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Through the late 1990s, Rieter - a Swiss-based industrial group - grew into a global player through internal growth and numerous mergers and acquisitions.
As a result of the growth and mergers Rieter was faced with a need for standardization and integration. The business motivation for re-launching the company internet presence was thus the same being encountered today by many merged corporations. Content from multiple organizations, as well as the networks from these organizations, was quickly put together so that the resulting company could function and derive return on investment from the merger process.
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Compounding the problem was the fact that during this time internet technologies and approaches were relatively new, having progressed through many stages of server and networking technologies, and especially numerous phases of software technology to help manage the content. Many of today's successful corporations find themselves faced with internet solutions that no longer scale or serve the needs of today's customers. Problems include:
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Outdated, conflicting, and redundant content
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Inoperative hyperlinks and invalid metadata
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Navigation through content is difficult, time-consuming, and sometime frustrating
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Ineffective search results
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Content from a single reorganized organization is still distributed across the old network of the company to server the needs of the internet site, hindering the organizations ability to update the content properly
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The original evolution of separate web sites provided no way to integrate content except via URL linking. Because of the difficulty in providing such cross-links at all appropriate locations in the web presence, it became necessary for partners to know various URLs in advance and have them bookmarked. This same problem was also unfortunately becoming a problem for customers.
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The site has become static because of the difficulties of reorganizing content, implementing new technology, or reprogramming existing functions without "patching" the rest of the solution
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In 2003, Rieter decided to use Hyper.Net in the effort to overhaul its internet web presence. . This was done to improve the corporate identity and offer easier and faster access to all products and services for its customers worldwide, as well as up-to-the-minute information for investors, financial analysts and journalists. "The internet as a global communication medium achieved an especially valuable position in Rieter's communication strategy for the future," said Edda Walraf, Marketing Director for Rieter Textile Systems. "It provides us with the potential to provide our users with complex, multi-media content that provides information about our products and services in a more understandable way. In addition, it allows us to meet growing multi-lingual requirements in an organized fashion, and provides an active interface for our customers and partners to communicate. For Rieter, the internet presence is more than just a corporate brochure, it is a vital and active communication medium."
"The Rieter internet project proves the full potential of Hyper.Net. Rather than the traditional content management approach of 'rip and replace', Hyper.Net allowed Rieter to leverage the existing IT investments for faster ROI. Hyper.Net protects users from new technology and leverages existing technologies to achieve a best use of their strengths. For Rieter this resulted in an automated solution, re-using the huge investments in Microsoft and IBM technologies and skills," said Paul Caspers, CEO Coextant Systems International AG.