Kontron America
"Our old document management system wasn't able to adequately provide our remote offices with access and upgrading to a modern version of the software was extremely price prohibitive. KnowledgeTree provided all the functionality we required and more”
Rick Schulze, Director of IT, Kontron America
Challenge
- Kontron America is the US-based subsidiary of Kontron AG, one of the largest manufacturers of embedded devices in the world
- As Kontron America's business grew in volume and complexity, the company's legacy document management system wasn't able to keep pace
- Their old-line proprietary document management system was not a thin-client web application and wasn't easily accessible over Kontron's corporate virtual private network
- Kontron's existing document management server resided on an aging hardware and operating system platform that was rapidly becoming expensive to maintain, and upgrading to the latest software version would have proved to be extremely costly
- A new document management system was needed to replace their legacy system. Requirements included: support for the company's ISO 9001 quality management system; remote access; ease of customization; integration with existing authentication and authorization infrastructure; and a repository for marketing information and general paperwork.
Solution
- Kontron's IT team downloaded KnowledgeTree Community Edition at no cost, and after a simple install, were able to test out the application's functionality
- Pleased with both KnowledgeTree's feature set and price performance, Kontron America decided to purchase the KnowledgeTree Commercial Edition
Results
- KnowledgeTree provided all the document management features that Kontron required: a simple yet powerful document management repository; access to the central document management server from remote offices; a system that was easy to install on their standardized Windows 2003 Server platform; a Web Services interface and a true web-based, thin-client user interface.
- Additionally, KnowledgeTree's clever architecture allowed for easy integration with Kontron's Microsoft Active Directory authentication and authorization infrastructure, despite the company's complex organizational structure
