Ninestars battles the elements to meet eClips deadlines

The NLA has had a close connection with India for many years now. Since 2006, our partnership with Ninestars Information Technologies Ltd., has enhanced the supply of press cuttings to UK media monitoring organisations via the eClips database. It is always distressing to see friends in trouble, as we look from afar at the news stories concerning the worst flooding for over 100 years across parts of Southern India following a cyclone that developed in the Bay of Bengal.

Two of the NLA’s outsourced production centres – Chennai, and further down the east coast at Pondicherry - are directly affected. Ninestars have been managing the situation over the last few days, the first priority being to ensure the safety & security of all staff. They have arranged transport for staff and changed shift patterns at short notice – and are still hitting the processing deadlines we set to service UK media monitoring organisations. This is a great testament to their professionalism, something we have seen time and again over the years of our partnership.

NLA publishers’ content is processed at 3 geographically separate and inter-changeable centres – Chennai, Tirupathi and Pondicherry – so that production can be switched at any time to safeguard services to publishers and monitoring clients. So far that has not been necessary, due to Ninestars’ detailed planning and management skills.

Let’s spare a thought for our friends at Ninestars as they battle very real dangers in supporting the eClips service over the coming days. It makes our commuting delays over ‘leaves on the line’ seem very trivial indeed.