Wiley, a global leader in research and education, has a rich history dating back to 1807. With a mission to empower learners and researchers to achieve their full potential, Wiley has published over 70,000 books, 2,000 journals and a wide range of educational resources. The company has worked with over 500 Nobel Prize-winning authors and reaches almost all researchers online through its Wiley Online Library platform.
To support its diverse offerings and global reach, Wiley relies on a robust and evolving technology infrastructure. As with many companies with a long and successful history, Wiley's systems and processes have grown organically over time.
This has created a complex mix of data and applications, leading to information silos and inconsistencies. This presented challenges in data governance, efficiency and agility, especially as Wiley began a major modernization initiative.
Challenges: Modernizing in a changing environment
As Wiley embarked on its modernization journey, the goal was to consolidate its 400+ systems and processes onto a single SAP S/4HANA platform. This ambitious initiative forced the team to tackle several data-related challenges.
Data silos and inconsistent data
Data was scattered across various systems, leading to all kinds of inconsistencies. It became difficult to get a unified view of the business. There was no single source of truth that could make decisions more reliable and operations more efficient.
Manual reconciliation and inefficiencies
Employees spent significant time manually reconciling data and resolving discrepancies. This was a time-consuming and inefficient process that detracted from more strategic activities.
"The business challenges that kept being highlighted were around master data. We were told about data being siloed and inaccurate,” said Siva Pratap Reddy Gurijala, Director of ERP Applications, Wiley. “There were multiple data entry points, and data was inconsistent. So, we spent too much time manually reconciling data.”
Not enough agility
The business environment changes fast within the publishing, education and research industries, and the existing systems and processes struggled to adapt. The very definition of a "product" was evolving with the rise of digital content and subscription models.
A more flexible and agile approach to data management was needed. For example, Wiley needed to accommodate new product types and integrate with various systems to respond to market demands quickly.
“How you consume content has changed. Gen AI is generating content at a very rapid pace,” said Saravana. “So, the system, what we are planning to put together with S/4HANA and Stibo Systems Platform, needs to be able to quickly adapt to market changes. We can't just build for the past and current needs. We have to build something for the future.”
Aligning technology and business goals
For this initiative to be successful, it was critical to ensure clear alignment between the technology modernization efforts and the broader business goals. All stakeholders needed to understand that this was not just a technology upgrade – it was a strategic business transformation.
To tackle all these challenges, the company knew it needed a strong and reliable data management strategy that could support modernization efforts, improve data governance and also make the organization more agile.
Solution: Building a strong data foundation
To address the challenges and support its ambitious modernization goals, Wiley carefully evaluated various options for its data management strategy – a strategy that would have Stibo Systems Platform at its heart.
Implementing Stibo Systems Platform
Stibo Systems Platform was Wiley’s ideal choice for several reasons. Stibo Systems had a proven track record of successful implementations across various industries, giving Wiley confidence in its ability to deliver.
The platform also aligned with Wiley's broader technology roadmap, offering the flexibility and scalability to serve as its enterprise-wide MDM system. “Stibo Systems Platform fits nicely with our broader technology roadmap because now the platform is going to play the role of our enterprise MDM. It’s going to be syndicating data to not just S/4HANA or to cash platforms, or to our ecommerce, but to rights and royalty systems and third parties. So, integration capabilities were one of the factors that gave us confidence,” said Saravana.
This comprehensive capability was important for Wiley, as the company needed a solution that could centralize and govern all its product data, regardless of source or format.
One step at a time
Wiley knew any modernization initiative was a multi-year journey. It adopted a phased approach, starting with a pilot implementation for its research business.
This way, it could test Stibo Systems Platform, get some experience and show its value before rolling it out to other parts of the business. The risk would be lower and the transition smoother.
Prioritizing change management
Technology implementation is not just about the software itself, but also about the people and processes involved.
Knowing this, Wiley emphasized change management, with a focus on clear communication, stakeholder engagement and comprehensive training to minimize resistance to the new system and ensure its successful adoption.
Focusing on data governance
The company knew good data governance was key to all modernization efforts. It established clear responsibility for data, used consistent names and definitions and implemented ways to check and improve data quality.
This was critical to address the inconsistencies and inaccuracies that arose from multiple data entry points and a lack of a golden record.
Thinking a few steps ahead
Wiley needed a solution that could adapt to its evolving business needs and the changing landscape of the publishing industry. Stibo Systems Platform gave Wiley the flexibility and scalability to accommodate new product types, integrate with various systems and grow with the company in the future.
Wiley has now set the stage for a successful modernization. People, technology and processes were set up to make sure data was accurate and ready to support the transition to SAP S/4HANA.
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Outcomes: Modernization success
Wiley's strategic approach to data management, with Stibo Systems Platform at the center, has delivered some great results on its modernization journey. It's not just about the technology; it's about how they used it to solve real business problems.
Data you can trust
With Stibo Systems Platform and a strong focus on data governance, Wiley saw a big improvement in data quality and consistency. It could finally trust its data to make better decisions, create accurate reports and get real insights from analyses.
"With Stibo Systems Platform, we were able to analyze a revenue model very quickly, and it translated to all the consuming systems. We could get the results fast and change the revenue model if needed." Saravana Kumar Kuppusamy, Senior Director - Enterprise Applications, Wiley
No more headaches from inconsistencies and errors that clouded its view of the business. Stibo Systems Platform’s comprehensive data schema was a big help here, making sure Wiley could meet the needs of all different systems, even those for rights and royalty management.
A more efficient business
Stibo Systems Platform streamlined many manual tasks, freeing employees from tedious data reconciliation. Instead of spending hours manually fixing errors, they could now focus on more strategic activities, like analyzing data to find trends and opportunities.
Wiley reduced the time it took to onboard journals from 4+ days to just 1 hour. Similarly, the time to set up yearly issues related to journals decreased from 4+ weeks to 2 days. “We were spending a lot of time manually fixing data issues. And because of that, our orders got blocked. We were not able to process orders on time, recognize revenue on time. But with Stibo Systems Platform, we were able to resolve all that,” said Gurijala.
The platform also made it easier to onboard or create new product solutions, making everyone's lives a bit easier.
Happier customers
By having accurate and consistent product data, Wiley improved its over-the-counter transactions. Customers now get accurate pricing and revenue information right away, making for a smoother and more positive experience.
Ready to evolve with the industry
Stibo Systems Platform gave Wiley the flexibility to adapt to the changing publishing landscape. The company can now easily accommodate new product types, integrate with different systems and respond to market demands more quickly.
"Wiley undertook significant acquisitions, so having a solution in place that enabled us to onboard products quickly and ensure the data was readily available for our operational systems was invaluable."Saravana Kumar Kuppusamy, Senior Director - Enterprise Applications, Wiley
This agility proved crucial when Wiley needed to assess the impact of revenue model changes. With Stibo Systems Platform, the company could quickly update product information and see the effects on sales within a day, a process that previously took weeks.
A smooth migration to SAP
Stibo Systems Platform gave Wiley a solid foundation for the company’s migration to SAP S/4HANA. Throughout the transition, data remained accurate and consistent, which meant disruption was kept to a minimum, and the company maximized its benefits from the new system.
The platform also helped Wiley rely less on SAP for product data management, simplifying its migration and allowing them to remove the IS-Media product from the company’s SAP S/4HANA implementation.
"We used to spend so much time manually fixing data issues that it caused real problems. Our orders would get blocked, and we couldn't process them or recognize revenue on time. But with Stibo Systems Platform, those problems are a thing of the past.”- Siva Pratap Reddy Gurijala, Director of ERP Applications, Wiley
In short: By taking a smart approach to data management and using Stibo Systems Platform, Wiley has achieved some impressive results. It has improved data quality, worked more efficiently and successfully navigated a major modernization project.
It is now well-equipped to continue its mission of empowering learners and researchers in an ever-changing world.
