Cambridge University Press Selects Percussion Software's Rhythmyx 5 Enterprise Content Management Software to Support Marketing Strategy

LONDON - 16 June 2004 - Cambridge University Press has selected Percussion Software's Rhythmyx 5, an enterprise content management (ECM) solution, to underpin its new Web site. It will use the Web site to more effectively promote its range of products, including academic and educational books, journals, examination papers and Bibles, to global audiences and drive awareness of Cambridge University's wide-ranging research and teaching activities worldwide. Rhythmyx will subsequently be rolled out to the organisation's intranet to improve information sharing and internal communications amongst employees in each business division.

Cambridge University Press is the publishing and printing house of Cambridge University and is committed to advancing knowledge, research, education and learning. It provides an integrated range of high-quality print and electronic services for the Press's own publishing business, Cambridge University and other educational and religious publishers worldwide. The Press is divided into publishing groups - Academic (Humanities and Social Sciences, Science Technology and Medicine and Journals), Education and English Language Teaching.

Marketing via the Internet has become a key component of the Press's communications strategy. Customers can purchase books from the Cambridge University Press's catalogue online, as well as access news, features, activities and sample materials. With increased consumer demand for Web-based communications, it became clear to Cambridge University Press that it needed a new enterprise content management system that would quickly and efficiently allow business users across the organisation to create and publish up-to-date information on its latest publications, news and research to online visitors.

Chris Boughton, technology director at Cambridge University Press explained, "For any successful publishing company, it is critical to communicate your products and messages clearly and effectively, and promote your products to as wide an audience as possible. Our Web site has evolved in recent years as a very important marketing tool, and our intranet is a mission-critical resource. It was essential that we select a content management system that would enable us to promote ourselves more effectively and market our publications and academic works to ensure we reached a broad international audience, as well as providing our internal users with a fast and content rich information repository."

Cambridge University Press decided to replace its existing content management system, which was proving too expensive, slow and complex to maintain to tie-in with the launch of its new Web site. In addition, it was too technical for business users to take ownership of content updates and edits. Managing this resource-intensive task was placing a strain on the information management team, resulting in content not being delivered quickly and efficiently to the Web site.

"To launch our new Web site, we required a more streamlined and efficient content management lifecycle, including workflow processes for content production and authorisation. A top priority for us was to devolve the responsibility for content authoring, edits and updates to the marketing divisions across the business and speed up the publishing process, whilst maintaining holistic branding. We required an open-standards, highly-flexibly content management system, which would be interoperable with our Java-based infrastructure. Strong multi-channel capabilities were also a priority so we could evolve our marketing strategy and roll out content through other innovative media and digital channels in the future," Boughton added.

Following a detailed market evaluation of several content management vendors, Cambridge University Press selected Percussion Software's Rhythmyx 5 enterprise content management solution because it most closely matched its business and technical requirements of functionality, capability and cost-effectiveness.

The main reasons for selecting Rhythmyx included:

Ease of Use– Cambridge University Press had been restricted by the slowness and complexity of its previous content management system. Rhythmyx is empowering the marketing departments at the Press to take ownership of content editing and publishing, without technical intervention. The system's dynamic workflow capabilities are optimising the content approval process, enabling faster and more efficient content production, authorisation and delivery.

Efficient Content Re-use– Rhythmyx's Active Assembly capability provides an intuitive, graphical, browser-based interface that will enable content authors at Cambridge University Press, with no knowledge of coding, to easily arrange content and adjust page layout.

Predictable Licensing Model for Multi-Channel Delivery– Rhythmyx's De-Coupled Delivery architecture, an industry-first capability, separates content production from delivery and is designed for cost-effective, multi-channel delivery environments. Cambridge University Press will be able to reuse content and publish to any number of delivery platforms, including its intranet, Web site and other channels in the future, without incurring additional costs.

Back Office Integration – Interoperability with its existing Java based architecture was an essential requirement for Cambridge University Press. Rhythmyx's open, standards-based architecture, using XML, XSL, Java and other industry standards, integrates easily with the Press's back office systems, and reduces the need to invest in IT training to re-skill staff.

"Through Rhythmyx we will be able to meet all our content management challenges. We now have a scalable solution in place that will enable us to market ourselves more effectively today, and fully exploit multi-channel marketing opportunities in the future. We have strengthened our ability to promote ourselves more effectively and are confident of raising the awareness of the works of Cambridge University Press," concluded Boughton.

Joseph Wykes, Percussion Software's managing director for European operations, commented, "Cambridge University Press has traditionally always been associated with high copy editorial standards, quality design and production values. Its Web site is at the heart of its marketing strategy and its selection of Rhythmyx will meet the enterprise content management challenges of ease of use, effective content reuse and multi-channel content delivery head on. With Rhythmyx in place, Cambridge University Press has a robust, flexible and scalable solution to promote itself effectively, and to ensure it remains in a leading position within the academic publishing world."