Record management solutions now available in India

PUNE: The recent Enron debacle centered on the notion of `shredded documents'

has sounded a wake-up call for a proper records management system. While it is

no secret that the Enron debacle has left a lot unsaid, some document and

content management experts say that it may have been avoided through

well-articulated document retention policies.

IDC expects heavy investment by government agencies in technologies that

support intelligence work. These include technologies that involve building and

retrieving from large databases and repositories of information in multiple

formats. With that, IDC sees content management realizing a compound annual

growth rate (CAGR) of 47.2 per cent, from $ 2 million in 2000 to over $ 14

million in 2005. Just as the events of September 11 spurred greater interest in

network back-ups, it is being said that the Enron issue may do the same for

content management architectures and by extension, policy and regulation.

Against this backdrop, Impact Systems Inc., a US company established by

Mangesh Honwad, is gearing up to offer Indian businesses and institutions

records management software solutions. Impact Systems boasts of an offshore

development facility in Pune.

The move comes in the wake of an increasing incidence of electronic commerce

in the country, triggered by the passage of cyber legislation. Additionally, the

efforts in the government sector to put in place e-governance systems for the

benefit of Indian citizens has fuelled the marketing strategy of Impact Systems.

Impact Systems will approach the Indian market with its flagship software

solution eRecordsManager (eRM), which is designed to help businesses take their

content management systems to the next level and gain complete lifecycle control

over the records (both electronic and physical) from their creation through

end-of-life.

Impact Systems is a signature partner of Documentum, California, USA. Impact

Systems acquired the technology and proprietary rights of RecordsManager

solution from IBM. The eRM is solely owned by Impact and co-marketed by Impact,

IBM and others. Run on Documentum technologies, eRM unifies document management

and records management functionality to a Documentum installation. A seamless

integration of eRM and the standard Documentum user interface delivers

enterprise and records management in a single comprehensive package. The eRM is

designed to meet the Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.2 standard and 21CFR 11

requirements (for the pharmaceutical industry).

Impact Systems director, global business development, Dhananjay Datar says,

"The product - eRM has been certified by the US Department of Defense for

use in its enlisting procedure followed by the US Army Recruitment Command. The

recruiting command will now consolidate its off-line and on-line records to help

more than 600 guidance counselors to manage and access personal records to help

the recruits find their niche. The LAS Alamos Lab is also using this.

"We see tremendous potential in the APAC region and India. With the

Indian industry gradually moving towards electronic systems, we intend the

market on information management and the need for records management," he

explained.

The company plans a foray into the various state government departments

through concept selling. "We have already spoken to the government of

Maharashtra for a health project. Another software major has also expressed

interest in our solutions,' Datar said.

The company's product is already compliant with MOREC (Model Records

Standards Management), Europe. It is also working towards obtaining a

certification from the Australian government, namely AS4390. The Australian

government has made it mandatory for every government agency to deploy records

management systems by the year 2003.The ball has been set rolling for obtaining

two more standards from UK, namely the Public Record Office (PRO) and the ISO

Records Manager Standard 15489.

Datar sees opportunity in India coming from healthcare, WB aided projects,

information management system companies, pharma industry, banking and insurance

companies. So far there have been few competitors and the Indian market may take

some time to take to this concept. However, Datar is confident that business

from the medium scale industries alone could amount to Rs 3 crore in the first

year itself. Impact reported a turnover of $ 2 million last year.

With the 23 member team in Pune, Datar believes that this number could rise

to 60 in a year's time. The Internet version that is awaiting certification from

the DoD, USA is expected to hit the market sometime after August this year.