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Integration:
Getting Maximum Value from Your EIM
IM becomes a truly strategic asset when it is tightly integrated
into your other key enterprise applications. The more deeply
and widely you integrate your EIM into your existing technology
platform and into your business, the more productive and effective
your teams will be.
The
Bantu Platform is distinguished by the ease and breadth of
its integration capabilities – making it an integral
part of your communications infrastructure and a key enabler
of your business.
Through
a suite of flexible XML-based Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs), the Bantu Platform integrates seamlessly into any
asynchronous application or service to make it real-time,
including Enterprise Information Portal (EIP), Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply
Chain Management (SCM), Professional Services Automation (PSA)
and e-commerce systems.
Bantu’s
easy integration also makes it a natural launching pad into
other synchronous communications tools such as videoconferencing,
voice over IP, whiteboarding and application sharing, for
a comprehensive, rich collaboration environment.
Bantu Integration APIs:
User
Interface
The Bantu Platform is easily customized to integrate into
the look and feel of your organization and/or any application.
Users who log onto Bantu EIM see a client window that is graphically
branded with your logo and custom design. You can also add
customized buttons linking back to specific parts of your
home site or application.
Directory
With its single sign-on flexibility, Bantu integrates with
your existing directory infrastructure. Users can be securely
authenticated and seamlessly logged into Bantu based on any
other authentication event that you select, whether it’s
your network directory, portal authentication, etc. Bantu
integrates with all forms of directory and indentification
management applications, including LDAP, Active Directory,
Netegrity, etc. As a result, Bantu enables new IM users or
offices to come online with no additional software to be installed
or administered. Users are automatically set up when logging
in the first time, seamlessly and invisibly. Contact groups
can be automatically populated based on memberships, roles,
or permissions. Integration with the master directory lets
users conveniently retain the same username they use to access
the customer or partner's product or site (i.e., jdoe@im.yourcompany.com).
Messaging
Users of Bantu-enabled applications can launch an IM session
directly from icons embedded in the interface of the third-party
application. Consider, for example, an application's user
directory where IM icons are added for each directory listing
so users can start IM dialogues with people they find in the
directory -- even if those individuals are not in the user’s
IM contact list. This feature is particularly helpful for
users requiring contextually relevant assistance or collaboration
from individuals outside their immediate teams.
You
can also easily extend Bantu IM and chat into voice and web
conferencing, for example. If people in a text chat want to
initiate a conference to collaborate on a Powerpoint presentation
– one user can simply click a button and initiate sessions
causing all of their phones to ring, joining them to the voice
conference and causing a pop-up invitation to the Web conference
(WebEx, DCL, Placeware, etc.).
Presence
The Bantu Platform maintains presence information on individuals
or groups of users for integration with other user applications.
It enables users’ presence status (e.g., online, offline,
idle, away) to be displayed directly in the interface of any
3rd party application.. Using icons similar to those found
in the contact list, you can place real-time Presence throughout
the application, wherever a user's name or identification
appears. Presence Icons can simply indicate a user's presence
status, or they can be interactive and enable other users
to initiate a Messaging session. There are two ways that presence
information can be acquired by the application:
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Interactive Status Image
Web-based interactive Presence Images can be easily placed
in any application, enabling rapid deployment and integration
of user presence. Clicking on a user's presence can launch
actions inside the instant messenger including starting
an IM conversation, multi-user conference or adding the
user to a contact list.
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XML Query Support
Bantu's XML Query API is a dynamic feature that allows an
application to query the Bantu server and use the results
in dynamic page creation. For example, customers and partners
can enable users to search for individuals with particular
characteristics (for example, employees from a specific
division or project team) who are also currently online
and ready to communicate. This flexible feature provides
the ability to customize applications based on business
goals and requirements.
Alerts
Bantu generates pop-up and message events, invitations, notifications,
and more, with HTTP and SMTP post options. By using integrated
Bantu IM and Alerts to immediately notify groups and individuals
about critical developments, you enable them to instantly
become aware of, and respond to, issues—no matter where
they are.
Consider,
for example, a simple integration with personal productivity
applications. Your team is creating a time-sensitive proposal
for a new prospect. As soon as your teammate posts the initial
draft, you receive a pop-up alert telling you it is ready
for review, with a link to the proposal in your document management
application. While reviewing the document, you wanted to question
your teammate about the cost figures. With Bantu embedded
in the document management tool, you can see whether the teammate
is online, and by simply clicking on the author’s name,
send her an IM, and instantly receive an answer.
Contact
Lists
The Bantu Platform includes an API to enable server-to-server
integration between the Bantu server and your application
server. This allows a third party application to manage certain
essential functions such as adding a user. The API capability
eases the administration and management functions of the IM
service and reduces the burden on users to manage their participation
in group-sponsored activities.
Logging
Bantu provides an API to capture and log all communications
for compliance or knowledge management use. Logging features
include:
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Site specific logging
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XML-based with a DTD that can be customized
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Log output can be controlled as to frequency and size of
collected logs – output is available for compliance,
knowledge management and other applications
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SMTP can be used to transport the log files to a remote
storage location
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Compliance with all regulatory archiving requirements (SEC,
NASD, NYSE)
Interoperable
Bantu users can easily communicate with millions of other
IM users on the Web. The Bantu Platform supports multiple
other consumer and business IM networks through a common UI.
It automatically saves a user's existing contact list to other
networks, giving the user a single interface for managing
all of instant messaging contact lists.
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