CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
13 February 2007
Product News
IBM Expands Information on Demand Growth Initiative
IBM announced new software and business consulting services to accelerate the company's global Information on Demand initiative, which is aimed at helping clients better compete and pursue new business opportunities by using information as a strategic asset.
IBM unveiled the new offerings to expand a cross-company investment and skills commitment it launched a year ago to enable clients to gain a competitive business advantage through new and innovative uses of information.
With the amount of digital information expected to double every 11 hours by 2010*, clients are confronted by a convergence of information-centric challenges each day -- including globalization, mergers and acquisitions and regulatory compliance. These factors have fueled client demand for new technologies and capabilities that enable them to innovate and grow their businesses, while tackling global competition and an avalanche of information.
Consequently, demand for IBM's Information on Demand offerings grew rapidly throughout the past 12 months, with hundreds of new client wins and 42 percent revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2006, contributing to IBM's best software results in more than five years.
The new software IBM introduced today from FileNet, a strategic Information on Demand acquisition IBM made in October 2006, helps clients ensure that business information is delivered and used in the context of their critical business processes. IBM FileNet P8 4.0 enables organizations to capture, manage, access and consolidate all forms of content, improving their ability to automate records management, meet compliance requirements and reduce operational risk. This helps clients derive value out of unstructured information -- the more than 85 percent of information that isn't stored in a format that can be easily searched or accessed via conventional database software.
"Taking a piece-part approach to managing, securing and storing critical business information prevents companies from gaining insights from their business information and using it for competitive advantage," said Steve Mills, senior vice president, IBM Software Group. "IBM's ability to combine software, hardware and industry expertise is helping clients make better decisions, capture business opportunities and respond to threats in real-time."
Additionally, IBM Global Business Services (GBS) today announced expanded FileNet consulting services as part of its global content management services practice that includes consulting and integration capabilities. With the expanded FileNet consulting practice, more than 1,000 IBM consultants will now be dedicated to providing a range of content management consulting services to FileNet and IBM Enterprise Content Management clients, ranging from initial strategy and planning through the building and management of enterprise-wide solutions. IBM GBS also will apply its leadership in Service Oriented Architecture and Service Oriented Business Architecture consulting to help clients take better advantage of all types of information -- regardless of format, platform or location -- and put it to use to improve business processes, quickly respond to market needs or rapidly identify new opportunities.
IBM also introduced a new Web 2.0 interface for its Content Manager OnDemand offering that provides access to important business information directly from any Web browser. This enables clients to retrieve reports, statements, e-mails, and check images and other content with just a few clicks. Built on a scalable, open platform, the new Web 2.0 interface is based on advanced technologies such as AJAX, and represents the versatile client interface that will be used to unify access across the entire IBM enterprise content management portfolio.
IBM's Information on Demand initiative is helping clients in all industries better manage and take advantage of their business information. For example, one of the nation's leading managed health care services companies is using IBM software to improve the operational efficiency and turnaround time of its claims and enrollment departments. The software enabled the client to reduce operations cycle times from hours to minutes; increase employee productivity by 20 percent, realize a 12 percent reduction in its general and administrative expenses, and eliminate manual routing of paperwork.
For more details and information about IBM's Information on Demand initiative, visit http://www.ibm.com .
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