Overview:
Rapid expansion had left Creamer Media's computer systems struggling to run the business effectively: the specialist mining and online publisher's mixed Mac and Windows network needed updating to handle growing numbers of subscribers. Daybook's fax, email, diary and workflow solutions helped Creamer Media meet these challenges.

Client Background:
Specialist publisher, Creamer Media boasts a wide range of published titles focused on the engineering and mining industries. Founded in South Africa in 1981, by Martin Creamer, the company began with its flag-ship title, Engineering News which is still the most successful industrial publication in South Africa. Over the intervening 25 years, the company has added other niche publications including Mining Weekly, Engineering News Online, Mining Weekly Online and Polity. Creamer also markets The Research Channel, an online business information resource which provides reports on key industrial sectors (including steel, electricity, defence and telecoms) as well as offering extensive intelligence on African mining activities for minerals such as gold, platinum, diamonds and copper.

The Challenge:
As Creamer Media's business has developed with new titles and a burgeoning online operation, it needed to streamline its activities and become more efficient. Since its earliest days, Creamer Media used Macs throughout the majority of its titles. Today, the company employs around 70 people and has expanded and developed its Apple environment, which is ideal for the creative and design work associated with magazine production. However, as with many publishing houses, the company has a mixed environment, where some staff (particularly in its back office and support functions) use Windows systems.

The mixed environment has created some integration issues for Creamer. The company's network connected around 140 items, most - but not all - were Apple based. This was further complicated by Creamer's extensive use of proprietary software for many functions, from magazine design to label production.

Streamlining its activities and eliminating its integration issues were central to Creamer's considerations when looking for a solution.

Given this scenario, simply managing the business had become a time consuming process: financial information took hours to produce and searching for specific records was a lengthy process. The company wide diary system was inefficient and as a result, was used only sporadically. Additionally, as the company's online business (both magazines and research) had expanded rapidly, mass emails were increasingly needed to simultaneously update all subscribers. Creamer also needed a fast, effective faxing system for communicating with its diverse readership. (Fax is still a vital communications tool for many companies in southern Africa).


The Solution:
As part of its research for a solution, Creamer started discussions with Daybook, one of the UK's leading software tools and applications providers, to assess whether the Enterprise suite of application modules could resolve these issues. The two companies had already worked together in 2003, when Creamer deployed the Modulus software to manage the increasingly complex subscriptions part of its business. The Modulus implementation streamlined Creamer's subscription function very effectively; enabling the company to manage and update around 70,000 constantly changing records. As a result, the magazines' readers received the title, according to the terms of their subscription. For Creamer, the system ensured that not only were its records correct, but that it enable the company to maximise its revenues, as subscriptions could be monitored far more effectively. During the intervening three years, the Modulus business was acquired by Daybook, who integrated its key features into its Enterprise suite of business application modules.

Charles Hayter, Creamer Media's General Manager of Production and Systems explained that the given the success of the previous installation, his company was keen to work with Daybook again: "We'd had a positive outcome with Modulus, so we were encouraged to go-ahead and upgrade to Daybook's Enterprise 6 suite."

In August 2005, the implementation began, with Daybook established remote access to Creamer's South African operation. This meant that Daybook's London based software engineers could access and work on Creamer's data without spending extended periods on site; dramatically reducing the time and cost of the implementation.

Once the Enterprise 6 financial and business management modules were implemented, Creamer noticed an immediate effect. Creamer Media also took advantage of Enterprise 6's customisation options to resolve its bulk emailing and fax issues. As a result of implementing Daybook's solution, Creamer now sends out 1000s emails overnight to its customers, updating them about their subscription. Additionally, the addition of the Fax Express module means that Creamer now sends multiple faxes to readers, customers, suppliers and partners throughout Southern Africa.

Charles Hayter added: "Installing various modules from Enterprise 6 has made a significant different to how we run our business: in particularly to our financial systems. A year ago, it took more than an hour before we could print off a debtors' list, now it takes less than 10 minutes - that makes a big difference when we're running these most days. Other aspects of the business are now much easier to use too; our company-wide diary management system is used far more than previously and its easier to see what's happening across the business as a whole".

The Future:
Now the new system is in place, Creamer is already discussing future development with Daybook. Hayter is keen to move the system forward to give customers more flexibility in how they do business with the publisher. Under discussion is a new online system which will enable customers to book their own advertisements. In addition to simply booking the advertisement's size, the proposed system would enable customers to agree its colour, position, design and eventually provide final approval. Hayter agrees that this is an ambitious project, but he's confident that it cost savings will benefit customers and Creamer Media alike, ensuring too, that the publisher stays well ahead of its competition.