Shiji Group Launches Shiji Documentation Center to Provide Open Access to Industry

Transparency and connectivity are more important than ever before with the current state of uncertainty across industries around the world. As geographic boundaries and social distancing measures have been set by the global pandemic, creating a secure and open connection with employees, customers, and other businesses has become the priority for companies everywhere.

With the continuous release of new solutions and product updates, Shiji Group, along with most technology companies, was presented with the challenge of providing the same level of customer service and support to its clients during these distant times. While remote installations and product training have already been an implemented practice, this has been the first time where companies must completely rely on technology to support their own technology.

To overcome the challenges of remote support, Shiji Group has recently launched its Shiji Documentation Center to provide easy access to documentation for all its products and solutions. Acting as a one-stop-shop for Shiji-related content, including release updates, installation, configuration and integration guides, user manuals, API documentation, and much more, the Shiji Documentation Center serves as a place for both internal and external users to find product information and discover new features.

The Shiji Documentation Center has been launched for users to make the most of their time. Today, many in hospitality are doing more with much less, so creating quick and frictionless ways  to find information is key. With videos and guides for product training, Shiji has been uploading content for users to train new employees, become re-familiarized with product updates, and make technology improvements within hotels while impacted by COVID-19. Shiji’s Concept and Infrasys have already released documents on how to power-up their systems after being shut down for COVID.

Brett R. Smith, Shiji’s Vice President, Global Strategy and Product Management, and Janice Cadel, Shiji’s Director of Technical Publications, were tasked with building the Documentation Center to bring together Shiji Group documentation across its many companies. Given the recent acquisitions of new companies, in addition to the existing Shiji Group brands, Cadel and Smith faced the challenge of creating an easily accessible and consistent hub for Shiji documents.

“The Shiji Documentation Center was born out of a lack of a communal space for documentation. Content was placed on a variety of platforms, there was duplication of information, and people didn’t know where to find information – there was no consistency. We needed a library where all documentation could reside, knowing it’s the most current and accurate documentation available with a consistent look to it with a Shiji brand,” said Cadel.

“We had an untold number of departments and companies that all came together in a two-year period, in different cycles of maturity and stages. If you look at some of the smaller companies we acquired, there was very little formal documentation. We needed to have consistency and the amalgamation of them. My role was to see how we can scale from this point. We found a cloud-based solution that seamlessly brought together all the previously written material with the new standards, now available through the Documentation Center,” said Smith.

Using permissions to control access, the portal allows a tailor-made user experience on what users can and cannot see based on their product usage, with additional filter and search options to quickly find relevant information.

“The Shiji Documentation Center is different than others in the market as we’re making a large majority of our product information public because we want to encourage people to read it. The platform will also help users with their buying process. When customers start their buying process, they start with searching on the Internet. Once they end up on our Documentation Center, they will be able to have ungated access the public manuals and guides that produces more informed buyers,” said Smith.

Shiji has partnered with Zoomin, the intelligent platform that helps global enterprises gain value from their documentation, to build the advanced user-friendly documentation platform.

“We decided to partner with Zoomin as the software company is a world class service provider that already serves multiple global enterprise companies like Dell, McAfee, and Burger King. Partnering with Zoomin has put us together with a group of industry leaders using the same product who had the same challenges as we did,” said Cadel.

In addition to having an accurate, up-to-date hub for all Shiji Group content, the all-inclusive Documentation Center has many other benefits within the platform. Available in a variety of languages, the library also has customizable lists of favorite topics, product filters, and search functions. Users can also build their own documents made up of various topics to access offline, share content with colleagues, bookmark content to read through later, and provide feedback to Shiji for any issues or inquiries. We have built a connection to Shiji Care, our online support portal, which will expedite user education solutions, while increasing product satisfaction.

“The biggest benefit of the Documentation Center is the ability to alert users of product updates. We’ll send customers alerts when products have been updated, instead of customers calling their Shiji representatives any time they need additional support or updates. The search function also allows you to find all things Shiji. For example, if you type in ‘Infrasys Concept integration,’ users can see how Infrasys integrates to Concept and vice versa in one search. Ultimately, support cases will decrease, and as we increase our documentation and videos and connect our customers with the right content, they’ll have an overall better experience with our products and solutions,” said Smith.

The Shiji Documentation Center is unique to the industry and promotes openness between Shiji, its valued customers and the industry. The platform has allowed Shiji to overcome the challenges presented by the global pandemic, while creating an enterprise-level platform for internal and external users to become better acquainted with the continuously growing company.

Learn how to register for the Shiji Documentation Center here.

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About Shiji Group

Shiji Group provides software solutions and services for the hospitality, food service, retail and entertainment industries, ranging from hotel management solutions, to food and beverage and retail systems, payment gateways, data management, online distribution and more. Founded in 1998 as a network solutions provider for hotels, Shiji Group today comprises 5,000 employees in 80+ subsidiaries and brands, serving over 91,000 hotels, 200,000 restaurants and 600,000 retail outlets.