SumTotal Systems, the industry’s largest provider of learning and business performance technologies, services and processes, today announced that it will give an advance look at the SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 to attendees of the ASTD Conference and Expo, held from May 24 — 27 in Washington D.C. The new suite, which the company expects to bring to market in the second half of 2004, incorporates revolutionary new capabilities and represents a significant leap forward in the ability of learning and performance technologies to deliver bottom-line results.
The SumTotal Enterprise Suite promises more flexible, rapid, strategic delivery and management of learning activities; unprecedented options for measuring learning impact on revenues, expenses, cycle time and other business results; and unique interoperability and integration capabilities that dramatically reduce the cost of ownership.
“SumTotal Systems has a singular purpose and vision — to accelerate client performance and profitability through innovative learning and business solutions,” said Andy Eckert, SumTotal CEO. “Even before our merger closed in March, we were working diligently to design a technology platform that leveraged the strengths of both Click2learn’s and Docent’s existing platforms, and combined them with new, innovative capabilities to help customers drive even greater performance across their value chains. We expect this release will change the playing field in our industry.”
Providing unparalleled breadth in application and depth in business functionality. SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 will be the industry’s most comprehensive, scalable learning and business performance offering, and the only one to combine learning management, learning content management, virtual classroom and in-depth analytics applications on a single, integrated platform. The suite’s innovative, modular structure includes:TotalLMS - for strategic management of training, corporate information, communication, and employee knowledgeTotalDashboard — for detailed analysis of organization-wide learning data and bottom-line impact TotalLCMS - for creating, managing and deploying web-based training and simulations TotalVCS –for live, virtual communication, collaboration and learning over the Web TotalPerformance –for 360-degree measurement of employee performance, and to ensure alignment of individuals and groups at all levels of the organizationTotalAccess — for comprehensive mobile access to learning, information, and content without network connection TotalInformation — for management of formal and informal knowledge and information TotalCollaboration — for collaboration and facilitation of knowledge-sharing with subject matter expertsOther solution components that complement the suite’s applications and help further tailor SumTotal’s solutions to a customer’s specific needs include:ResultsOnDemand — an ASP solution for immediate-term, turn-key deployment, offering the same rich functionality as an installed solutionToolBook 2004 — for robust simulation and content authoring The SumTotal Enterprise Suite will provide an open, standards-based architecture that maximizes support for common industry standards and provide seamless interoperability within customer environments. Whether J2EE, .NET or other environments, SumTotal Systems plans to provide a new, industry-leading Integration Framework, along with robust Web services, that ensure the lowest cost of ownership through support for all environments.
“In today’s rapidly changing technology landscape, it is critical that enterprise software products be able to coexist in a heterogeneous environment and provide an open framework for integrating with other line of business applications in the customer’s ecosystem,” said Eckert. “We designed the SumTotal suite and our Integration Framework with that in mind, ensuring that we support a variety of standards. And even as we evolve product functionality over time in keeping with market needs, our product vision continues to be guided by a commitment to enabling our customers to leverage existing investments in technology, people and training, and to reduce the costs of product implementation, integration, support and maintenance.”
Upgrade paths to the SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0 for customers of the existing suites will be available. With a proven track record of more than 80% of the customer base on the latest version of the Docent and Aspen product, SumTotal Systems expects a smooth upgrade process for those customers wishing to take advantage of the new features and functionality in the 7.0 suite.
“SumTotal, is deeply committed to the success of our customers,” said Eckert. “In building the SumTotal suite, we have devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort to listening to their needs—both, current and future. With our customers’ support and validation, we are confident that we will continue to deliver against their requirements—and beyond. We are very excited about introducing this powerful solution to the marketplace.”
For an advance look at some of the innovative new capabilities of the SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.0, visit the SumTotal booth (#1116) on the ASTD Expo floor.
