FileNet, now an IBM company, has never strayed away from its goal of helping organizations make better decisions by managing the content and processes that drive their business.

"We've always been about Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Business Process Management (BPM), and these have suddenly come into the radar of businesses globally, including those in the Asia Pacific.

"We've always been about Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Business Process Management (BPM), and these have suddenly come into the radar of businesses globally, including those in the Asia Pacific. It's really an exciting time to be in this space and the market opportunities are huge," says Hugh Sutherland, vice president, Asia Pacific Operations, Enterprise Content Management, IBM Software Group.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions allow customers to build and sustain competitive advantage by managing content throughout their organizations, automating and streamlining their business processes, and providing a spectrum of connectivity needed to simplify their critical and everyday decision making. "FileNet ECM solutions are designed to deliver a comprehensive set of capabilities that integrate with existing information systems to provide cost-effective solutions that solve real-world business problems," says Sutherland. He adds that IBM recognized the growth and potential of this market and was looking for a leading vendor in ECM to complement their strengths in structured data."

He continues, "IBM acquired FileNet to advance its Information on Demand strategy. Together, IBM and FileNet will deliver the most innovative and industry-focused content management, business process management and compliance solutions, providing our clients and business partners' high value capabilities to make them more efficient and competitive." "There are a lot of synergies between FileNet and IBM, and although IBM before this has not been in the ECM/BPM space very much, there are strengths that are very complementary. The acquisition of FileNet is a win-win for both companies, for example, IBM is a huge organization with a great brand-name while FileNet is a leader in the ECM/BPM space and has a strong presence in the Asia Pacific market. This is just the start of our journey together," he notes.

Sutherland stresses that FileNet has always been and will continue to be a very partner-focused company with a very structured partner program. The company continues to run its own partner program - ValueNet.

"ValueNet is a key component in FileNet's impressive track record of growth. ValueNet brings together the industry's top service partners, independent software vendors and technology partners to deliver a vast range of services and solutions to FileNet customers worldwide," elaborates Sutherland. FileNet's partner program combines the company's technology with their partners' industry-specific expertise. "This drives powerful solutions that can be deployed to generate true value for our customers," explains Sutherland.

"Our partnerships are part of an effort to meet customers' operational, regulatory and technical needs. Regardless of our customer's geography, vertical market or required ECM application, our partners have proven solutions and successes that will bring value to any FileNet enterprise need. FileNet's business globally has grown substantially through our partners. Our channel model is multi-dimensional and we believe in close engagement."

He adds that the competitive advantages of FileNet's ECM solutions combined with partners' value-added solutions ensure a decisive marketing edge. "This is why our ValueNet partners have enjoyed great success since the program began in 1988. Our ValueNet partnerships leverage our combined sales and technical expertise to help partners expand into new markets and territories.

We support our partners throughout the implementation process and beyond - through training, feedback, documentation, and our own industry expertise - to ensure that they can implement the best, most relevant ECM solution for our customers," says Sutherland. He notes that over time, ValueNet may be merged with IBM's channel program, but right now, there is no change to FileNet's partner strategy. "It is business as usual for us, accept with more people. Our partner base are our ‘eyes and ears'," says Sutherland.

Stressing the rapid growth of ECM again, he emphasizes that now more than ever, the growth opportunities for FileNet and IBM partners are huge in this space. "In fact, the market looks so strong now that I wish we have even more ECM solutions," he quips.

The global ECM market is set to rake in US$4 billion by 2008 and Asia will not be left out of the ‘ECM explosion', analysts have observed. According to Sutherland, countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Japan are already onto their 2nd and 3rd deployments of ECM.

From FileNet's perspective, the Asia Pacific market currently makes up 5% of the company's worldwide revenues, but with the bullish outlook, it is extremely confident that it is only a matter of time before the region picks-up in this space. "There is definitely a high awareness of ECM in this region," says Sutherland.

He views ECM as being in the same position as ERP a few years ago. "We are right now at the crest of riding the next great wave, and this will take off when all the business partners are in place. This is why we are so focused on this aspect of the business," he explains.

Sutherland warns though that ECM is not a "one size fits all' solution. In the Asia Pacific, FileNet concentrates mainly on the bigger regional companies like the banking and financial industry, insurance companies and government agencies. "These types of companies see the value in ECM and are under pressure to use the technology because of compliancy and legislative issues." However, he does add that there are multiple entry points into ECM.  "We are not ignoring the SMB space in the Asia Pacific, but it's in our strategy to target this sector at a later time. IBM is strong in the SMB market, and once again, their strength will complement ours," Sutherland adds.

Commenting on FileNet's channel and business goals for 2007, Sutherland is confident is growing a bigger sales force with stronger solution capabilities and a rock-solid channel partner base. And yes, the company is looking for partners in Asia, especially focusing on those good in application development as well as System Integrators (SIs). It is also looking for partners who want to go into Knowledge Management.

"Since FileNet's founding in 1982, we have been through the good the bad and the ugly. Right now, we are l poised to shine in the ECM market worldwide and make an impact in the Asia Pacific region too, always together with our partners," concludes Sutherland. ◊

By Shanti Anne Morais