UK internet bank smile is using technology from Open Market and BEA Systems to overcome bottlenecks in Web content development and management.
The bank, a subsidiary of the UK's Co-operative Bank, is utilising Open Market's Content Server Enterprise Edition family of products running on a BEA WebLogic Server, to move to a real-time environment for Web page updates. The technology is replacing a time-consuming manual system that required all content first to be hand-crafted into HTML pages.
Within that system, making a simple date change to a Web page could take two weeks or more, says smile CEO Bob Head. Now smile is able to manage the process internally with a turnaround to Web changes taking 20 minutes. "It wasn't enough to market smile as a more efficient, less bureaucratic company, we needed to incorporate those principals into our business," says Head.
Under the new system, users are able to load content into pre-developed templates and can deliver content in any format. This also allows smile's programmers more time to focus on the 'look and feel' and performance of the site.