Guardians of the digital age

GNM’s headquarters were designed for the ease of working with digital technology

Few industries are being revolutionised by the internet as much as the national press, so it is no surprise that Guardian News & Media (GNM) technology director Andy Beale has made web development a priority to mitigate the effect of plummeting print advertising revenue.

The publisher’s new headquarters in London’s Kings Cross was designed for working in the digital age, with paper and online operations largely integrated. IT played a critical role in the process, which had been planned for two years.

Before the relocation in December 2008, a review of GNM’s entire operation was carried out and significant cost savings and cultural changes introduced.

“The move was an opportunity to change the way the business works,” said Beale. “Our new office is a lot more flexible and we wanted to build technology to match the new way of working.

“We have great ambitions in terms of editorial reach and revenue, so we need to constantly look at different ways to support that as cost-effectively as possible.”

Recent initiatives include server virtualisation, which is saving the group significant money in energy and maintenance costs alone, as well as the rollout of Google Apps (see below).

But the structural market shift from print to less expensive and more accountable online media will dictate most of the group’s IT agenda for 2009.

“The publishing business is facing incredible pressure and we are not immune to that, but we are looking to move a lot of our proceeds from traditional print revenue streams to digital,” said Beale.

“Having a fit-for-purpose web platform and providing the ad department with better tools to connect with their clients has allowed us to compete for digital ad revenue very effectively.”

Further improvements to an integrated advertising sales platform will be carried out as a priority, as well as simplification of the firm’s media inventory, expected to enhance processes for some 300 sales staff.

Online growth has resulted in the expansion of the publisher’s 140-strong IT team, despite the elimination of 11 roles in areas such as production support, due to the new automated setup.

The firm uses agile web development methodologies, and is looking at expanding its online infrastructure to cope with the predicted increase in traffic.

“Our web site is about to reach 30 million unique users and we are already planning for the next 30 million,” said Beale.

“We are looking at options such as Akamai to get content out into the cloud and scale up without increasing infrastructure costs. There are aspects of the software and computing-as-a-service model that make a lot of sense when you get to our scale.”

Finding a happy medium between supporting business growth and meeting financial targets will be Beale’s other main challenge.

“Managing in a recession is always about investing in our people and training them as we become increasingly digital-focused. That is a real challenge when you have such financial pressure,” he said.

“It is all about being creative and not losing touch with staff development, which can easily be lost in a one-track cost-cutting approach.”

The Guardian goes into the cloud

The use of Web 2.0 technologies is central to The Guardian’s plan to cope with challenging economic conditions.

The firm’s decision to ditch Microsoft Office in favour of Google Apps for a wide range of functions is part of a strategy that will also see the replacement of Lotus Notes by Google Mail before the end of the year.

“The reason that Web 2.0 tools, and in particular Google Apps, are so effective at improving efficiency is that they are inherently collaborative,” said technology director Andy Beale.

“Our decision to use Google was, in part, because it uses familiar models – email and office applications – but takes them in a different direction.”

Web-based tools also play an important role in the firm’s remote working policy. “Unless you take a flexible approach to your workforce, you are simply not going to compete effectively for the best talent,” said Beale.

Web presence features built into instant messaging application Google Talk are being used to manage The Guardian’s remote staff, said Beale, so workers can be supported more efficiently without the need for complex virtual private network systems.

The media firm worked with consultancy Ashridge to train staff for managing in a flexible environment.

“Companies that can move to adopt web technology for its workforce are going to be more attractive to candidates and that will continue to be an important factor during the recession,” said Beale.