alfa Media joins forces with Sophi to enable print automation

Sophi’s AI technology is being integrated by alfa Media, extending beyond their editorial platform, to publishers in the German-speaking market.

Thanks to machine learning technology, print automation is now available to all publishers, regardless of their existing editorial system.

alfa Media sees itself as a partner in success to its customers, opening up a new world of opportunity. We value innovative, multimedia, and intuitive concepts that are optimally adapted to the respective publication channel – be it digital, print, web or app.

To enable clients and others in the publishing industry to seamlessly automate layout for print production, alfa Media has now partnered with Sophi, an AI-powered automation, optimisation, and prediction platform developed by The Globe and Mail. Sophi’s solution shortens the entire print page design process from hours to just minutes, without the use of templates. Publishers can dramatically increase productivity as well as reduce costs – all within their existing content platform. Time and resources saved can now be reallocated to higher value work such as content creation.

“We are delighted to enter into this partnership with Sophi and to have the opportunity to automate print production and thus further increase the efficiency of our customers,” says Michael Marcks, CEO of alfa Media. “Sophi’s AI-based technology will drastically reduce manual work processes and allow editors to focus on their core tasks again.”

“We can integrate Sophi seemlessly into our products but are also able to offer perfect integration to users of other editorial platforms at the same time,” says Michael Marcks.

“Traditionally, the challenge of automating the simplification of print page layouts has been in stark contrast to the rapid publishing process of online formats. However, with Sophi’s AI engine, it is now possible to begin training the pagination model on existing layouts directly and achieve initial results in a matter of days.” Oliver Andrich, CTO of alfa Media, agrees. For daily publications, time is of the essence when it comes to page design. Sophi’s print automation is particularly advantageous in such cases, as it saves an enormous amount of time. The paginating of print output can be completed within a few minutes, as opposed to several hours with a manual process. Consequently, publishers can reduce costs in this area and redirect the savings to other profitable investments.

Sophi’s print automation sets itself apart from other print production solutions in that the product is content-driven, eliminating the need for templates altogether. It employs proven AI technology to guarantee that a publisher’s printed pages have the look and feel of pages crafted by skilled editors and designers. Every page is created from scratch, adhering to the brand’s design guidelines. The final outcome is a print-ready PDF or InDesign file that can complete an entire newspaper within 10 minutes or less.

Among the beneficiaries of the new technology are the page designers themselves. With this automation engine, they will be able to delegate routine tasks to the technology, freeing up their time to focus on more creative aspects of their work, such as designing front pages, features, and special layouts that add real value. This will significantly reduce their workload and help alleviate the stress of having to constantly race against time to meet deadlines.

“We are delighted to welcome alfa Media into our partnership portfolio. We believe that our integration will help to fuel efficiency for their many customers in the German market. Our partnership supports our ongoing mission of helping newsrooms to thrive, by delivering a solution that will free up valued resources, so they can devote their time to producing more great journalism“, says Michael O’Neill, CEO of Sophi.