Creative content management tools have helped Swedish publisher Direktpress almost double its portfolio of hyperlocal weekly newspapers without a corresponding increase in staff.
The group's 40 newspapers and associated websites now reach almost 15 per cent of all Swedes.
Key was the adoption of content management tools that let it integrate digital and print content creation and management, editor-in-chief Helene Claesson says. Using Roxen's REP and web publishing systems, journalists can write a story that is published directly to the web and also immediately formatted for publication in the weekly newspaper via a centralised system.
Claesson sys the company's goal was "to find a way to work that ends up in a good print product in the end of the week and a constant flow of stories on the website."
"We really needed a good website, but we knew that we didn't have the money to hire new reporters. The challenge (was) to find a workflow that works for a weekly deadline and constant deadlines at the same time...we had to find a way to make the reporters do two things at the same time - write for print and web."
Roxen's Johan Hansson believes the digital transformation "has come further along" in Scandinavia: "There is a greater adaption of technology to automate manual and repetitive tasks to free up journalistic resources for content creation.
"Even the smallest newsroom has over the last years gone from being a once-a-day or once-a-week publication to a 24/7 news outlet populating multiple channels. At the same time they have had to manage this transition with fewer resources than ever before."
Roxen's focus on small and mid-size publishers has seen the roll-out of Roamer, a mobile app that allow reporters to use their smartphones with a cordless keyboard connected via Bluetooth to write stories. Photos and videos can be added and posted on the website directly from the app in real time.