OUTSOURCING EDITORIAL TASKS IMPROVES BOTTOM LINE AND YIELDS TOP QUALITY CONTENT FOR PUBLISHERS

["Muzyka, Carolyn" <CMuzyka@innodata-isogen.com>]

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Anne Steinberg or Greg Jones

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OUTSOURCING EDITORIAL TASKS IMPROVES BOTTOM LINE AND YIELDS TOP QUALITY CONTENT FOR PUBLISHERS

 

n      Subject Matter Expertise Critical in Selecting Editorial Outsourcing Partner

n      Tips for Choosing the Right Outsourcing Partner

 

While many commercial publishers have experienced a 40 to 70 percent cut in costs by outsourcing editorial tasks, some could be missing an opportunity to dramatically increase the quality of their content.  According to experts at Innodata Isogen, choosing an editorial outsourcing partner requires more than just an ability to dramatically reduce costs, but a competent, highly skilled workforce that can ease the transfer of knowledge.

 

"The publishers we work with have found real value by outsourcing routine tasks such as copy editing, abstracting and indexing.  However, our intrinsic value is the ability to provide them with access to resources or expertise that are not available on-staff," said Jan Palmen, vice president of sales engineering at Innodata Isogen, a provider of outsourced editorial services to commercial publishers such as financial, legal and scientific journals.  "One of the most interesting aspects of our overseas expertise is that in some Asian countries, like the Philippines, providing editorial support is viewed as a prestigious position for the many practicing and accredited physicians, lawyers and financial experts we employ."

 

A recent Innodata Isogen survey of more than 100 publishing professionals indicates strong industry interest in editorial outsourcing as a flexible method of acquiring experience and expertise. Publishers overwhelmingly responded that content and knowledge are at the heart of their operations.  Of those publishers looking to implement outsourcing throughout the content supply chain, 44 percent said they were somewhat likely to outsource their knowledge management system.  Further, 54 percent said they were somewhat likely to outsource knowledge creation by outside workers; and, 56 percent said they were somewhat likely to outsource creation of some or all of the knowledge supply chain.

 

However, while many publishers are interested in exploring outsourcing, many have not fully integrated outsourcing into editorial workflow functions, which can yield substantial cost savings. The majority of publishers responded that outsourcing can provide access to knowledge not available within the company. Nearly three-quarters of publishers said outsourcing can be an important tool in adding experience and expertise on an as-needed basis. Additionally, 75.5 percent of publishers responded that outsourcing can also be an important contributor to reducing expenses.

 

Palmen cautions that outsourcing editorial services is not a cure-all and must be approached with care.   Selecting the wrong outsourcing partner may result in cost overruns and missed deadlines.  Following are some tips in choosing the right editorial outsourcing partner:

 

•           Find a partner who shares your commitment to deliver quality.  Editorial quality is subjective at best, and if they aren’t willing to invest the time to get it right, it will never work.

 

•           Look for a partner that has the expertise and patience to help your editorial staff overcome their reluctance to sharing knowledge.

 

•           A company capable of building the tools and business processes to deliver a quality product and validate the success of their efforts

 

•           A company with an effective recruitment and training system.

 

•           A company that can scale rapidly and effectively to meet new client demands

 

•           A company with a solid management team and change management expertise that can integrate the external resources into the workflow as efficiently and swiftly as possible, with a minimal disruption on other ongoing activities.

 

To help publishers evaluate potential editorial outsourcing partners, Innodata Isogen has developed a comprehensive white paper that is available at http://www.innodata-isogen.com/resources/editorial_services?dref=OASIS, along with an informational webinar series outlining the benefits and issues of editorial outsourcing.

 

About Innodata Isogen

 

Innodata Isogen (www.innodata-isogen.com) provides business services that help organizations create, manage, use and distribute information more effectively and economically.  Innodata Isogen provides outsourced content services and content-related information technology (IT) professional services. 

 

Innodata Isogen is headquartered in Hackensack, New Jersey, just outside of New York City.  It has two additional solution centers in North America, seven production facilities in Asia (the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka) and a technology and tools development center in India.

 

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