Newspaper & Mailroom
Schwäbische Post relies on alfa ContentLine
Monday 03. February 2020 - The Aalen-based publisher SDZ Druck und Medien has decided to produce its daily newspapers Schwäbische Post and Gmünder Tagespost with the new alfa ContentLine from now on. SDZ Druck und Medien and alfa Media have been working together since 1982. For the long-time user of alfa OpenMedia, the switch to alfa ContentLine paves the way for a digital realignment and enables mobile, platform-independent workstation concepts.
The Schwäbische Post is the largest daily newspaper in the Ostalbkreis. Together with its sister newspaper Gmünder Tagespost, it has a paid circulation of over 34,000 copies in the region. Its internet portals www.schwaebische-post.de and www.gmuender-tagespost.de are the most read information platforms in the Ostalb with over 3.5 million page impressions per month. Besides the leading media of the daily newspapers, SDZ Druck und Medien also successfully publishes the weekly newspapers Wochenpost and Gmünder Anzeiger as well as the business newspaper Wirtschaft Regional. Other magazines, official journals and customer magazines are also included in the publishing houses programme.
SDZ Druck und Medien focuses in particular on our content module alfa EditorialOrganiser. As an intelligent folder it holds together everything that belongs together. All common formats can be saved, edited in a media-neutral way and published in the desired channel with just a few clicks. In addition, alfa EditorialOrganiser has a wide range of planning tools developed in collaboration with editorial teams, enabling them to achieve an optimal editorial workflow.
With its EditorialOrganiser, alfa Media offers an enormously agile topic planning tool at your disposal, which also has a drag & drop function for content. For example, a planning table with a so-called “swim lane sorting” can be used for topic planning. This is used to provide an individual overview of time-based topic planning in regard to departments: e.g. “For which days/times are which topics planned in which departments? This also refers to the publication dates of topics in relation to channels, as well as publication dates of topics on pages. This also refers to the publication dates of topics in relation to channels, as well as publication dates of topics on pages. In this way, a quick overview of possible under- or over-allocation of a timeslot can be gained and then re-planned or rearranged within the planning table. Another advantage: the module is completely browser-based, no installation is necessary and the alfa EditorialOrganiser can be used flexibly from anywhere.
In addition, we are pleased that our cooperation partner HUP will implement with Sales & Distribution an integrated solution for the subscription and sales area, which enables sales success through optimal opt-in management to build an automatic and efficient process chain. The integrated CRM system includes campaign management so that business processes can be automated and intervention and optimisation is possible at any time.
United by both tradition and innovation, the alliance between alfa Media and SDZ Druck und Medien, which has grown over decades, will now enter the next round in 2020. Following the redefinition of the editorial strategy with consistently converted online first processes and the introduction of the reporter-editor model as well as an intensive and comprehensive software selection process, the contract just signed marks the start of the replacement of the OpenMedia series, which will culminate in the go-live of the ContentLine in the third quarter of 2020. “Naturally, this process of modernisation will be undertaken hand-in-hand,” says Jens Emmerich, Managing Director of alfa Media. “With our ContentLine, we are shifting the focus to content so that editors can concentrate fully on their core work – journalism”.
With this philosophy, alfa Media has found the ideal partner in SDZ Druck und Medien; because independent and well-researched journalism is one of the hallmarks of its publications for the Ostalbkreis. Local newspapers, as the mouthpiece of their respective regions, should and can be much more than just printed paper. That is why we at alfa Media are delighted to be part of this contribution that SDZ Druck und Medien makes every day and look forward to many more years of constructive cooperation.