7 Aug

Open Source Private & Hybrid Cloud Solution

Cloud computing is in high demand. In as adoption grows, companies have more and more resources, apps, data residing on various platforms. In this digital era, it's not public vs private. It's the combination of both. It's cloud and conventional IT. By the end of this year alone, 60-70 percent of companies will have a hybrid cloud environment.

So how they would be able to manage across their computing platforms? How can they use their resources accordingly to accomplish their IT tasks? I guess it's time for a private or a hybrid cloud solution.

Softbless offers 2 forms of open source cloud computing: private cloud and hybrid cloud. Depending on the type of date that you will be working with, you'll want to know them in terms of the levels of security and, of course, the data management required.

Private Cloud

These days, companies rarely deploy all of their applications into the public cloud. Logistically speaking, it is easier to move from your on-premises development environment to a private cloud compared to on-premise servers to a public cloud.

A private cloud can be setup or configured to support any type of application, just like data center currently hosts it. A private cloud is an ideal option if certain features in legacy applications prevent some applications from operating well in the public cloud.

Here are some indicators or scenarios that a private cloud environment is best.

You are using a shared storage (AWS, RDS, is not HIPAA-compliant) and you need a dedicated infrastructure for compliance.
You need HPFS, a high-performance access to a file system.
You have applications that come with predictable usage patterns and offer low storage costs.
You have an application that is unstable and heavily trafficked, but your IT team is not familiar with it, and may need to partially rewrite it in the cloud.
Your IT Team is not trained or equipped with the knowledge for migrating the application in a cost-effective manner.

A private cloud solution can be implemented in any data centers with a virtualization layer like VMware, though some mid-sized to big companies allow a managed private cloud services providers like Softbless to maintain their servers, data storage, secured network, and application infrastructure.

Hybrid Cloud

Most enterprises are going to pursue a hybrid cloud solution this year. It is used for a certain situation where an enterprise architecture is too complex that a hybrid cloud solution — where the private or public infrastructure supports the application — is the right solution.

Hybrid Clouds are being used by large organizations because they want to fully explore the flexibility and scalability of the public and/or private cloud. It is mostly used to tighten the security of their network, for performance monitoring, testing, and for data ingress and egress procedures. By spreading the tasks at hand over a hybrid cloud, you would be able to keep every aspect at your business in the most efficient manner possible. The only drawback here is that you have to monitor all your security platforms and ensure that all of them can communicate with each other.

Here are some indicators or scenarios that a hybrid cloud environment is best.

Your company uses a SaaS application but not secured. Your SaaS provider can set up a private cloud just for your company in their firewall. They also provide you with a VPN for additional security for your network.
Your company provides services for various vertical markets. You can use a public cloud to communicate with your clients whilst keeping their data safe within a private cloud.

Benefits

Reduced / Lower costs –Since it's an open source like OpenStack, you can save up to 60% on public cloud costs, reduce your data center costs by a third, and efficiently use all the needed resources at the right time.
Better application performance – It enables administrators to work on private clouds that meet all the application requirements and performance needs. You’d be able to take advantage of all the benefits of the cloud development practices without risking your companies’ data management. Build applications in-house can be done faster than ever as our solution eliminates time lost to provisioning along with the costs involving the public cloud. We also provide developers and operations teams with AWS APIs compatible private clouds that can optimize development and test cycles whilst maintaining information governance and control.
Greater organization agility – it helps companies grow their revenue by allowing developers to get the information technology resources that they need in timely manner – no delays or hiccups. Its AWS compatibility is unique which ensures that applications are easily deployed in public, private, or hybrid cloud setup.

Build your private, hybrid or dynamic cloud with open and secure technologies from us. Softbless also provides service implementation, installation, customization, support and training Open Source Private & Hybrid Cloud System. Contact us now.

By softbless

Cloud Storages, Openstack (EN)

6 Aug

E-learning

E-learning is a platform usually developed for large-scale enterprises, that makes delivery of learning content and resources between trainee and instructor a lot easier. Most of them these days are web-based so that training or learning materials and administration are accessible anytime, anywhere. To put it simply, it is a tool to manage the training/learning function.

In this digital era, a lot of software for administering complex databases has been combined with various frameworks for managing training content, and project evaluation methods and tools. This allows for trainee registration, delivery of learning materials, virtual live classes, testing, evaluation, certifications, management of classes, and resource allocation. It's a billion-dollar industry that enables organizations to develop e-learning courses, deliver it with unprecedented flexibility, and manage its usage over a period of time.

Manage, Store and distribute your learning content more EfficientFlexibleOrganized

The E-Learning is a powerful tool for companies that specialize in training, schools, or any institution looking to get a better understanding on the continuing education of its staff. It's based on various development platforms such like Java, or .NET, that makes use of a reliable database back-end. Most learning management systems are commercially developed, but there are free and open-source models like moodle that exist.

The most common application of E-Learning is in educational institutions. It's being used to deliver courses in schools and to promote E-Learning. Companies like Softbless use the platform to deliver training to their staff or employees and also their customers.

E-learning can be the right solution if your institution/company encounters problems such as the following:

Difficult to distribute the learning content
Costs are too high to store and maintain learning content in physical form
Requires high effort to create a quiz, survey or registration
The difficulty of knowing the assessment of learning comprehension
The interaction between instructor and trainee is not optimal
Learning content is vulnerable to be disseminated to unwanted parties
Storage of learning content that is still manual in physical form requires a lot of space capacity. Manual storage can cause learning content to be unstructured.

The above problems can easily be overcome if the institution/company has a E-Learning.

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E-learning Components:

There are close to 500 variants of E-Learning available (for purchase or free) today. Each comes with its own feature set to meet the requirements of trainers and instructors. Some common components that can be found in most learning platforms are:

Roster - it is the component that tracks attendance, send invites, to class participants and track response
Registration - it processes and monitors the multi-faceted class or e-learning registrations
Document Management - management of digital documents, and/or training content
Device Access - it is how the course content is going to be delivered (it can be web-based or installed)
Distributed trainers and participants - online participation by the trainers or participants allows the learning program to feature multiple trainers or experts Worldwide
Course Scheduling - scheduling of publications of courses, deadlines, and examinations
Class Engagement - tools for classroom participation and active learning such as email, chat, and forums
Testing / Certification - creation of exercises, short quizzes, test, and certification exams
Grading: Advanced collating and tracking of participants' performance.

One of the best E-learning is Moodle. Moodle has an open-source license and trusted by many agencies in the world.

Moodle is one of the most popular E-Learning in the world

Moodle has a wide community and continues to add more value to its users.

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E-learning

Below you'll find the list of the common features available on most E-Learning :

Auto-enrollment feature – allows participants or employees to enroll for mandatory courses automatically
Security feature - security measures for data security such as single sign-on, advanced authentication protocols, or firewalls
Security feature - security measures for data security such as single sign-on, advanced authentication protocols, or firewalls
Internationalization and localization – a multilingual support that allows training in multiple languages.

Advantages of E-Learning

E-learning is vital for small, mid-sized, even large-scale organizations who are looking to manage their learning and development programs systematically.

Centralized Learning
Manage and track training
Anywhere, Anytime Learning
Easy adaptation and reuse of materials
Easy facilitation of e-learning platform
Simplified Learning Process (Streamlined training or learning process)
More options for delivery methods, design, and techniques for exams or evaluation
Easy Upgrades
Time Saver
Reduce training costs

Softbless has experience managing, implementing and developing E-Learning using Moodle.

Contact Us

Email: info@softbless.com

Phone: +62-21-85918058 & +62-21-85918059

Mobile & Whatsapp: +62-811-221-305

Click here to Chat via Whatsapp : +62-811-221-305

Ask questions/book a meeting:

By softbless

E-learning, Moodle (EN)

5 Aug

Moodle

Image Source: Coursebit.net

Moodle is an open source learning management system that is said to be 80% more cost effective than other LMS providers. No wonder, it is being used worldwide by education institutions, even companies to provide online learning for students and employees. It is flexible that it can be used to conduct online courses. It even supports face-to-face teaching, learning and retraining. This online training system can also be extended with hundreds of plugins for exams, quizzes, grading system, certification, and collaborative learning.

Moodle is an acronym which stands for ‘Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment’. It was developed by Martin Dougaimas way back in 2002. Now, it has been adopted Worldwide, where users benefit from each other - through collaborative effort, the Moodle community discovers the value of an open source project, where users are actively engaged in improving the user experience.

Moodle Features

Just like Totara LMS, this online learning platform is feature packed that provides powerful tools to help millions of users Worldwide learn online. It’s totally easy to use that it only takes a matter of time to get the hang of it. The learning system is well presented so users won’t find it hard to upload new documents, assignments and receive feedback in timely manner. The Moodle administrators continue to provide rapid bug fixes, new features, and improvements, with every major release that happens every six months. It’s being used by learning environments Worldwide. Institutions include Shell, State University of New York, Microsoft, London School of Economics, and the Open University.

Specifically designed for teaching and learning - With over a decade of development guided by the Moodle community, this LMS provides a powerful set of learning tools and environments that empower teaching and learning.
Very Easy to Use - it comes with a simple interface with drag-and-drop features.
Absolutely Free (no licensing fees) - since it's an open source software, any users can adapt, extend or modify it for commercial and non-commercial use without a fee or any licensing fees.
Always updated - Moodle is continually being updated on to suit the evolving needs of its users.
Multilanguage support - it offers multiple-language support (more than 120 language) so users can easily localize their Moodle site.
Flexible and Scalable to any size - Since it's open source, it can be fully customized to tailor to individual needs. It can also be scaled to support the needs of any organization. No wonder, it has been adapted for use across business, government, education, and community contexts.
Secured and private - it is developed to safeguard your data and privacy. Security controls are updated and implemented to protect its users against unauthorized access, data loss or corruption, and misuse. It can also be deployed on a private secure cloud (OpenStack) for complete control.
Free Online Resources - users can access extensive documentation, forums, free content/courses, hundreds of plugins shared by its community Worldwide.
Community support - it's backed up by an active international community (a team of dedicated developers and certified Moodle Partners).
Quiz Module Feature - this allows the trainer or the teacher to create quizzes easily with a variety of Question types, including true/false, multiple choice, numerical, essay, or matching type. The questions made are kept in a database "Question bank" which can be re-used on other quizzes.
Chat Module Feature - allows healthy interaction between the teachers and the student. Just like other chat engines, it supports profile pictures in the chat window, URLs, chat smileys, HTML, photos, etc..
Survey Module Feature - this serves as an instrument to analyze the online classes. Reports are available 24/7 and the data can be downloaded via an Excel spreadsheet.
Choice Module Feature - it functions a poll where students can vote on something, or provide feedback to the Teachers or vice versa.
Workshop Module Feature - it's an interface where the teachers manage and assess the class documents. This is where he/she can compute for the grade of his/her students. It supports different kinds of grading scales.
Assignment Module Feature - this allows the teachers or the trainer to collate the homework of his/her students, review them and provide grades, scores, or feedback. The homework submitted by students are visible only to the teacher or the trainer and not to other students.
Forum – It is a portal where students and teachers can post their ideas and respond to each other.

How to Setup Moodle

You can ask make us as Partner like to do Moodle implementation for you. Upon installation, you can now easily create your own online courses using its built-in features. Moreover, you can also upload content such as assignments, exams, and quizzes. You can even add collaborative activities like wikis, forums, or glossaries to learning scalable, effective and FUN.

Moodle is indeed a powerful tool to help you educate your organization. Contact us here.

Contact Us

Email: info@softbless.com

Phone: +62-21-85918058 & +62-21-85918059

Mobile & Whatsapp: +62-811-221-305

Click here to Chat via Whatsapp : +62-811-221-305

By softbless

E-learning, Moodle (EN)

2 Aug

Alfresco Indonesia Expert

Alfresco Indonesia Expert provide system that has a lot of features and functionality, such as the Simple Workflow functionality and Advanced Workflow, Simple workflow action will bring Approve / Reject on the content, as well as move the content to a specific space in accordance with the option Approve / Reject the selected user. Advance workflow while allowing you to attach the workflow directly to the content item and then set the content for other users to be reviewed. With advanced workflow workflow, the tasks according to the workflow is managed in-dashboard.

Enterprise Content Management System (ECM) is an application to manage and facilitate collaborative content creation owned by a company. Content here could be content (*. doc, *. xls, *. ppt), image, HTML, XML files, and other content types. In past, to take advantage of ECM requires large costs, a result that only large companies could take advantage of ECM. Alfresco is a new approach in usingECM. Alfresco offers an ECM system that has a cost that is not too large to be utilized by companies with different scales.

Alfresco Indonesia implementation includes two preconfigured workflows, namely: Adhoc Task (to assign tasks to a co-worker) and Review & Approve (to make the review and approval of content).

Alfresco Features :

Document Repository: manages documents currently active by the user.
Online Preview
Versioning: each version of the document can be tracked automatically by Alfresco. There is no need to manually rename a new version of a document.
Expired Document reminder for documents that have a validity period
Watermark
Multiple File Upload
Drag and Drop Upload
Integration with Scanner
Search Engines: for searches by certain categories and other parameters, and searches into the contents of the document
Discussion / Commentary: Certain documents can be a forum for discussion among users.
Security & Permission: Can manage anyone who can access documents and space in Alfresco. Space is an Alfresco term for Folders. Access rights can be: read, edit, view, create, etc.
Mobile apps support for iOS and Android
Audit Log: Track all user activities in Alfresco
Web Service: Integration with other applications via CMIS web service
Record management: managing archived documents.
Document categorization: Any existing document can be categorized into a document type, which will facilitate document management. For example a document can be categorized as: contract agreement, invoice, Curriculum Vitae, Minutes of Meeting (MOM), etc.
Custom Metadata: has multiple metadata depending on the type of document you have. Custom metadata example: document number, document date, document status, etc.
Collaboration Site: Sharing documents, Calendar, Discussion, blogs, links, Datalist
Workflow / Collaboration: Alfresco provides document approval / review facilities by multiple users, from simple workflows to complex workflows.
Check in & Check Out Document: Checking is the term in ECM when an Alfresco user wants to edit a document, so he / she is called checking in, storing the document in a local computer / laptop user. When a document is checked in by a user, another user can only view the document, can not edit. This is to maintain the consistency of a document. And if a user is already editing the document, then he will check out the document. Once checked out, a document can be freely edited by anyone who needs it.
Rules: A variety of rules can be applied to documents, for example if there is a new document in this space, then send an e-mail to a specific email address.
Ms Office / Open Office & Google Docs Integration
Integration with LDAP, Active Directory Integration

Why Alfresco Indonesia?

Robust, web based document management system. Because it's web-based, no installation required when users want to access Alfresco.
Easy to Use. Alfresco is very user friendly which encourages users to more quickly adapt to our system.
Built by the people who invented the concept of document management. One of the founders of Alfresco is John Newton, senior of Dokumentum, the first content management applications on the market. John Newton has a lot of experience in dealing with content management projects for large-scale companies.
Open source, open standards. Alfresco open licensed, which means no need to buy to try it, and a company can not be bound by any single vendor, and unlimited users.
a lower deployment cost. Open source licenses owned by Alfresco does not require Licensee fee.
Adaptable to the needs that are often changed. Over time, the requirements of an enterprise content management systems, frequently changing. With open source licenses, allows Alfresco to anyone in the company's customized to meet current needs.

Alfresco's quality could be seen from several awards earned:

Gartner Magic Quadrant 2009 for Enterprise Content Management, positioned in Visionaries Quadrant
EContent 100 Awards
Audemars Piguet and the European Tech Tour Association: Alfresco the "Next Gem Award", award for best new company
Linux Magazine (2008), one of Top 20 Companies to Watch
Business Computing Magazine: Editor's Choice Award
InfoWorld Bossie Award: Best of Open Source in Enterprise Applications

Softbless is an implementation service provider for Alfresco in Indonesia, covers : installation, configuration, customization, training and support, make us your partner in implementing Alfresco. Please contact us here to get more information about Alfresco.

By softbless

Alfresco, Digital Signature, Document Management, Enterprise Content Management System

1 Aug

What is OpenStack?

Image Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/what-on-earth-is-openstack-1112804/

OpenStack is an open source cloud-computing platform that allows users to build an "IAAS" Infrastructure as a Service cloud that runs massively on commodity hardware and scales. It controls large pools of cloud computing components all throughout a datacenter, all managed via a dashboard that provides administrators full control while providing users the ability to provision resources via a web interface.

Components of OpenStack

Dashboard codenamed “Horizon” - this object is the "GUI" graphical user interface for OpenStack services that allows you to perform tasks and operations on the cloud.
Object Store codenamed “Swift” - This component provides object storage, allowing you to store and/or retrieve files. It does not mount directories though unlike a fileserver.
Identity codenamed “Keystone” - As its name suggests, this provides authentication and authorization for all the services. It also provides a service catalog of OpenStack services within a particular cloud.
Network codenamed “Neutron” - Also known as “Quantum” in earlier releases, this OpenStack object provides network connectivity between interface devices managed by other OpenStack services (virtual servers) most likely Nova. It is in a form of a service which works by allowing you to create your own network and then attach interface devices to them.
Image codenamed “Glance” - It provides a repository for virtual images. This is where the disk images (mostly commonly used in OpenStack Compute) are sorted out or being cataloged.
Compute codenamed “Nova” - This object allows you to control the OpenStack functions and services independently via a virtual server running on a flexible virtualization layer.
Block Storage codenamed “Cinder” - This persistently block storage to guest Virtual Machines.

Cloud computing has become the ideal platform of choice by big IT companies Worldwide including Google. Why? Number one, it's truly open, two it's free, and lastly the fast pace growth and strong support from various organizations. No wonder it's being dubbed as the "de facto" platform for cloud computing. The future is bright indeed for Openstack - something very similar from the likes of Linux for PCs and Android for mobile devices. It is an open-source project that has a lot of features, and with each release (two times a year) more features are added by the users from all over the world. This platform layer offers an (IaaS) Infrastructure-as-a-Service through a set of services that make use of an (API) application programming interface (API) to facilitate the integration. Depending on your requirements, you can install some or all the services.

To put it simply, OpenStack simplifies your IT needs and operations by moving your core infrastructure equipment onto the cloud. Companies no longer need to buy expensive systems like LMS (moodle), surveillance, or telephony systems. They also don’t need to maintain servers, firewalls, on their premises. OpenStack has all the right tools to perform all these tasks for them on virtualized infrastructure. The result is faster service delivery and, of course, an enhanced user experience. Moreover, it also features an easy to use interface (dashboard) that will allow them to manage computers, network, and storage resources on the cloud in a jiffy. This provides a huge benefit to them, but will likely result to lower requirements for IT staffing.

And since OpenStack is created in the public, at any time users or developers can check the status of the project, review/submit code, create a new feature, and provide valuable feedback into the direction of this popular open source project just like with the Totara LMS.

Softbless is your partner for Openstack implementation in Indonesia. Whether you're looking for more answers, solutions, or would like to have a deep technical discussion about OpenStack, Iaas, or cloud computing, we can help. Contact us now.

By softbless

Cloud Storages, Openstack (EN)

13 Jul

E-Commerce (EN)

E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce is an activity that involves the buying and selling of products, services and information that will be conducted electronically by using computer networks, namely the Internet. The function of e-commerce itself is easier for the user to provide a place to market and sell products or services that can be managed by utilizing the internet.

As for some of the advantages that the user can have on e-commerce:

E-commerce may facilitate the marketing of products to sell.
With e-commerce, payments can be made online and of course make it easier for shoppers.
E-commerce will be able to help sellers to expand the range of potential customers.
E-commerce can certainly facilitate communication between buyers and sellers with some features chat or message.
Assist buyers in finding the desired item by using the search feature based on the metadata that you want, and with these buyers do not need to bother to find the desired item. The search feature is also equipped with a filter function on every search.

The current trend of e-commerce in Indonesia has been growing rapidly, seen by banyakan e-commerce sites that exist today. As for some kind of e-commerce as follows:

E-commerce Business to Business (B2B) business is carried out by the two parties that have joint business interests and are bound to one another.
E-Commerce Business to Consumer (B2C), including the type of business most in demand in Indonesia, this species is usually done between businesses with consumers.
E-Commerce Consumer to Consumer is a business that is done between the consumer and the consumer, such as an online shop.
E-Commerce consumen to Business is a type of e-commerce made by consumers to producers who will sell products or services.

E-commerce also has some disadvantages. One disadvantage that most of us know that in terms of security. Weakness on the side of security in e-commerce software is very detrimental to the company. And indeed not a few web-based system and database penetrated by hackers. But for e-commerce is very important to revamp the company in terms of security in order to assist in building trust with existing customers.

One solution of E-Commerce is Magento. Softbless Solutions has become the provider of the implementation of E-Commerce in Indonesia using solution Magento, Make us your partner in the implementation of E-Commerce by using a solution Magento. Please contact us here.

Contact Us

Email: info@softbless.com

Phone: +62-21-85918058 & +62-21-85918059

Mobile & Whatsapp: +62-811-221-305

Click here to Chat via Whatsapp : +62-811-221-305

By softbless

E-Commerce (EN), Magento (EN)

1 Jul

Enterprise Content Management in a Glimpse

Enterprise Content Management or commonly referred to as ECM is a system used to capture, organize or manage content and documents involved in the business process. ECM manage content and documents in its entire life cycle, from creation, delivery, revision, published, and then finally archived.

ECM can be used at all levels of work (ranging from marketing, operation, human resources, finance and strategic levels). Moreover, ECM also has some helpful applications of the users dealing on an information.

Some of the most common features owned by the ECM system is: content / document versioning, document workflow, full text search, access rights, collaboration.

Several ECM system that has been widely known: Alfresco (Open Source licensed), SharePoint, Documentum, Open Text.

By admin

Alfresco, Document Management

24 Jun

Document Capture Software

Document Capture System is a solution that covers the process : scanning documents, doing OCR process for document, auto capture and auto extract important metadata/information from the document, document indexing, and doing document classification.

Digitizing all incoming and existing paper documents is a very important role that efficient document capture software will perform. This system effectively carry out this task very easily. It does this by capturing and then indexing all words. The document capture software enhances performance the instance that it is integrated in the network process of any business. This software can at the same time be used in improving the efficiencies of the business in question. In addition to this, the document capture software cuts overhead to the complete minimum.

The major strengths of managing documents are better for easy functioning of any business. There are very many sellers of document capture software that are in the market currently. Document capture needs to be looked at in different aspects and angles and not just as an unconnected tool for capture. There are very many software that provide these services when looking at the prices, efficiency, interoperability and performance. The document capture leaders include Ephesoft, Captiva, Kofax, Athento, EMC and Kodak Capture Pro. All of these tools are different and each fit various needs that numerous businesses have. Ephesoft is open source document capture that could be a cost effective alternative for Kofax, EMC Captiva, Athento, EMC and Kodak Capture Pro. Ephesoft's pricing scheme is not based on number of pages, this pricing scheme give flexibility to your company.

Making use of document capture software is very important and brings about many benefits for any business setup.

Other terms for document capture system are data capture solution, document imaging, document extraction and document indexing.

Case study for document capture usage :

Invoice Automation processing or Account Payable processing
Order processing or Account receivable processing
Insurance Claim process in insurance industry
Automated Medical Claim process
New banking customer registration
Mortgage processing in banking industry
Loan Automation processing
Mailroom automation
E-mail automation

Benefits of using Document Capture Software:

Document capture software improves the Employees’ Work Efficiency: the document capture software allows all the users to gain access to any document that has already been scanned and stored simultaneously which makes the work to be easier and faster. The efficiency of this document directly translates to higher customer satisfaction which is good for any business. The clients will be able to see that the business is focused on its customers thus brings about good returns.
Document capture software saves in costs and time: Companies are known for dealing with very many documents especially when the company is big. Making use of digital document software helps a lot in elimination of wasted time. One only needs to carry out a search in a matter of seconds thus saving lots of time. In terms of cost savings, the business saves on employing back office staff to help in mastering the files and tracking them whenever needed. When looking for the best software, one would need to look at the versions that exist and it is important to look for one that needs to be bought once and does not require frequent updates.

Investing in document capture software is very essential and wise for all businesses looking to get the business process streamlined.

Softbless is Ephesoft partner in Indonesia. Call us to get information about Ephesoft Document Capture implementation service, send email to info@softbless.com or call us at +62-21-85918058 or +62-21-85918058

You could also reach us through this Contact Us form.

Contact Us

Email: info@softbless.com

Phone: +62-21-85918058 & +62-21-85918059

Mobile & Whatsapp: +62-811-221-305

Click here to Chat via Whatsapp : +62-811-221-305

By admin

Document Capture (EN), Ephesoft (EN)

06 September 2025 By softbless Cloud Storages, Openstack (EN)