Johannesburg, 09 Mar 2004
Enterprise content management (ECM) players, IXOS Software AG and Open Text, have announced the IXOS 6 Suite, a robust ECM platform that will enable corporations to securely and compliantly manage, archive and retrieve enterprise content, regardless of content type or format.
IXOS 6 Suite, with its advanced capabilities for meeting regulatory compliance, will become a key part of both companies` ECM solution portfolios, designed to address the full spectrum of enterprise requirements, from content creation through final archival and disposition.
The solution includes an integrated set of content, document and business process management and archiving solutions that allows enterprises to successfully manage and leverage large volumes of disparate content within a single repository.
"By connecting departmental islands of information within an organisation, IXOS 6 Suite creates one enterprise-wide stream of data to enable companies to universally access, manage and archive business critical content in real-time," says Rob Shaw, product marketing manager at Datacentrix. "It will also significantly improve business processes and reduce total cost of ownership."
"The ECM market is expected to exceed $10 billion by 2004," says Andrew Warzecha, vice-president, Meta Group. "As organisations increasingly seek single-source solutions, vendors that can support the broadest set of `content` in an integrated environment will benefit the most."
Unlike other ECM solutions, the IXOS 6 Suite delivers a fully integrated, modular solution set for ECM strategies based on a core repository architecture that focuses on business requirements. This modular approach allows customers to buy and deploy ECM components together or individually at their own pace to gain key efficiencies, despite size or budget constraints, while building a scaleable ECM foundation for future needs.
At the core of this architecture is robust functionality that provides a single point of access to all structured data (content that is managed by a database, such as ERP) and unstructured data (such as e-mail, word processing and spread sheets files, scanned faxes and images and Web content) within an organisation. The IXOS 6 Suite central repository system enables companies to store all relevant content, along with its descriptive information (Meta data) such as author, creation date and version, in one place.
The IXOS 6 repository gives enterprises the ability to securely share content seamlessly across applications including SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and MS Sharepoint, regardless of whether the application is running on individual desktops, to dramatically improve content re-use, problem solving and decision-making.
Because a single unified repository architecture is used, companies also can significantly enhance the control and ownership of data in the following ways:
* Enterprise-wide standards for content, along with Meta data, can be established to improve content security, personalisation and re-use.
* One consistent lifecycle policy, from creation and long-term retention through disposal, can be implemented across all content types to make information accessible at the earliest possible moment, regardless of whether the data is being requested from inside or outside of the original application.
* Enterprise-wide business processes can be developed and optimised through the access of existing content, saving time and reducing the probability of human error to significantly increase efficiency.
* Enterprise-scale compliance procedures and common audit trails can be applied to control access, safeguard content and reduce the risks associated with current and emerging compliance regulations.
* Global view of content can be set up to allow authorised employees to have immediate access to all documents that relate to a topic, such as customer service representatives handling inquiries on accounts.
"Enterprise information is the most important building block of a company`s value chain," says Shaw. "By taking a holistic approach to managing information, the IXOS 6 Suite breaks down the barriers among different departments and software systems within a company, to provide a single point of access for managing corporate knowledge and improving the flow of business information."
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