What is Total Content Management?

A total content management system is an integrated set of software facilities that capture, manage, store and deliver diverse content that supports e-business processes and internal operations --- from supply to demand and from design to support. A total content management system performs the daunting task of managing not just the billions of pages that are made available via Web sites and other browser-based applications, but also managing application output, presentations, documents, contracts, forms, templates, database extracts, news, company events, catalogs, e-mail, streaming video and audio, and more. A total content management system is based on the premise that organizations over time have stored the content needed for day-to-day operations in multiple disparate content repositories on any number of software platforms. The system must enable the organization to leverage these investments by providing access through a single interface to all content in any repository. A total content management system meets all enterprise content requirements.

According to industry analysts, making new software work with existing systems costs 40% to 60% of the cost of the software itself. The cost of making existing systems work together is even higher. Why? Because traditional application integration requires custom coding to develop software adapters that serve as communication layers wrapped around existing applications. This is expensive, time-consuming and must be frequently performed to keep up with changing business processes and changing applications. There is an easier and more cost-effective way to achieve integration - by integrating at the content level. All applications produce content, and while the volume of content may be constantly increasing, the type and format of content remains fairly constant. Sharing content between applications gives the benefits of application integration with none of the problems:

• Easy to capture and relate content with indexes
• Easy to incorporate content from new and changed applications
• No programming, APIs or wrappers are required
• Less intrusive-less risk to security and performance of critical systems
  

Components of a Total Content Management System

A total content management system consists of these major components:

• A robust content repository that captures, indexes, stores, transforms and delivers enterprise content.
• A content integration facility that provides access through a single interface to content stored in multiple disparate repositories.
• Complete Web site management facilities for creating, maintaining and personalizing Web sites and distributing responsibility for Web content across the enterprise.
• Full document management and publishing facilities for creating, reviewing, staging, approving and publishing Web content.
• A digital asset manager to categorize and manage digital content, such as graphics, photos and scanned images.
• Document imaging capabilities to reduce the costs of managing paper while enabling employee access to information and customer self-service.
• Workflow to integrate content with business processes, people and computer systems and automate e-business applications and internal operations.
• E-presentment and payment for electronic presentment of bills, statements and other customer documents and payment processing.
• Check imaging to integrate check images with other documents to provide a 360-degree of the customer.
• Data quality components for cross-platform and cross-application report balancing and reconciliation to ensure the accuracy and consistency of enterprise information.
• Records management capabilities for full life-cycle management certified as compliant with DoD5015.2-STD, the most robust standard for automated records management.
• Enterprise report management to manage the storage and distribution of reports across multiple channels.
• ERP and CRM interfaces to integrate into the application environment and extend the functionality of enterprise applications.
  

Key Benefits

Leverage your content, share it across all applications, drive up service levels, ensure data quality, keep management informed and reduce costs.
Accelerate the velocity of information. ViewDirect TCM puts personalized, accurate information into the hands of decision makers quickly and efficiently, improving productivity and decision making.
Reduce costs. ViewDirect TCM users save millions of dollars each year in the costs of paper and microfiche and in the costs of loss, damaged and mis-filed documents.
Drive customer service and self-service to superior levels. ViewDirect TCM puts all customer information at your customer service representative's fingertips and delivers Web-based customer self-service.
Leverage technology investments. ViewDirect TCM optimizes technology investments by delivering value across multiple content-centric applications with a single solution for total content management.