AST increases its clients` output

In a continuous effort to improve the quality of service and to bring the best solutions possible to its clients, AST Products has brought together products, people and processes to provide a unique service offering for the combined enterprise content management and output solutions market.

Representing some of the world`s leading software companies, AST Products has taken best-of-breed technologies and has combined them with world-class practices and a proven implementation and support service, which will allow its clients to cost-effectively manage their enterprise content environment.

"We can now manage a client`s documents right through from input, (such as imaging or typing), version control, archiving and printing. AST has provided these solutions for some time but never as a unified offering. Our solid client base and existing relationships with leading suppliers enable us to transform our clients` enterprise content from raw data into consolidated data and accurate record collation," explains Henrik Stanley-Madsen, MD of AST Products, a division of the AST Group.

AST Products has proven experience and expertise to complement and support this comprehensive suite. They add value to clients by providing specialised, professional services to improve the efficiency of their business, while exploiting the functionality of the product suite. Clients are representative of all the industries in SA.

AST Products has searched the globe to obtain a solution set that will provide its clients with an end-to-end output management solution. The solution set is made up of the following components:

* Document composition - Metavante`s CSF - allows clients to deliver clear, concise and personalised documents to clients, giving them a competitive edge.

* Document archival and retrieval - RSD Folders - a long-term archival management system that archives and retrieves all corporate documents, regardless of format or source.

* Report and document management - RSD EOS - a comprehensive enterprise report and document management software system, designed to efficiently manage the archiving, retrieval and distribution of computer-generated reports while ensuring confidentiality and security.

* Document distribution - LRS VTAM Print Solution (VPS) - manages output across the enterprise so that documents can be routed to the most appropriate device, no matter what type of device or where it is connected to the network.

* Electronic bill presentation - Clients may prefer a traditional paper document, or they may choose to receive an interactive, online document. With the available AST Products` solutions, documents may be generated in either a PDF or an XML format, "pushing" the information to the client via fax or e-mail.

* Document and content management solutions - Hummingbird Document and Content Management Solutions give organisations the ability to create centralised repositories, or libraries, containing all of the unstructured data they generate - files, e-mail, text, forms, records and other documents.

* Business content lifecycle - Hummingbird Enterprise offers clients a 360^0 view of their knowledge assets by bringing together Hummingbird`s industry leading portal, connectivity, document management, records management, knowledge management, business intelligence, collaboration, and data integration solutions into an integrated enterprise information management system (EIMS). Hummingbird Enterprise offers everything organisations need to manage the entire lifecycle of their business content.

* The Oculus Document Management Framework (ODMF) is an open-ended SA developed system used to build corporate document management solutions and manage system-wide configuration from one single location. The framework consists of an integrated Control Centre to define document management processes, document profiles and management of the configuration of the participant desktops and servers in the solution. Additionally, the Security Manager controls access to the documents.