David Montgomery is the CEO of Ingenta, having previously served as Chief Technology Officer, where he was responsible for driving all aspects of the company’s IT strategy, including its vision, innovation and roadmap. In addition to defining the technical architecture and development of the company’s core products, David continues to manage their testing, rollout, and on-going support, working in close collaboration with the company’s customers to ensure that product strategy and development is aligned and with client requirements.

Prior to Ingenta, David was Managing Director of Software Operations at Inspired Thinking Group (ITG), a Tech Track 100 company, where he was responsible for overseeing software hosting, application management, software development and customer services. Prior to that, he held various senior positions, including Chief Innovation Officer, at software company Atex, 10 years as Director of Technology at 5 Fifteen and spent 9 years as Director of Technology at Anite plc (previously Autofile).

Tell us what your company does in 20 words or fewer.
Ingenta covers the publishing process end to end with commercial and content management systems, advertising software and content services.

What is the one thing about your business that we need to know?
We really want to help publishers to act globally. The solutions we provide look toward a future of publishers expanding worldwide.

What do you like about your job?
There’s a lot to like, but specifically, I like it when we are able to collaborate with a client to deliver the best possible solution for their business, whether it’s a hosting solution, rights management or commercial product management.

What is the single biggest challenge facing the publishing industry right now?
Understanding and managing big data.  As an industry, we finally have access to a lot of great market research that can help us improve our business, but we don’t have a sophisticated system to process and analyse that information.

Does the publishing industry understand technology?
Yes and no.  Technology moves at breakneck speed, so even the most tech savvy of us still suffer from not knowing what we don’t know. Publishers don’t necessarily have the time or skillset to understand how existing and emerging technologies can help them. Its, therefore, important that they partner with a multifaceted technology supplier who will help the publisher to understand which questions they need to ask in order to get the right solution for their needs, whether that’s something enabling off the shelf, or business enhancing and tailored customised and built with full integration to their existing systems.

How can social media aid the Publishing industry?
Social media is a great way to have a conversation around a larger subject. It is also becoming an increasingly useful way for publishers and writers to disseminate their content and make it more discoverable, but it is only one channel, with its own strengths and weaknesses.

What is the silliest thing you have on your desk?
It wasn’t intentionally silly, but I have a 2017 calendar with 29 February on it. I’m sure everyone involved in The London Book Fair would have loved an extra day of preparation, but 2017 is not a leap year…

What do you love about LBF?
Going back to my earlier comment of ‘not knowing what we don’t know’, LBF provides a great opportunity through organised seminar sessions to really absorb what’s been happening in the industry recently so you can make sure you’re as informed as possible. I think if you come to LBF and don’t spend time at one of the speaking sessions, you’ve missed a trick.

What is your prediction for the year ahead in the publishing industry?
I think the industry as a whole will really turn its focus on understanding big data and how it can be used to our benefit, using semantic enrichment to expand our reach, and experimenting with new revenue streams, such as advertising.

What is the one essential item you bring to the Fair?
Business cards.  You never know where you will run into someone who you might want to work with.