MySource Matrix Section Name

Future Publishing

Open Source:  The Future of Online Publishing

Download the Future Publishing case study .pdf

Future delivers new sites with new levels of speed, flexibility and control with MySource Matrix

In October 2004, Future appointed Squiz, one of the world's leading open source Content Management System (CMS) developers, to help build its next generation publishing platform for the web.  Having chosen not to adopt a commercial system, six months on and two live web sites later, Future is set to capitalise on a variety of benefits brought about by an open source development path – including enhanced speed of development, reduced costs and greater system control.....

The Company...

Since launching in 1985, Future has created an international portfolio of specialist interest magazines through its ability to exploit niche readership markets at speed.  Future's stable of over 120 magazines worldwide generates a turnover of over £190 million a year.   Future's strategy is simple, yet effective.  It builds its business by creating premium-priced, high-quality magazines that are clearly targeted at specialist sectors.  As Julie Stuckes, Head of New Media Operations at Future says:  "People who have a passion are demanding. They have less time, but demand more choice. This creates a problem for broad-based media - but many, many dynamic opportunities for Future."

The challenge – reduce complexity and enhance speed, flexibility and control...

“We're expanding quickly so we needed a CMS that could give us three things:  speed, flexibility and control."  Avi Adadi, IT Director, Future

Aside from its print media interests, Future publishes over 30 magazine web sites for a broad range of interest groups - from games enthusiasts to gadget freaks.  In October 2004, Future took the strategic decision to overhaul its technology infrastructure to improve the publishing process behind each of these sites, and to build a platform that could take it forward into new markets at speed.

As Stuckes explains:  "Having built our existing web portfolio on a 'home grown,' Microsoft-based platform some years back, we were keen to find a less complex and more cost-effective way to move a large number of current titles online quickly, and with a base level of functionality that could be extensible for new titles further down the line."  As leader of the project, Stuckes turned to Future's IT Director Avi Adadi, who had already evaluated some content Management Systems (CMS) as part of the new development process. 

The solution – open source software...and MySource Matrix

“It was critical that the ability to develop stayed in house for the long term.....so we made a choice not to tie ourselves to a vendor that would take it away with them when the project was over."  Julie Stuckes, Head of New Media Operations, Future

They quickly landed on the idea of open source software.  “We knew that we were specifying something for the long term, and that the project was going to be time- and resource-intensive,” said Stuckes.  “At the end of the day, we decided we wanted to control and own the projects beyond launch, for the benefit of Future.  It was critical that the ability to develop stayed with us for the long term.....so we made a choice not to tie ourselves to a vendor that would take it away with them when the project was over."

"With the open source model we also knew that we could build on the speed and flexibility of the development process.  We have a great technology team at Future who know our business better than any partner could, and working with an open source system allowed them to get under the bonnet of the software, contribute fully to the process and to reach their goals quicker."

When it came to selecting the right open source CMS platform, Future chose MySource Matrix.  Unlike traditional open source solutions, MySource is developed and maintained by a commercial company, Squiz.  Since 1998, Squiz has grown to become a global company with offices in Sydney and London, and MySource has become one of the world's leading open source CMS platforms, in use in hundreds of market-leading organisations across the world - such as Mark Warner Holidays, Oxford University, Amnesty International and The Australian Federal Government.  

MySource Matrix gave Future a stable platform upon which to base its development.  Unlike a community-developed CMS, it provides the backing of a professional services team to those who need it and a deep reserve of support functions - ranging from extensive system documentation, to 24x7 online forums and access to Squiz people.

The Squiz approach – 'win-win'...!

Steve Morgan, Director of Squiz UK describes how the project grew:  "We already knew that Future had a good handle on MySource because they were able to download and test it for free, so when we first met our job was to help them specify their solution.  The first thing we did was to book a flight to the UK for our head developer from Sydney, and to get him and our local development team to spend some time with Future at their headquarters in Bath."

Squiz took an “Extreme Programming” approach to this initial consultation period.  Its development team sat side by side with Future's stakeholders and created a detailed project specification that matched development requirements with an understanding of the resources needed and an overview of the complexity and cost of each stage. They then created a web site that enabled the Future team to review each element of the specification in detail before committing it to their final plan.  Since Squiz had not yet been selected at Future's development partner for the solution, this deliverable was something that Future owned and could take elsewhere.

"After the initial consultation, we decided to go with Squiz because they shared our development vision," said Stuckes. "From the start they took a collaborative approach and saw the work that we would do together as a 'win-win,' because ultimately we'd contribute back into the development of MySource in a tangible way."

The reality – high volume sites in under three weeks and a lot of control...

“With the underlying system built, Future is now tapping into a network of other commercial organisations who are also using the MySource CMS - which means that speed to market for new CMS features and functionality is improved drastically ."  Steve Morgan, Director, Squiz UK

In March 2005, just six months later, Future was able to launch two of its leading titles, Compuer Arts and T3, onto the web on the MySource platform.  This experience has provided them with what Stuckes describes as an extensible "template" that will allow Future to introduce additional new sites in under a three week timescale.  And, it's this level of flexibility and speed that's critical to the ongoing success of Future - a necessity that was underlined just one month later when Future announced its potential acquisition of 38 magazines from Highbury House Communications. Future now has the scalable capabilities to enable them to develop and migrate these new titles to MySource if required.

Looking ahead, Stuckes aims to deliver a total of 29 sites to the web on the MySource platform before the end of 2005, which will enable them to realise the real cost value of an open source implementation. Unlike a commercial CMS, Future's MySource platform will not carry incremental license costs as the system grows.  Because it is licensed under an open source scheme, Future owns the solution and will not need to pay additional costs as new users or new servers are added to the infrastructure.

In addition, Future stands to benefit further from the development efforts of the wider MySource community.  As Morgan explains, this is one of the key benefits for commercial organisations like Future where speed and cost of development are important:  "With the underlying system built, Future is now tapping into a network of other commercial organisations who are also using the MySource CMS - which means that time to market for new CMS features and functionality is improved drastically.  As soon as a new feature is introduced by the community, we are able to implement it on our client's systems."

Importantly, from Future's point of view, this means that they are in control of the development of the CMS.  Working with Squiz and the wider MySource community, they have already been able to introduce new developments into the core CMS at a very low cost.  For example, as part of the system build, Future - with the help of Squiz and a number of other MySource clients that had the same development requirement - was able to co-fund and co-develop the translation and localisation of MySource's content editing interface, which will allow staff in its international offices to get up to speed faster with the new system.  And as a result, Squiz is now able to introduce this new development into upcoming releases of the basic product.  The 'win-win' effect of this shared development model is to make product development happen quickly and cost-effectively, in a way that until now has been unthinkable in the world of commercial software.

The future for Future – open source...

Aside from concentrating on web site launches before the end of the year, Stuckes in now focusing on helping Future to develop an on-line user database (CRM system) that - amongst other things - will enable them to develop better, more profitable relationships with web site users.  And, although it is in its early planning stages, Stuckes has already recruited Squiz to help build the project's specification.  Another MySource solution in the making?  "Maybe," says Stuckes.  "Future's future is open source."