Cloud services for product development close to the market

Increasing digitalization has been putting a lot of pressure on the publishing industry since the beginning of the millennium. But publishers can also benefit from the opportunities of digitalization using the right strategies. Leading publishers have replaced or expanded their portfolios to include digital offerings in the past years for this reason. The publisher Haufe, which focuses on specialist publications, is one of them: The once classically oriented publishing house has transformed into a digital media company and now generates almost 100 percent of its sales with digital products. Now, the Haufe Group aims to support its customers on the path into the digital age. It is essential for Haufe that product development continues to be accelerated in order to be able to respond even better to customer needs. To do so, the project and product groups in the specialist areas need Azure services that are available and usable quickly and fulfil the Haufe security standards as well as the Microsoft best practices. All digital products and the developments connected with these should be stored in the cloud.

The goal was to provide the developers with a self-service solution that allows them to access resources in the cloud with little effort. At the same time, it had to be ensured that they would not accidentally be violating security guidelines.

With the Azure Foundation, we could ensure that all relevant topics were taken into consideration appropriately and at the right time. Self-service was integrated seamlessly into the customer’s existing ecosystem. Project and product groups can now utilize Azure services for the development and operations of their services quickly and directly with just a few clicks. Guidelines based on the Azure Foundation offer a clear framework for the use of these services.

The product groups at Haufe can use the standardized and secure Azure services for the development and operations of their customer solutions. These can be made available in minutes thanks to automated processes, which significantly decreases administrative efforts for the Haufe Cloud Admin team. Above all, the developers’ idle time has been reduced, which has accelerated time-to-market. The corresponding project and product groups are thus able to react to customer requirements much more quickly and flexibly and can offer software-as-a-service solutions that fit the market based on Azure services. All this enables the company to expand and solidify its position as a digital transformer.

Haufe Group is a family-run company headquartered in Freiburg, Germany. The company grew from the Haufe publishing house, founded in 1934. In the past decades, the classic core areas of the publishing business have been slowly replaced by offers in training and seminars as well as digital work solutions and services. The spectrum comprises specialist information and portals, (cloud computing) applications, e-procurement solutions, online communities, specialist software as well as seminars and consulting on human resource and organizational development.