This is how the Börsen-Zeitung is using Purple Headless CMS to align its editorial processes with a digital future

The Börsen-Zeitung, Germany's only daily newspaper dedicated exclusively to the financial sector, uses Purple Editor for cross-channel content creation and Purple Experience for efficient design their website and News app including e-paper one. From the outset, the goal was clear: to implement a future-oriented setup, digital-first production and a user-friendly front end. Within an ambitious project period of just six months, the entire editorial system was replaced, a new app was introduced, the website was fundamentally modernized and a variety of new digital features were integrated.

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The challenge: slow processes and inefficient processes in the editorial system

• Fundamental upgrade of an outdated system landscape
• Implementation of a modern digital-first editor for centralized content creation
• Replacing numerous manual processes in content planning and data processing
• Standardised connections to central partners such as Kordiam, Frisbii and CX Fusion from ppi Media
• Compliance with the WM Group's highest safety requirements

The Börsen-Zeitung started its digital transformation later than many other publishers. When Lutz Knappmann, publishing director of the Börsen-Zeitung, came on board in 2021, an editorial news portal had only existed for just under a year. There was previously a website, but this only allowed individual articles to be retrieved and access to a number of databases.

The existing system landscape was originally designed for print and was later supplemented with digital functions. However, this was unable to meet many basic requirements for digital publishing. The flexibility of the system was severely limited — even for fundamental changes such as creating a new department or a topic page, the old external service provider had to be commissioned. In addition, many processes, such as content planning, were carried out using e-mail and Excel spreadsheets.

“This outdated, monolithic system landscape made it clear that our workflows no longer met the requirements of modern digital journalism. There was an enormous additional effort, which massively limited our flexibility and speed. It was obvious that we needed a fundamental change in order to be able to work efficiently and future-proof.”

Lutz Knappmann, publishing manager at the Börsen-Zeitung

After careful consideration, the Börsen-Zeitung decided to make a complete fresh start instead of gradually expanding the existing system. Modern, digital storytelling with easy integration of tweets, videos and images as well as a user-friendly interface with a clear digital focus were particularly important. In addition, the new workflow should not require separate channel copies and should instead be based on a master document approach with print downstream.

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The solution: A new digital start with Purple as a new overall solution

• Implementation of Purple Headless CMS with a master document for each contribution
• Introduction of Purple as a central editor for all channels
• Provision of news and e-paper areas via Purple Experience
• Purple Wires integration for automated ticker reports
• Implementation of ISIN-based company pages as individual development

In close cooperation with consulting agency Core SE, the Börsen-Zeitung opted for a comprehensive setup with Purple as the central CMS, Kordiam as a planning tool and CX Fusion from ppi Media for the print section. The choice of Purple's headless system enabled a clear digital-first approach with a single master document per contribution.

The implemented setup includes almost the entire modular product range from Purple: The editor serves as a central system, while Purple Experience provides the front end for web and app. Purple Wires is also used to automatically import ticker messages. In addition, the curator feature allows the important start page to be designed in a structured and independent way — completely without the involvement of developers.

“We have decided to make a radical new start and redesign our entire digital system landscape. With the introduction of a uniform editor for all contributions and a central planning tool, we have fundamentally reoriented our previous, inflexible workflow,” reports Knappmann.

Special attention was also paid to specific functions for the financial sector. For example, a powerful company search including relevant reporting, share prices, market data and a “dates of the day” section was developed. The integration of ISIN recognition made it possible to automatically match the corresponding securities number in company reports and thus incorporate relevant price information — a valuable feature for the financial sector.

The project was carried out on a tight schedule, as the Börsen-Zeitung wanted to go live as soon as possible. The new news app was implemented within three months, followed by a major relaunch of the entire system landscape, including the news portal, within six months — a remarkable achievement given the scope of the transformation.

The high security requirements posed another challenge, as the Börsen-Zeitung, as part of the WM Group, which provides financial companies with sensitive data, is subject to strict security guidelines. This was reflected in special firewalls and access regulations.

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The result: increased efficiency and increased subscriber numbers

The change to the new system landscape has decisively driven the digital transformation of the Börsen-Zeitung. The publisher was able to achieve its project goals and create an excellent technical basis with its consistent digital-first strategy.

“Switching to Purple has not only made our editorial workflows more efficient, but also significantly more flexible. We save considerable time and effort every day simply because we can now implement a variety of manual processes uniformly and digitally in the new system landscape.”

Lutz Knappmann, publishing manager at the Börsen-Zeitung

Other significant improvements include the availability of the e-paper significantly earlier and the integration of modern tracking that enables work with real-time data — a functionality that was unthinkable in the old system. The success is reflected in the growth of digital subscriptions: The Börsen-Zeitung now has more digital subscriptions than print subscriptions — a year and a half ago, the relationship was reversed. Reach and visibility are also growing.

“We started digitization late and then made up for everything at a fast pace in order to be up to date with the latest technology. Now we can finally concentrate fully on developing our content,” explains Knappmann. “Thanks to Purple, the Börsen-Zeitung is on its way to the digital future. We have changed and modernized a great deal — technically, structurally and in terms of content. We have thus created the basis for continuing to develop and expand our editorial content, our products and our business model consistently and with a clear digital focus,” adds Knappmann.

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The outlook: Future-oriented development for sustainable growth

The Börsen-Zeitung is constantly working on the development of its digital offerings. A new paywall with Upscore is currently being integrated, which offers dynamic paywall functions and enables more flexible bundling of content — a further step away from the rigid “subscription or free” model towards more dynamic options.

“In principle, the topic of AI is extremely relevant to us. Looking ahead, we would like to introduce a generative archive search for our subscribers. We also want to automate more repetitive processes in the future and offer features such as an automatically generated summary. Our readership is very demanding and works intensively with data, which is why we see great potential here,” says Knappmann, looking at the next steps.

Future plans also include the addition of a digital edition that goes beyond the pure e-paper PDF. The layout of the website is also being further developed in order to meet the strategic focus on analytical and contextualizing reporting and the bundling of contributions on the most relevant key topics.

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