In the world of rich media, it was the publishers, broadcasters, and marketing agencies who first found themselves about a decade ago swimming in a sea of digital photos, large digital videos, various types of audio files. Today any organization with a marketing or communications need, by which I mean every organization, has a need to manage rich media - whether it's for talking with customers, partners, or often just their own employees.

Today the content companies are rapidly exploring an important new phase of media management, one in which their content frequently traverses the corporate firewall. They do so because they have found that as compelling as their websites can be, there are many conversations of which they would like to be a part that are taking place across the greater internet, and in particular within both the very large and very small social networks from Twitter and Facebook to alumni and local community forums. The same need is rapidly growing among all companies seeking to be included in the extended conversations that the Web facilitates. However while such content distribution allows organizations to attract customers and interested parties to their core content, to date it has been difficult to track, control, and keep such distributed content up-to-date.

In the very near future, I am pleased to say, companies like Open Text will make available technology that builds on the dramatic progress around content management, distribution, and display over the last few years -- in particular, shared progress around interoperable standards -- so that organizations can now participate in these external discussions without losing control of their content. This notion of being able to monitor and update distributed content in real time no matter where that content may be represents a powerful new phase in content management.

When combined with dramatically improved navigation experience via the introduction of a third dimension to content browsing, the result is likely to be far richer, more interactive, and ultimately not just better and faster content experiences but entirely different experiences. If you are interested in learning more, I will be discussing these trends in more detail, and showing some compelling real world examples, during my session called Distribution and Control: The Next Important Phase of Media Management on November 9 out in LA at the Henry Stewart Digital Asset Management show. Hope to see you there.

Damian Saccocio is VP, Solutions Marketing and Strategy, Enterprise 2.0 at Open Text

Timberland is a global leader in designing, engineering and marketing premium-quality footwear to outdoors-loving consumers. Under the guise of many brands, including Timberland PRO® and Mountain Athletics®, Timberland has offices in North America, the United Kingdom and Asia.

Before Open Text Media Management (formerly Artesia) was introduced, Timberland had no standardized process for storing digital assets. Images were stored on DVDs and shared drives and would eventually become archived by year. There were obvious shortcomings to this type of storage system, particularly with usage rights. With the old system of filing, there was no way to connect the usage rights and other image information with the actual image itself; externally this information is difficult to track down. Also, images on CD or DVD had a tendency to be misplaced, and it was difficult to control global consistency of those images.

It was important to Timberland that the solution selected was compatible with Mac and PC and also that archiving images could be accomplished. It was also critical that the images would be searchable via keyword. After reviewing several systems, Open Text Media Management was chosen because it met the requirements not only of marketing, but of the broader enterprise. Different file types such as logos, videos, layouts, concept designs, and assets could be uploaded in bulk form from the asset management repository. Additionally, the system is centralized in a secure repository for global use and user privileges, release dates, usage rights and restrictions can all be controlled by Timberland based on the assignment of roles and asset groups.

Timberland is impressed by several features of the media management solution: a centralized digital media repository, which they branded Gear Box, provides a visual snapshot of recent projects and photography, which minimizes the chance of teams in different regions duplicating projects. Also, the image conversion and contact sheet creation features are available in three custom one-step downloads, which eliminates the need for proprietary image software for each desktop. When asked what Timberland users like most about the Open Text system, Victoria Dimou, the Creative Director and Art and Copy Group at Timberland, responded, "One-touch, one-click downloads. Quick keyword search. Contact Sheet. Simple navigations. Sets and Collections. All over the Internet."

The Open Text Media Management system has improved productivity and collaboration across the entire enterprise. The system saves time because the images in Gear Box are available immediately. Ravi Vyapuri, IT Application Architect at Timberland concludes, "Now that the media management library is in place, it's really a huge museum of all of our products. We weren't able to store all of these physical assets in a room for people to look at, but now we have a place where people can see the evolution of our products over the years. And that creates a story of our past, and the promise of a future."

For the full story of Timberland's implementation, please read the success story here: http://www.opentext.com/download/livelinkdownload.html?path=/corporate/customer/casestudy/timberland-0909-en.pdf

Open Text customer MTS Allstream, one of Canada's leading national communication solutions companies, is not only harnessing the power of social media - It's doing it in more than one language.

Craig Brown, Senior Manager, Core Data Services, and Jeff Gluck, Senior Manager, Marketing Communications, share with iMedia Connection how MTS Allstream has used social media in French and English to build customer loyalty, bridge internal silos and elevate brand awareness.

Visit here to read the full article, complete with lessons learned.

It's the classic conundrum: You want to liven up a room with a new color but you don't want to hire an expensive designer and you don't want to create walls so bright that satellites can pinpoint them from orbit.

This is where BEHR.com comes in.

BEHR, using Vignette Content Management from Open Text, has created a dynamic Web site that ensures a successful do-it-yourself painting experience. Visitors to the site have a vast array of tools to help them pick, compare and test-drive colors. The Virtual Color Center is a cornucopia of colors, bundled into handy groups and variations. The Inspiration Center displays brainstorm-inducing pictures while our personal favorite, Paint Your Place, lets you upload pictures of your space for virtual painting.

While the site offers quite a view for its visitors, behind the scenes the Open Text-powered site is putting content control straight into the hands of the people who need it. As Marc Webb, Director of eBusiness for BEHR Process Corporation says: "Vignette Content Management enabled us to minimize IT involvement in Web site updates, putting the ownership of BEHR.com directly into the hands of the eBusiness and marketing professionals that drive our online initiatives."

Interested in learning more? Read the press release or visit the Open Text Web Content Management Solutions Web site.

Hydro-Québec generates, transmits and distributes electricity, mainly from renewable energy sources, in particular hydroelectricity. It also conducts research in energy-related fields and takes an active interest in energy efficiency. With over 20,000 employees spread across four divisions, Hydro-Québec had difficulty managing their complex intranet structure to communicate and share relevant information with and among their staff.

Hydro-Québec was an active user of Open Text Content Server to manage enterprise content, however with eight Content Server instances and several in-house Web applications that supported over 300 sites, 200,000 active documents, and 35 news bulletins; it was becoming increasingly difficult for employees to access relevant information. Stéphane Ritchot, IT Solution Designer at Hydro-Quebec, was integral in the decision to add Open Text Web Solutions to their Content Server environment to make structured and unstructured content more accessible through a dynamic and contextual environment.

The powerful combination of Content Server with Web Solutions authoring capabilities helped Hydro-Québec improve the ROI their existing implementation by expanding document access throughout their organization using a simple Web interface. Employees are now able to easily retrieve company knowledge created by over 12,000 content contributors, while Hydro-Québec still ensures their compliance needs are being met with secure links to documents used across various Web properties.

Hear Stéphane discuss the "ultimate intranet" at Hydro-Québec on Thursday, October 15th at 2:00pm with an interactive case study presentation.

And don't miss Stéphane's session at Content World on Thursday, October 29th at 2:40pm.

What do records managers need to know about Enterprise 2.0? Well, that question was answered during a presentation at the Records Management Association of Australasia (RMAA) Convention on September 22, 2009. The presentation, titled "Candy and Aspirin: The Precarious Balance between Personal Creativity and Corporate Compliance" by our own Dan Larocque, highlighted emerging trends within the government and commercial sector as both sectors have adopted real-time and collaborative communication platforms.

These platforms often originated in the personal productivity realm and can include newer content vehicles, such as blogs, wikis, forums, chats and social networking sites. The presentation discussed current challenges in records management, how Records Managers are crucial to the Enterprise 2.0 and why this system matters within the public sector.

This presentation affirmed that the new wave of electronic business communication is on the horizon and ignoring this could be very risky. This session provided insight of how such tools have been used to successfully connect people, content and business processes in distributed and decentralized environments. The risk of using such tools in an unsanctioned and unmanaged fashion is also discussed. Enterprise 2.0 and its possible implications for legal/FOIA/ATIP discovery, records capture and corporate memory preservation are better understood at the end of the session.

If you weren't able to catch the session, please enjoy the video footage of the presentation below, and it should help to answer many Enterprise 2.0 questions.

Part 1:

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Part 3:

Santee Cooper, South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility, generates power for more than two million South Carolinians. Their property management department dealt with stacks of information regularly, which opened the door to multiple content problems. Technology was changing, the company was growing, and their content was escalating fast.

To tackle this problem head on, Santee Cooper employees from various user areas formed the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Project team, to assess the pros and cons of electronic document management. They needed to streamline administrative processes, improve customer service, comply with federal and state rules and regulations, and retain knowledge from a retiring workforce.

The utilities provider chose Open Text for the user-friendly nature and functionality of the company's records management product. IT liked that it was simple to implement. The records management department liked the ease of inheriting records classifications and retention periods, as well as the one folder structure of both physical and e-records. Project teams liked how well the ability to work with the vendor played out, and all users loved the search and add documents functions.

Together with Santee Cooper's ECM project and ECM technical teams, Open Text Global Services gathered information about the document and records processes, and mapped it out for the records management solution. After the system was fully implemented-out-of-the-box, with some process improvements added by the IT team-users were trained in various scenarios to ensure user confidence.

Now, each form has a barcode for convenient electronic filing. Using Kofax® Capture, all of the property management departments' documents were scanned into the system, receiving the correct classifications according to the folders they were placed in. The records management system is also linked to Santee Cooper's Oracle Property Manager, to manage the company's leasing data.

The application of the records management offering has enabled the streamlining of large projects, higher efficiency, improvement in customer service response time (from 34 minutes to six), and even the recovery of costly floor space now that Santee Cooper no longer needs filing cabinets! Misfiling is also a non-issue thanks to the ability to search for documents, and aging paper documents are now electronically preserved.

After the triumph within their property management department, Santee Cooper anticipates making the records management solution an enterprise-wide choice.

Read more about Santee Cooper's success with records management here.

Ensuring that 44,000 students in 120 schools - and their parents and teachers - get the information they need from their school system is no easy task. Now, the District of Columbia Public Schools has aced this test with the launch of its new Web site - http://dcps.dc.gov. (Read the press release here.)

The Web site, powered by Vignette Content Management from Open Text and implemented by partner RCK Corp., is the first in a series of planned Web site upgrades. Implemented in 90 days, the solution allows DCPS to edit and publish more efficiently, reducing its reliance on technical support.

The launch complements Chancellor Michelle Rhee's initiative to give faculties and families the tools they need for a supportive environment. According to the Chancellor, "... I expect that this Web site ─ and the way we use it to inform, communicate with and listen to our communities in order to support student achievement ─ will set a standard for other school districts."

The Web site offers easier navigation (think three clicks to get your information) and superior access to information such as vision, enrollment, community involvement and events.

In addition to providing valuable information, the DCPS site also showcases the talents of its students. Check out these links to see the galleries of Student Writing, Art and Videos.

This week, we're in Gatineau, Quebec networking with more than 500 government workers as part of our annual Canadian Public Sector Days. This morning, I'm opening up day two of the event with my thoughts on "The Next Big Thing."

To sum it up; we live in a world where billions of people are using trillions of devices to create digital content.

After 125+ years of telephony, 50+ years into the computer era and after 20+ years of the internet age, all organizations, governments and enterprises are seeking ways to be effective and efficient in this digital world.

Open Text was founded at the beginning of the Internet age by two Canadian professors who invented the first Internet search engine. From this beginning, the company has pioneered many advances in developing tools to help governments and enterprises store, retrieve and usefully manage ever-increasing volumes of structured and unstructured information.

The fast rising Digital Content World is the next big thing. The challenge for leaders and knowledge workers is to implement digital frameworks that effectively "control" critical information, while also turbo charging your organization's ability to utilize advances in information management to improve organizational capability while keeping costs and benefits aligned.

We'll be speaking more about this digital revolution over the next little while... Stay tuned.

Eugene Roman is CIO of Open Text

Canadian Public Sector Content Days Kicks Off Next Week

If you have a yearning to visit Quebec next week, why not stop in to see what the Canadian Public Sector is up to in the ECM Space? Canadian Public Sector Content Days are being held at the Palais des Congrès in Gatineau, Québec on September 15 and September 16.

We'll let you in on a little secret... the Canadian Public Sector is up to some pretty cool stuff and you can hear all about it from our very own, Tom Jenkins in addition to a whole list of great keynote and session speakers at the event.

Here's a list of some of the topics that will be discussed over the course of the two days:

• Canada 3.0: Defining Canada's Digital Future - Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Open Text
• Implementing Enterprise Information Management: Preparing for and Managing the Journey:
Mark Vale, Chief Information and Privacy Officer, Ministry of Government Services (Ontario)
• Essential Steps to Reduce eDiscovery Costs and Risks: Stephen Ludlow, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Open Text
• From Records to Documents to ECM and Beyond: Breaking Down the Silos: Gordon Briscoe, G. Briscoe & Associations; Jeff Lamirande, Director, IM Program Agri-Foods Canada & Brian Towers, Executive Director, IM, CORADIX Technology Consulting Ltd.
• Social Media in the Enterprise: Sean Murphy, Senior Manager, Open Text Public Sector Practice Lead, Deloitte
• BlackBerry Beyond Email: Nick Dawson, Manager, Public Sector, Research IN Motion
• Interaction 3.0: Anthony Gallo, VP Digital Media Experiences, Open Text
• Meeting New Demands of Media Management: Boris Langer, Solutions Consultant, Open Text
• How Social Media Can Enable Better Teamwork, Faster Information Sharing and Smarter Decision-Making: John Myers, VP and General Manager, Open Text

...and many more!

Interested? Get more info here and while you're at it hit the "register now" button...