Update of foundations improved service – and increased the customer’s expertise

Mediahouse Keskisuomalainen has grown rapidly through acquisitions. The price of growth has been overlapping systems in the group: four online publishing systems, five application platforms, and seven delivery system databases. When the group reformed its digital offering, it often had to make the same change more than once, for different systems.

So, it came as no surprise that Keskisuomalainen started a project to unify its online environment in early 2019. The goal was to create a common digital basis for the group’s 70 or so magazines, making development work fast and flexible.

“At the beginning of the project, we considered who would make a suitable sparring partner and help us with the overall solution in general. Who would create a framework for the project with us and check whether we are heading in the right direction?” explains Jutta Iistamo-Javanainen, technical project manager at Keskisuomalainen.

The company selected Gofore, which had made a good impression as an industry specialist in previous invitations to tender. Gofore consulted Keskisuomalainen on the general architecture, cloud services, and login solutions. It was in the last of these that Gofore played the biggest – and most concrete – role.
“In addition to designing the login solution, the Gofore team participated in its hands-on implementation,” says Iistamo-Javanainen.

The introduction of a new, unified solution has continued in phases since the spring. Magazines in four of the group’s five operating areas use the same platform. The fifth operating area will implement the solution at the beginning of next year.

The Group’s services are now running in the same Amazon cloud service and operating faster than before. Publishing stories is even easier and the new platform enables the presentation of surprisingly diverse content.
Collaboration with Keskisuomalainen reflects Gofore’s brand promise about building a more ethical digital world.
“A local media company can make the voices of small-town citizens audible among those of global online giants, which creates a more even digital playing field,” comments Salonen.