Build or Buy

It’s a debate as long as digital publishing has existed: should publishers build their own tech or buy it in from partners? And should they bring in and develop their own talent or outsource to external experts? We explored the arguments on both sides to help you navigate the various options out there should you choose to go down the buy route.

In partnership with

Post-Event Content

Speakers

Martin Ashplant

Digital Media Consultant

PPA Decodes Chair

Martin is a digital media and product expert with more than 15 years’ experience of building engaged online communities and award-winning web and mobile products. A former journalist, he has led digital product and content teams at Metro, City A.M., Beano Studios and New Statesman Media Group, as well as working with publishing businesses including ITV News, BT Sport, Dennis Publishing, Dazed Media and the i newspaper as a consultant.

David Hayter

Head of Digital, The Stylist Group

DC Thomson

David is an experienced digital and advertising leader with more than 15 years of experience in the publishing industry. He is currently Head of Digital at the Stylist group where he has led a successful strategy of building technology products to advance business capabilities. Previously, David has held senior roles at Switch Concepts and Blinkx, working with publishers to deliver and implement world-class ad-tech solutions. David has also worked in advertising roles at Racing Post and IPC Media.

Sanjay Ravindran

CIO

New Statesman Media Group

Sanjay is a seasoned technology leader with more than 25 years of experience implementing innovative and practical solutions to complex problems across multiple industries including media and financial services. Currently CIO of the New Statesman Media Group he recently oversaw the launch of a new purpose-built central publishing platform for the group which powered the replatform of the redesigned New Statesman website. Sanjay has also overseen technical delivery at Beano Studios and Freesat as well as working in various senior delivery roles at Channel 4, ITV, Sky and Virgin Money.

Denis Haman

Executive Director

Glide

Denis is an experienced CEO and CTO with more than two decades of experience in UK publishing, including leading technology at Northern & Shell, News UK and Which?. He has led multiple digital transformations at major publishers and often tackled the question of building or buying. He now leads Glide, a SaaS content management platform aimed at publishers.

Miriam Keck

Digital Director

City AM

Miriam has been at business news outlet City A.M. for four years and moved into the role of Digital Director in the middle of 2020 after City A.M. became a digital only (and now digital first) business during the pandemic. In that role she led the replatforming of the site with Wordpress VIP in partnership with development agency 10up. City A.M. previously worked with development teams both in-house and outsourced but Miriam decided to start from scratch with an experienced and high-quality agency, resulting in a site which went live in November 2021 seeing an almost instant spike in traffic and revenues. Previously Miriam has worked at Conde Nast and AdCompass.