Getting Back to “Business as Usual” – A Framework

The rate of change of technology in scholarly publishing was already increasing before a global pandemic forced organizations to adapt and innovate in unexpected ways. Today’s leaders are faced with balancing the maintenance of legacy aspects of a business, implementing new technology, and preparing for the application of new standards and initiatives, all while devising ways to reduce complexity. How do you assess new technology and incorporate it into your workflows? And how do you fully integrate the new assets and resources that have spun up as a result of COVID? This framework offers a way to approach these questions as we look to our post-pandemic organizations.

First: there’s no going back. Customer, employee, and market expectations and needs have changed. So have yours. Which means that further change is needed in the areas of budgets, knowledge sharing, integrations, relationships, strategy, sustainability, workplace dynamics, and more.

But first, take stock:

1. What did you do?

In 16-months, you made a lot of changes and quick decisions. What were they?

2. What do you want to do now?

What’s your new strategy? Long-term success often requires efficient, effective, and sustainable operations.

Ultimately, you’ll be in the best position if:

1. 1. You control your customers and data
   2. You control your brands and content
   3. You control demand generation and your traffic
   4. You’ve mapped out content and data flows
   5. You know your contracts and requirements

 

Organizations should ask:

Customers and data

• What data is captured and where?
• Who owns the data or relationship?
• What are the end user expectations or terms and conditions?

Brands and content

• How and where is your brand presented?
• What content is created and how and where is it stored?
• Who owns, has access, or has rights to the content or derivatives?

Demand and traffic

• Where are your products or solutions hosted?
• Do you own the domain or infrastructure?
• How is the content or data monetized?
• If changing your approach or strategy, what needs to be in place?

Content and data flows

• How does content or product data flow through your systems?
• How can you access or retrieve the data?
• How is the content or data structured and how can it be incorporated?

Contracts and requirements

• What are the terms of your customer, partner, or vendor agreements?
• What are your business or functional requirements?
• What do your stakeholders expect or need?

 

This all comes down to:

1. 1. Knowing what you did
   2. Knowing what you want to do
   3. Mapping out your customers, data, content, traffic, contracts, and requirements
   4. Making a plan

 

When making your plan:

1. 1. Have proactive conversations with your stakeholders and partners. We can help!
   2. Consider resource availability and sustainability
   3. Set measurable goals, check progress, consider tradeoffs

 

And remember: there is no business as usual.

 

Join us for the next event in the 2021 Platform Strategies Webinar Series on July 20, "How Unifying Your Data Expands Reach, Revenue, and Impact." Register here.