- United Kingdom
For over 60 years, Highlights for Children has left an indelible imprint on the hearts and minds of tens of millions of children. Their products are dedicated to helping children grow in basic skills and knowledge, in creativeness, in the ability to think and reason, in sensitivity to others, in high ideals and worthy ways of living.
Instead of retiring in 1946, Garry and Caroline Myers took their savings and invested in a lifelong dream, a magazine they named Highlights, reflecting their intention to include only the best material for children. Their belief that children experience fun and joy when they use their innate creativity, curiosity, thinking ability and imagination, and their commitment to the motto “Fun with a Purpose” lives on at the company their family still owns today.
Over the years, the organization has expanded from a monthly children’s periodical to include a book club and catalog business, and has grown to encompass eight individual companies to date.
With a growing magazine enterprise and impeccable reputation around the world, Highlights made the decision to expand their business with the launch of a book club in 1989. The book club consists of six different clubs, which are sold primarily though direct mail campaigns. These book clubs offer a variety of activities to children of all ages, including puzzle-solving, number-crunching, geographic adventures, sticker activities, matching games and more.
Since the organization was primarily known for its monthly periodicals, the level of expertise with this new business was unavailable internally and the capital investment required for the launch was very significant. Also, Highlights wanted to ensure that if the business was unsuccessful, they could pull out at any time.
In order to successfully build the book club, Highlights ultimately made the decision to outsource the operational, customer service and order management functions associated with this business.
Highlights launched the book club business in 1989 with an alternative sourcing provider. However, in early 2004, Highlights and their outsourcing provider began looking at their business relationship in different ways, and as a result, the organization decided to look at other outsourcing partners to carry on the book club business.
To get this process underway, Highlights hired a reputable and unbiased consultant to work with an internal cross-functional team made up of employees from all areas of the organization. These employees were assembled not only as a result of their functional roles, but also for their leadership and decision-making abilities.
Together, the consultant and cross-functional team identified what Highlights wanted from an outsourcing provider. The criteria included:
After extensive research, Highlights chose CDS Global as their new alternative sourcing provider to lead the organization into the future. CDS Global was chosen because of their proven ability to accomplish the task at hand, reputable experience and a shared vision of where Highlights wanted the book club business to be in years to come.
Since Highlights converted the book club business to CDS Global, they have seen significant cost and efficiency improvements. This includes the flexibility to scale the business as needed without disrupting operational functions. Furthermore, alternative sourcing has freed up time for executive management within Highlights to focus on growth opportunities for the company instead of day-to-day operational and regulatory issues that would have taken precedence in the past. And, through experience and best practices from CDS Global, Highlights has gained new insight and expansion of its business.
Since choosing CDS Global as their outsourcing provider, Highlights has seen consistent growth year after year with new and existing customers through a variety of methods including direct mail campaigns and cross-promotional opportunities. Due to the successful launch of the book club and witnessing first hand CDS Global’s proven ability to handle multiple areas of their business, Highlights converted their subscription fulfillment business and customer service functions to CDS Global, ensuring new growth opportunities and future success to their organization.
In the end, alternative sourcing opportunities can help ensure a stronger and more financially secure future for corporations of any size. In an ever-changing global marketplace, many organizations need to make significant operational changes to reduce overhead expenses, turn a profit and improve their business. Now is the time for an organization to expand their market share and take advantage of alternative sourcing opportunities.