A-lehdet is one of Finland’s biggest and best known magazine publishers. The corporation publishes over 20 different magazines, which have been produced with WoodWing Studio since 2012. Their digital assets, such as images and PDF pages, are safely stored in WoodWing Assets DAM.
Jukka Leino works as IT specialist for A-lehdet. He tells us that the publisher produces all of their print magazines with WoodWing Studio.
“In a time span of over 10 years, work in the magazine industry has sped up. Now, we get orders to create a few issues of a new magazine in a very tight schedule. WoodWing Studio is well suited for high-speed projects, so the change of speed has not caused us any problems,” he states.
Browser-based and intuitive products
The magazine industry is not the only thing that has changed over the years. WoodWing products, especially Studio, have also evolved and become more powerful. Some of the most important new features are tied to cybersecurity.
“For us, one particularly useful feature in both Studio and Assets is the Azure AD authentication. It has helped us to better control access to our systems and resources,” Leino explains.
He also praises the robustness, intuitiveness and functionality of WoodWing products.
“Another thing I personally like is the browser-based user interface. My work is much easier when I don’t need to install the software on each workstation in the organization”, he remarks.
Integrations are the key to more efficient work
What streamlines the work in A-lehdet even more are integrations built between applications. With them, mundane and repetitive tasks have become automated. A-lehdet uses integrations to synchronize information between their WoodWing tools, but also to connect them with other systems.
The integration between Studio and Assets allows the two tools to work together seamlessly: all images in the publishing tool are links to files in the digital asset management system. This way, copies of the same files do not need to be saved in two different applications.
As mentioned, WoodWing products can also be integrated with other tools. To illustrate, A-lehdet uses a third-party plug-in to automatically remove background from images in Assets.
Leino also mentions that they use the Backup application created by Smartium.
“It’s a great addition to Assets! Now that restoring deleted files and versions is easy, we can grant users more rights in the system”, he says.
Smartium is there to solve any problems
Besides integrations, Smartium has also helped A-lehdet in other parts of their journey with WoodWing products.
“Samuli (Jokipaltio) from Smartium solves all of our problems related to Studio and Assets. We can be confident that we won’t be left hanging. On the contrary, we always get support quickly. Basically, everything works like a charm”, Leino declares.
Smartium’s network has also participated in helping A-lehdet. Particularly Smartium’s long-time partner, WoodWing guru Siebrand Mazeland, has provided the magazine publisher with tips and tricks in product installation and other technical matters.
With WoodWing products, the future can be multichannel
All in all, Leino states that WoodWing products are well suited for the processes at A-lehdet, which have been similar for years now. When we start to talk about the future, Leino brings up multichannel publishing.
“In the near future, we aim to start publishing our print and digital magazines with the same software. Our partners at Smartium and Aste Helsinki will be there to help us kickstart the project.”
In need of a straightforward multichannel publishing tool or an efficient way to manage your company’s files? Read more about WoodWing Studio or WoodWing Assets. Feel free to contact us if you want more information!
