Siegener Zeitung goes “Digital First” with the alfa ContentLine

The Siegener Zeitung is the daily newspaper with the highest circulation in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district of North Rhine-Westphalia. In order to further expand its digital strategy, the Siegener Zeitung decided to use the alfa ContentLine in summer 2020.

The kick-off for the new project already took place last year. However, the ContentLine was not to be the only innovation at the Siegener Zeitung: “It was important to us that our new system also supports our new digital strategy,” says Markus Klein, System Administrator / Technology at Siegener Zeitung. During the change to the alfa ContentLine, the structure of the media house was adjusted at the same time. “The shift towards “digital first” naturally also requires a content-driven way of working, which works very well with alfa Media’s products,” explains Manfred Kempken, project manager at alfa Media.

The possibilities for working with articles, tasks and topics are very diverse for the editors. In particular, the playout plans and the topic templates make work easier from now on and save a lot of time. With one click, tasks that are always needed can be automatically organised and created when setting up a new topic. “Now we can concentrate more on writing again within the editorial team, which is very important to us,” says Markus Klein.

The product trainings had to be held via home office due to the pandemic, but were able to earn the seal “home office friendly”. Small adjustments were made during the ongoing process and small problems were solved immediately. “The cooperation with alfa Media was really good during the entire project period and proved that good contacts and quick solutions are also quite easily possible remotely,” says Markus Klein.

The changeover to the ContentLine products is currently in full swing. The product changeover will continue cautiously and department by department and the alfa EditorialOrganiser as well as alfa PrintLayout will be used.