traditional print
Even with the proliferation of new distribution models, most consumers continue
to receive much of their written information in traditional print form via
books and periodicals. And while publishers are exploring new electronic
models, they are also extending traditional print into multiple formats as they
repurpose content from one format to another. For example, periodical articles
are compiled by theme into a book series; chapters and other content are
compiled for new products; book content is sold not only to television and film
producers but also to video game companies and videophone providers. Author
contract models have continued to evolve to require flexible calculation
methods and recipient payment allocations, enhanced reporting and
audit-ability, excellence in author care, and much more. In addition,
publishers must track the multiple uses of content and their partner contracts
to ensure they correctly pay authors and partners for each use instance. Alliant
Royalties helps ensure that content use is tracked and stored in a
single knowledge repository to facilitate tracking and reporting processes.
online content
Publishing models are changing rapidly. Readers have more options than ever
before and traditional bookstore channels are saturated. To reach and retain
readers, content providers are using technology, particularly the Internet and
mobile devices, to distribute and sell their products. While eBooks still
represent a very small percentage of overall book sales, and Internet
initiatives are still emergent, publishers have told us they need to understand
the process flows and financial implications of these delivery models. Rights
and royalty calculations, and the associated licensing contracts, are more
complex with these new options and require software specific for revenue and
contract management. Alliant Royalties' powerful calculation engine is
driven by business rules to provide flexibility and control. Business rules can
be applied on an individual license basis, allowing for variation between
contracts and over time. Entirely unique methods of calculating royalties can
be efficiently implemented in a controlled fashion. Having operational
processes in place today will avoid getting left behind in the future.
Additionally, the Internet is a primary research tool for educational
institutions, libraries, businesses and individuals. Widely available content
requires precise use measurements for royalty calculation and reporting; these
measurements generally involve massive data volumes from disparate sources.
Acquisitions, mergers and ever-changing licensing partnerships can lead to
environments with dynamic data sources and data types. This information is
vital to managing author relationships and fulfilling contract obligations, but
is often challenging to manage. Alliant Royalties advanced data
integration facility enables large data volumes to be integrated and normalized
into a consistent format to allow for accurate payments and reporting. Having
an automated knowledge repository allows publishers to focus on important
strategic business rather than tactical assignments.
content aggregation
Traditionally, compiling information from various sources was time consuming and
results were incomplete. Today, Content Aggregators do the work. They compile
data from thousands of journals, books, imprints, and other content sources and
support this data with services. These services include: decision support,
document delivery, research, data retrieval to enterprise intranets, and
powerful search engines, to name a few. Some Aggregators serve specific
industries such as business, science, technology, or health. Others serve
general markets, such as news. Whatever the market, Aggregators must carefully
track their content sources and partner contracts. Given the high data volumes
and various measurement models (subscription, click through, article, product,
etc.) it is critical to an Aggregator's profitability to correctly pay for
content. Alliant Royalties can manage royalty complexities for very
high volumes and allows Aggregators to store historic information for accurate
analysis and reporting. Aggregators collect and manage information for others
and Alliant Royalties manages information for Aggregators.
RSS has over 10 years of experience in the publishing sector and understands the
needs of this dynamic market. We were the first product vendor to support
electronic content models and we continue to lead the market through continual
product development and industry expertise, enabling our customers to support
market-leading innovation. Several of the world's foremost content companies,
such as Houghton Mifflin and Thomson Corporation, use Alliant Royalties
to manage their robust knowledge repository, royalty, rights, and revenue
sharing calculations, and financial reporting needs. Our strength has been
proven in publishing proof of concept environments in which Alliant Royalties,
with no customer-specific configuration, has fulfilled over 90% of revenue
management requirements. This means greater savings over in house and legacy
systems and faster time to market.
The calculation, payout, accounting, and reporting of the money earned on any
single product can present significant challenges. Issues of territory, rates,
tiers, guarantees, and volumes, to name but a few, add further complexity. As a
result, companies have been clamoring for a flexible solution to meet this
challenge. REAL Software Systems has responded with the Alliant product
family to manage the critical royalty, rights and revenue sharing requirements
of Publishing and Information Services companies.
To learn more about how RSS can meet specific needs, please
e-mail or call us.
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