Not Just For Back Rooms Anymore

Even the acronym says back room - COLD (computer output to laser disk). Like, "yesirree, fire up the wood stove, it sure is c-o-o-ld in this here back room." All right, so we're not talking about that kind of cold. We're talking about technology to manage the electronic storage and retrieval of mainframe reports. And it's the retrieval part of that description which is driving COLD out of the back room and into customer service applications.

"When COLD was first introduced, it was designed to move big reports off mainframes to free up expensive hardware space," says John Willett, channel manager for Smead Software Solutions (Hastings, MN). "Now, as a vendor, we are more interested in deploying COLD to manage the information on those reports and using COLD in content management applications. There are new opportunities for resellers who can link COLD to imaging applications, for example."

Willett cited insurance agencies and police departments as organizations that have requirements for linking images with mainframe report information. "Banks also are strong candidates," he adds. "Take a mortgage loan application, for example. There are images of the forms that were filled out by the consumer, electronic documents like spreadsheets, and mainframe reports that all need to be tied together."

Almost Any Application Can Leverage COLD Data
Michael Bookbinder, president and CEO of Saperion (Needham, MA), says that in addition to imaging systems, there is plenty of opportunity for VARs to link COLD to almost any other enterprise application. "Many mainframe reports deal with customer information," he says. "This information can be valuable to call center, CRM (customer relationship management), business intelligence, data warehousing, and ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications, as well as a number of others. If the integration is done correctly, it should take only one or two keystrokes for a CSR (customer service representative) using call center software to recall information from a COLD report."

Willett adds that some resellers who are accustomed to working with PC platforms are intimidated by the prospect of working with the mainframe data that is managed by COLD. "Any reseller with this type of concern should be sure they link up with a vendor that offers professional services in this area," he says. "When you are dealing with a bank that produces 200 reports per day, trying to link specific account numbers to an imaging system database can get pretty tricky. But VARs should also keep in mind that anytime you are talking about professional services, you are also talking about increased revenue opportunity."

Preliminary Work Will Ensure A Smooth Installation
Bookbinder compares the setup of a COLD system to the batch preparation done in document imaging applications. "Fifty percent of the work in an imaging application involves removing staples and preparing documents for scanning," he says. "In a COLD application, this preparation is done by the VAR or systems integrator. It involves setting up the data for quick retrieval."

Bookbinder concludes that the need for quick retrieval of mainframe report information is the key to determining if a business needs a COLD installation. "If an end user is rarely accessing its mainframe reports, it makes more sense to store them on microfilm, which is less expensive than COLD," Bookbinder says. "However, when you are using microfilm, it can also take three days to respond to a customer request for information."