Interview of the B2B-publisher magazine „Print & More“ with Knut Nicholas Krause – President and Founder of the knk-Group.

Question: Which are the latest trends in terms of publishing software?

Knut Nicholas Krause: CRM, marketing automation and BI are trends to consider. But, I believe that for professional B2B publishers in particular, it is crucial to develop new ideas on how to integrate their content in the daily workflows of their customers. They have to create products that customers want to use throughout the day.

 Question: Keyword ‘IT competence’: Are B2B publishing houses ready or in catch-up mode?

Knut Nicholas Krause: From my perspective, B2B publishers in general are not ready at all. Even those, who have very competent IT departments are not ready, because this knowledge needs to be in the departments, which create the products – therefore especially in the editorial team. The expertise to identify market opportunities and to develop new products must be combined with a profound knowledge of the technical possibilities.  I therefore recommend to send editorial and product management staff to digital & social media trainings, to further IT education, to business trips & market research into other countries and to let them engage in publisher association‘s working groups to acquire the necessary knowledge and to keep it up to date.

 Question: How can professional B2B Publishers improve their ability to innovate?

Knut Nicholas Krause:  Innovation in publishing is largely determined, from my point of view, by the leadership culture. I know some publishers where the predominant climate is one of fear. Frightened, people fall back into old, hardwired behavior patterns. If you want to develop an innovative publishing culture, you must create a climate that encourages creative employees to try and fail with impunity. As long as they are encouraged to learn from those mistakes, then creativity will flourish.