Interested in RSuite?

If you’re curious about RSuite but have never seen it in action, we invite you to join one of our bi-weekly webinars happening every other Tuesday at 10AM ET.  Our Director of Sales Engineering, Rob Smilowitz, provides an engaging 30-minute demo to highlight RSuite’s features and capabilities.

There’s no cost or commitment to attend, you simply register here, pick a date, and then show up.  It’s easy!

 

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After seeing the updated interview with Keith Lawrenz of SAGE, I just had to comment.  As an RSI Project Manager, I’ve seen first-hand the amazing results SAGE has achieved with RSuite:

• Processing and delivering 5 times as much content as 10 years ago, with almost no added staff
• Ingesting, validating, and delivering 140,000 items each month
• Managing and supporting 1.8 million journal articles, more than 10,000 books, and all the graphics for those books, using 3 different DTDs.

Yes, RSuite is a fantastic technology, but it takes more than good technology to get these types of results.  Here’s an inside look at what this exceptional organization does to get the most from its investment.

RETHINK

When conducting an upgrade project, it usually seems to make the most sense to migrate the old to the new and move on—making as few changes as possible and focusing on getting it done.

But that’s not how it works at SAGE.  They see an upgrade as an opportunity to re-envision workflows, to relentlessly pursue new and better ways to use the system.  The team at SAGE talks to the business, monitors key industry trends, and re-thinks everything.

As a result, SAGE is always ready for the next new initiative.  Here are a few recent examples, all empowered by the RSuite team and technology:

• Changing client-facing platforms with minimal effort, thereby saving more than $1,000,000
• Reusing content created for other purposes to generate new eBooks with zero manual intervention
• Launching a new revenue stream like SAGE video
• Packaging all the articles related to a single topic from all 1000 journals (summarized by journal and summarized by year) in less than an hour

PARTNER

It’s most common for IT to take the role of “customer,” always following and reacting to the product roadmap of the vendor.  However, SAGE views itself as a “partner” and works side-by-side with RSI at all times.  The RSuite team at SAGE has learned the system inside-out and stays active in the community.  SAGE wants RSI to be successful, so its people speak at our events, invite us to speak at their events, and travel across time zones to attend our annual user conference.

And they give us great quotes:

• "RSI and RSuite have grown with SAGE." (Keith Lawrenz)
• "RSuite has made some of our time-consuming and manual processes automated with an added layer of quality control." (Sal Hewavita)
• "RSI has been able to meet our changing needs over the last ten years. The staff at RSI listen, respond and work with us to successfully meet the needs of our business." (Tracey Ryan)
• "I like that RSuite workflows automate what I don’t have to do, RSuite UI allows me to efficiently accomplish what I cannot automate, and RSuite professional services helps me to know the difference." (John Cooper)

EMPOWER

Finally, SAGE sets itself apart in that team members are always empowered to make decisions. Teams work best when they are staffed by a small number of people who can represent the company’s needs. SAGE has dedicated IT staffers who bring a detailed knowledge of SAGE business needs and a thorough understanding of RSuite. That combination makes a project manager’s job very easy!

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SAGE accepts a plaque from RSI to commemorate 10 years as a client.
Back row, (l to r):  Barry Bealer (RSI), Keith Lawrenz (SAGE), Sal Hewavita (SAGE)
Front row:  John Cooper (SAGE) and Lisa Bos (RSI)

I always look forward to attending the Digital Book World Conference in New York each year.  Unlike some other events, DBW’s sessions are the focus – sessions filled with valuable insights on significant topics from a “who’s who” of industry speakers.  DBW also attracts an impressive group of attendees, so there’s no shortage of dynamic conversations to be had with some of the best minds in publishing.

This year’s program is all about “Smarter Book Publishing for a Digital World,” which is exactly what we do for our book publishing clients at RSI.  So I’m excited to get there and get started! 

Contact me at jwood@rsicms.com if you want to connect at the event and we can arrange a time to meet.

 

Audubon, Pa.— October 13, 2016—RSuite is celebrating a decade serving the global publishing community’s automation needs to meet the increasing demands of a multi-channel and multi-device world. With thousands of users around the globe, RSuite has provided the automation tools necessary to reduce time to publication by over 50%. Powered by MarkLogic, RSuite continues to evolve to meet the enterprise publishing needs of Fortune 1000 businesses, government organizations, non-profit associations and standards bodies. “When we launched RSuite over a decade ago, we knew we were at the forefront of something exciting,” stated Barry W. Bealer, President and CEO at RSI Content Solutions. “Today our success is measured in our client’s ability to completely transform their publishing environment by leveraging the enterprise class capabilities we have built in RSuite.” “RSuite has been a pioneering product in the enterprise publishing marketplace. Built on MarkLogic, RSuite has enabled customers to leverage the MarkLogic database platform to manage content at scale” stated Matt Turner, Chief Technology Officer, Media and Entertainment at MarkLogic. “We congratulate RSI Content Solutions for 10 years of success with RSuite and look forward to the next 10 years of working together and helping customers integrate data from silos and maximize the value of their content and data.”   About RSI Content Solutions For over 16 years, RSI Content Solutions has been at the forefront of implementing content management solutions for publishers, media companies, Fortune 1000 businesses, government organizations, and more. With headquarters outside Philadelphia, PA, USA, an engineering center of excellence in Chennai, India, and affiliate offices around the world, RSI has helped over 250 global organizations implement appropriate content management solutions. For more information, please visit www.rsicms.com. About RSuite® RSuite has been built specifically for organizations that need to publish to multiple channels and to serve as their centralized publishing solution. RSuite is optimized for the creation, management, repurposing and multi-format, multi-channel delivery of content by utilizing an enterprise‐strength of MarkLogic. In addition to its strong XML capabilities, RSuite manages any and all forms of digital assets (MS Word, PDF, images, audio, video, etc.) and all of its associated metadata. RSuite’s powerful and highly-configurable workflow engine allows customers to implement multiple workflows that incorporate both manual and automated tasks, such as transformations, packaging, delivery, and more. Customers are implementing RSuite to manage the end-to-end publishing process, from content creation through multi-channel, multi-format deliveries. For more information, please visit www.rsuitecms.com.

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in this year’s RSuite User Conference and Tech Day.  By all accounts, it was a raging success!

Quotes from This Year’s Event:

• “Your clients just like you so much…”
• “I found the user panels and case studies engaging and thought-provoking…”
• “Free headshots? Epically great idea…so much better than free swag!”
• “Leslie…You and your stable system….”
• “1.8 million docs exported in just a few hours…”
• “One-click eBooks!”
• “No click eBooks!”
• “RSuite automation helps reduce external composition costs by 80% while speeding production up by 2 weeks.”
• “Globalization through centralization…”
• “The number of people who have hearts in their eyes for @lisabos at #RSuiteUC16 is staggering.”

Special Thanks

A special thanks to our great panelists:

• Matt from StayWell
• Frans from Brill
• John from Slack / The Wyanoke Group
• Keith from SAGE
• Leslie from HarperCollins
• Colin from Oxford University Press

And also to our sponsors:

                                                                                            

Thanks again to everyone for making RSuiteUC16 so fantastic…we look forward to an even bigger and better event in 2017!

As we continue to prep for RSuiteUC16, I wanted to dedicate this post to 3 companies who are helping to make it all possible:  our sponsors.

PLATINUM SPONSOR

www.marklogic.com
@MarkLogic

For over a decade, organizations around the world have come to rely on MarkLogic to power their innovative information applications. As the world’s experts at integrating data from silos, MarkLogic’s operational and transactional Enterprise NoSQL database platform empowers our customers to build next generation applications on a unified, 360-degree view of their data. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, MarkLogic has offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Here's a short video by our CTO, Lisa Bos, about MarkLogic and our long-standing relationship with MarkLogic:

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GOLD SPONSOR

www.klopotek.com
@Klopotek_AG

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SILVER SPONSOR

www.xtm-intl.com
@xtmintl

XTM International develops XTM, an award-winning online TMS, available via the cloud or on your own servers. The centrally shared TM, terminology, workflow and translator workbench are all accessed via a browser. XTM is cost effective, easy to use, includes filters for all common file types and is built for collaboration. Our global customers range include some of the world’s largest LSPs and enterprises.

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Take a minute to visit these companies on the web and follow them on Twitter.  After that, make sure you register for the RSuite User Conference so you can meet these companies in person!

 

For those attending this month’s RSuite User Conference, I’m excited to announce one of the best perks:  free consulting!  And not free-consulting-only-if-you-happen-to-grab-the-right-person-at-the-right-time; you can actually get a private, one-on-one, face-to-face session with a knowledgeable RSuite engineer to talk about anything you want (at least from an RSuite perspective.)

If you’re looking for advice, have a feature request, need an answer to a question, etc., this is your chance!  You will find a sign-up sheet at the registration table when you check in that morning that will allow you to reserve your meeting time.

FAQs

1. When do these sessions happen? These “Ask an Engineer” meetings are available all day on Thursday, September 22^nd, as part of the RSuite User Conference (NOTE: no sessions will be held during Wednesday’s Tech Day event).  Registrants will have a variety of options available throughout the course of the day, some during breaks and others concurrently with RSUC group sessions.
2. How long do sessions last? Conversations are slated for 30 minutes.
3. Can I sign up ahead of time?   Sessions can only be scheduled the morning of the event.
4. Can I request a specific engineer?  Yes.  You will be able to choose an engineer and a meeting time based on availability.  Because we have a limited number of meeting times available, you should plan to arrive early.  Sessions will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

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I do a lot of research and reading on the topic of customer success.  As a result, quotes like these often find their way to a sticky-note, my computer desktop, or a post on Slack:

• “When the customer comes first, the customer will last.” (Robert Half)
  
  
• “What’s important is the progression from an organization that targets customers to extract value from a customer base to a fully customer-centric firm that excels at delivering value based on a deep understanding of customers’ needs, wants, and desires." (Robert G. Thompson)
  

• “Whatever your business is, talk to your customers and provide them with what they want. It makes sense.” (Bob Bowman)
  

Inspired by these quotes, one of the things I’m most excited about at the upcoming RSuite User Conference is our customer panels.  We have one panel to feature newer customers and another composed of veteran clients and I’m downright PUMPED about what I’m going to hear.

Of course, if you have some stake in RSuite, these sessions will be equally or perhaps even more valuable to you.  Below are 3 key reasons why YOU can get "stoked" about these customer panels, too.

Note: you may have noticed (as I did) that my quotes above were all by guys named “Robert.” Keeping in the spirit, I decided to organize my key takeaways below based on famous quotes by other guys named Robert!  So have some fun as you read and see how well you know these famous Roberts…

Two roads diverged…

Whether you’re ahead, behind, or on the same version of RSuite as the panelists, it won’t take long to see that no two clients use RSuite in the same way.  You can take advantage of this fact by getting this sneak peek into how these other organizations prioritize/incorporate new functionality and how they creatively solve many of the same challenges you face.  Attending these panels will give you an unprecedented opportunity to collect ideas and really understand how RSuite has made all the difference.

The best laid schemes…

Another common theme in every RSuite implementation is that enterprise software projects don’t always go exactly as planned…and that’s okay. These customer panels will show you, little Mouse, you are not alone! <grin> Whether you are still considering RSuite or are in your n^th phase of development, the experience of others in these panels can become your guide – giving you a huge advantage in your next project and helping you to create success more quickly.

Gotta whole lotta love…

Probably the best thing about these sessions is that you get to hear about real results and real NUMBERS and why these customers LOVE RSuite.  Baby, I’m not foolin’…this technology is making a huge difference for clients in tangible ways and these sessions will get you pumped about the possibilities.

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Join the RSI team and more than 100 publishing executives on Wednesday and Thursday, September 21st and 22nd.

The RSuite User Conference highlights include talks by RSI executives and product leaders, technical lightning rounds, and customer panels. Attendees will also have the ability to schedule one-on-one meetings with members of the RSuite engineering team. You'll have the opportunity to hear from both new and experienced RSuite customers, learn what their goals were when they first began using RSuite and learn what their successes look like today.

You can catch these sessions in the morning and afternoon.

Space is limited.

 

While preparing for my upcoming session at #RSuiteUC16, it struck me how much fun I’ve been having with technology lately.  While I’ve loved pushing RSuite CMS to new limits for a long time now (we started development way back in 2004), today we find ourselves in an exciting place.

We’ve reached a place with both the RSuite technology and our customers where we can really get serious about going beyond basics of content management.

Possible…and now practical

In the past, some features and functionality in CMS may have been possible, but they simply weren’t practical.  Customers were busy trying to establish direction, establish infrastructure, and change culture.  They didn’t have head space or time for more advanced functionality. And technology integrations and customizations were not always friendly.

As I look around today, everything has gotten easier.  The CMS user base (and management) today just seem to “get it” more; they know what they want to achieve and are far more adaptable to change.  At the same time, technology – RSuite and other software – has become increasingly “out of the box,” which is simplifying everything.   Projects are easier, empowering organizations to leap ahead to those cool new applications that can really change their business.

Future Glimpses

So that’s the backdrop for my session at #RSuiteUC16.  We’re going to get people excited about the possible and practical in a quick look at the future, including:

• Previews of functionality that has been recently completed or is coming soon, like
  • Out of the box workflow reporting
  • Easier ways for infrequent CMS users to access RSuite
  • Browser-based editors that users love
  • Content exploration driven by semantic metadata
• A sneak peek at our product roadmap, including improvements to scalability and security.
• An understanding of how we’re setting priorities (and how you can get involved).

Final Thoughts

If you have an interest in RSuite, I hope you’ll consider coming to our User Conference next month.  Whatever your level of technical expertise, we’ve got you covered. 

What’s really inspirational about events like ours is that they get you to lift your head up.  For at least a day, nobody is asking you to put out fires, so you get the precious freedom to actually think about the longer term and where your business is headed.  You also get to meet and learn from people like you at other organizations – and share your own lessons learned.

And we get to show you how RSuite can help… <grin>

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We've had a number of requests regarding the agenda for this year's RSuite Tech Day and User Conference in September.  I'm pleased to say the details have arrived!

Feel free to tweet this, post this, share this, email this, etc.  Most importantly, make sure you reigster to attend!