But I would emphasize that the business process and business needs come first and syndication technologies second. That doesn't mean these tools aren't needed. Take a look at Conde Nast, the New York publisher of magazines such as Vogue, Architectural Digest, Glamour and Vanity Fair. Paul Kramer, Conde Nast's project manager for information systems and technology, says the company currently relies on prepress vendors and its permission department to generate reports manually, in tandem with its century-old historical archive. The company's foreign licensees, such as the German version of Vogue, have 30 days to purchase articles and photographs, and clear rights.
Foreign licensees fax back their interests to the permissions department in New York.
Initially, licensees receive low resolutions, with high-resolution images provided after they make their final selection. The New York office has also recently started to provide CDs with images of Quark files and will eventually offer PDF files stripped of advertising content. Right now, we are in the stone age. We should start out with a standard before we get too far into this thing. Many businesses prefer focusing on their core business rather than on technology issues.