TERMINALFOUR Brings Rhyme, Reason to University Web

We've said for awhile now that the European CMS market is cluttered with a menagerie of small and mid-sized contenders. Overall, however, it awaits the arrival of a real rallying gem.

To gauge whether a vendor meets that higher call, we can typically look at the impact it's made on both enterprise and education.

Enterprise-wise, Ireland-based ECM firm TERMINALFOUR showed some classy color with Site Manager 5.3. And now it's making waves in the latter category, too.

TERMINALFOUR has just announced the development of nine new contracts to help power university websites in the US, the UK and Ireland. In toto, the value of the deals sits cozy at EUR 1.3M.

The nine universities drawn under this set of contracts add to the existing 20 university and third-level institute clients that TERMINALFOUR only recently began serving.

As competition among universities for strong grad students leaps, so too does the need for more robust web interfaces in the academic world. So a number of institutions, including the University of Glasgow, University of St. Andrews, University of Virginia, and University College Dublin, have signed on for the streamlining power of Site Manager.

Unlike similar market offerings such as SpikeSource and Oracle ECM, which prefer to emphasize document and records management, Site Manager focuses on web-ready image quality and cleaner content.

Web manager Stephen Evens at the University of St. Andrews points out, "TERMINALFOUR Site Manager will make it very easy to create and customise user-specific areas of our new website. It will help us to engage and attract prospective students by making the site easier to use, accessible and dynamic."

Ease of use is critical when you have students and teachers of varying technical skill levels accessing the same information. With self-service online forms, parties can interact. Faculty members can also build department-specific content.

The solution, which was built for forward-thinking enterprises seeking to bring their products global, makes it simple to publish the same content in multiple languages, a boon for international students. And potential students can build their own prospectus from afar, tailoring specific packages of content to meet their needs.

Simple workflow means staff and webmasters must approve any content that appears on the site before publication occurs. Registration, surveys and payments can be made online via eForms and self-service functionalities, all of which can be joined to existing student management systems or CRM packages.

Hands-on capabilities aside, websites serve an increasingly critical role in helping to market a university to would-be coeds.

TERMINALFOUR's managing director Piero Tintori stated, "The days of a colourful and information laden brochure for attracting students are over. University websites are now the first port of call for any prospective student seeking information and students are increasingly demanding interactive, engaging and up-to-date websites."

In our view, Site Manager's proven more than ready to meet both utilitarian and aesthetic needs. With its focus on simplicity and the ubiquitous pursuit of the "elegant solution," the solution's clientele includes IDA Ireland, Shannon Development, the department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, University of Manchester, University of Portsmouth, Tesco and Pearson Education.

TERMINALFOUR is also a four-time placeholder in the Technology Fast 50, with an average revenue growth of 493 percent over the past five years.

Get a closer look at Site Manager on TERMINALFOUR's website (and if you have any doubt about the solution's eye for form and function, we highly recommend this visit).

If you've used Site Manager 5.3 or have a unique view on TERMINALFOUR, let's hear it.

Be the First to Comment