I spent the last several weeks interviewing companies for the next edition of my third annual Publishing Technology report and it was interesting to hear similar themes on their business outlook, staffing challenges and the impact of COVID-19.
My report won’t be published until late summer, but here’s a sampling of what technologists and CEOs are telling me about their products and the market...
The Band Played On: I interviewed more than 25 companies and virtually all of them had the same story: As we entered the shutdown in March 2020, business slowed down for a quarter but then began to pick up to almost normal levels by the end of the summer. Technology projects already underway were slowed or delayed as companies established work from home, but then resumed quickly. RFP processes and project kick-offs were also put off but companies did not see many outright project cancellations. As we near the middle of 2021, the companies I spoke to are experiencing strong sales and project activity, and companies said 2020 was one of their best years ever. The belief that COVID-19 would negatively impact 2021 seems to be exaggerated.
More and More Content: As companies rushed to launch online customer experiences they also - either by design or necessity – created new content. At first many businesses created this content as a stop gap organized to maintain contact with customers but, over time, most are recognizing that podcasts, webinars, interviews and educational materials are valuable new initiatives to be maintained. In many instances these new ‘publishing’ activities will continue as COVID recedes, adding to the toolkit publishers use to engage their customers. My interviewees saw this trend reflected in the requests they received from customers to make this new content readily available to consumers on their platforms.
Of particular note were associations, which in the past had relied on in-person meetings, seminars and conferences for educational and accreditation purposes, now realizing the long-lasting value of materials created to bridge the gap created by COVID.
A Bigger Audience: Most of the membership organizations supported by the technology companies I spoke to also noted that the replacement of in-person annual conferences with fully on-line versions broadened their market. Many online association conferences saw participation outside the US explode. We expect this change to stick and, in the future, more content and programming may be created specifically for non-US markets.
Everyone is Doing More: Across the board, the tech firms I spoke with were amazed at the performance of their staffs last year - not only in stepping up and adapting, but also in the sheer amount of work completed. Staff productivity increases were common across this group and some companies even mentioned that managers needed to step in and encourage staff to have good work/life balance. Few companies mentioned a need to downsize during the past 18 months and were bullish on staffing needs as we go ‘back to normal.’
Going Back Will be Hard and Easy: Surprisingly though, there is no consistency among these companies on an approach once offices open up fully. In Germany, all staff will be back in the office. In the UK, no one is sure what will happen. In the US, companies predict a slow ramp up but will also allow staff to remain in their work-from-home state as long as they like. Clearly, more formal policies will be enacted as time goes on and it is more than likely that more flexible arrangements for both employee and employer will emerge with a new ‘employee compacts’ created over time. Many of the software businesses in the publishing technology segment are small with low capitalization; employees are their biggest expense so if they can create new employment models for employees while saving on office space – all while maintaining productivity – then they will likely do so.
COVID has produced a new trust model between employee and employer to the benefit of both. In software development in particular, this flexible work-from-home/work-in-the-office model will become commonplace. Employees will be required to come in to the office occasionally for collaboration and team building but new on-line facilitation tools will also emerge over time to minimize this. Most managers were unconcerned about how staffing would work as COVID receded.
Finally, some companies noted they now had new hiring options post COVID. Where once they forbade work from home (thereby segmenting their hiring pool) or imposed geographic restrictions (often due to tax reasons), COVID quickly forced the elimination of many restrictions and opened up hiring practices for many.
My report, A Market Survey of ERP and CMS Software Solutions for Publishing Companies, is now in its third edition and will be published in late summer. The second edition is available here and, if you purchase the 2020 version now, I will provide the 2021 version free of charge.
Michael Cairns is a business strategy consultant and executive. He can be reached at michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com or (908) 938 4889 for project work or executive roles.
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