Pavilion is a leading communications and publishing company in the public, private and voluntary sectors. It specialises in professional development products for workers in health and social care, education and community safety.
Challenge – Having run Trilogy Publishing Manager for more than ten years, it was time for a refresh, especially following the acquisition of a new subscription-based publisher.
Solution -The new version of Trilogy Publishing Manager equipped Pavilion with improved data management and allowed smooth integration of the newly acquired subscription business.
Benefits – A complex upgrade and integration was completed with minimal disruption, creating a strong foundation for the next stage of Pavilion’s growth strategy.
It is the turn of the publishing sector to be plunged into turmoil by the impact of technology. Tablets like the iPad® and the Kindle have finally precipitated the long anticipated move away from paper.
As ever, the more canny industry leaders are embracing the publishing revolution as an opportunity rather than a threat. Among them is Pavilion, based in Brighton, East Sussex, which has been established as a leader in the fields of health, social care, education and community safety for 25 years.
Its publishing portfolio includes magazines, journals, books, training materials and directories. These are supported online with interactive websites, news services and e-learning. Pavilion also offers an extensive events portfolio, encompassing national and regional conferences, exhibitions, awards programmes, seminars and webinars.
The challenge – Pavilion’s business is adapting to keep pace with the expectations of its customers. As business moves online and users want eBooks and digital publications to browse on their mobile devices, Pavilion is blending electronic communications with its traditional printed publications and events.
Part of its growth strategy was the acquisition of Keyways Publishing based in Bosham, near Chichester, whose business was based primarily on a subscription model.
“We have run our business with Trilogy Publishing Manager for ten years.” says Graham Hoare, Customer Relations manager at Pavilion. “As our business model evolved, we decided the time had come for an upgrade to the latest version.”
“In particular, the challenge of integrating the third party subscription data meant adding new modules.”
“We knew the Trilogy solution would adapt to accommodate our new requirements. The difficult part would be managing the potential disruption.”
The solution – Two different interfaces and two very different database structures meant that the critical part of the project was the planning and design of the migration and integration. Two Trilogy consultants – one at the Brighton headquarters and one at the Bosham office – worked in tandem to map the databases onto the upgraded Trilogy platform.
“We originally chose Trilogy because the open architecture allowed us to adapt it to fit our business,” says Graham. “That flexibility really proved itself during this project.”
Trilogy Publishing Manager is a modular platform designed to give publishers great flexibility in the management and distribution of their titles. Based on Microsoft database standards, it can be adapted readily to support the particular needs of individual businesses.
Modules include Customer and Contact Management, Reporting and Business Intelligence, Stock and Inventory Management and Subscription and Continuity Sales.
Simon Gough, Technical Director for Trilogy, explains that the architecture of the platform has been heavily shaped by customer requirements. “The Pavilion project was typical of many of our installations,” he says, “because it called for a degree of bespoke development, particularly with regard to the integration of the subscription data.
“As the platform has evolved, we have introduced many of the bespoke functions we built for customers as standard features of the suite. For Pavilion, the upgrade brought in a wide range of capabilities that were not available when they first deployed Publishing Manager.”
The benefits – “Our first priority was to complete the upgrade and integration without major disruption,” says Graham. “The meticulous planning undertaken by Simon Gough and his team ensured that this goal was achieved.” The upgrade has also provided Pavilion with greater control over every aspect of its business, from marketing and promotional campaigns, to fulfilment and royalty payments.
“Scalability was a key concern for us,” says Graham, “and the modular architecture of the Trilogy platform gives a strong foundation for future growth. The ease with which we were able to integrate the Keyways data following the acquisition was testament to the flexibility of Trilogy Publishing Manager.”
The platform also makes provision for the integration of online publications and events as Pavilion integrates the web more fully into its business model. “eBooks, webinars and other web-based activities are already important revenue streams for us,” says Graham. “Trilogy allows us to manage these channels as easily as our conventional operations, through a single, familiar interface.”
Managing change successfully is one of the hallmarks of a sustainable business. Pavilion is negotiating the most profound technological shift in its industry since the invention of the printing press, embracing the new technology as an agent of opportunity.
“Trilogy is part of the fabric of our business,” concludes Graham. “The technology has delivered everything we’ve needed as the business has grown and the team has responded superbly to the challenge of managing the next stage of our evolution.”