13 May Aspire to Tech – PressReader
Tell me about your company. When were you founded? What do you do? And where are you located?
PressReader, formerly known as Newspaper Direct, was established in 1999. We are located in Richmond, BC, and we operate with offices located also in Ireland, the Philippines, and the US.
Our mission is to empower and enrich curious minds by bringing a universe of quality content within reach. PressReader is a group of companies that include three major brands – PressReader, Branded Editions which is a white labeled version of our technology, and TextbookHub which focuses on education. We are building technological solutions for content delivery, consumption, publisher empowerment, and brand engagement. We process thousands of newspapers, publications & magazines every day. We are making articles translatable, searchable, and easy to read on mobile devices.
Our group of companies work with the publishers of over 14,000 newspapers, magazines, and educational publications. The PressReader platform offers over 7,000 publications making us the largest all-you-can-read platform for newspapers and magazines available. We offer titles like The Economist, Bloomberg, Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Newsweek, and many more. Many high-profile businesses feature our content platform to enhance their own customers’ experiences, for example, Jet Blue, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Air Canada all offer our services to their customers.
What is the big problem that your company is tackling?
We are helping the publishing industry take advantage of and embrace technological evolution. We strongly believe that quality content deserves fair compensation to be sustainable, and we back that up. We are here to provide readers with quick and easy access to high-quality content, information, papers, and magazines that offer many different, valuable perspectives. If you want to read about a specific topic, you have the opportunity to find newspapers from different countries. You can expose yourself to many different perspectives and voices, which can help you better understand the world.
Because we offer auto-translate services, we are also opening doors to people who may not have been able to access that information before. It helps people better understand the news of the world as well. If something happens in a country where you don’t speak the language, translation tools could help you understand what is happening. It’s so much information at your fingertips!
What are you most proud of in terms of company Milestones?
The creation of the Voice of Customer (VOC) position and the support gained across the company has been an important milestone. It brings a lot of benefits and potential to the company, aligning business objectives with customer needs. It helps us understand why people make certain choices and can potentially increase levels of confidence in our decisions, and ultimately better serve our customers. This is an important milestone, as it will improve levels of satisfaction and loyalty, allow us to stay relevant in the market, which is ever-changing, and maintain strong relationships with our customers.
How would you describe your company culture?
What I love is how diverse the culture at PressReader is. We have multiple nationalities within all our teams which creates a rich environment that brings together different perspectives, and I love that because we are a global company. You learn a lot from diverse teams, and it makes our days very interesting.
Another aspect that I would like to highlight is that everyone is very passionate about quality content and being able to share perspectives and voices from around the world as well. We are proud to offer that to readers. We deal with well-established publications that everyone is familiar with, and also local publishers on a small island or somewhere. For example, we worked with a publisher on a tiny island off the coast of New Zealand. I think sharing their work with the world is part of the culture at PressReader.
What are three words you would use to describe your company culture?
Diverse is central to who we are as a company.
Passionate and Energetic. We’re all problem solvers and very driven.
What is it like to work for your company, and why is it a great place to work?
We are trying to make the publishing industry more accessible, which can be very fulfilling and rewarding work. We are bringing information and content to people who would not be able to access it otherwise. The people here feel passionate about that, which in turn leads to a work environment that is welcoming and that people want to be involved in.
It’s a great place to work. The company provides a safe, flexible work environment.
We are encouraged to speak up, and to take action. Employees are always heard, in my opinion. This multiplicity of culture in the company makes the environment very rich and interesting.
In their own words, what do your employees say?
Are you hiring?
Yes! If someone is interested, they should check out our careers page, because we want to hear from them.