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IQ revamps Absa Capital portal with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Date : 02/04/2008 The IQ Business Group’s Software Engineering operation has leveraged Absa Capital’s decision to standardise on Microsoft SharePoint Server (MOSS) to revamp the company’s web portal. IQ first developed an ASP.Net-based website for Absa Capital, the investment banking arm of Absa Bank Ltd, when the company wanted to provide customers with continually updated price information. However, it was later decided to extend the website to a full-blown portal on which the company could publish trend analysis and other documents that would be of use and interest to current and prospective customers. “Absa Capital called us in to upgrade their website and provide them with a content management system which would allow them to add content as required. We were about to start on the project when we heard that the marketing division of the company was busy introducing MOSS to standardise their web presence across the organisation,” explains Karl-Heinz Wessinger, (Development Manager). Widely recognised as a web-based collaboration and document management platform, SharePoint can also be used to host public websites that provide content management and document authoring capabilities. “We realised that with SharePoint about to become an integral platform for Absa Capital, it would make far more sense – both from a financial and practical perspective – to convert the existing ASP.Net website to SharePoint,” he says. The conversion, which took less than five weeks, has provided Absa Capital with unprecedented ability to self-manage its client-facing web content and brand image. “Apart from its content management, any authorised person within Absa Capital can change the entire layout of the site should they choose. This is a task that previously would require the services of a skilled web developer. “From a business perspective, the new Sharepoint functionalities have simplified and expedited the process of changing and adding content or adjusting the layout,” said Ann van der Westhuizen, Associate, ETF's and Index Products division, Absa Capital. “In this way we can provide up to date information to our clients and continuously add something fresh and new through additional enhancements to the product offering web pages.”
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