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A revolution in workplace technology is underway. In an era dominated by digital transformation and remote work, having the right systems in place has never been more critical. Jamie Etherton, the ANZ Country Manager for US enterprise software firm Hyland, is confident his company is providing exactly what modern organisations need.

"Highland's key products and services have always been around content services," Etherton said, outlining a philosophy that has evolved with the times. "We deliver a world-leading content services platform and supporting complementary technologies for a lot of our customers. The user technology is used to improve, and in many cases, to transform their business processes across the entire organisation."

For businesses familiar with a patchwork of legacy systems, the pressure to modernise can be overwhelming. But Etherton argues that content services - or, more simply, sophisticated ways of managing information - are now integral to operations. "It's not limited to a particular process or department but an enterprise-wide content services platform," he explained. "We're talking all things when it comes to managing content and business process."

At its simplest, Hyland's technology helps organisations to capture, manage, store and search through documents and data, both digital and physical. "At the very beginning, lots of organisations need to think of creative ways of how to get content - emails, documents, physical or electronic - into the organisation," Etherton said. "How do we allow customers multi-methods of getting documents and content into the organisation? How do we then manage that content, and automate decisions and processes, allowing customers to then collaborate both internally and externally with stakeholders?"

Etherton is acutely aware that many businesses have built up "many different systems with content that reside in various repositories" as they have grown and acquired other companies. Hyland's tools aim to break down these barriers, enabling users to search across multiple repositories and "find the content that's required for them to perform their jobs", while also supporting regulatory and compliance obligations.

With remote working still prevalent and digital transformation accelerated by global events, access to the right information, regardless of location, is now table stakes. "Now more than ever, the ability for users to have access to the correct information as and when they need it, and not physically being in one or the same location, is very relevant in today's world," he said.

One size, it seems, does not fit all. Hyland counts among its clients everyone from "half a dozen users all the way up to organisations at a government level that will have thousands of users". Whether in retail, healthcare, banking or insurance, the need is unified: "The common theme throughout those organisations is the ability to provide them the content they need to perform their jobs in a seamless manner, taking away the burden of them having to search across multiple systems or being in the same physical location," Etherton explained.

Asked about recent product updates, Etherton was upbeat about progress. "A lot has been happening," he said. "With our flagship products, we continue on our mission to provide customers the most advanced and secure technology - that goes without saying - but our latest release is another step forward in uniting the Hyland portfolio of products and solutions."

Major upgrades now roll out much more frequently, he noted, allowing customers "to access new capabilities and new user experiences" without long, complex upgrade cycles. "Not just having one release every year, which traditionally has been the model for many software vendors, to moving to an increased cadence of releases where customers can consume those releases and new technologies on a much more frequent basis," Etherton said.

Recent integrations, such as direct access from within CRM systems like Salesforce, are indicative of a drive towards productivity and ease-of-use. "The concept is, you're in Salesforce looking at some customer data, you see documents, contracts, invoices - whatever's related to that client. With the click of a button, you can access all the relevant content," Etherton explained. "Providing end-users instant access to all the content from that very specific cell in that instant Salesforce instance they're working in."

"I think the other key thing in every development now is persona-based personalisation of what they actually need to see," he said, adding that this reduces complexity and increases productivity for end-users. "Historically, a common criticism could have been that some of those systems are a little bit complex. As we move forward, giving those users only the screens or the functions that they need to perform their task at hand is something that is really an interesting development."

Artificial intelligence is also playing an increasing role. "Yes, it does," Etherton said when asked about the integration with AI trends. "It's continuing to bring all of the content services tools and complementary solutions that we have available within the portfolio of solutions and making them available, so those customers that need to take advantage of those particular complementary solutions can do so. When they do, having that same seamless experience is what matters."

For both cloud and on-premise customers, the shift towards regular enhancements means staying at the forefront with much less hassle. "This move toward more frequent updates through enhancement packs, as opposed to one big release per year, makes new features, products and security updates available on an increased cadence throughout a calendar year," he said.

In the Australia and New Zealand market, Etherton is proud of the company's existing infrastructure and local presence. "I'd say for this part of the world it's really extensive," he said. "We have the most knowledgeable and experienced employees in the business, with staff across sales, marketing, professional services, technical support, and not to mention our dedicated data centres for those customers that want to host their Hyland solution in the cloud."

Having these data centres based in Sydney, Melbourne, and across New Zealand, addresses what was once a key barrier for local customers. "Historically, that has been a barrier to many Australian companies that would feel uncomfortable if those data centres were outside Australia, so we've had data centres in Australia for six or seven years, with a very good experience of delivering cloud solutions to our Australian and New Zealand customers," Etherton said.

He also highlighted a strong network of partners. "We have some excellent partners that we work with and our joint purpose is just to serve our customers in this part of the world," he said. "We have extensive existing infrastructure to service the ANZ market."

Reflecting on Hyland's commitment to the region, Etherton is unequivocal. "We certainly have, and long may that continue. It really does make a difference to our customers, partners, and the people we serve to have dedicated infrastructure and resources in this part of the world."

He summed up the company's mission in a simple maxim: "It allows us to be as responsive as we need to be with the customers that we do on a daily basis."