From production to orchestration

From separate systems to one central way of working

Dockly was developed from precisely this practical experience. Not to replace existing editorial teams or publishing systems, but as a central platform bringing together content creation, collaboration, workflow, AI, advertising, production and multichannel publishing. One central environment supports every step in the publishing process, from the initial idea and briefing through to production, publication and reuse.

Content is recorded once and can then be used in a controlled way for any desired channel: a printed magazine, website, newsletter, app, digital magazine, social media post, digital special or audio article. This creates a single source of truth, removing duplicate work and improving the quality of information.

This does not mean organisations need to say goodbye to their existing software. Quite the opposite: Dockly works with existing systems. Integrated plug-ins for Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign let editors and designers keep working in familiar environments. The plug-ins bring relevant Dockly information directly into Word and InDesign, including production overviews, status information, materials and linked components. This removes the need to keep looking up this information separately in the platform. The plug-ins also include smart functions for performing important actions directly from Word or InDesign, while Dockly provides structure, workflow, version control, central storage and distribution to the required publishing channels in the background.

Existing publishing and distribution channels such as WordPress, Drupal and Hootsuite can also be connected. Instead of repeatedly transferring content by hand, it can be prepared, enriched and published from one central environment.

AI that knows your organisation

AI is fundamentally changing how content is created. Yet many organisations find that generic AI solutions do not always match their tone of voice, audience or editorial guidelines. Knowledge, documents and guidelines are also often scattered across different systems, leaving AI without enough context to add real value.

Dockly takes a different approach. Rather than a separate chatbot, AI is fully integrated into the publishing process and informed by your own content, style guides, editorial guidelines, taxonomies, image libraries and organisational knowledge. This enables AI assistants that understand how an association, foundation or publisher communicates and can adapt to the tone of voice of a particular publication, brand or even individual editor.

AI supports the entire process: from identifying relevant topics and article suggestions based on RSS feeds, your own archives or websites, to generating draft articles, image suggestions and new illustrations. Existing content can automatically be expanded, supplemented, rewritten, translated or adapted for other channels.

SEO, GEO, metadata, tags, categories, alt text, summaries, headlines, snippets and FAQs can also be part of the same workflow. For quality assurance, AI can assist with consistency, style, spelling, tone of voice, completeness and editorial guidelines. It can also support image rights checks and image editing, making image review and adjustment part of the same integrated way of working.

Collaborate, review and publish

For organisations working with multiple authors, editors, experts or external contributors, Dockly offers extensive support for co-creation. Assignments and briefings can be issued centrally, automatically giving authors access to the right information, templates and deadlines. Dockly then monitors the process, reminding contributors in time about outstanding actions, deadlines and the delivery of text, images or other materials.

Once submitted, articles can easily be shared for editorial assessment, subject-matter review or peer review. Feedback, corrections and approvals are recorded centrally, providing a clear view of each person’s role, the comments made and the current status of a contribution.

Advertising and production processes can also be simplified considerably. Advertising materials can be requested automatically, followed up with reminders, checked against specifications and submitted for review. Partial-page advertisements can be generated automatically, and individual materials can be placed directly into the correct template and format through the Adobe InDesign plug-in. The plug-in displays relevant production information, materials and linked components, so designers do not need to keep returning to the platform. Important actions can also be completed directly in InDesign. The finished PDF can then be sent straight from the plug-in to the materials folder, production board or review process.

The digital flatplan is at the heart of every publication. It provides a visual way to assemble an entire edition, in print or digital form. Articles, advertisements, sections, images and recurring elements can be arranged, moved and linked to pages or sections using drag and drop. You can see at a glance what is ready, what is still being worked on, where materials are missing and which actions remain open.

The correction process connects to this too. Editors, designers and managing editors work from the same source. Automatically tagged XML from Microsoft Word can be imported directly into the appropriate section template in Adobe InDesign, while editors can also write directly to the required length.

Less administration, more reach

A key benefit is that content is no longer tied to a single publication. A good article does not have to belong exclusively to one magazine edition. The same source can be reused as a news story, feature article, newsletter item, website page, social media post, digital special or audio article.

A marketing module can also be connected to the digital magazine, making individual articles easy to share by email, WhatsApp or a shareable link. This increases content visibility and makes it possible to connect marketing activities to specific articles.

Existing content gains a much longer lifespan and can easily be shared by subscribers or members within their own networks. It can therefore reach relevant people with similar interests who are often difficult or expensive to reach through regular marketing activities.

Ready for the future

The pressure on editorial, production coordination and communications teams will continue to grow in the years ahead. Organisations need to produce more content with the same people, serve more channels, use AI responsibly and keep investing in quality, reliability and reach.

This is precisely why attention is shifting from individual publications to central coordination. The focus is not a single magazine, website or channel, but the entire process around it: people, content, advertising, workflow, production, AI and publication.

Recording information properly once, managing it intelligently, enriching it with AI and automatically making it available to all required channels creates a future-ready way of working.

For publishers, associations and foundations, this means not only a more efficient process and lower operating costs, but above all more room to focus on what really matters: sharing valuable knowledge, informing members and readers, and better supporting social or organisational goals.

At the same time, new opportunities emerge to use content more effectively for commercial or strategic purposes, for example through digital specials, audio content, themed collections, audio collections, audiobooks and sponsored publication formats.