How The Globe and Mail moved its digital subscriptions to a modern tech stack
The Globe and Mail enabled new monetization opportunities such as events, reducing the total cost of ownership, and empowering its developers with new capabilities.
The Customer
The Globe and Mail, founded in 1844, is Canada's foremost news media company. The Globe and Mail print and digital formats reach over 6 million readers every week, with Report on Business magazine reaching over 2.5 million readers every issue in print and digital.
Renowned for its authoritative journalism, it significantly shapes public discourse in Canada. Embracing the digital shift, it offers innovative online and mobile access, enhancing reader engagement. The Globe and Mail's successful integration of quality reporting with digital advancements solidifies its status as a leading media entity in the ever-evolving landscape of news.
The Challenge
In 2022, the Globe and Mail were at the cross-roads with its legacy ERP, SAP. Its desire to keep innovating with its digital products was hitting the limits of its system and a new approach was required. After surveying the options, the Globe and Mail selected Zuora as the enterprise subscription billing system best able to support its continuous innovation, monetization needs, and significant scale. However, the Globe and Mail still needed an ecommerce and self-service solution for its digital subscribers as well as a solution for its customer care team - re-integrating existing custom-built solutions was too much of an effort and would require significant investment.
The Solution
The Limio Commerce platform combined with Limio for Salesforce and its native Zuora integration allowed The Globe and Mail to move its digital subscriptions to Zuora with little integration work, enabling new monetization opportunities such as events, reducing the total cost of ownership, and empowering its developers with new capabilities.
The Benefits
The Globe and Mail selected Limio for itsability to deliver great subscription commerce experiences to its subscribers. Its deep integration with Zuora and Salesforce, deep knowledge of the media industry, and low-code approach allowed the Globe and Mail to achieve a faster time-to-market than other approaches. Susan Kelly, VP of IT for The Globe and Mail said: “We’re excited to incorporateLimio into our technology stack. Limio’s low code approach will complement our existing subscription management and commerce capabilities for current and future digital media products."
In 10 months, the Globe and Mail shifted its digital subscription from its legacy tech stack to a fully brand new tech stack with Zuora and Limio. Key features such as Limio Commerce’s Modular Checkout and Limio for Salesforce’s Flows allowed the Globe and Mail’s team to achieve the required flexibility for its complex requirements, keeping the purchasing and subscription management experience as frictionless as possible for both customers and agents. As Susan at the Globe and Mail highlighted, “Limio invested in its technology to make sure to deliver to the Globe and Mail’s requirements around pricing, speed, and user experience to achieve a successful go-live."
Following this digital transformation, The Globe and Mail can reap the benefits of its newfound agility. Its developer team makes extensive use of Limio’s Developer Experience (DX) and Custom Components to create pixel-perfect experiences, from paywall to customer self-service. The Globe and Mail has also introduced via Limio the sale of courses to The Globe and Mail Leadership Institute sold to its most avid readers, diversifying from subscriptions.
Looking ahead, the Globe and Mail is keen to experiment with new digital products, whether usage-based, access-based, and further improve the purchasing experience, for example by allowing Apple Pay as a payment method. Driving sales to B2B organizations via Limio’s B2B commerce capabilities is another exciting opportunity on the horizon. Limio’s Cancel Shield capabilities will also allow the Globe and Mail to adapt to Canada’s auto-renew and online cancellation laws in each province, while maximizing the retention of individual subscribers.