4CPlus – newspaper editorial systems to mobile apps

For more than 22 years, 4Cplus, a home-grown IT company, has been providing end-to-end software solutions to news publishers in print, digital media companies, and broadcasters – earning itself a trustworthy name and reputation in news media circles.

The solutions and services include software development, offshore and onsite. The Delhi-NCR headquartered company also has domain expertise in enterprise solutions (ERP), internet applications, technology solutions, and newsroom automation. The latest developments from its stable are mobile apps for news publishers.

In a recent interaction with Indian Printer and Publisher, Ashish Aron, vice-president of marketing, spoke about the company’s collaboration with news publishers in developing mobile apps for advertisement sales and circulation teams, agents, hawkers, and drivers.

One such app is Amar Ujala’s DCR (Daily Call Report), which aims to empower the marketing, sales, and distribution teams. The newspaper distribution and delivery app, which works in real-time, helps managers plan and approve calls, and follow a disciplined workflow. It skips the need to send manual emails as every activity is recorded on the app. The app also helps the sales teams keep track of circulation and copies as well as record outstanding dues.

Another mobile app, developed for Dainik Jagran, is for the Hindi daily’s PCC (Personal Contact Campaign). The geo-fenced app facilitates Jagran’s field manpower to capture detailed reader information and create a database in a fully automated process, Aron explained.

The circulation agent app, developed for Rajasthan Patrika, takes care of billing and ledger, traces billing history, and has a payment gateway. It also helps the publication know which other newspaper its reader is buying as the same agent could be selling a rival’s copies also.

In the same area of newspaper distribution, circulation, and last-mile tracking, there are apps for drivers and hawkers.

There was considerable discussion at the recent Wan-Ifra conference in Kochi about the human resource issues among the newspaper distribution agents and hawkers whose next generation is not always as keen about this business in prosperous regions such as South India and particularly in Kerala. 4C’s geo-fenced driver app addresses some of these needs by regulating newspaper drop points and tracks drivers on their routes as well as recording the time the newspaper bundles are dropped. Similarly, the hawker application is a delivery and management tool and allows the circulation department to register and update customer details.

There are also 4C’s mobile advertising apps that are used by Amar Ujala and Rajasthan Patrika. These enable the direct booking of ads without any third-party interference using a smartphone. “All these apps help publications optimize their efficiency, do away with unnecessary, time-consuming steps, and reduce costs,” Aron explained.

When asked about whether the Covid pandemic hampered business in any way, Aron explained that in fact, this was a time when work from home became the norm, and software providers such as 4CPlus got busier as they got busy developing cloud solutions for news publishers.

Apart from the app solutions, 4CPlus, which began its journey in 2000 with an editorial system for Dainik Jagran, has expanded its gamut of solutions from newspapers to broadcast to digital over the years. To some extent, this tracks the news media migration to multi-channel news and infotainment providers.

The company’s print media solutions include the Newswrap digital-first editorial workflow solution that is integrated with social media, Quark Xpress, and Adobe InDesign, which is being used by Hindi Hindustan, Rajasthan Patrika, Indian Express, and Dainik Jagran.

Its Newslive mobile app for reporting and newsroom management works with all industry-standard NRCS, editorial, and web content management systems to receive articles directly from reporters. Users include news organizations such as Navbharat Times, Hindi Hindustan, Zee, and Rajasthan Patrika.

The Layout X solution from 4CPlus, with an international presence in about 18 countries, is an automated ad placement and planning system while its eDaily is a responsive ePaper solution that has text and clipping views. The software solution provider’s international clients include Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest media group, and Zimpapers, one of Zimbabwe’s largest newspaper groups publishing The Herald. In fact, more than half a dozen newspaper groups in Africa, including some of the largest in East Africa, are clients of the company.

As Indian Printer and Publisher reported at the time, in April 2019, 4Cplus, headed by founder and CTO Sanjaya Gupta, and DOT1 Solutions Private Limited entered into a definitive merger agreement, which enabled the company to enlarge its capabilities and offerings across broadcast and print media, advertising, editorial, and distribution systems. Aron comments, “In fact, the merger charged our company to achieve newer heights.”