Vindicia in the News

Associate Member Spotlight: Vindicia

Kris Nagel, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations, Vindicia

Kris has 20 years of sales, sales management and executive experience, providing organizational leadership in the enterprise software and telecommunications industries. He has extensive experience in the billing and customer care market including senior management positions with Portal Software and CSG Systems. Prior to joining Vindicia, Kris was vice president of sales at Mu Security and SS8 Networks where his responsibilities included overall management of the global sales force and channel partners for each company. Previously he had held positions of increasing importance in sales management, culminating in his appointment as vice president and general manager of the Americas for Portal Software. Kris began his career at Apple Computer and has also held sales and sales management positions at Traverse Networks and CSG Systems.

1) How does your company partner with member publishers to help them succeed?

At Vindicia, we work with and support MPA members by sharing information, strategies and benchmarks that help magazine and newspaper publishers create blueprints for the successful monetization of digital products and content. Additionally, we gather and share feedback from influential industry voices for whom evolution of digital media – in addition to business growth and subscriber retention – are of paramount concern.

2) What "known unknowns" do you see on the horizon for the industry?

Without a doubt, mobile is going to be the big win. The next generation of digital publishing offerings will need to be more oriented towards "information hubs" that combine magazine/newspaper content with current streams of information and video offerings that together drive much deeper consumer engagement. Monetization, subscription and recurring billing technologies must evolve to support this trend.

3) What had the greatest impact on your business this year?

More than ever this year, we see consumers opting for on-demand, mobile consumption. In response, innovative publishers are creating new mobile and digital strategies that leverage investments in content in order to retain current customers, reach new mobile consumers, and grow predictable, recurring revenue streams. This new reality can be challenging for established media companies that face frustrations when trying to bring digital ideas to market. Often, traditional monetization and billing approaches cannot support this emerging trend, which opens new opportunities for Vindicia solutions.

4) If you were a magazine brand, which would you be and why?

If we were a magazine brand – or better yet, a media brand – I would say we would be something similar to Next Issue Media's agile Texture service. The Texture app is truly innovative, providing savvy mobile consumers with a unique digital reading experience that gives them a frictionless "all-access pass" to the world’s leading magazines. That's a smart strategy that totally aligns with our thinking here at Vindicia.

5) Is there anything we haven't asked you today that you wish we had?

What do publishers really need? They need the agility to create recurring revenue business models and products that respond to on-demand mobile consumers. They need to retain customers longer with frictionless payment strategies to reduce subscriber churn. They need to leverage big data analytics to gain knowledge about their customers and key trends, thereby enabling faster and improved decision-making. We would be pleased to share our ideas and strategies through an informative webinar for MPA members, "The Seven Monetization Habits of Successful Magazine Companies" available on demand.

To access Vindicia's on-demand webinar "7 Monetization Habits of Successful Magazine Companies" with Kris Nagel and Barry Fleming, VP Digital Director, MPA – The Association of Magazine Media, click here.