The bank has installed Mobius' ViewDirect software at its corporate data centre to provide users with access to enterprise documents and reports stored in both the mainframe and individual servers. The company's DocumentDirect product provides browser-based access to integrated ViewDirect content. Once images are indexed and stored, ViewDirect's EnterpriseIndexing technology can create "virtual folders" of diverse documents associated with a customer, task or transaction.

"The intention is to harness the power of these products to build a centralised customer information repository," explains Johan Bosch, IT executive at Saambou Bank.

The bank's operations bridge 15 lines of business, operated in-house and via subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures. The ViewDirect software suite will provide a single point of access to information in many formats residing on both host and server-based systems, says the company.

Bosch continues: "Providing a single point of entry for information retrieval, electronic distribution and online report viewing will not only enhance customer relationship management, but will improve our risk management capabilities by helping us identify problem areas and trends that may impact the bottom line."

Within one week of receiving the ViewDirect software, Saambou Bank was able to migrate 15,000 pages of information to the ViewDirect document repository and one week later, the system went into production. Since then, Bosch estimates that they have archived about 35% of their remaining complex mainframe reports. The implementation roll out will be over a period of several months with the first phase addressing critical needs in the risk management business department.

The bank also plans to add imaging and central correspondence to the ViewDirect repository, anticipating full implementation later this year.