Case Study: UBM achieves faster digital publishing and major cost reductions with HCL's design-to-fulfillment platform

HCL Transforming Design-To-Fulfillment Media Operations For UBM

UBM, a global B2B media company, faced falling print ad revenues, slow content publishing from a print‑centric workflow, outdated web/CMS and ad‑serving platforms, and high operating costs from vertically organized production teams. HCL, which was already supporting UBM’s Alfresco/Drupal-based Web Content Management implementation, was engaged to help redesign the operating model and enable a move to a variable, transaction‑based cost structure.

HCL implemented a hosted editorial collaboration and First‑XML production workflow, an Ad Revenue & Circulation management system, and a hub‑and‑spoke delivery model (Chennai hub, U.S. onsite spokes), funded and delivered as a Platform‑as‑a‑Service with per‑page/per‑ad pricing. The program, run by HCL, consolidated print and digital production, improved speed‑to‑market, introduced transaction pricing and achieved a measurable ~30% reduction in media production costs while increasing process scalability and scheduling efficiency.

UBM