Wolters Kluwer: 184 Years of Knowledge Innovation

Abstract

Wolters Kluwer is a global provider of professional information, software solutions, and services for customers in more than 180 countries. It employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues of €4.6 billion of which 89% are derived from digital products and services. The company's roots can be traced back to the nineteenth century and to the merger of four entrepreneurial, family-run Dutch publishing houses: Wolters, Noordhoff, Samsom, and Kluwer. Throughout its 184-year history, Wolters Kluwer has adapted to a significant amount of environmental, cultural, and technological change, not the least of which was digitalization. It expanded internationally through numerous acquisitions and moved deeper into data and analytics. The company's four operational divisions - Health, Tax & Accounting, Governance Risk & Compliance and Legal & Regulatory - now aim together to achieve goals under a strategy entitled Accelerating Our Value. Those goals are three-fold: to grow expert solutions, to advance deep domain expertise and to drive operational agility. Today Wolters Kluwer is a data-driven, highly customer-experience-focused organization that continues to apply advanced technologies to complex problems. The author, David Bartolone, VP and General Manager, for the International Group within Wolters Kluwer's Legal and Regulatory, U.S. unit, describes Wolters Kluwer's history as well as the current organizational structure, and vision for the future. In addition, he draws upon his recent experience to describe Wolters Kluwer's international legal business.