MediaNews Group: Competing in the fast-paced news business through better collaboration

In 2011, MediaNews Group was struggling with multiple email systems as it welcomed a new CEO to lead the company. There was no easy way to send a simple email and communicate with all employees. In addition, without shared calendars and other collaboration tools, it was challenging to coordinate efforts between the digital and print media sales teams.

• Saves tens of thousands of dollars annually in web conferencing costs

• Provides easy collaboration between the digital and print media sales teams

• Enables management of email and productivity apps with minimal IT involvement

Solutions: Work Transformation

MediaNews Group began transitioning to Gmail and Google Apps for Work, the predecessor to today's Google Workspace, over seven years ago. "We chose Google because its productivity tools are cloud-native, well integrated, and easy to use," says Bob Kinney, VP of Information Technology at MediaNews Group.

To help speed the transition, the company identified and trained employees on both ends of the spectrum – long-time employees who might be resistant to changing their toolset as well as workplace influencers. "We needed to change the culture of how we worked, and our strategy helped us achieve that by tackling the more difficult challenges up front, and by encouraging those who we knew would embrace the new tools and would promote them in all areas of our business," says Bob.

Google Cloud Premier Partner SADA was instrumental in guiding and supporting MediaNews Group through its transition to Google Workspace. "SADA provided a lot of support, logistics, and ideas as we rolled out Google Workspace to all of our properties, and has been an instrumental partner for us, both from technical expertise and change management perspective," says Bob. Today, all MediaNews Group employees use Gmail, and high percentages of employees rely upon Calendar, Google Meet, and other tools.

To survive and thrive in the fast-paced news business, MediaNews Group needs to move quickly, and Google Workspace enables that speed. "Moving everyone to Google Cloud allows us to be nimble and complete acquisitions and onboarding faster and more easily, along with divesting newspapers when needed," adds Bob.

For example, every day, employees save time, reduce travel expenses, and resolve problems together by meeting virtually in Google Meet. The tools enable team members from the digital and print businesses to collaborate much more easily through shared calendars and other tools, which in turn helps them be more effective in meetings with advertisers.

Google Workspace helps with big, one-off projects as well. A couple years ago, when MediaNews Group acquired the Orange County Register out of bankruptcy, Google Workspace tools were used to offer positions and tracked acceptance to fill those positions. For this process, the company relied upon Google Workspace tools such as Gmail, to communicate the process of applying for jobs; Forms, for applicants to fill out; and Sheets, for HR to track applications.

"Using Google Workspace, we offered and closed on positions for about 800 employees within 72 hours, which wouldn't have been possible before," Bob says. "We were up and running after the acquisition without missing a beat. Plus, the efficient employee process that Google Workspace enabled gave many new employees a positive first impression of the company."

Google Workspace also helps MediaNews Group save money on productivity tools. A few years ago, employees throughout the company used a variety of video conferencing tools. "By moving everyone to Google Meet, which is included at no additional cost in Google Workspace, we're savings tens of thousands of dollars every year in video conferencing," Bob says.

Google Workspace helps MediaNews Group team members collaborate in meaningful ways and work more productively. "Efficiency is important, but how effective you are is even more critical," Bob believes. "Because of the ease in getting, presenting, and sharing the information we need to do our jobs, Google Workspace makes us more effective and more competitive. We couldn't be the company we are today without having an easy way to work together."

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