ATCO Australia

Recently, ATCO Australia began looking at updating the on-premises OpenText solution. The company wanted to leverage the latest functionality of the OpenText™ Extended ECM Platform without the cost and resources required to maintain the solution in-house. Marshall described the critical elements required of OpenText: “We had to be sure that OpenText was capable, that the environment would be secure, and of course, that they could support our business to the level that it had been used to, if not better. We also needed the ability to, in the future, integrate with other systems, such as Office 365.” He concluded, “We realized the move to OpenText™ Cloud Managed Services was the only option if we wanted to do what we set out to do—get the appropriate levels of support and not have to manage the environment.”

Leaving it to the experts

OpenText Cloud Managed Services provides deployment, integration, management, and optimization of information management applications like Extended ECM Platform, in a cloud infrastructure, with managed services operations. Marshall summarized the benefits: “With OpenText Cloud Managed Services, we no longer have to maintain infrastructure, and we no longer have to worry about upgrades and patches. Essentially, we’re using a service to access our documents in a document management system, but we don’t have to look after it ourselves. In the past, we had to constantly be upgrading it, applying patches, replacing hardware, infrastructure, and so on. The hassle of maintaining IT infrastructure is now gone.”

The timing of the initiative coincided with the remote work requirements of the Covid-19 pandemic. Marshall explained that this provided an unintended boost to cloud strategy discussions. “The fact that everyone was working remotely, that we were moving applications into the cloud, and that we were telling them they would be able to access those documents from anywhere, on any device—I think that helped when we put the business case in front of them. They didn’t hesitate.”

Due to pandemic restrictions, the rollout of the solution also took place remotely. Nevertheless, from a project delivery standpoint, there was no disruption or delay. Marshall noted, “Since we went live, we have not had one complaint about the system. We got it all done according to the project plan and schedule, almost to the day. The amount of collaboration was remarkable. It was one of those rare projects that actually just goes according to plan.”

Marshall noted that the success of the initiative was due in no small part to trusted partner Hayes Information Systems. The team’s initial project planning took place with Hayes, who recommended the eventual solution and facilitated discussions with OpenText. In fact, ATCO relied on Hayes’ expertise and knowledge of OpenText products throughout the project. Hayes remains onboard, providing local product support and acting as a valuable interface between ATCO and OpenText. “OpenText is lucky to have a business partner like Hayes because they’re just focused on doing the right thing by the customer,” said Marshall.

Powering up resources and performance

By transferring management and maintenance of the solution from ATCO’s IT group to OpenText, the team can refocus IT resources on more strategic initiatives. Marshall noted, “By moving to the cloud, there are fewer things to maintain. The shift over time will be that the IT department is less about the ‘T’ side of it—it will be more about enabling the business by helping implement new modern solutions. Eventually, you will see virtually all our applications running in the cloud, so that our focus is on giving the business capability rather than focusing on maintaining IT infrastructure.”

Enhanced performance is also a welcome benefit, as users of the new solution have found accessing their documents is faster and easier than it used to be. Marshall explained, “A lot of people think that things are slower in the cloud. But instead, the access speeds are much faster. And people can access their documents from anywhere at any time, on almost any device. The OpenText Cloud solution just makes it easier for people to get their documents.” He added that the OpenText™ Content Server Mobile application in particular has been a big hit: “They can use their mobile application to access documents. For example, they can open an email with an attachment from their phone and click on a link, and that will take them into Extended ECM.”

Another popular component of the solution is OpenText™ Core Share, which allows users to securely share and access content remotely. The application gives employees in the field mobile access to documents such as safety procedures. “In the past, field workers had to access documents via a clunky interface or download documents onto their device, which meant that they risked not having the latest document or not having access at all due to connectivity issues. With OpenText Core Share, they’re able to go directly into Extended ECM and access the latest version of the documents they need. When you are dealing with gas, this is critical for safety of operations,” said Marshall.

Looking forward, the team at ATCO Australia plans to leverage the integration capabilities of OpenText™ Extended ECM for Office 365™ for seamless access and functionality. Marshall observed that this need became vital with so many employees working remotely: “Employees were using Office 365 without needing to log into the network. But then, they couldn’t get access to other systems. Once we implement Extended ECM for Office 365, we will have seamless access to other systems that work with Office 365. We will be able to govern and integrate relevant content from those systems with our Office 365 content.”

A future in the cloud

Reflecting on the success of its first steps into the cloud, the team at ATCO Australia believes that they are on the right path with a cloudbased strategy. “Strategically, this move to the cloud is part of a longer journey, which is to move as much as we can into the cloud. With this project, we wanted to prove that moving to the cloud wouldn’t be a setback from a performance standpoint. I think the cloud is just a different way of delivering a service to the business. If you can do that, then it means IT can focus on solving business problems through the use of technology, as opposed to managing infrastructure all the time.”

About Hayes Information Systems

Based in Perth, Australia, Hayes Information Systems (Hayes) provides information management consultancy, process optimization, and information application support services across a wide range of industry sectors, specializing in Energy, Resources, and Government.