ITQAN forum stresses need for IT firms' innovation

This was stressed by an industry expert today while addressing the ITQAN-Open Text ECM Leadership Forum held in Abu Dhabi. Focusing on Enterprise Content Management (ECM), speakers at the forum provided insights on the global IT market for an audience of about 100 IT managers from the region.

In his presentation "ECM Market and Trends", Mr. Andrew Ewing, VP Strategic Alliances, EMEA (Europe Middle East and Asia) - Open Text noted a progressive complexity in business content tasks. He identified web content management, document management, record management, business process management and imaging as the main components of ECM.

"Today's business environment is characterized by an ever-increasing volume of information, mounting regulatory and legislative pressures, disparate databases of information and a demand for cost reduction and efficiencies,"

he said.

According to top research firms, only 20 percent of content generated globally is currently structured. Another 10 percent is managed via a tactical content management approach whereas the remaining 70 percent is "unstructured" and "unmanaged". This offers a huge opportunity for ECM as the content-centric sector is currently growing 36 percent annually, he said quoting studies.

Quoting top global IT research firms including Forrester Research and Gartner, Ewing noted that worldwide IT spending would grow 6 percent in 2007 with spending on software this year, estimated to grow by 8 percent. In 2007, Asia Pacific region's growth in spending on software is predicted to be 11 percent as compared to expected growth in Europe and the US with 7 percent each and Latin America / Canada with 3 percent.

In keeping with the strong drive globally towards automation and effective integration of information silos within organizations, the ECM market is predicted to grow at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 12.8 percent until 2010.

"The ECM supplier of choice will have to deliver enterprise class services, as well as the product and scale to meet client needs across organization and geographies," concluded Ewing.

The Forum was organized by the region's leading systems integrator, ITQAN and by Open Text, the NASDAQ-listed ECM (Enterprise Content Management) leader based in Australia.

In his opening speech, Feras Al Jabi, General Manager, ITQAN said: "I strongly believe in the need to bridge world-class product and world-class services, and ITQAN is proud to provide the bridge by hosting this forum in Abu Dhabi. With strong referrals, we hope to develop the growing IT community to serve the long-term objective of supporting each other in value creation."

Al Jabi also stressed both ITQAN and Open Text's shared commitment in providing a supportive partnership with their existing and new clients. "We are committed to continuously enhance product development, foster knowledge sharing and accelerate programs that will advance opportunities, which will (eventually) translate into gains, efficiency, organization improvement and ROI," he said.

ITQAN presented two papers: "ITQAN UAE experience with Open Text technologies" and "eDiwan for Correspondence Management". eDiwan is a complete eGovernment portal solution that is modular and designed to automate business processes at government entities. It is built using Live link and Microsoft technologies and has been ported from a solution originally developed by Open Text, one of ITQAN's international strategic partners.

The forum also saw presentations by renowned local and international companies such as Dolphin Energy, Injazat Data Systems, KOFAX, Microsoft Gulf, and GASCO.

"Managing the documentation system within an organization electronically is of vital importance especially for organizations looking to enter the e-government race. It provides the participants with the chance to demonstrate their experiences and share their ideas with professionals from around the world," Al Jabi said.

"ITQAN's presentations about its unique product eDiwan reflected the drive to strengthen the IT environment in the UAE. We have demonstrated the success of this program which is now being implemented in several government organizations across the UAE. ITQAN will continue to play a major role in supporting all e-government initiatives in the UAE." added Al Jabi.