CCH First to Offer New Level of Integration for Tax and Accounting Professionals with Innovative New Open Integration Platform

RIVERWOODS, Ill., June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tax and accounting professionals now have a new way of working, integrating applications from different sources on CCH's new "Open" Integration Platform, sharing common data and streamlining workflows easily between systems. Applications available for integration include those created by CCH, and other applications by third-party providers – and even applications developed within a firm or corporation. CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business is a leading global provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services (CCHGroup.com).

The CCH Open Integration Platform is the first to enable seamless, secure integration between CCH common data, rich feature sets and services, and third-party solutions. It has been a key part of the development plan for the next generation of CCH cloud-based solutions, built to support a firm's entire "ecosystem" and facilitate the open and collaborative way in which people want to work today.

CCH's capability to offer the new Open Integration Platform is based on its next generation SaaS offerings, which CCH built from the ground up leveraging the latest technology. Utilizing service oriented architecture (SOA), CCH's SaaS solutions and the Open Integration Platform deliver truly differentiated cloud capabilities, anywhere and anytime.

"The unique common data capabilities – including client, staff, administrative and security – are part of one database shared across multiple applications offered with CCH's solutions, which on their own offer significant new time-savings and accuracy improvements to firms," said Mike Sabbatis, CCH President & CEO. "But it will be game-changing for firms now that they can couple these gains with the benefits of working in the cloud, and leverage our new Open Integration Platform to access other solutions at the immediate point of need. The productivity and client service gains are huge."

New Integration Platform Partner Program

Users of the Open Integration Platform include CCH customers and third-party providers, with whom CCH partners.  

CCH is supporting integrations through its Integration Platform Partner Program. Types of providers who are ideal candidates for the program include: Payroll; Accounting Software; CRM; Performance Management; Resource Scheduling; Expense Management; Custom Reporting/Specialty; Implementation/Consulting Firms; and System Integrators. 

Vendors interested in making their applications available to CCH customers through the Open Integration Platform will be supported with a wide range of software licenses and tools, as well as technical training opportunities for developing and testing integrations. CCH will also provide partner vendors with its SaaS platform Open Integration Kits to facilitate integrations. The kits are supported by CCH Training & Consulting Services and include a tutorial on how vendors can integrate their applications with CCH's ProSystem fx Suite of SaaS solutions, including: ProSystem fx® Tax, ProSystem fx® Document, ProSystem fx® Practice, ProSystem fx® Workstream and ProSystem fx® Portal.

CCH is already working with several third-party partners to build initial integrations, including: Templeton Solutions (CRM); New River – Beyond415 (IRS Notice Management); AccountantsWorld (Accounting); and XCM Solutions (Workflow Management).

XCM Solutions, an early adopter in CCH's Open Integration Platform, has used the Open Integration Kit to develop integration to ProSystem fx Document SaaS and On Premise. As a result, XCM™ Workflow Management Software clients now have the ability to create links from XCM tasks to files stored in Document and access those files on demand. They can access and edit these files directly from the XCM routing sheet without leaving the third-party application – providing a more seamless, uninterrupted workflow.

With the new platform, CCH customers gain the opportunity to access the solutions they desire from different providers still benefiting from an integrated workflow. At the same time, CCH's partners could realize a new revenue stream.

A New Way of Working

The initiative has been led by CCH's Chief Technology Officer and Technology Shared Services Vice President Brian Diffin, and Business Intelligence & Strategy Vice President Christian Wolfe.

"Open integration replaces the old, territorial technology model with a collaborative marketplace of applications and innovation," says CTO Brian Diffin. "Partnering with third-party developers in this way increases the overall population of ideas as well as the velocity of solution development. This provides CCH customers with more choices and a higher return on their technology investment."

He adds, "When we say open, we mean open – that means integration with applications from complimentary providers or even customized solutions created within a firm."

Business Intelligence & Strategy Vice President Christian Wolfe notes that the Open Integration Platform is an important example of CCH's market-leading innovation, and its overall approach of partnership with its customers.

"CCH's business philosophy is one of partnership, enablement and facilitation of the success of the profession," says Wolfe. "We're here to help professionals of all size firms advance their business competitiveness and increase their relevancy to their clients. With the Open Integration Platform, we're harnessing the innovative power of the marketplace so that CCH can drive higher value to our customers than any one vendor can as a stand-alone provider."

For More Information

For more details on the CCH Open Integration Platform and vendor partnerships, please call 800-PFX-9998 (800-739-9998) and select option 1 or visit CCHGroup.com/OpenIntegration for more information.

About CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business (CCHGroup.com) is a leading global provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services. It has served tax, accounting and business professionals since 1913. CCH is based in Riverwoods, Ill. Follow us now on Twitter @CCHMediaHelp. Wolters Kluwer (www.wolterskluwer.com) is a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

SOURCE CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business