Open Text Corporation, the pre-eminent provider of enterprise content management (ECM) software, today said today its social software helped world leaders, diplomats and policymakers collaborate at the recent G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, the second time this year that its solution played a role in the event.
The software was first used at the G-20 summit, in Toronto, in June, marking the first time social media tools had been used at a G-20 to help participants work together during the forum.
The confidential and secure social application has provided a singular, consistent knowledge platform for the G-20 summits this year and, more importantly, offered a way for officials to continue discussions on policies impacting fiscal reform and the global economy between the summits.
As with the Toronto G-20, delegates in Seoul were also able to access the Open Text application from their BlackBerrys, iPhones and iPads. The application supported multiple languages to enhance the ability of participants to collaborate and use the social software productively.
"At the G-20, officials wanted to bring continuity to the way people from around the world work with each other and share knowledge over time," commented James Latham, Chief Marketing Officer at Open Text. "The ongoing international work of the G-20 requires the kind of strong social-collaborative platform we've created, and we've seen the success so far through two G-20 summits this year."
Given the heightened focus on security and privacy around the globe, G-20 organisers avoided use of consumer-grade social media tools, which lack enterprise strength security controls. At the same time, social media offers better ways for people to connect, share and collaborate, than e-mail, so a solution that combined the benefits while reducing the risks was needed. In Toronto, G-8 and G-20 summit participants who used the Open Text social networking application reported that it required minimal training and provided an intuitive Web-browser experience tailored to their needs.
The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together industrialised and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy, in response to financial crises of the late 1990s.
For further information, please contact Rob Shaw: tel +27 83 626-3811, fax +27 86 646-4178, e-mail rshaw@opentext.com.
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