The Gilbane Report announced that their Content Technology Works program has published a case study on HP’s global digital content management initiatives to optimize the delivery of product content to global markets. The case study describes how HP has deployed a digital content management infrastructure in order to serve its global customer base, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies. It outlines the content management business processes that connect HP content owners with content consumers in local languages that enable commerce. It details how HP uses rigorous and repeatable regionalization, translation, and localization practices to interact with its customers. Finally, it lays out the results that HP has achieved to date. The case study, like alll Content Technology Works case studies, is available at no charge.www.gilbane.com/case_studies/HP_case_study.html, www.gilbane.com/ctw_success_stories.html
Year: 2005 (Page 83 of 95)
Interwise announced that it has joined the EMC Documentum Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Alliance program and will integrate the two company’s live and asynchronous collaboration products. The ECP Connect for eRoom solution will provide integration between EMC Documentum eRoom’s collaborative workplaces and Interwise ECP Connect’s integrated web, video and voice conferencing solution to create a core communication and collaboration utility. This solution will offer unlimited live and asynchronous collaboration to the extended enterprise for a fixed price, and also will bring live ad hoc and scheduled collaboration to Enterprise Content Management solutions via EMC Documentum eRoom Enterprise. With ECP Connect for eRoom, customers will be able to add live web, video, and voice conferencing functionality to their Documentum eRoom solutions. ECP Connect for eRoom offers companies the opportunity to reduce their overall conferencing costs by leveraging advanced VoIP capabilities. ECP Connect for eRoom also supports Documentum eRoom Enterprise, providing customers the benefits of live collaboration integrated with the advanced enterprise content management capabilities of the EMC Documentum Enterprise Content Management platform. The ECP Connect for eRoom solution will be available in the second quarter of 2005 through both the EMC Documentum and Interwise organizations. www.interwise.com
Authentica, Inc. introduced its Active Rights Management (ARM) platform, an integrated ERM solution that combines document and email protection in a single platform. Authentica’s ARM delivers a broad range of integration support, extending its benefits to enterprise compliance/archiving, content management and mobile email applications. Authentica’s ARM platform protects documents and email at rest, in transit and after distribution to recipients. Organizations can systematically identify, audit and continuously control protected content as it flows into and out of an enterprise. The Authentica ARM platform gives enterprises and government agencies a single, centralized solution for intellectual property protection (IP) and compliance adherence. The ARM platform has been designed to integrate with existing applications and infrastructures to ensure that sensitive information is protected without impacting existing enterprise workflow. Centralized policy and key management allows auditing and control of sensitive information, regardless of where it is distributed. Authentica’s Active Rights Management platform is available immediately. Pricing begins at $50,000. www.authentica.com
HSS, Inc. introduced ECM Pro, an enterprise content management (ECM) system that helps healthcare information technology vendors and providers by enabling them to depend on one current source for managing the complexities of code-based reimbursement. ECM Pro, through its “Knowledge-Server” architecture, manages both structured (code lists, classification systems, edit rules, pricing algorithms) and unstructured (program memoranda, industry research) content. ECM Pro’s Knowledge-Servers are based on Web Services technology, so regulatory content can easily be published where and when users need it. For example, Medicare’s frequent updates are cascaded automatically to both local and remote users in a timely manner. Rapid access is provided to all of the information necessary to effectively manage code-based data collection, editing and reimbursement including CPT-4, ICD-9-CM, DRGs, APCs and more. ECM Pro is designed to be either embedded into the advanced technology solutions of healthcare IT vendors, or integrated into the information systems healthcare providers already have in place. ECM Pro’s Knowledge-Servers can be used by multiple software applications from different vendors within the same enterprise. www.hssweb.com
NextPage released NextPage 1.5, a new subscription service that provides users with real-time status and notifications about all documents on which they collaborate. NextPage 1.5 doesn’t require IT infrastructure and works with e-mail and Microsoft Office. In addition, users can still work with non-subscribers, and the service automatically knows when a new document arrives that it is a version of the original. The service adds a “Digital Thread” of accuracy and control to document versions. The service also includes the NextPage Version History, which provides a graphical reporting tool, telling users what has happened to every tracked document. NextPage 1.5 also attaches a Document Signature to any e-mail with an attached NextPage-tracked document, providing detailed information about the document version. With that signature, recipients can click on a link to perform a NextPage Version Check to see if the document they received is still the latest version. The Version Check takes users to a Web page that displays whether or not the document is the latest version. NextPage 1.5 tracks Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files and runs on Windows. NextPage 1.5 is available for purchase and a free trial version is available. www.nextpage.com
iUpload launched Perspectives, a business blogging application that allows users to create content in their blog and instantly reach multiple communities and sites. The number of Perspectives that can be applied to content ranges from: customer relationship and contact management applications like salesforce.com and Plaxo; search portals like Yahoo!; social networks applications like Tribe; classified and auction sites like eBay; product and service review sites; contests and promotions from large brands like Idol; and user generated tags like Technorati and Flickr. iUpload Perspectives offers a way for businesses to tap into the blogosphere, launch consumer generated marketing programs, conduct promotions and contests, and create, expand and promote participation in their community. Administrative tools allow organizations to manage and distribute content coming from individuals as appropriate, turning bloggers into potential authors and allowing them to leverage content into any of their web properties. iUpload Perspectives is automatically available to existing customers now. Individuals can also utilize Perspectives at no charge by signing up for a free blog. Organizations interested in offering a Perspective(s) should contact iUpload to review the host of options and administration tools available. Perspectives is an integral part of all of iUpload’s tools, so it can be accessible from within their Personal Publisher, Community Publisher and Content Manager solutions, as well as third party tools. www.iupload.com
Last night William Donaldson, chairman of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, said that he would work to reduce the cost of Sarbanes-Oxley
compliance. His remarks are reported in today’s Financial Times.
Not surprisingly, the focus of the cost-saving effort will be on Section 404,
which requires testing and reporting on internal controls. It is where
most companies have run into the most difficulty. The FT quotes Donaldson
as saying that he wants to make these rules more cost-effective. He also
said that his commitment to the principles of Sarbanes-Oxley remains unchanged.
So … it seems possible that we will see some modification to the rules
implementing Section 404.
Is this a problem?
I have already used these blog entries to argue that "compliance," per
se, should not be the central focus of a company’s Sarbanes-Oxley
effort. The real focus should be on establishing internal controls that
will provide strong assurance that financial information is accurate, that
encourage efficient, effective use of resources, and that safeguard assets and
records. "Compliance" emerges as a result of putting such controls in
place. Clearly, if a company is driven by these kinds of internal goals,
changes in SOX rules will not be a primary concern.
But, realistically, it is also clear that many companies are in the position
of just trying to comply with the rules. Business doesn’t like
uncertainty, and potential rule changes introduce uncertainty. Will this
uncertainty have an impact on your company’s compliance work? Will it
affect your plans to create the kind of sustainable internal control framework
that I have been talking and asking about over the past few days? Send
me an email or post some comments …
Today’s Financial Times includes a front page story about the effect
of Sarbanes-Oxley on the fees companies are paying to external auditors:
On the average, they have doubled this year. Yow !
The FT story emerged from a study of large company spending on SOX
compliance published earlier this week by the Corporate Executive Board, a
consulting firm. The same study reported that, in addition to the higher
fees for auditing, the companies surveyed spent an average of $5 million to $8
million on SOX Section 404 compliance work in 2004.
The numbers are in the news because companies with fiscal years ending
December 31 will be releasing their annual reports over the next few
weeks. This will be the first year that these companies will have to
report on the effectiveness of their internal controls, as required by Section
404 of the Act. After the companies make their own assessments of internal
controls, the auditors are required to render an outside opinion on the internal
controls. In a related story in today’s Financial Times, titled
"Crunch Time," sources from the Big Four accounting firms estimate
that perhaps 10% of the companies will report that there are material weaknesses
in their system of controls.
It appears that we will find out how the markets react to reports of material
weaknesses.
The FT reports that companies typically have three questions for their
auditors:
- Are we in the clear? Are our controls effective?
- How can we make SOX compliance less expensive?
- How can we turn this into something we can do year after year?
In diagnosing the sources of "material weakness" in internal
control systems, auditors put problems with information technology systems at
the top of the list. The problems take different forms, but include
difficulties in controlling access to data and difficulties associated with the
project-oriented focus that has been characteristic of initial compliance
efforts.
The companies that reveal material weaknesses over the next four weeks will
almost certainly stay in "project" mode — they will have no other
choice. But, for the 90% of the companies that successfully make it
through the first year of Section 404 testing and evaluation, the real challenge
will be how to turn this from "crunch time" into a normal part of
business — a part that supports, rather than subtracts from, the rest of the
business.
Are there readers of this column who can share, in general terms, the steps
that their companies are taking to make this transition? It seems
reasonable to expect that increased use of content-based technologies to
automate parts of the internal control system would be part of the
solution. Is that turning out to be the case? Send me an
email or post a comment.
