John Wiley & Sons reinvents its digital culture with the Microsoft Cloud
Today’s post was written by Pete Sattler, senior vice president and CIO at John Wiley & Sons.
As we watch the physical book, magazine, and newsprint markets decline by double digits every year, Wiley—with our 210-year heritage of print publishing—is reinventing our culture to adapt to the demands of a new era in the industry. Today, people want to access as much as possible on their mobile devices. We face the challenge of publishing and delivering content solutions in innovative ways to help our customers succeed, no matter where they are in their education or careers. We need to adopt the same modern tools that we advise our customers to deploy for training and retaining top talent. We want to become proficient at working together in the cloud so that we can connect researchers, learners, and professionals with the information, platforms, and tools they need to share scholarly insights on global issues and challenges.
We’re excited about the business opportunities that this new era brings. And to take advantage of these opportunities, we are empowering Wiley employees with a workplace transformation of our own. We’re using Microsoft Office 365 to transition to a new environment that supports a digital-first mindset. For instance, I have completely done away with paper and can work productively from anywhere. It’s all part of a larger shift at Wiley to drive digital transformation in everything we do. By thinking and working in this new atmosphere, we can innovate products that are relevant to how customers want to consume information. At Wiley, we have a culture of learning, and the ability to openly collaborate is important to the ethos of our organization. We chose Office 365 intelligent communication capabilities to further promote that mindset.
The online collaborative workplaces that we are creating with Office 365 reflect the new physical office spaces that Wiley is building. From traditional cubicles to convenient open areas that inspire people to work together, we’re bringing our new culture to life through flexible floorplans and a growing adoption of mobility and virtual teamwork.
Our IT department is co-sponsoring the workplace transformation project with Archana Singh, executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Together, we aim to deliver contemporary tools that employees can use to virtually and seamlessly connect with each other and with our partners and customers. We put together an amazing Office 365 adoption team to design a new intranet that facilitates collaboration and document management, which is essential to our content-heavy business. Dubbed “The Wire,” the intranet is where Wiley employees start their day. It’s a portal that offers all the powerful Office 365 capabilities and keeps everyone up to date on company news.
Wiley employees would likely discover on their own the range of benefits available via The Wire. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of our Office 365 adoption team, we’ve made considerable headway toward adopting a new way of working. The team organized a global product launch and road show with more than 85 classroom sessions in multiple countries. It’s rewarding to see a more connected mindset taking hold at Wiley to help us deliver the products and services customer demand.
—Pete Sattler
