IT|media Managing Director Wolfgang Stiegler talks about his publishing strategy

„PS.Content gives us scope for new development opportunities“

IT|media, Ingolstadt-based data center and provider of publishing services, is further expanding its local media business. In order to be able to operate as efficiently as possible, the HUP solutions PS.Content and PS.Content #Portal, page planning and make-up, HUP ads and software for accounts receivable accounting will be used in the future. We asked Managing Director Wolfgang Stiegler about the future of his company …

For those who don’t know yet: IT|media and HUP already have a partnership in the area of hosting. Why?
Wolfgang Stiegler: I have known the managing directors of the former compass GmbH – Dirk Westenberger and Arno Nix – for a good 25 years. We have always worked together successfully. This has created a great basis of trust that goes far beyond a normal partnership. In 2021, I founded IT|media, which initially functioned primarily as a data center service provider in the area of cloud and housing services. At that time, I also took over part of the staff of the typesetting company ComputerSatz Ingolstadt (full-service typesetting company and typesetting service provider of the DONAUKURIER Group), which I was responsible for and managed for many years. Accordingly, we can provide comprehensive ICT and typesetting/prepress services.
Together with HUP, we are active on the market as a publisher-specific hoster – with many advantages for our joint customers. This includes understanding and know-how at the application level and for the infrastructure required by publishers. We are highly satisfied with the partnership, so we would now like to take further steps together.

What does that mean in concrete terms?
Wolfgang Stiegler: We are expanding our activities as a regional publisher. In the future, we will use HUP systems for our community newspapers Köchinger Anzeiger and Altmannsteiner Anzeiger, among others, in order to be able to act locally and in a future-oriented manner in and during overall production and marketing. In addition, there are special publications such as the AOK Ratgeber and much more. We can imagine expanding the media portfolio even further – I’m really looking forward to it. Based on my experience after 34 years in the publishing environment and a good 20 years as a manager in various areas of the newspaper business, it’s all „a little“ back to the roots.

Why are you switching to the HUP systems?
Wolfgang Stiegler: Up to now, we have implemented a lot of things on foot, so to speak, and so slowly we are developing a volume that makes the use of a professional software system necessary. Accordingly, we will use HUP’s PS.Content and PS.Content #Portal solutions, page planning and make-up, HUP ads, and accounts receivable software. This creates efficiency, optimizes the entire publication process given our admittedly very manageable manpower resources, and optimally links the print and online channels. With PS.Content and PS.Content #Portal, the USP convinces us through central data storage with multiple playout options for the content. We expect to gain a positioning advantage in our market segment. This means that we are faster, more flexible and more cost-sensitive in marketing – including additional services – compared with larger media companies in particular. To put it bluntly, I’m keen to get a toolbox with centralized management of image and content data that I can use to juggle the publication side of things extremely flexibly or react to market changes. With the HUP software, our employees are given important capacitive freedom for new development opportunities.

And this will all continue to run under the IT|media flag in the future?
Wolfgang Stiegler: Still. We already place our typesetting and publishing services on the market under the IN|media label. It therefore makes sense to separate the IT|- and IN|media divisions commercially in the near future.

How do you position yourself in new topics from AI, AR to Metaversum?
Wolfgang Stiegler: I am always open to new technological developments. That’s where the HUP has also come a long way in recent years. Cooperation in this respect is therefore also appropriate at this level. After all, we see AR, VR and moving images being used more than ever locally. This goes as far as the subject of the metaverse and everything else that develops in the future. Together with HUP, we feel well equipped as a start-up with decades of experience in this area as well.