Ensuring Every Paper Finds Its Way: Replacing a Core System for Svenska Dagbladet

Image source: Svenska Dagbladet

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In an industry where every subscriber counts, delivering the printed newspaper on time is still a vital part of the reader experience — and a core part of the business.

That’s why when Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) decided to replace a central system responsible for generating delivery instructions to the printing and distribution chain, it wasn’t just a technical project — it was a high-stakes change affecting thousands of readers, every morning.

A Partnership Approach to a High-Risk Implementation

Replacing a core component in a live production environment carries significant risk. The project team identified early on that customer experience, timeline pressure, and internal complexity were the key risks — and planned accordingly.

From December 2024 through May 2025, the teams at SvD, Distribution Innovation, and Schibsted worked closely with a dedicated project coordinator to:

• Migrate subscription data and integrate new delivery logic
  
• Replace and validate production file flows
  
• Conduct thorough pretesting and acceptance testing
  
• Train SvD’s operational staff on the new solution
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“Replacing the distribution system was a complex and high-stakes project, with potential impact on customer relationships and collaboration across remote teams. Thanks to a close, solution-oriented partnership between the experts at DI, stakeholders at SvD, and the printing plants, the transition was carried out smoothly. As project manager, it has been a privilege to coordinate this effort and witness what strong collaboration can achieve.”

— Ola Henriksson, Project Manager
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Delivering Results with Reliability in Focus

By May 2025, the first production files were successfully delivered from DI Publisher.

While the technical goals were met, the real value lies in the operational outcomes:

• Greater transparency and maintainability in the system
  
• Lower dependency on specific individuals or external suppliers
  
• Cost savings in license fees
  
• A strengthened ability to respond to future change
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“Switching to DI has streamlined our processes—customer subscription changes are handled faster, complaints have dropped, and since our partners already use DI, collaboration and daily operations have become significantly more efficient.”

— Anders Larsson – Head of logistics Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet
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What It Means Going Forward

This project wasn’t just about switching systems. It was about supporting a process that many readers still depend on every day. We know how important each delivery is — and we appreciate the trust SvD placed in us to help carry out this change.

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We want to thank the teams at SvD — including Anders Larsson, Ola Henriksson and Peter Hagbergh — for their collaboration and engagement.

And to our own people: Kristoffer Silén, Kristian Hognestad, Mathias Rafn, Harisan Uthayakumaran and others at DI who worked behind the scenes to make this transition a success — thank you.

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