Cadgraf aligns with Anygraaf
The ‘graf’ ‘graaf’, both in common business may seem to be a natural
extension of activities. But it was not. Lot of research had gone into on both
sides before shaking hands for a fruitful business tie-up.
Anand Jeeth, director sales, Cadgraf; Sami Kauranen, head - international projects, Anygraaf;
Hannu Inberg, managing director, Anygraaf; A Elangovan, managing director, Cadgraf; and Andrew
Hunn, president - Anygraaf USA and International.
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Cadgraf has gone into a collaboration
with Anygraaf OY, Finland,
the total solution providers for
newspapers. How it happened, finds
out D Ramalingam (DR) of All About
Newspapers from a tete-e-tete with
A Elangovan (AE), managing director,
Cadgraf Digitals.
DR: A structural change in the operation
of Cadgraf Computers is seen. Can you
give an idea about it?
AE: Yes, we are Cadgraf Digitals now.
We have given up trading in hardware.
Being India’s largest and oldest total
solution providers for the press and
prepress sectors, our company’s activities
are vertically integrated to encompass
newspaper publishing, workflow systems,
colour management, registration correction for
presses, sophisticated training, print-to-digital
conversion and Indic Fonts. Over the last
25 years, Cadgraf has worked with many
Indian newspaper houses including the
likes of The Hindu, Anandabazar Patrika,
Daily Thanthi, Eenadu, Dinakaran, Hindustan
Times, Vasan Publications and Malayala
Manorama.
DR: You were known for digital solutions
for newspapers and magazines. Is it the
natural corollary to upgrade to Anygraaf?
“For editorial workflow, the most
important aspect is that editors do
have full control of the way the
article should look and feel for
each channel. They can change the
appearance, position and kind of
media assets (images, videos,
slide shows, etc) in the articles
quickly and easily. They can preview
the story as it would appear in
each channel, edit if necessary and
publish for print or digital from
a single application. Social media
is a big component of newspapers
strategy in the present day. Anygraaf
also assists to integrate directly with
the likes of Twitter and Facebook.”
–Anand Jeeth (AJ), director (sales), Cadgraf
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AE: To a certain extent you are right. In
the past few years consumers have started
consuming their content digitally through the
web, mobile phones, tablet apps and social
media in addition to print. Newspapers and
magazines have added new digital channels
to their operations. And they have been
using different platforms for publishing to
different channels. However with Anygraaf,
we found all of this a single platform
solution.
DR: How did you ultimately arrive at
Anygraaf and how it suited you? Please
elaborate upon this.
AE: Last year, I came across Anygraaf at
IFRA Amsterdam. I met them to know
more in detail about their solutions.
We started evaluating them as a single
editorial workflow solution to create and
publish content to print, digital and mobile
channels. However, we realised Anygraaf
is a lot more with integrated solutions
for page planning, advertisement booking
(classifieds and display), advertisement
sales CRM, automatic pagination, web
CMS, mobile/web applications, circulation
and distribution systems. Each of these
solutions are on the cutting edge and the
integration is seamless.
DR: There are also other areas like ad content,
pagination and revenue management for both
subscriptions and ads. What about these?
AE: Cadgraf has been evaluating many
products. But the first product that truly
integrated print and all digital channels
was Anygraaf. Neo by Anygraaf provides a
single, content-centric console for planning,
producing and sharing content across
channels including online, mobile, tablet,
social media and of course, print. Integrated
systems for edition & page planning,
editorial, ad booking and placement mean
that a new rollout can be done quickly and
cost effectively. We showed it to some of
the largest publishers in India – who say
that it has all the features of the top end
products while being more affordable.
DR: More affordable! How was it
worked out?
AE: Firstly, we have our own experts. That
way, engaging very expensive Anygraaf
experts in India is saved. And, we have
worked out with Anygraaf a special price
for our Indian customers. Three of our
managers are now in Finland for training
with Anygraaf. On return, they will train
our experts in different locations in India.
DR: Do you have a client opted for this
solution already?
AE: Yes, Dinamalar is Anygraaf's first
customer in India and is looking to
comprehensively transform their operations
in the next few months.
DR: What is the lead time for change over?
AE: Just for training the operators,
it is one month. But actual implementation
and customisation will take about
six months.
DR: How did the deal go through?
AE: It required a lot of research on both
sides to decide on the suitability of products
and also on collaboration. We enabled
Anygraaf to come here, travel to different
newspapers and decide on the marketability.
We needed each other. The deal was struck.
DR: Where does Digiscape stand with all
this development?
AE: Digiscape Gallery continues to be a
subsidiary of Cadgraf. All our core publishing
courses are now available online, manned
by dedicated online faculty, the candidates
learn 24x7 with their mobiles/tablets.
DR: How strong are you with manpower
and can you mention your annual turnover?
AE: Sure, we have 150 employees and we
ended 2014 with 2.1 m USD in revenue.