In just a few short weeks, the world as we know it has fundamentally shifted.  Even prior to the global pandemic, magazine publishers around the world were facing a myriad of ever-increasing concerns.  Some of these were addrressed in the 2017 New York Times article that discussed “The Not-So-Glossy Future of Magazines,” outlining how large magazines had lost readers and advertisers to more nimble online competitors.  Others included debates around what the proper print versus digital mix is for readers.  

What the general consumer may not have understood was the print industry had been enjoying a very steady and healthy increase and was predicted to reach $821 Billion by 2022. In 2018, research from Freeport Press indicated that “When it comes to our magazines, we read more, read longer and subscribe more often to print than digital.”

However, these industry trends and statistics no longer apply in this new world where the coronavirus is being said to stay active for days on surfaces.  It brings a level of complexity that many in the magazine publishing industry may not have even considered.

Last week, people awoke to the news of countries closing borders and companies sending home their employees. Our team was lucky. We felt virtually no disruption because we’ve been working 100% remotely for five years. I’ve been doing it personally for seven. We realized that we have benefited from many of the lessons that working remotely had taught us; most especially that being a good neighbor can happen without physical proximity.

Critics have challenged this notion for years, claiming that a remote team cannot possibly be as close as a team that physically works together. Yet we are living proof that physical proximity is not what determines close relationships, innovation, or success.

Sharing those lessons felt like the right thing to do, and in the midst of writing an email with a quote from Mr. Rogers on how neighbors help others, we had an epiphany.

A shift has happened in the digital world.  Small, independent agencies and freelancers are giving larger well-established agencies a run for their money.  Since 2018, there has been growing confidence among senior executives at large brands. Brands who once saw a small agency as a potential "risk" are changing their tune and now view the small agency as providing a level of agility that is now required for businesses to compete.

The IHUBApp Digital Experience Platform (DXP) is now rapidly being used by digital agencies around the globe for exactly this reason.  We put together the five main reasons your digital agency will want to consider the IHUBApp as you look to disrupt the established agencies in your local community for yourself.

As the Coronavirus has spread around the world, businesses are requiring employees to work from home and grappling with the practical implications of suddenly needing to manage a distributed workforce.

InspireHUB is a 100% remote company and has been managing an international staff of digital nomads for over five years. As the creator of the IHUBApp Digital Experience Platform, we also have had agencies and clients use our platform to build employee hubs to help improve their connection and engagement.

From this unique vantage point, we decided to share the internal guidelines and tips that have helped us become high-performers and produce at the award-winning level with the hopes of you making the most of the situation.

Each year, we publish a white paper to help businesses and their tech leaders make sense of the ever-changing landscape when it comes to communications, collaboration, productivity and engagement.

As we enter 2020, consumers are demanding hyper-personalized digital experiences that are secure and seamless regardless of the device they are using and the impact on the app market as we know it is significant.

Wondering how to leverage significant changes in technology to build the digital experiences your organization needs FAST, including apps, portals, hubs, intranets, extranets and more? We've got you! Our new white paper, "The 2020 Future of Apps: The Merging World of Digital Experiences" white paper discusses the maturation of Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and how the latest intelligent technologies are blurring digital experiences in surprising ways.  Here's a taste ...

Have you ever dreamed of upping your game with an app but figured it would take too much time, too much money and technical resources you just didn't have?  Merchants Paper Company tapped into the power of the IHUBApp that they already use for internal communications to build out a whole new digital experience for their conference attendees in less than a week!

They recently hosted their Merchants’ 2019 Sustainability Conference & Trade Show, not only showcasing their products but featuring guest speakers to encourage discussion around the advantages of moving forward with environmentally friendly products and practices. This year, they saw an opportunity to give their vendors, attendees and even suppliers a new way of connecting around that.

Take a look at how they did that ...

It's one thing to make policies that put people first in company culture. It's another thing entirely to model them. But being part of a corporate social experiment designed to prove that putting the bottom line and people first are not competing ideals? Better buckle up!

Getting beyond lip-service often means a lot of falling down and getting things wrong before you find your groove. Our Founder, Karolyn Hart, jokes about our being "UnInspireHUB" while we fumbled through the transition from a more traditional workplace to the 100% remote -- and empowered -- workplace we have now. She's bent on disrupting some of the most toxic foundations of corporate culture, starting with ours.

While the sign-off on rebooting might happen at the top, the biggest changes often start from the bottom up. Buy-in has to be across all teams and pay grades. "Ask me anything" style collaboration, a willingness to kill sacred cows and valuing "impact" over "hours" may make great sound-bytes, but feel like very risky business when it comes to the bottom line.

And yet something funny happens when you treat people like capable adults. They tend to rise to the occasion, and so does your ROI.

Here are some of the experiments that have paid off best at InspireHUB...

You’ve discovered the power of the IHUBApp platform and are excited to start engaging your audience through the wonderful digital experience you’ve built.  You’ve seen how some of our clients are celebrating incredible engagement statistics, and you can’t wait to achieve that same level of success.

Here are the top 5 things you can do to get those results ...