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RESEARCH n A b s t r a c t n Realization of Internet Services in a a m s The Internet offers a new channel for l e t Media Company – the Case of distribution of content and provision of r e B new services to media companies. Med- , t e Bertelsmann Professional ia companies are adopting this. In- n r e depth analysis of products, processes t n I Information and Information Technology infrastruc- , y n ture in the companies is still missing. a p The aim of this paper is to discuss this m o THOMAS HESS question based on the case of Bertels- c a i d mann Professional Information. Bertels- e m mann Professional Information : s d developed new Internet services from r o 1996 to 1997. As one of the results of w y e this study, several new topics for re- K search have been identified: opportu- nities and restrictions of automation of selection and packaging of content, INTRODUCTION than at home. Because the PC is an organization of data flow while using established and well-known front end different target media and outsourcing Products of the media industry can be in the office environment, there is no of information technology functions in digitized completely, ie digitally pro- need for a change in media consump- a media company. cessed and distributed. Therefore, en- tion habits among target customers. terprises in the media industry depend Therefore, a publisher of professional on innovations in information tech- information has been selected as an nology more than most other example for this case study. BPI is branches. The CD was the first digital one of the leading publishers in this medium for information and enter- area in Germany and the whole Ber- tainment purposes. The CD facilitated telsmann group shows a strong en- multimedia presentation of content. gagement in applying multimedia But potential uses of CDs are re- technology as well. stricted. Certainly, the Internet offers The case study is based on a partly more options. In addition to proces- structured interview in July 1998. sing content digitally, the Internet Among the participants were Dr Ul- provides digital distribution. Technical rich Vest (at this time chief control- restrictions remain today only in the ling officer of BPI) as well as Jochen distribution of video sequences. Broad Ade and Sabine Hoch from the Elec- g Downloaded By: [German National Licence 2007] At: 14:39 11 March 2010 research has been undertaken to inves- tronic Publishing Team of BPI. The r o . s tigate the Internet activities of media interview was structured in four parts: t e k companies (Hars 1999; Hess 1999). course of the project, scope of the r a In-depth analysis is still missing. Internet services being offered (con- m c i s n t This paper aims at filling this gap, tent services, communication services o e r k t r c using Bertelsmann Professional Infor- and transactional services), provision a e l e M mation (BPI) as an example. BPI of the services (development of for- A u t h o r . c w i n developed new Internet services from mats and bringing in specific con- Dr Thomas Hess (thess@uni- w o w r t goettingen.de) is head of the media . 1996 to 1997. First the background tent), and technical infrastructure. c 3 e 8 l research group at Goettingen Business 2 is described. BPI’s project and its The participants knew the structure of E – 9 School, Germany. He holds a Master’s 8 results are discussed. Conclusions are the interview before the interview 9 7 2 Degree in Information Systems from 9 1 : presented at the end. itself took place. They have approved ) 4 & the Technical University of Darmstadt, ( The Internet offers an opportunity the resulting case study. t 9 Germany, and a PhD in Business h g e to provide up-to-date content, indivi- i r m Administration from the University of y u p dualized and in an interactive way. l o St Gallen, Switzerland. Dr Hess’s o Therefore, professional information BACKGROUND research interests include new media, C V seems to be well suited for Internet- planning and control of inter-firm based distribution. As well, online BPI is a publisher of professional networks and business process access is still more common at work information and a provider of infor- management. mation services, serving specific mar- details. Up to then, there had been tional services. Content services pro- ket areas. The activities concentrate no common project of that size with- vide information and entertainment in on building/environment, entertain- in BPI group. the classical way without communica- ment, health, transport and business/ The common platform was avail- tion. Communication services support science. Until the end of 1997, direct able in July 1996, resulting from prior synchronous and asynchronous com- marketing was also part of the BPI. detailed analysis of requirements, munications among groups and indi- Currently, there are about 50 profit identification of common components viduals like news groups and chat centres with approximately 2,000 em- as well as design and implementation. rooms. Transactional services offer ployees. Well-known labels are Ga- Based on this platform, Internet ser- tools for transactions like selling a bler, Vieweg, and Heinrich as well as vices were developed and introduced: book. A¨rzte Zeitung and Musik Woche. Building/environment in November For the purpose of this study it is BPI’s regional focus is Germany, but 1996, transport in February 1997, necessary to distinguish between dif- there are activities in nine other coun- direct marketing (which was still a ferent kinds of content services. Re- tries as well. In the fiscal year 1997/ part of BPI at that time) in August ferring to possible added value of the 98, BPI generated revenues of about 1997 and entertainment in October Internet services, content services can DEM 600 million, mainly from adver- 1997. During that whole time, the be described using the following cri- tisements. A major target of BPI is a Internet services of the business/ teria: target group, scope of offered significant growth of revenue and science area were extended continu- content, topicality, used media types profit. ously. Deliberately, the Internet ser- (text, picture, video etc.) and degree The professional information mar- vices did not employ a unified user of personalization (for example deliv- ket in Germany, like in other coun- interface. ery of information according to pre- tries, is strongly fragmented The project team consisted of the selected areas of interest via email or (Deutsche Fachpresse 1998). The central Electronic Publishing unit of so-called push services). whole industry generates revenues of BPI, the area units and debis, an Target group of ‘Baunetz’ about DEM 4,000 million, shared by external system service provider, (www.baunetz.de), the Internet ser- approximately 500 publishers. Small which was responsible for all technical vice of the building/environment players with an average of seven titles issues. For management purposes a area, are architects and other occupa- dominate the market, most of which steering committee was implemented tions within the building industry. have a monopoly within a small niche and chaired by the CEO of BPI. Baunetz provides related business and therefore operate successfully. The budget of the project was news, competitive and product infor- BPI is one of the few major players in about DEM 10 million. The capital mation as well as standards and reg- Germany with a revenue of DEM 500 investment appraisal according to Ber- ulations. Furthermore, it allows million in this area. telsmann group standards estimated a architects to supply information about return on equity (ROE) of more than themselves. The site is updated daily; 15%. Today the Internet services are dominant media types are text and THE PROJECT managed as independent profit cen- pictures. As far as personalization is tres. Their target is to reach break- concerned, the service offers a config- In 1995, BPI conducted a study even within the next two to three urable, email based service, for exam- Downloaded By: [German National Licence 2007] At: 14:39 11 March 2010 about the importance and meaning of years. ple customers can order up-to-date Internet services. The study recom- information about business news or mended participation in Internet busi- invitations to bid. Also, there are ness. The project of implementing an THE INTERNET SERVICES email and chat rooms as communica- online service started in January 1996. tion services for Baunetzs’s customers. A major target of the project was to Internet services can be described However, there are no transactional 4 o generate new areas of activity, and in using three different perspectives: the services. In June 1998 Baunetz had N about 17,300 registered users and 9 some cases to react to the competitive products, the production and the In- . l formation Technology (IT) infrastruc- about 300,000 page views a day. o environment. In the first half of 1996 V s two major decisions were met: First, ture. We now discuss these three The offerings of Transport Web t e (www.transport-web.de) are targeted k to prefer the Internet to proprietary perspectives. r a online providers, and second, to pro- at transport companies, forwarding M c vide a joined solution of five parts of agents and commercial vehicle traders. i n o BPI, which was backed up by a central Perspective 1: Products The service offers up-to-date news r t c unit, in order to avoid isolated solu- and background reports, individually e l E tions of single publishers.

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