Prepress
2007 – WoodWings year in review: Ready for the future
Tuesday 29. January 2008 - In 2007, WoodWing delivered on its promise to provide the products, support and development direction that publishers can rely on to meet the challenges they face. It was a year in which WoodWing confirmed its position as the leading supplier of editorial platforms for large publishing companies such as Time, Inc. and Axel Springer.
Also, there was no shortage of achievements – lots of new customers, product upgrades and innovations, and unprecedented growth.
However, WoodWings greatest accomplishment of 2007 had more to do with the future than the present…
“The publishing industry is literally changing by the day,” said WoodWing CEO Hans Janssen. “Weve always been successful at staying ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and product innovation, but I really think that we took that to a new level in 2007. We took a look at the future of publishing, at where this industry is heading, and we asked: How can we help our customers be successful in this new era?” The solution? Its called “Blended Media,” and WoodWing turned that concept into reality in 2007.
“Gone are the days when a publisher relied solely on the printed page to reach the audience,” said Erik Schut, President of WoodWing. “These days, a publisher has to tell a story in a variety of ways – print, Web, audio and video. Its an interactive, ever-changing process, and the most successful publications and companies will be the ones that take full advantage of it.”
To that end, WoodWing released version 5 of Smart Connection Enterprise, a greatly enhanced version of its powerful editorial solution. With the introduction of “Dossiers”, a solid foundation has been laid for a content-driven way of working, as all the elements of a single story (text, images, audio, video) can be bundled together easily. By years end, several publications had already started using version 5, and more are following. “This truly is the future of publishing,” Janssen said. “And we will be introducing even more innovation in 2008.”
With 2007 in the rear-view mirror, heres a look at some of WoodWings notable milestones from the past year.
People
To support the growth, WoodWing made important personnel additions. Hans Janssen, who had been serving as IT Director of Telegraaf Media Groep, came on board as WoodWings new CEO. WoodWing expanded its sales capacity with new regional sales directors, hired extra marketing, administrative, financial and support personnel,and added talented new software engineers to its development team.
Magazines
Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the U.S., joined the WoodWing family in 2007, using Smart Connection Enterprise for the production of Time Magazine, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, People and Money. Time, Inc. joined a line-up of WoodWing magazine customers that now includes Gruner + Jahr, Axel Springer, Mondadori, Hachette Filipacchi, Condi Editiori, and Ringier, among others. There are now literally millions of people around the world reading magazines that are powered by WoodWing. But lets not forget the numerous other magazines spread around the globe that became WoodWing customer in 2007. Amongst them the Viscion Media Group, WoodWings first customer in Singapore, which is one of the most competitive markets in the world.
Newspapers
During 2007, WoodWing gained market share in newspapers. A notable new customer is Express Newspapers in the UK, where the installation is about 700 seats for the Daily Express and Daily Star. Also interesting to note are the three newspaper startups on three different continents: De Pers in Europe, Kontan in Asia and Mi Diario in South America. Each time, the publisher selected WoodWing as its editorial system. In 2007, WoodWing installed its first newspaper solution for a customer in Russia.
Corporate and Specialty Publications
More corporate publishers are discovering the value of Smart Connection Enterprise for their in-house company publications. For example, HOCHTIEF AG, a German company, and the third-largest provider of construction services in the world, now has its publications powered by WoodWing. These include business reports, quarterly reports and environmental reports. Wellesley Information Services picked Enterprise for the magazines, technical journals, newsletters, books, special reports, training CDs, and other information products it publishes.
Product Innovation
The years product highlight was the release of version 5 of Smart Connection Enterprise, which includes support for Adobes CS3, as well as a host of new features. This version introduces WoodWings Blended Media, and will be increasingly important as WoodWing moves with the industry to multiple simultaneous publications. The enhanced Web Editor also deserves special mention. It delivers almost the same functionality through the web, as a stand-alone InCopy application.
Events
In 2007, WoodWing held its second Publishing Conference, which took place just outside Barcelona, Spain. A large crowd of industry professionals from around the globe gathered for three full days of product demonstrations, success stories and informative speeches all of which centered around the future of the publishing industry. At IfraExpo in Vienna, Austria, WoodWing showed its vision on the future of publishing with the introduction of the new blended media features in Smart Connection Enterprise 5. At the same time, Smart Newspapers, a complete newspaper solution was introduced.
Honors
WoodWing collected its share of honors and praise. One of the most noteworthy accomplishments: The company was selected by Deloitte Holland as a “Technology Fast 50 company”. The contest spotlighted the 50 companies in the Netherlands with the highest growth rate since 2002, and WoodWing finished in the top 25.