Comfortable, Digital Payment Methods with it.eCash

More than 400 employees (2019)

Industry: Media (press)

Products: Printing newspapers & trading of various goods

Headquarters: Bielefeld, Germany

About the Project

German Newspaper Publishing Company – Eastern Westphalia’s Strongest Publications

Education: What was previously considered as a privilege should be accessible to everybody today. This is the mission adopted by the Zeitungsverlag Neue Westfälische, a newspaper publisher from Germany. The company imparts knowledge to its readers on all topical issues in the areas of sport, culture, multimedia and more. The regional daily newspaper ranks as the fifth largest media company in North Rhine-Westphalia and is owned by the company Presse-Druck GmbH. Meanwhile, the company’s own subsidiary Küster-Pressedruck GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for printing the newspapers on time. Over 400 highly skilled employees work for the newspaper publisher, of which nearly 120 are editors who ensure that high-class articles and press releases are produced. In addition, more than 800 freelance collaborators and correspondents as well as over 1,100 couriers work in delivery – all for readers.

Electronic Cash Framework – Ensuring the Online Shop Is up to Date at All Times

The newspaper publisher not only provides its readers informative articles, but also offers a wide range of books, selected wines, and art & gift articles through its own online shop. To bring the payment processes up to date, the company has decided to cooperate with NTT DATA Business Solutions and to introduce the it.eCash solution – the Electronic Cash Framework. With it.eCash, electronic payments are recorded and integrated into SAP. A variety of payment providers are already preconfigured in the solution and more can be added if necessary. This enables customers to pay for their goods not only via invoice or direct debit, but also easily and conveniently via PayPal, Visa, immediate transfer or MasterCard. At this point, the solution acts as a middleware between the payment providers and the SAP system.

Two Scenarios, Only One Solution – Creation of Transparent Cash Flows

As part of the introduction of it.eCash, a distinction was made between two processes of the newspaper publisher. Customers either purchase a product in the online shop and make a one-off payment or they take out a subscription that is paid for at regular intervals. In the first scenario, the money is collected in the online shop, while in the second, the payment process is managed within SAP. The newspaper publisher thus benefits from the automated cash flows and has an eye on its finances at all times. To reduce the burden on the accounts department, reports are continually produced, which select all outstanding invoice items for the defined payment types. Unsuccessful debits due to insufficient account balance, for example, are initiated again via it.eCash during the next run.

Moving with the Times, in the Future as Well – Application Support and Hosting

To maintain the IT performance at all times, the company is using the agile NTT DATA Business Solutions Application Management Service. Queries on a wide range of SAP topics are sorted by priority and processed within defined response times by the NTT DATA Business Solutions experts. The support package is flexible at all times and can be upgraded if necessary. In addition, the applications are optimized and enhanced on a regular basis. This removes a huge amount of the workload of the employees of the newspaper publisher and enables them to concentrate on their core business. As the systems are hosted at the NTT DATA Business Solutions high performance data center, the company does not have to worry about the IT infrastructure and can rely on NTT DATA Business Solutions to secure the systems and provide expertise in the future as well.