Spescom Software Inc, the US subsidiary of JSE-listed ICT group, Spescom Ltd, has announced the release of eB Mail, an automated e-mail capturing application and an addition to the eB iDCR (integrated Document, Configuration and Records Management) software suite.
Developed by Spescom Software partner, Greece-based Key Systems, eB Mail provides a tight integration between Microsoft Exchange Server and the eB document management system to simplify the indexing and storage of e-mails.
Spescom Software Inc, formerly Altris Software, Inc, is a leading provider of integrated document, configuration and records management solutions.
eB Mail reduces the workload associated with managing e-mail and improves retrieval time by automatically indexing e-mails and filing them in such a way that they can be easily found by users searching a project, case or customer file. Another major benefit of the new product is its ability to control e-mails as corporate records - an increasingly necessary requirement by companies for regulatory purposes. eB Mail has been successfully implemented at Greece-based SuperFast Ferries and Cyprus-based Louis Travel Group.
Analyst firm, the Meta Group, estimates that 15 billion e-mails are sent each day worldwide and predicts that this will grow to 35 billion a day by 2005. While a number of widely publicised cases have drawn attention to the way in which e-mail can be abused by employees, there has been much less attention paid to the issues of the time employees now spend managing e-mail traffic - now up to 25% of the working day according to researchers Vanson Bourne - and the problems that can arise when e-mails are not integrated with other company information, such as project or case files.
Commenting on eB Mail, Carl Mostert, Spescom Software Inc CEO, said: "This new product demonstrates two important aspects of eB. First, eB was developed in such a way as to enable quick and easy integration with third-party applications. Key Systems was able to develop eB Mail within months of becoming a Spescom Software partner - clearly demonstrating the value of eB's open architecture and the speed with which new applications can be developed."
He added: "The second important aspect of eB Mail is the benefits it provides. There is huge growth in the number of e-mails across corporates worldwide and the challenge to manage these increased volumes is becoming urgently apparent. As an addition to the eB suite, eB Mail provides secure archival and retrieval of e-mail messages; the automatic import of e-mail messages into eB; and the ability to relate e-mails to other documents. For system administrators, eB Mail reduces the burden of storage on the e-mail server."
eB Mail allows users to set up rules so that designated incoming or outgoing e-mails are automatically indexed to eB's robust repository. An incoming e-mail has certain attributes such as a sender, a recipient, a subject, a date and time which can be mapped to eB document attributes so that automatic indexing takes place. Users searching for e-mails sent on a certain date or about a certain subject or to a certain person can search the eB repository in exactly the same way that they search for any other document stored in eB.
When the documents are indexed to eB, the e-mail is automatically converted into a text document and any attachments are also stored. Users searching through an Exchange archive looking for particular e-mails can still find them easily with a pointer in Exchange that seamlessly links the user to the required document in eB.
eB Mail is available to all Spescom Software customers as a mainstream add on to eB, and is maintained and supported by Spescom Software. The new facility supports Microsoft Exchange 5.5/2000, and the core eB DM application.
Share
Spescom Limited is an information and communications technology (ICT) company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange SA, with operations in the US, UK and SA.
The group is active in two main areas of the world IT market, namely offering product and solutions to connect to the networked economy, and the provision of software solutions to manage information and knowledge.
The strategic focus is on the convergence of knowledge, document, configuration and voice transaction management technologies.
Spescom holds the controlling interest in US-based Spescom Software Inc (formerly Altris Software Inc), a Nasdaq-, OTCBB-listed company, and developer of the award-winning eB software.
In SA, Spescom, in alliance with world-leading companies such as Cisco and Avaya, provides a range of customer contact and intelligent network solutions to its blue-chip customer base.
The company is a leading supplier of communications solutions and products to network operators and service providers on the African continent.
Editorial contacts