(January 20, 2015) International Business Systems (IBS),a leading provider of supply chain solutions, announced today that McGraw-Hill Education has launched IBS Bookmaster as its back office infrastructure in Asia Pacific and India. The new ERP platform will manage the complexities of selling digital and print products.

The learning science company has been an IBS customer since 1988. McGraw-Hill Education’s APAC and India regions have consolidated three systems onto IBS Bookmaster 7.9 and, as such, catapulted to the forefront of digital education delivery. The undertaking spanned 14 months, involved 60 dedicated personnel, and will facilitate sales in 35 countries in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, Singapore and India. Rollouts in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Latin America are under consideration for implementation over the next two to three years.

“While a successful ERP implementation is worthy of celebration in and of itself, the business transformation it will engender is even more critical,” said Kevin Smith, Global Vice President of Technology at McGraw-Hill Education. “We’ve embarked on a journey that enables us to better react to our customers’ needs today and into the future, and IBS technology has facilitated this goal.”

IBS Bookmaster is a publishing-specific, integrated enterprise management solution designed specifically for the needs of publishers and book distributors with both print and digital businesses. It is comprised of a robust core distribution, financial and Supply Chain Management (SCM) system with highly functional integration to web-based financial transaction and business management processes.

“IBS Bookmaster enables us to execute our strategic plan, which includes the sale of digital products, and deliver on our mission to improve learning outcomes,” said Matthew Cantwell, Vice President of Finance and Strategy at McGraw-Hill Education. “It also enables enhanced analytics, greater transparency in financial reporting, robust compliance and controls, and optimal customer service interactions. Perhaps the most immediate benefit is that it saves our people time, time that can be used for more productive activities.”

McGraw-Hill Education selected IBS Bookmaster for its publishing industry attributes. While ERP projects of this scale are complex, Cantwell cited this IBS migration as largely on time and on budget, lowering McGraw-Hill Education’s total cost of ownership. IBS Bookmaster also reduces business risk. Newly designed business processes deliver optimal, cross-functional workflows for McGraw-Hill Education’s staff and overall business.

“Bookmaster will play an integral part in McGraw-Hill Education’s strategy to deliver digital solutions to the marketplace,” said Renee Nicholson, Professional Services Manager APAC at IBS. “We are honored to be part of this initiative.”

Learn more at IBS.NET

International Business Systems (IBS), a global leading integrated ERP and supply chain provider  partnered with LibroTech Consulting to provide support services to IBS customers in the publishing industry.IBS is the trusted industry leader of ERP and WMS distribution software, preferred for consistently improving operational efficiencies and business performance for mid-market companies challenged by the complexities of managing distribution.  Its IBS Bookmaster software helps book publishers and distributors in print and digital with their enterprise management needs.

With 25 years of experience, LibroTech Consulting brings strong competencies in IBS Bookmaster installations and will provide project management, technical support and other services to maximize return on investment.

“Deploying an ERP system can be a daunting task, so IBS is creating an agreement with LibroTech Consulting to ensure the process is expedited for our valued customers,” said Tim Conroy, General Manager of the Americas, IBS.  “LibroTech Consulting has a strong IBS Bookmaster pedigree and the technical expertise to deliver on business objectives.”

The global publishing industry is expected to grow to an estimated U.S. $348-billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 2.3 percent, according to Lucintel, a global market research firm.

“We welcome the opportunity to serve IBS Bookmaster customers and help them navigate the changing landscape of the world of publishing,” said Glen VanDerHart, President at LibroTech Consulting.  “Our partnership with IBS gives its customers a major resource to help them manage business growth and maximize their technology investments.”

IBS applications are designed to provide benefits such as lower IT cost through fixed monthly fees, reduced business risk, faster time to value and greater flexibility combined with the advanced functionality of the IBS industry-leading ERP and Supply Chain solutions.

About IBS Bookmaster
IBS Bookmaster is a fully-integrated ERP system for traditional and digital publishers with strong distribution management capabilities. It supports industry best practices and offers services consistent with the highest standards of book trade efficiency. Used by publishers and distributors in 16 countries, Bookmaster, a highly scalable solution, requires little or no modifications for use, allowing customers to leverage the same standard core system worldwide.

Press Release:

The company has attributed much of this successful growth to IBS Bookmaster which has provided comprehensive functional support and the flexibility to grow with the company [Read more…]

Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. selected IBS Bookmaster to unify its systems and operations while supporting its expansion into additional product lines as part of the company’s aggressive business growth strategy.

Founded in 1901, Llewellyn Worldwide is the world’s oldest and largest independent publisher of books for the body, mind, and spirit. Llewellyn is dedicated to bringing its readers the best in metaphysical books and resources. In addition, through its imprints Flux and Midnight Ink Books, Llewellyn Worldwide continues to be a vibrant publisher of young adult fiction and adult mystery novels.

The company sought to streamline and stabilize its IT systems with a fully integrated solution. In addition, as the company continues its aggressive growth plan, it needs the ability to report and analyze the business rapidly and flexibly. With IBS Bookmaster and its Real-time Performance Management (RPM) Business Intelligence Platform, Llewellyn will be able to better manage the business by having real-time information at their fingertips to better leverage its assets.

“Having just celebrated our 110th year of excellence, we remain focused on expanding our business into new areas, including digital publishing, to best meet the evolving demands of our customers,” said Gabe Weschcke, vice president at Llewellyn Worldwide. “IBS Bookmaster is providing a robust platform for both our current business today as well as our expansion by providing out-of-the box functionality to position us well for the future. Further, IBS RPM Business Intelligence provides the real-time views of our business necessary to best leverage our assets going forward. IBS professional services will ensure we spend minimum IT resources, so that we can focus on our business objectives.”

The new system will include order processing, inventory management, returns, forecasting, purchasing, advanced warehouse management, Rights and Royalties, CRM applications, eCommerce digital delivery web enablement, forms management, book production and retail management. IBS Integrator will be used to communicate with existing Llewellyn systems in an automated fashion.

Read the press release

IBS Bookmaster book publishing software roadmap highlights;

1. IT development efforts are focused on support for digital publishing and a transition to a .NET code base.

2.IBS Bookmaster is moving to a .NET code base with all new development in .NET.

3. The first .NET module will be rights, royalties and permissions followed by production management. Both of which will run on an MS SQL database and can run standalone or as a part of the IBS Bookmaster ERP suite. The rights, royalties and permissions module will also be available as a hosted managed service. With the IBS rights and royalties module the user is free to create new royalty rules; i.e. you don’t have to ask (or pay) the software company to add a new rule rule to handle a new clause in your royalty contract.

4. IBS completed a revamp of their CRM module that integrated their text book adoption tracking functionality with the CRM module. This update is being released at the end of June.

5. IBS released; in March 2011, an update that offers seemless integration of order processing for physical books and eBooks. You can handle orders that have both types of products on the same invoice. They system automatically sends the eBook line items to your digital distributor, POD line items to your POD printer and standard inventory line items to the warehouse for processing.

Read more about the IBS Book Publishing Software roadmap.