The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has invested in a content management solution aimed at making all of the bank"s paper-based and electronic documents available over the Internet.

BPI"s content management system will be powered by software it purchased at an undisclosed amount from Speedscan Inc., a U.S.-based company that specializes in document archiving and retrieval solutions. The system will consolidate information into a single access point for BPI"s employees.

The application will be deployed in 500 branches nationwide, said Medy Camerino, president of Solution Exchange Inc, which will implement the solution for BPI as Speedscan"s local partner.

"The project involves three phases depending on which units or departments BPI prioritizes for the implementations," Camerino said in an interview. The bank"s securities department will be a priority because it has among the biggest volume of transactions, she noted.

Aside from allowing its staff to quickly locate and access needed information, BPI is also looking to capitalize on the solution for its mobile banking initiatives and integrate Speedscan with other core banking functions including automated loans, call center and property management systems.

Platform

Solutions Exchange will run Speedscan"s speedVIEW Web archival and retrieval suite on Intel-based IBM servers. For additional storage requirements, BPI will invest further in hardware from EMC.

"Content management is not as easy as it seems; scanning and then storing documents as digital files. The complex part is managing these documents especially when you"re running an enterprise-wide solution," Camerino noted.

Solutions Exchange is focused on providing solutions for the retail banking sector. It recently became the local implementation partner of Speedscan with BPI as the first major Philippine user.

Camerino noted that her company is also targeting other banks as well as insurance companies and financial services sector in general.

A user can acquire Speedscan in three ways; direct ownership of both hardware and software, as a hosted service or the "insourcing" model wherein Solutions Exchange will maintain the system in-house for the client.

"The hosted model, however, requires a minimum contract of about three years. Local companies are still conservative about it," Camerino said.