be brought into action by using simple technology.