The Challenge

Harnessing data to transform strategy.

A. H. Belo Corporation is a leading regional news and information publisher and marketing solutions company dedicated to delivering news and information in innovative ways to audiences with diverse interests and lifestyles.

A. H. Belo publishes The Dallas Morning News, Texas’ largest newspaper, and other various print and digital publications targeting specific niche audiences including SportsDay. A. H. Belo has a focused strategy to extend its news and information platform to emerging media and audiences, enabling the company to remain flexible and innovative.

A. H. Belo Corporation engaged Credera to assess the current state of data and analytics within key divisions and evaluate the strategic opportunity for improved analytics across the company.

The Solution

Transforming into a data-driven organization.

Over their 175 years of operation, A. H. Belo has accumulated a wealth of data. The challenge was the large quantity of information was stored in silos making it difficult to effectively leverage for insights across the organization. A. H. Belo realized they needed to undergo a digital transformation in order to continue their legacy of being an innovative company.

A. H. Belo wanted to create an analytical environment, referred to as a “data lake,” that allows for advanced analytics across structured and unstructured data from a portfolio of companies. The data lake would allow analysts within A. H. Belo to quickly provide an abundance of insights to their newsroom, advertisers and internal departments.

Credera conducted an initial analysis of available data, evaluated analytical objectives of key stakeholders, and defined the conceptual architecture to identify ways of connecting data from different sources to deliver the most value. After assessing the business objectives and defining the strategic vision, Credera implemented an analytics organizational design within A. H. Belo and equipped the organization with a suite of tools to enable more strategic selling and increased customer engagement.

As a result, A. H. Belo has moved closer to a centralized data mentality and reality, giving them the right tools and infrastructure to understand the different silos within the company and break down barriers to integrated analytics.

The Results

Improving efficiency and customer reach and reducing costs.

As a result of their partnership with Credera, A. H. Belo experienced the following results:

• Cost savings: $650,000 per year by consolidating data silos and reducing redundancies.

• Improved efficiency: By reducing the number of data warehouses supported throughout the organization.

• New offerings: Ability to deliver new and enhanced products, services, and customized experiences for each client.

• Decision-making: Faster and better decision making as an organization.

• New go-to-market strategy: Now that A. H. Belo has a way to organize and understand the data they have accumulated, they are able to stay competitive and go to market in a unique way across all channels.

• More readers: Increase in content readership.

• Better business: Increase in ROI for business advertisers and other marketing services customers.