German banking giant NORD/LB chooses ECM solution from Open Text

Issued by Global Research Partners for Enterprise Content & Wireless
Johannesburg, 04 Apr 2005

Lava Systems Africa, an affinity partner of Canadian-based Open Text, today announced that German bank Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) has chosen Open Text`s Livelink to provide a full range of ECM capabilities to support its new staff information portal.

NORD/LB is a global banking giant based in Hanover, Germany, with more than EUR200 billion in assets and about 9 500 employees. The bank chose its Open Text solution for two reasons: the ability to integrate Open Text`s software with its existing IBM WebSphere IT architecture; and, secondly, the bank`s experience with the services provided by Open Text during the development of the bank`s Web site two years ago.

With the new system, staff at NORD/LB will have access to a centralised, Web-based and customisable information system that is easy to maintain. The company expects the new system to improve communication and knowledge transfer within the organisation, once it`s deployed by the end of the year. The solution will be developed and implemented by NORD/LB subsidiary NORD/LB Informationstechnologie GmbH, in cooperation with Open Text.

The new system will offer a central place for all important information, and provide the tools to distribute and publish information in a more targeted manner within the bank. Information such as behavioural and organisational guidelines can be kept up to date and made available to employees as needed through the system, and staff will have access to search capabilities so that they can find the information they need quickly. In the future, the bank will integrate new applications in the portal to create a standard working approach for its staff.

The solution consolidates all existing information systems on Livelink, providing an integrated, formula-based user interface which allows XML-based content, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs to be easily maintained. Authorised staff can enter Web content and publish it on the intranet without any technical knowledge or the need to worry about layout.

When NORD/LB decided to update its Web site in 2003, it opted for a content management system from Open Text. The bank`s positive experience with the content management system and the full integration of Livelink in the IBM application and portal server were decisive factors in again selecting Open Text for the bank`s broader ECM requirements.

"We have been successfully using the content management solution for the NORD/LB Web site for many years," said Volker Nagy, Head of NORD/LB IT Strategy and Operations and CEO of NORD/LB Informationstechnologie GmbH. "With the integration of Livelink in the NORD/LB staff portal, NORD/IT and Open Text can create a sophisticated technical solution that enables us to provide the staff of NORD/LB with targeted and personalised information for the bank`s business processes in a central location in the staff portal."

"We are very pleased that NORD/LB will continue to rely on Open Text," said Hartmut Schaper, Senior Vice-President of Research and Development at Open Text. "The new portal is providing the bank`s staff with a centralised information tool which guarantees them access to the most up-to-date knowledge at all times and will significantly increase knowledge transfer within the bank. It`s an example of the kinds of powerful solutions we are delivering by combining our content and collaboration services with application portals from leading vendors such as IBM."

For further information, please contact Abe Moloele, Lava Systems Africa: telephone 011 675-3704, fax 011 675-1021, e-mail abem@lavasystems.co.za

Open Text

Open Text is the market leader in providing enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that bring together people, processes and information in global organisations. Since launching the world`s first Internet search engine and the first Web-based enterprise collaboration and knowledge management software, Open Text continued its leadership in providing global enterprises with innovative and effective solutions. Throughout its history, Open Text has matched its tradition of innovation with a track record of financial strength and growth.

Today, the Canadian-based company supports 15 million end-users across deployments in 31 countries and 12 languages worldwide and includes among its client base government departments in Australia, Canada and Japan; the UK Metropolitan Police; British telecommunications, UNHCR and the USA Department of Defence.

Open Text`s flagship product, Livelink seamlessly combines collaboration with content management, helping organisations transform information into knowledge in order to provide the foundation for innovation, compliance and accelerated growth. Open Text acquired Germany`s Ixos Software AG in February this year to become the largest ECM software vendor in Europe and the largest pure-play ECM software vendor in the world, according to Bradley West, an analyst with Southwest Securities Inc.

Lava Systems

The Lava Systems Africa (Pty) Ltd team originated in the late 1990s with the objective of becoming a premier supplier of enterprise systems based around knowledge management, document management, records management, image management, collaboration and workflow solutions. The emerging demands that were identified included government process re-engineering, supply chain co-ordination, customer relationship management, e-government and B2B processing.

In support of these business aims the technology platforms chosen had to enjoy a proven global track record and adhere to open Internet architecture standards and developments. Lava Systems Africa is a South African-based BEE company dedicated to the sales, marketing, support and consultancy founded upon the Livelink product suite from Open Text, a product that the staff have been involved with since 1998.

Lava Systems Africa user base embraces customers from both the private and public sector and includes organisations such as Bateman Projects Limited, Alexander Forbes, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the National Social Security Fund of Uganda.

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