Are you an innovator, early adapter or do you prefer to wait a while?
This question is now more important than ever! Everyone is asked the utmost in this challenging time to be and remain successful. In addition to simply "working hard", this also means that you sometimes have to look at revenue models and processes that have been the same for years in a different, creative way. Is this innovation then?
Dries Hermans
Internal Project Manager at Crius Group
It doesn't always have to be complex
Last year's blog by Jurgen Willems distinguishes between innovation for the end user and for the service provider. As an account manager at Crius Group, I am much more occupied with the latter. Anyone who knows us a bit, has probably heard of our products Core, Casper and Alex. With this software we want to help you as a publisher to produce content smarter, cheaper and more flexible. But that's not all of course. These solutions require a completely different way of working and are accompanied by a considerable implementation process. These are strategic decisions for which you need to have the budget and you must be ready for as an organization.
But it can also be simpler. By making smaller interventions when creating your book or digital product, you can sometimes take surprisingly big steps. This may involve substantive changes such as working with structure or the use of approachable software . Another way can simply be outsourcing things for which you (temporarily) do not have sufficient capacity or the right competences. Sometimes these are isolated matters, but often they are a combination.
I imagine this might sound a bit abstract to you. Still, I am daily involved in helping publishers with issues such as:
- using InCopy, macros and templates to process manuscripts faster;
- converting books to digital formats, ranging from e-books to web applications;
- whether or not to temporarily take over activities such as editing or entering content into content management systems.
Innovation means something different for everyone
But in addition to the process side, it is also mainly about the way in which your reader is offered content. There are plenty of examples: digital learning platforms, e-books, online knowledge bases and of course the audiobook is an absolute must. In addition to the fact that it is no longer (only) the paper product, the revenue model is also completely different. Subscription forms, hybrid models (one price for both the folio and digital product) are just a few examples that are currently used.
Of course, innovation means something different for everyone and what matters most is what you achieve with it. A lower cost price, more flexible delivery or just being ready for the future, it's all possible. But it is now also a necessity to be able to respond to the changing landscape of sales channels and the way in which consumers want to use content.
Of course, there are also many obstacles that you have to overcome to make innovation possible. Budget is important, but if your organization - read: your employees - is not ready, it is impossible. And what about the business case? In other words, is it feasible or profitable in our small language area (Flanders - the Netherlands) to implement new products? And... if you have a good idea, how do you get this to the attention of your reader and how do you distinguish yourself from the big competitors who have more commercial power? These are all things that you have to think carefully about.
Anyway ... Innovation matters
But ... back to the question we started with. Are you an innovator and always pioneering in the field of technology or business models? Or are you an early adapter, do you follow everything closely and do you like to get in quickly?
Even if innovation is a far-from-my-bed show for you, there are still many angles from which you can view innovation. Under the theme Innovation matters, we discussed all aspects during one of our editions of Crius Update Live. We wanted to inspire you with stories about technology, business and the people who have to do it (for you)! Definitey check out the presentations of that day on our event page.