From email to phones, from distribution through pre-production to reprints the IT services within Random House are critical for the smooth running of the company on a day-to-day basis. As the publishing industry marches into the digital age, the strongest IT provision, service and support is an absolute necessity.
Within Random House, IT is split into three sections: Business Systems, Publishing Systems and Network Services.
Business systems are responsible for the development and support of the corporate Vista distribution and royalties systems, as well as supporting the company as they implement and migrate to other new technologies. Systems include:
• Vista
• SeeView
• SAP
Publishing systems are responsible for the development, implementation and support of applications designed for the publishing divisions – Editorial, Production, Design, Contracts, Rights, Sales, Marketing and Publicity. Systems include:
• Biblio3 Publishing System (including Electronic Sales Kit and Trade Extranet)
• Digital Asset Management (including Digital Archiving and the creation of a widget to facilitate the discovery of our content online)
• Sales Analysis and Royalties data warehouse (using the Business Object business intelligence tool)
• MediaDisk, a publicity contacts database
Network services are responsible for managing and developing the general IT infrastructure. Day-to-day tasks include responding to users’ queries and problems as well as refining existing systems or developing new ones to ensure the company operates in an efficient and stable environment. Systems include:
• MS Office/Exchange
• Windows Servers & Active Directory
• Windows XP and Mac OSX
• Any software associated with Windows and Macintosh based computers.
IT is naturally going to be a constantly evolving department due to the rapid improvement of technology. It is important to keep up-to-date in IT as it will affect the company’s performance against competitors. Given the importance of IT across the company, it is also important to be able to remain calm under pressure as the demand for quick accurate IT provision is high.
While a lifelong fan of reading and writing, my initial plan in life was to be a scientist; and so I proudly graduated as a physicist specialising in Astrophysics. However, this path in life quickly failed to live up to the hype (it always sounded more exciting in the stories) and so I reassessed my career path. It was then that I decided that what I really wanted was to work in an industry that meant something to me at a personal level, whilst still being challenging and full of further career opportunities.
My first job in RHG was as an IT analyst programmer working for the Business systems department of the Distribution division. Here I immersed myself in the technical challenges that the role offered and slowly got to grips with the logistical complexities of getting books produced, stored and distributed.
As time passed my role grew incrementally with my passion for new challenges, including frequent training to help develop my skill-set. In a desire to see more of the industry I moved into a coordinating role for our electronic communications, which opened many opportunities to see how the book industry operated.
I then had the opportunity to start running some of the projects that I was involved in, which opened the door for me to become a Project Team Leader. In this role I started getting more involved with the publishing companies. My final project in that role was a huge IT investment by RHG that lasted two years and allowed me to be involved in all aspects of the book’s life cycle from concept, production, through to distribution. Success with that project led to my promotion to IT Project Manager where I now get to manage a wide and dynamic range of projects across the group. This means that every single day of my job is challenging and diverse – just the way I want it!
I am also heavily involved in the Random House’s Innovations Group, looking at new opportunities in the digital world, and have a long training path planned out, supported by RHG, to take my career further still.
Finally, and most important of all, is RHG’s support for my family life. I have a wife and two children, and they are without a doubt the most important part of my life. A fact that the company understands and supports, meaning that they are always flexible with my time without question!
