06/20/2006

Metastorm, a provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software for modeling, automating, integrating, and improving both human and system-based processes, today announced the availability of packaged solutions for connecting Metastorm BPM™ with leading Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions from Documentum, Hummingbird, Interwoven, and Meridio.

ebizQ received the following details:

The solutions are part of Metastorm’s Process Pod™ offerings, which include both vertical and horizontal business Process Pods as well as more technical process-related offerings that assist companies with integrating their BPM initiatives into existing IT infrastructure. Its new content management Process Pods are packaged connectors that allow organizations to quickly integrate the Metastorm BPM software suite with applications that are critical to business process success.

The content management Process Pods are particularly popular among Metastorm’s customer base because of the critical importance of content in managing processes, making effective business decisions, and supporting internal and external audits. Given the criticality of both content and process, there is often debate over which system is more important – ECM or BPM. In many cases, both applications are equally important and both are made more valuable when they are working in a synchronized fashion. As stated by Toby Bell, Inc., in his December 2005 report titled Consider 3 Issues When Implementing an ECM Strategy, “In the long run, content can support processes most effectively when companies marry the main content technology, ECM, with the main technology that orchestrates people, processes and content: BPM.”

With the packaged Metastorm BPM pods for Documentum, Hummingbird, Interwoven, and Meridio, customers can quickly and easily align content and process to maximize their investment in both systems and gain greater visibility and control over key information and critical business processes. Highlights of the content management Process Pods, which are offered in conjunction with key partners, include:

• Documentum Connector for Metastorm BPM. Metastorm developed the Documentum pod in-house in response to customer demand. It is currently being deployed in several federal government implementations, including a high-ranking defense installation.



• Hummingbird Connector for Metastorm BPM. The Hummingbird pod was developed by Metastorm partner, Techtonics – an enterprise information management systems specialist. The solution is actively used by several customers in the government and business services industries, including the South Africa Office of the President. An OnDemand Webcast describing the solution is available on Metastorm’s website.



• Interwoven Connector for Metastorm BPM. Metastorm and Interwoven have been working together for several years and announced joint support for the Interwoven pod in April of this year. Current customers include Cooper Tires, Foley & Lardner, and the U.S. Department of Justice.



• Meridio Connector for Metastorm BPM. Metastorm and Meridio have also been working together for several years and have a large number of successful deployments that combine Metastorm BPM with Meridio’s records management application. The Meridio pod for Metastorm BPM is extremely popular with government organizations in the UK, including Highland Council and Weymouth and Portland Council.

Metastorm customers are pleased to have a packaged approach for tying their ECM solution of choice into the Metastorm BPM deployment. Doug Caddell, CIO of Foley & Lardner, an existing customer of both Metastorm and Interwoven said, “The partnership between Metastorm and Interwoven is a solid to further enhance the customer experience."

“Interwoven is committed to providing our customers with end-to-end and easy-to-use solutions that they can put in place for immediate business value, such as improving processes, enhancing client service, and reducing costs,” said Neil Araujo, VP, professional services solutions for Interwoven. “Partnering with other leading technology providers like Metastorm enables us to continue delivering on this commitment, and we’re looking forward to working closely with Metastorm to empower customers to achieve a new level of productivity and operational efficiency.”

Further validating that content and document management providers recognize the synergies between their applications and BPM is Meridio – a leading records management company and one of the first to create a packaged connector to Metastorm BPM. “The ability to access key documents and maintain current records is a fundamental part of most business processes,” stated Brian Baird, CEO of Meridio. “Metastorm BPM is a highly popular BPM solution, and both our customers and systems integrator partners have been extremely pleased with our ability to deliver a packaged solution that quickly and effectively links together the two applications and allows them to seamlessly interact. We consider Metastorm to be a strategic partner and see its BPM suite playing a critical role in many of our implementations.”

“Enabling process efficiency and improvement are key goals of the Metastorm BPM suite, and achieving these goals is only possible when business users have timely access to accurate content and can leverage, manage, and analyze that content within the context of a business process,” stated Greg Carter, CTO and vice-president of product development for Metastorm. “The combination of BPM and ECM helps ensure that content is appropriately managed and that decisions and actions made within a process take into consideration the latest and best information available. Metastorm’s ECM Process Pods allow our customers to quickly and effectively deploy document-intensive processes in a controlled manner and generate increased opportunities for greater productivity and collaboration enterprise-wide."