Microsoft introduces a revamped Syntex with an extensive range of AI-powered content management tools, reinforcing the new concept of 'content AI.' The updated Syntex provides a suite of low-code and AI tools for content creation, indexing, and discovery automation. This novel technology, which Microsoft dubs 'content AI,' merges applications, low-code tools, and services that employ AI to enhance content workflows for organizations.
Announced at the Ignite conference, the rebranded Microsoft Syntex (formerly SharePoint Syntex) leverages AI to automatically process, tag, and index vast amounts of content. It connects content within context and seamlessly integrates services from the Microsoft Cloud—Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365), Azure, Power Platform, and Microsoft Purview. In the last five years, digital document storage in Microsoft 365 has increased tenfold to 1.6 billion documents daily. However, the sheer volume of content has led to reduced efficiency, prompting organizations to spend $46 billion annually on content storage and management with limited value.
By offering AI-driven content management, Syntex can potentially save companies significant time and money. It supports over 300 content types and includes 11 core capabilities such as no-code AI, document processing, summarization, content assembly, image, audio, and video processing, AI-powered search, e-signature, annotation, content rules processor, and accelerators and templates. These features integrate AI from Microsoft Azure, AI Builder, and other Microsoft sources, streamlining business workflows further.
Gartner's senior director analyst, Larry Cannell, is skeptical of Microsoft's 'content AI' term but acknowledges that if Syntex demonstrates value, it will offer Microsoft's customers more choices for content processing. The company dabbles in low-code and no-code capabilities by incorporating Azure Cognitive Services and APIs for professional developers, making Syntex user-friendly to those with no coding experience.
Built on Microsoft's Power Platform, a series of low-code tools for creating apps, workflows, AI bots, and data analytics, Syntex allows users to design custom workflows and automate business processes suited to their needs. Cannell highlights that the success of this integration largely depends on Power Automate's resilience rather than Syntex's ability to execute a flow.
Microsoft has already launched several Syntex services, including document processing, annotation, content assembly, content query, accelerators, and more. Additional services will enter the public preview stage later this year, followed by further rollouts in 2023. Microsoft also plans to implement a consumption business model for Syntex, enabling customers to scale services as needed.
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