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Preeti Pandey

Mumbai , Aug. 19

SECTORS such as pharmaceuticals, paints, media, banking and finance are the likely big spenders for content management services in India, according to industry analysts.

Asian Paints, the leading paints manufacturer, for instance, has earmarked Rs 4-5 crore over the next one year to implement an integrated enterprise content portal. The portal would integrate OEMs, distributors, marketing personnel and end-consumers enabling direct communication with the company.

The investments for content management vary from company to company depending on the content management system selected by them, said industry analysts.

"Depending on the content management system chosen by the organisation, investments could range between $1,00,000 and $1-1.5 million," said Mr Krishnakumar Natarajan, President and CEO, Enterprise Solution, MindTree Consulting Ltd.

With the implementation of the enterprise management initiative, Asian Paints aims to develop a local community via the enterprise portal ensuring transparency about company's initiatives and policies (HR, administration). Having acquired 15 companies worldwide, this move would also allow the company to appraise all its global employees about the company policies followed in India, said a company official.

"The HR department receives communication even on such mundane matters like forms for leave application or reimbursements of expenses, etc. Once the portal is implemented we expect to create transparency about the organisation's HR policies," Mr P. Rambabu, General Manager-IT, Asian Paints, said. Leading US-based content management services provider, Interwoven Inc has been roped in by Asian Paints to create the seamless enterprise content portal, he said.

The paint company is also in the process of setting up an internal e-learning network to enable its employees to access CBT (computer-based training) modules. While personalised training programmes have increased employee productivity, the demand for e-learning has prompted the company to plan on extending the e-learning network beyond the 40 offices currently having access to the initiative.

According to analysts, more Indian corporates are using content management portals to drive HR polices, innovate marketing techniques and integrate global operations.

Using knowledge repositories, enterprises can leverage content management for enabling various Internet based initiatives like e-commerce, multi-channel sharing of information (syndication of news content) and brand management.

A recent Goldman Sachs-Morgan Stanley report says, "cost cutting, employee relationship, external relationship management and content management" are the top CIO (chief information officer) priorities. Content management allows companies to create transparency enabling better communication within the organisational hierarchy.

Globally, the International Data Corporation has projected a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32 per cent for the content management market and this is expected to reach an estimated size of $52 million over the next few years ($13 million -2002).

"In the Indian context, CIOs are increasingly dependent on content management services given the increased use of the Internet and Intranet for communication and work. Hence, there is a pressing need to manage content and the implications of enterprises using content management services includes increased collaboration amongst various groups," said Mr Natarajan.

This ability to provide seamless collaboration between diverse units of a company's business cycle is the reason for organisations such as Asian Paints and others to plan deployment of enterprise content management portals.

While MindTree has already worked on content management project for a leading media group wherein a common content management repository system was developed and deployed allowing the company to leverage the information across multiple channels like the Internet and radio, it is in "talks with two other media groups to deploy similar systems".

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