Content Management:

A Different Take on Support System Integration

Much has been said and written about the need for service providers to integrate the different “silos” of information used for operations support, billing and customer care to give CSRs and others a more comprehensive understanding of how best to handle particular customer interactions and other tasks. But rather than simply interconnecting and mediating among various support systems, companies such as Mobius Management Systems Inc. suggest service providers focus on content integration.

“Most vendors, whether BEA or Microsoft or Sun or IBM, are approaching [integration at the] application to application level,” says David Winkler, vice president of product marketing at Mobius. “We’re integrating at the content level.”

Other vendors in this space — also referred to as enterprise content management (ECM) — include Documentum Inc., FileNet Corp. USA, Gauss, IBM, Interwoven/iManage, IXOS, Microsoft, Open Text, Optika and Stellent. ECM encompasses document management, document imaging, Web content management, COLD (computer output to laser disk), electronic reports management, digital asset management, media asset management, records management and team collaboration. (See chart for market forecasts on ECM.)

Image: Enterprise Content Management Market Forecast

“Once an application produces an order, bill or customer record, instead of hardwiring the applications, we integrate at the content level so when the CSR needs to do an inquiry on a given customer, [the CSR] can do a search and get information without having to know where the information resides,” Winkler says. “We index that content within each of those repositories.We deliver hyperlinks or thumbnails to the CSR.”

The Mobius solution, which CSRs access through a Web browser, can even provide audio annotation of a recorded call from a customer, a digital image or other nontext information, Winkler adds. “Our total content repository can handle multiple content types within a single repository,” he says, whereas IBM Video Charger is just for rich media and another application might be solely for Web information. “Mobius allows you to put rich media, audio, video, photos and Web content all in a single repository.”

Service providers can also set up the Mobius system to enable customers to get personalized self-service via the Internet.

ALLTEL and CenturyTel are among the service providers employing Mobius solutions to reduce CSR response times to customer inquiries. “Companies are getting fed up with loosely coupled applications and how they’ve been purchased in departmental or point solutions, and they’re putting a lot of pressure on ISVs [independent software vendors] to make sure these products are much more integrated,” Winkler says.

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