If your government agency is gearing up to start or resume construction on public projects, you’re likely focused on permitting, environmental and safety improvements, and numerous other project details. In order to manage all these moving parts efficiently in the current approval landscape, agencies need the right technology stack.
From one lens, the technology and discipline required for infrastructure projects to support repair backlogs, waterway improvements and local road safety, to name a few, must evolve to meet the specific needs for rich media management. From pictures to videos to 3D modeling, digital assets created and leveraged for the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a five-year investment into the United States’ infrastructure, will grow substantially over time. Managed properly, these digital assets can identify and resolve problems, improve efficiency and collaboration and help the many coordinated department and agencies make better decisions.
Below are three use cases that push the boundaries of Digital Asset Management (DAM) and demonstrate the value that can be gained from effectively managed asset repositories, specifically one that can handle 60-petabyte storage requirements and support thousands of concurrent users.
DAM for operations
Flexibly supporting and trusting local workforces to manage infrastructure construction or repair means eliminating their need to travel with cumbersome manuals between main offices and worksites but requires providing them with a system to log what’s been completed. Failure to do so could cause multiple trips back to the office – creating unnecessary pollution – or repetitive construction activities that could drive up costs. Contractors, architects and engineers arriving on site or providing virtual sign-off of completed tasks need detailed images, specifications and construction or repair instructions. They also need to know that the generated photography and video – whether by handheld cameras or drones – used to track degradation, repairs or performance will be ingested into that same system automatically. A DAM platform can manage geospatial imagery files in product-centric collections, zoom in and rotate 3D images, automatically log incoming data with extensive metadata search tags and integrate seamlessly with ordering and shipping systems to make sure the right parts are dispatched.
A 3D model of the interior of a building, including pipes, walkways, conduits and structural supports, available in OpenText Media Management.
DAM for project reporting
Quick and easy access to assets is important not just for project support, but also for ease of compliance and reporting needed for infrastructure and investment projects. Beneficiary agencies may be required to report the progress of an infrastructure project through videos, photographs, slides, written documentation or whatever else a federal agency may require or believes is enough to satisfy compliance. To do so efficiently, agencies must organize their content and make it easy to find. Automated metadata tagging and categorization are crucial to this process, as is an asset repository that supports different and advanced ways of searching. For example, if multiple members of a bridge construction team need to see weekly project photos for a specific site, they could set up a search with parameters (site name, file type) and easily run that search for periodic or ad-hoc reporting activity and goals.
DAM for workforce enablement
There are several working groups being created to ensure a department, agency or community realizes the maximum relief and benefits under the IIJA. The Energy Resources Council in the State of Arkansas is an example of a coordinated effort between state agency personnel and stakeholder representatives. Such task forces that develop and maintain education materials can benefit from grouping assets into technical or policy themes and making them accessible in a dashboard, which a hybrid headless version of OpenText™ Media Management provides.
OpenText Media Management – a modern DAM for IIJA projects
Governments are reliant on rich media today more than ever, as infrastructure projects are considered and built by leveraging data from drone footage, geospatial imagery, audio and other sources. The diversity of file formats and types needed throughout the infrastructure lifecycle require proper cataloguing and storing to enable governments to advise on both concrete and social agendas.
Watch this webinar to learn more about innovative applications of DAM technology using OpenText Media Management.
The ability to access, share and derive value from all the information across your organization depends on seamless integration in your digital ecosystem, which is likely expanding by the day. Adopting an Application Programming Interface (API) integration is a stress-free approach to streamlining an organization’s digital landscape and successfully thriving in an agile business model. According to Gartner, companies should no longer view APIs as just technical tools, but as the foundation of their business models and digital strategies.
For this strategy to be effective, you must enable connectivity and data sharing among the growing number of business applications that support line-of-business functions. Implementing low-code application development and mobile app development in tandem completes this approach. A business with the proper strategy in motion will reap immediate benefits by increasing productivity and improving the employee experience.
In a matter of minutes, APIs can turn chaos into function by uniting disparate applications for crucial content and communication gathering. APIs also embed security and information management capabilities in existing applications with a few clicks. According to Deloitte, an “API-first mindset” is a prerequisite for business success today.
New tools and resources are making it easier for companies to join the API economy. Centralized destinations with hundreds of available APIs simplify the process of enriching and linking business applications for developers. Then there are low-code development platforms designed to streamline the creation of applications that integrate enterprise information by enabling employees with tools that require no developer experience . Together, these offerings ease an organizations’ ability to adopt an API-first approach.
An “API-first mindset” is a prerequisite for business success today
Restructuring and transformation have been critical to business survival in recent years. To become more agile and respond to business demands, companies are expanding beyond on-premises systems to advanced hybrid cloud systems, which encourage the continual addition of new layers to their digital ecosystem. Digital integration initiatives are critical in today’s business ecosystem, where more companies have global networks and have adopted a remote work environment.
The speed of digital transformation has outpaced the speed of integration at many companies, leaving them struggling with outdated – or non-existent – integration architecture. The result: key applications remain unconnected. Information stays trapped in siloed systems, leading to inefficient processes and employee frustration. In a Forrester survey, 93% of respondents said the operational and technical challenges in their integration strategies resulted in significant negative business repercussions.
Increasing pressures on developers
By now, most organizations have recognized the need for better integrations within their digital ecosystems, and they’re looking to in-house or external developers for quick fixes. Developers are expected to meet ever-changing business demands for functionally rich applications while ensuring every new tool is integrated, secure, and meets the highest quality standards.
Working on tight timelines with broad, sometimes unclear, requirements, forces developers to look for tools that can save time and money. APIs do both, so their popularity continues to grow.
The reusability of APIs – meaning the APIs used to exchange data and run processes internally can do the same with third-party applications – is another clear benefit. At organizations that forge new partnerships all the time, this feature significantly reduces the burden on their developers.
But it’s not always easy to find the right API to fill a specific functionality requirement for the business, and in the past developers spent a considerable amount of time searching for the API they needed. Often there wasn’t one that fit the bill, which sent them back to building, connecting or extending applications from scratch, which is very time consuming.
Centralizing APIs for findability and support
To help organizations succeed in the API economy, OpenText offers a directory of API connectors in one destination: OpenText Developer. This unified service empowers the developer community to securely build custom solutions with OpenText services, and connect to and extend existing OpenText products.
Since its launch, OpenText Developer has added hundreds of APIs to support the different OpenText services. With new APIs appearing every quarter, it’s an expanding API resource for developers.
Browse the OpenText API library to find a solution for your business.
Developers can choose from three development approaches:
Private Cloud
Flexible, scalable
Deploys on-premises and certified for GCP, AWS, Azure and more
Public Cloud
Easily supports core business applications for content-centric business processes such as content management, capture, signature, viewing, archive and more
API Cloud
Commercialized API-based solution
Create new solutions or customize existing OpenText applications
Every OpenText API has embedded security features, so developers don’t have to add their own. They get even more peace of mind knowing that frequent security updates and enhancements are automated in OpenText Developer.
The APIs deliver information management capabilities ranging from analysis and reporting to storage and management. Once developers find what they need, OpenText takes care of the rest, supporting them throughout their development process with updates, upgrades and security.
The OpenText developer program also provides the tools, resources, communities and technologies developers need to solve their toughest business problems. Whether they dive into tutorials and trials or join forums to learn more, the answers are there.
Speeding up integrated application development
Developers are in short supply, so companies need to use their expertise sparingly. Business experts with technical acumen can take on front-end application development tasks, but they may need a tool that supports them with this approach.
OpenText™ AppWorks™ is a low-code development platform that enables joint business-IT collaboration, leading to faster development cycles and efficient resource usage. It provides pre-built connectors – which sit between APIs – to OpenText products and lead applications such as Salesforce and SAP. AppWorks users can also take advantage of the hundreds of APIs on the OpenText developer site. For more complex integrations, such as integrating with legacy systems, AppWorks supports coding where necessary.
APIs are much more than an IT concern. They’re crucial integration tools for the entire digital ecosystem, enhancing agility, growth and the employee experience. Whether they’re used alone or together, OpenText Developer and OpenText AppWorks offer organizations a fast track to the API economy.
In the Modern Workplace, seamless integration between the tools your employees use most is vital. Empowering people to stay in their workflows – while integrations take place in the background – maximizes productivity and creates a positive employee experience.
Microsoft Teams, for example, has become indispensable at many organizations to keep work moving wherever it happens. But it can’t always accommodate collaboration with external partners, integrate with enterprise content repositories, or connect with crucial business processes.
With the right integrations, employees can stay productive in their preferred applications for internal or external collaboration. #integrationmatters
With the right integrations, employees can stay productive in their preferred applications for internal or external collaboration. They don’t have to worry about whether enterprise data is secure and stored properly because, when stored in context, the predefined business rules automatically protect and govern the content, ensuring employees can access the information they need in the context, when and where they need it.
Understanding the pitfalls of collaborating without integrating
But there’s a downside to its widespread popularity: like any productivity application, it can turn into an information silo. Without meaning to, employees often create micro-repositories on Teams.
There are also limits when it comes to collaborating with people outside the organization. Companies in complex industries have multiple external partners that need to access certain enterprise information for efficient collaboration. Without securing licenses for everyone, however, this is impossible without integration.
Keeping track of where information lives and who has access to what can be challenging, potentially creating compliance issues. Asking busy employees to perform manual content management tasks such as adding metadata, classifications, and retention labels for Teams content is simply unproductive. Not only does this approach diminish the employee experience, but it also increases the chance of errors and data loss.
Connecting content with business processes
Employees need a single interface where they can get work done, in context. If they’re in Teams, they want to see relevant information from lead applications like SAP and Salesforce. No switching, report queries or other actions required.
When employees can instantly get the information they need in their preferred interface, no matter where that information resides, productivity naturally increases. #integrationmatters
This deep integration empowers people to make data-driven decisions quickly and easily. When employees can instantly get the information they need in their preferred interface, no matter where that information resides, productivity naturally increases.
Integrating content in Teams with key business processes also reduces risk by automating content management tasks. When it’s added to the business workspace, the Teams content automatically inherits the appropriate classification, metadata, and security.
OpenText™ Extended ECM integrates the most widely used business systems with Microsoft Office 365, enabling employees to maintain efficiency in their familiar applications while keeping information controlled, secure and compliant from creation to archiving and disposition. It automatically manages transcriptions and other content stored in Teams, completing your governance strategy.
Simplifying collaboration with synchronization
Collaboration gets complicated when organizations are working with several external partners on different facets of a large project or managing multi-layered supply chains. To keep things simple and maintain a single source of truth, OpenText™ Extended ECM for Microsoft® Office 365 offers content synchronization with Teams.
Team members can choose to edit content in their business application or in Teams. Either way, all the changes get synced back to the relevant business workspace, which applies the correct permissions and protections.
Every step of the collaboration is automated and template-driven, allowing users and administrators to focus on their work without having to set up Teams, Workspaces, integrations or shares. When the collaboration process ends, the Team can be retired and made read-only.
OpenText Extended ECM content synchronization with Microsoft Teams
Taking Teams integration to the next level with voice
As more and more employees rely on Teams as a collaboration platform, organizations have started to adopt Microsoft Teams Phone. While this transition tends to be slower than the adoption of base Teams functionality, since large enterprises often have entrenched phone systems spanning multiple locations, organizations are still making the move to more modern voice solutions.
Instead of completely replacing their existing phone systems, some companies are interested in trying out Teams Phone in phases. But they’re held back by legitimate concerns, most notably problematic call routing across the entire organization, disparate messaging systems and message compliance. Customers want centralized phone numbers that can route across the entire enterprise – regardless of the phone system used by each location, for example – or the ability to record and send company-wide voice messages to all office locations.
With OpenText™ CX-E Voice, organizations can implement Teams Phone while keeping their existing internal phone system and call center investments. The full integration means employees can make and receive calls through Teams while benefitting from CX-E’s unified messaging, voicemail, transcription, AI-powered automated attendant and more.
View the video to learn more about OpenText CX-E Voice
CX-E acts as the central answering point for the entire network of phone systems, routing calls seamlessly and enabling crucial voice messages – think a CEO pep talk – to reach every employee with ease. For companies in regulated industries, CX-E provides secure end-to-end voice messaging.
Limiting disruptions to everyday tasks
Extended ECM and CX-E remove the extra steps and workflow disruptions that can come with using multiple tools with multiple partners. Like every good integration, these solutions operate invisibly to secure and manage information while putting it in the right context for users.
Today’s knowledge workers already manage relentless distractions and demands. Powerful integration between their preferred tools eliminates time-intensive manual content management while boosting productivity and collaboration. It’s employee empowerment at its best!
Every organization depends on a variety of systems to get work done, and they usually exist in siloes scattered across the enterprise. This makes it almost impossible to have full visibility into the overall performance of the business, especially in rapidly growing organizations. Purposeful integration connects people, systems and things that matter and provides business insight, so leaders have all the information they need to make informed decisions faster.
A fully integrated information ecosystem streamlines your organization’s data across all platforms for all users. On the front-end, the experiences your employees and customers have are simplified and more personalized. Behind the scenes, tight integration makes your systems more robust and your data more contextualized.
Organizational impact
Integration matters because it helps everyone: employees, lines of business (LOB), industries and partner ecosystems. Even more importantly, it establishes a future-proof foundation for growth: 80% of business operations leaders say integration is critical to their success (Forbes, Mar 2020).
#integrationmatters because it helps everyone: employees, lines of business (LOB), industries and partner ecosystems.
Employees
Streamlined processes enable employees to complete their regular tasks in a less stressful and more efficient manner, giving them time to focus on value-adding tasks. They transition from manual data entry and information transfer across disparate business applications—each with its own tedious, time-consuming login and required format—to focusing on the outcomes they’re trying to achieve and for whom they’re trying to achieve them. Integration leads to increased productivity, creativity, and morale.
LOB
With integration, LOB processes become more efficient and less prone to error, complex processes are simplified, and friction that may be caused by manually transferring data is reduced. As the information flow speeds up, productivity increases, and operational costs decrease. As information is connected within context, the business also gains visibility through better reporting and reduced risk with simplified governance.
Third parties
Through integration, your organization can connect with IoT (Internet of Things) devices and third parties, such as suppliers, partners, customers and shareholders, each of whom have their own unique information needs. It enables suppliers to keep track of raw-material levels, partners to stay up to date on products and programs, and customers to follow inventory—all in real time. Through integration organizations are improving their resilience to disruptions, security, and accelerating time to value. Organizations are more connected with their supply chain and partner ecosystems than ever before, and the need for reliable, accurate and timely exchanges with suppliers and partners has never been more important than now.
Working in separate business applications—logging in and out, searching for and re-entering the same data again and again, creating new tickets and process—simply stretches out work. Capturing information and integrating it into the context of business processes eliminates waste and can provide a big boost to productivity by reallocating resources from effort- and time-consuming work, such as payroll processing, fulfillment, expense management and invoicing.
Increased savings
The cost of working with various systems and projects can be quite high. Each program requires specific attention from your IT department and support and overhauls can be tedious and expensive. And they might not work. Although there is a price for integration, the return on investment is significant and growing.
Reduced risk of error
No one wants to be the one to blame the human, but purposeful integration significantly cuts down on the need for data recapture. This translates to fewer human errors in data collection and processing and ensures workflows are not left on a desk or in a siloed system and keeps them moving to meet deadlines.
Stronger customer loyalty
System integration provides a complete view of the customer and enables your organization to use the data collected from buying journeys, profiling and segmentation, interactions, testing and more to personalize and improve customer experiences. It also reduces friction along the journey for users and helps make every customer touchpoint more significant and more positive.
Stronger foundation for the future
Instead of maintaining multiple systems, worrying about the integrations required across these platforms and monitoring which applications and systems are up to date, your IT department can spend more time future-proofing your organization: helping to find ways to optimize your business processes and increase the security of your critical infrastructure and creating a foundation for AI and automation.
Integration speedbumps
Even though system integration is by all accounts where organizations are heading, there are some things to keep top-of-mind when moving toward full integration:
The question of security
Just as employees can access everything with one login and decision-makers have all the data they need to work with, one misrepresentation or hack could gain access to all your data instead of one part of it. Look for vendors that are leaders in security software and can help your organization build a complete platform for securing information across the enterprise and beyond—from the network to the endpoint.
Not always a DIY project
Full integration across the enterprise is not the easiest of DIY projects. The project can be unpredictable and tedious for your IT group, so you may want to consider products that offer process-focused integration out of the box and leverage the expertise of an integration managed services provider—both of which could save your organization a considerable amount of time and money in the end.
Initial cost of integration
Like any big project, there is an initial cost you will have to prepare for, but the rewards are becoming very clear: according to the Gartner 2019 Business Application Integration Survey, respondents reported increases in employee productivity (15%), improvements in project delivery (50%), increases in online user metrics (30-40%), higher efficiency for order processing (33%), increases in associated revenue (10%) and improvements in financial postings (20%).
Integration matters
Purposeful system integration is critical to scaling a future-proof digital business. The question is how are you going to do it?You need to discover proven integration initiatives that could be critical to your business.
In “Other news” we discuss a new EU report on digital transformation and its place in addressing the VAT gap.
Hot Topics
France – controversy related to proposed public e-Invoicing portal
The plans for the public portal discussed in our previous newsletters include the offer of a number of free services such as archiving for the mandatory legal period of 10 years.
Republican Senator Patrick Chaize has posed a question to the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery about this archiving service, expressing concern that a free public portal would be positioned as a direct competitor to private e-invoice and archival platforms and that the free archiving service is, therefore, a distortion of competition.
He added that this could cause serious financial damage to the players in electronic archiving and jeopardize jobs and expertise. He asks whether the state will reconsider its position on this point.
The full text of the senator’s question can be found here in French.
This issue is also being hotly debated within EESPA (the European E-Invoicing Service Provider’s Association), of which OpenText is a founding member and holds a chair on the Executive Committee.
A response to this question from the French ministry has not yet been issued – we will monitor this topic closely and report back on any developments. Meanwhile, the French tax authorities have published a new version of the FAQ related to the e-invoicing mandate. 15 questions have been added.
Spain – scope and technical details of mandatory B2B e-Invoicing
In earlier blogs, we announced Spain’s planned mandate of B2B e-Invoicing. On February 21st, 2022 the Spanish tax authorities published a draft royal decree that provided the first details of the proposal, confirming that taxpayers will be mandated to comply with the new requirements by January 1, 2024.
Some of the key highlights of the draft regulation include the scope, which appears to cover all taxpayers – apart from a few exceptions – throughout the Spanish territories.
The regulation is directed to any computer system used by such taxpayers to record and document the supply of goods and services and process invoices.
The decree then goes into some key technical details, which repeats the mandatory content but cites some additional mandatory content that will be required for invoices – an alphanumeric identification code and a “QR” code, as well as specific additional phrases to indicate the verification status of the invoice.
The computer system must generate an invoicing record and send invoice data to the tax authorities continuously, securely, correctly, completely, automatically, consecutively, instantaneously, and reliably, etc, and must guarantee the integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility. traceability and inalterability of the invoicing records as per existing legislation.
The computer system manufacturer will be responsible for self-certifying their compliance with these requirements in full.
If the draft decree is approved, the deadline of January 2024 will leave Spanish taxpayers – and their providers – with just two years to meet the mandate. Other countries, such as France, have already postponed their mandates based on public consultation to provide for a phased and more manageable implementation timeline.
Mexico – CDFI 4.0 deadline extended by three months
In our previous newsletter, we advised of an update of the mandatory XML format – CFDI from version 3.3 to version 4.0. A recent directive from the Mexican Tax Administration Service (SAT) has extended the transition period which was planned to end on 30th March 2022, and will now finish on June 30th, 2022.
From 1st July all e-Invoices must conform to the new 4.0 standard and older versions will no longer be compliant. More information is available from the Mexican tax agency, the SAT, via this link.
Compliance news and updates
Belgium – update on B2B e-Invoicing mandate
In our February 2022 newsletter, we discussed Belgium’s plan to switch to fully mandatory e-Invoicing for B2B invoices and the objections being raised.
In a conference on 10th February 2022, Mr Vincent Van Peteghem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Belgium stressed the benefits of electronic invoicing for businesses as well as the state, allowing businesses to gain in productivity by simplifying invoice processing and validation while combating tax fraud. Aware of the difficulties that could be faced by small businesses, which represent a large part of Belgium’s economic base, Van Peteghem indicated that Belgium is planning intensive exchanges with businesses and stakeholders to deploy the B2B electronic invoicing mandate project.
India – revised threshold increases scope of B2B e-Invoicing mandate
On February 24th, 2022, the Indian tax authorities published a new notification (No. 01/2022 – “Central Tax”) that modified the revenue threshold applicable for mandatory e-Invoicing, which had been in force since the 1st of October 2020.
The notice will take effect from April 1st, 2022, at which point e-Invoicing will become mandatory for all taxpayers whose aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds twenty crore rupees (or approximately $2.6 million USD), a significant reduction to the previous threshold of fifty crore rupees ($6.5 million USD).
China – pilot program for fully digitized e-Invoice continues to expand
China has always had a unique approach to VAT, having implemented the paper-based “Golden Tax system” with government-certified printers and software to ensure correct tax calculations, issuance of VAT invoices, and statutory tax reporting. Over time there has been a move to align more closely with international tax practices to facilitate cross-border trade with greater transparency and to further reduce fraud.
Today there are two categories of VAT invoices in use in China, namely “VAT special fapiao” (B2B invoices used for VAT reclaim) and “VAT general fapiao” (typically B2C invoices and used for evidence of payment rather than VAT deduction). Since 2016, China’s State Taxation Administration (STA) has launched several pilots allowing taxpayers to issue these VAT invoices in electronic format.
The first wave of e-Invoicing started in 2016 when the STA piloted the first e-Invoicing system for “general VAT fapiao” (B2C) in many cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, etc.
The second wave of e-Invoicing started in September 2020 when the SAT piloted the first e-Invoicing system for “special VAT fapiao” (B2B) in Ningbo, Shijiazhuang, and Hangzhou. The ability to issue the “special VAT fapiao” in electronic format has been extended to more than 30 regions from December 2020 and January 2021.
The third wave of e-Invoicing started in December 2021 in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Inner Mongolia. Newly registered taxpayers will be allowed to issue a fully digitalized electronic invoice (FDEIs) for both general and special VAT fapiao.
To issue, deliver, and verify the FDEIs, taxpayers can use the electronic service platform free of charge without using the special tax control equipment, such as golden tax USB disk, tax control USB disk, and tax UKey (tax control device containing digital certificate) are no longer needed.
Unlike normal VAT e-fapiao, which are required to be in PDF or ODF (Open Document) formats, fully digitalized e-fapiao is not required to be saved in a specific digital format. The FDEI will contain limited fields such as dynamic QR code, invoice number, invoice date, buyer information, seller information, quantity, unit price, tax amount, etc.
Nigeria – concerns around e-Invoicing and e-Evaluator system for import and export trades
The Trade and Exchange Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria issued guidelines on 21 January 2022 for a new e-Evaluator and e-Invoice system for import and export transactions, which came into effect on 1st February 2022.
This required that all import and export operations are accompanied by the submission of an authenticated e-Invoice to reduce foreign exchange malpractice.
The Nigerian National Assembly along with various corporate bodies have raised strenuous objections, citing concerns around increased transaction costs and bureaucracy, disrupting business and heightening, rather than reducing, the risk of corruption. The National Assembly has requested the procedure be suspended due to the short notice and lack of transition period.
Other news
European Union – what is the missing part to reduce the EU VAT gap?
On 16th February 2022, the European Parliament published a resolution asking the question – “the Sixth VAT Directive: what is the missing part to reduce the EU VAT gap?”
This report explores how the transposition and application of the directive could be improved, and suggests that, in order to meet the challenges of digital transformation and an increasingly mobile economy, it is time to move towards a simpler VAT system that can adapt to developments in technology, trade and the broader economy more rapidly and easily.
The report highlights that while the VAT gap, on average, has reduced significantly across member states it still exists and could be reduced by such simplification of the VAT system, greater harmonization in VAT rates, and improved steps to combat fraud through digitization – which enables both governments and businesses to take action in real-time. For more details, please refer to the website of the European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0355_EN.html
Disclaimer: This newsletter is intended to reflect the direction the industry is moving and does not a reflection a commitment for the OpenText Active Invoices with Compliance (AIC) product development roadmap to meet any particular stated regulations.
LEGAL Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is for general guidance on matters of interest only. The authors are not herein rendering legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice and the content should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting, tax, legal or other competent advisers. While we make every attempt to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within is from reliable sources, OpenText is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for any results obtained from the use of this information. All information is provided “as is” with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness, or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance and fitness for purpose. In no event will OpenText or its agents or employees be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this Site or for any consequential, special or similar damages.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a prime example of one nation employing a combination of traditional weaponry and cyberattacks against another to disrupt business and government. As outlined by the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in its alert:
“Further disruptive cyberattacks against organizations in Ukraine are likely to occur and may unintentionally spill over to organizations in other countries. Organizations should increase vigilance and evaluate their capabilities encompassing planning, preparation, detection, and response for such an event.”
As foundational precautions, OpenTextTM is recommending several industry best practices including:
Set antivirus and antimalware programs to conduct regular scans.
Enable strong spam filters to prevent phishing emails from reaching end users.
Filter network traffic.
Update software.
Require multifactor authentication.
Combatting known threats
On January 15, 2022, it was disclosed that malware known as WhisperGate was being used to strategically target organizations in Ukraine, rendering targeted devices inoperable. These threat actors were also targeting domain controllers of these businesses to disrupt their ability to operate—looking to cause as much damage as possible as quickly as possible.
Then, on February 23, 2022, it was discovered that malware known as HermeticWiper was being used against organizations in Ukraine. This malware targets Windows devices, manipulating the master boot record, which results in subsequent boot failure. HermeticWiper appears to be a custom-written application with very few standard functions. The adversaries are using a tried and tested technique of wiper malware, abusing a benign partition management driver, to carry out the more damaging components of their attacks.
In addition, the CISA has identified an increased number of Conti ransomware attacks on US companies and other entities. Conti users frequently employ spearphishing techniques to gain access to digital infrastructure and then exploit legitimate remote monitoring and management software and remote desktop software as backdoors to maintain persistence. The actors use tools already available on the victim network—and, as needed, add additional tools, such as Windows Sysinternals and Mimikatz—to obtain users’ hashes and clear-text credentials, which enable the actors to escalate privileges within a domain and perform other post-exploitation and lateral movement tasks. In some cases, the actors also use TrickBot malware to carry out post-exploitation tasks.
How OpenText protects you
As always, OpenText’s security solutions are designed to help find information no matter where it is buried to effectively conduct investigations, manage risk, and respond to incidents. By understanding the mindset of threat actors and the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) they employ, we can provide unparalleled identification and remediation of risks.
OpenText uses behavior-based detections in our managed extended detection and response (MxDR) platform, which allows us to detect threat actors earlier in the cyber kill chain and prevent attackers from infecting business operations. OpenText MxDR continuously runs threat simulations against our detection platform to ensure our visibility and detections are the best possible.
Overall, in all instances, we provide our customers the ability to protect, detect, and respond to any threat.
OpenText’s commitment
OpenText remains committed to helping businesses and organizations operate safely, wherever their data travels.
With data as the currency of information in the modern world, we embrace the idea that we are all connected, and must collectively take responsibility for maintaining a trusted state for commerce, government, and other communications within civil society.
For more information
OpenText can help your business stay prepared and in a trusted state by initiating threat hunting and Managed XDR services for real-time detection and rapid response.
SWIFT has been a hot topic in the news lately but there seems to be an overwhelming amount of confusion about what SWIFT does and how they impact the global financial ecosystem. First, let’s uncover what SWIFT stands for, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. As the name implies, SWIFT serves a communication network for banks, SWIFT is not moving money, transferring assets, or holding assets of any kind.
Next, let’s understand why a communication platform for financial messages is such a big deal. Sending payments internationally can be incredibly complex. To successfully send a cross border payment, one must be conscious of the changing currencies, fluctuating exchange rates, and actual language barriers in order to ensure payment accuracy. Before SWIFT, financial messages were send via a service called telex. Telex messages closely resembled the formatting of an actual handwritten letter, these messages included extensive manual activities that did not follow any type of structure, making the process incredibly time consuming.
When SWIFT was introduced in 1973, the cross-border payment messaging system was instantly streamlined and improved. Now, all payments sent via SWIFT are accompanied by a unique SWIFT code that quickly relays the required information for understanding the payment message. The formatting of these messages follows a strict code-based structure that allows for timely processing. An example of the code structure can be seen below.
How SWIFT Breaks Down Global Barriers
Every bank that is a part of the SWIFT network can take advantage of the code-based messaging system seen above. With this innovative code, SWIFT removed error prone and time-consuming manual activities associated with cross border payments and provided a secure and immediate connection. SWIFT provided structure to financial messaging when there was dire need for efficiencies, the platform has been incredibly well received and widely adopted since launch. According to SWIFT, more than 11,000 global SWIFT member institutions sent an average of 42 million messages per day through the network in 2021, marking an increase of 11.4% over 2020.
Addressing Common Misconceptions
Is every country in the world a part of SWIFT?
No. However, in 2014 SWIFT reported over 200 countries and territories make up the SWIFT network.
If a country is not a part of SWIFT does that mean they cannot transact internationally?
No. Remember SWIFT is only the messaging system however, it is a very popular and widely used messaging system. There are other messaging systems that financial institutions use such as Fedwire, CHIPS, TARGET2, etc.
For further explanation, consider the two different scenarios listed below. In these examples, SWIFT can represent a cell phone, cell phones make cross border communications easier but, are not the only way to communicate with someone.
Communicating without SWIFT
Sarah lives in New York and wants to communicate with her grandmother who lives in Finland. Unfortunately, Sarah does not have access to a cell phone so she cannot text or call her. Sarah can still communicate with her grandmother; however, she will have to rely on a method that is not as fast or secure. Sarah can communicate with her grandmother via the mail service which sometimes takes weeks, carrier pigeons which are often intercepted, or in-person visits which require the coordination of a lot of moving parts.
Communicating with SWIFT
Sarah lives in New York and wants to communicate with her grandmother in Finland. Sarah has access to a cell phone so she can call and text her grandmother whenever she would like. Sarah’s phone calls always reach her grandmother quickly and securely, so she can communicate effectively whenever she would like.
Is it common for a country to get ejected from SWIFT?
No. This is happened only three times in recent history. First with Iran in 2012, then with North Korea in 2017 and again with Russia earlier this month.
Interested in learning more?
The OpenText™ SWIFT Service Bureau provides quick and cost-effective access to the SWIFT network without taking on the administrative burdens and costs of managing the SWIFT infrastructure. As the leading provider of global B2B integration services, OpenText delivers a powerful combination of technology, people, and process to provide a single secure gateway to communicate financial messages, such as securities settlement instructions, payments, bank statements, foreign exchange transactions and holdings reports with the worldwide financial community.
If you are a financial services provider or a corporation looking to learn more about OpenText’s Swift Service Bureau offering, please click here. .
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We stand with the people of Ukraine, whose country is being attacked in an unprovoked war against an independent sovereign nation with a democratically elected government.
OpenText has ceased all business in Russia, and this will continue until the war ends and sanctions are lifted. We will continuously monitor the situation and adjust our business practices as required, keeping our employees, customers, and partners informed.
OpenText is proud to be partnering with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and has made a $100,000 USD donation in support of their ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. We are also encouraging our employees to contribute to this important cause.
This crisis has wide-ranging impacts on our customers, and we’ve reached out to let them know that OpenText is here for support. We expect there will be business disruptions, and we are ready to work quickly to help find solutions. Protecting customer and partner data is our top priority. We will continue to adopt a proactive and vigilant approach in monitoring cyber-threats. We have a defined Security Incident process to address potential exposure and would immediately advise clients in the event of a breach, or data privacy issues.
Originally published March 4, 2022; updated August 15, 2022
We stand with the people of Ukraine.
Ukraine continues to be attacked, an unprovoked war against an independent sovereign nation with a democratically elected government. The attack is both inhumane and unjustified. Like the rest of the world, we are watching the war with horror and condemnation in the strongest possible terms. These acts are war crimes.
The consequences of this war will affect us all, and we each must act. Economic sanctions against Russia are an important mechanism to restore peace.
At OpenText, we have decided to act in three key ways.
We have:
Stopped all current and future business in Russia, and removed all employees from Russia
Donated funds to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to aid in humanitarian efforts
Taken additional steps to support refugees in Poland, especially children
Further, we are in partnership with our key customers and governments to ensure their operations, supply chains and systems are protected, secure and resilient.
As the crisis escalates and people continue to flee their homes, millions are in need of food, shelter and aid. We made an initial allocation of $100,000 in humanitarian support for the people of Ukraine through the UNHCR, and OpenText employees from around the globe donated an additional $55,000. We will continue to work with our close partners, customers and other organizations, to offer our technology to support their efforts.
Since the escalation of the conflict in February, our OpenText employees in Poznan have witnessed a flood of refugees into their town—primarily women and children who left home with nothing. OpenText asked: How can we help? What can we do to help restore their dignity and security, and give them hope?
We know that education is a critical component to the safety and well-being of refugee children, and a top priority for parents. As part of our ongoing support for the people of Ukraine, we are partnering with five schools in Poznan that have welcomed more than 600 Ukrainian children into their classrooms and communities.
OpenText provided 10,000€ to each school to fund new classroom laptops, translation software, textbooks, new lockers and more. We want to do what we can to help minimize the disruption to refugees’ lives and help them rebuild.
OpenText is Honored to Provide Schooling for Refugees in Poland
We also recognize the generosity of people around the world in welcoming refugees into their homes and helping them resettle. That is why we are expanding our OpenText Employee Relief Fund to offer a stipend to employees who open their homes to refugees, to help ease the financial burden of hosting.
I am reminded of a quote from Robert Browning’s Prospice: For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave. Brave is the steely fight in the people of Ukraine. They are an inspiration for all of us, and we stand with everyone affected by the events in Ukraine.
May the one that brings peace, bring peace for all.
We stand with the people of Ukraine.
Mark J. Barrenechea
OpenText CEO & CTO
For additional information, please see OpenText’s corporate statement concerning the conflict in Ukraine.
