What is Electronic Document Distribution?
Electronic document distribution (referred to as EDD below) is the automated and intelligent circulation of information in a digital format. The circulation could be within an enterprise, with customers, with partners or a combination of these. The purpose of an EDD system is to get people the documents they need quickly and efficiently.
EDD systems should get documents to the people who need the information contained therein through existing channels and in common document formats. A fax transmission is a common transport for electronic documents that many businesses utilize. Computer based fax solutions make it easy for large and small businesses alike to communicate using this technology. However, electronic mail, with many advantages is quickly replacing the fax for business-to-business distribution. Electronic mail is also much more practical for business-to-consumer distribution.
Some business relationships require a tighter and more encompassing integration of systems than that mentioned above. Integrating information systems is really beyond the scope of an EDD system. EDD requires well defined documents, versus abstract data, because EDD systems share documents and not pure data, which is an important distinction to make.
Some common documents that businesses distribute electronically and benefit greatly from doing so include:
- Customer Invoices
- Explanation of Benefits
- Order Acknowledgments
- Purchase Orders
- Work Order
- Various Daily, Weekly and Monthly Reports Across Industries
Why Should My Business Implement an EDD System?
It may be a clich, but in business, time is money. Having an invoice in the hands of your customer today can mean a deposit to your bank account tomorrow. Having reports in the hands of your directors now can mean time-sensitive decisions get made today and not too late. Electronic mail and the fax machine made it possible to get documents in front of the right eyes this fast, at least on a one-off basis. If implemented properly, EDD can make that process easy, automated, painless, even routine, and even on a large scale.
Electronic distribution is also paperless distribution, which has many benefits on its own. The benefits of the paperless office include savings on storage space, reducing clutter and cutting printing and print equipment costs to name a few. For more information on the paperless office, see my article entitled, Moving Toward a Paperless Office.
Lastly, more and more people are past embracing technology they are demanding technologically advanced solutions. As a vendor or partner, if you cannot conduct business electronically, you just may not be eligible to do business with certain people or organizations. A move toward EDD is a move toward the future.
What Features Should I Seek in an EDD System?
First of all, the EDD system you select needs to work with your existing information systems to either generate or interpret the documents you need to circulate. The vendors for your existing systems may already have an EDD solution, so ask them first.
If your targets are largely heterogeneous, your electronic distribution needs to minimally support fax and electronic mail transports. You must have more than one, at least these two, options for distribution if you want to reach everyone on your distribution list. Your targets will have a diverse set of tools at their disposal for reading the electronic documents you send them.
Fax was previously mentioned as a communication medium between businesses. Distribution by electronic mail is another possibility, which offers a great deal of flexibility when compared with fax. There are countless document generating computer applications out there with just as many file formats to match. Special care should be given in deciding which format is used so that all of your targets can appreciate the information that is distributed to them. PDF, Portable Document Format, created by Adobe System, is a file format meant to be universally readable, and is probably the most conservative choice. There is a free PDF viewing program available for most modern computing platforms.
Do not forget about your less than technically savvy customers and partners. You will probably find that preserving your relationships with those that fall into that category is important for your business and that forcing these types into the modern age just is not an option. Therefore, make sure you select an EDD package that also supports the classic means of distribution print and post.
For management purposes, your EDD package should be the sole source of documents. As just mentioned, the option to distribute by print should be requisite. If you are thinking about moving toward EDD, you probably already have a system that can handle the printing of these documents. Trying to use that system in tandem with its electronic counterpart could be a management nightmare. If the systems are not one, or are not at least tightly integrated, simply making sure everyone receives the appropriate documents could be burdensome. Costly and possibly legal issues such as distributing the same document twice would also be more apt to happen if these systems were not somehow intertwined.
With regards to errors and accountability, you should seek a system that produces logs that are easy to read. The system should also be capable of generating reports regarding the distribution of your documents. You may already be an expert on the record keeping requirements for your industry. If you are not, become one or consult someone who is, and then make sure the system you select has logging and reporting features that meet the needs of your business.
As with any information system you add to your arsenal, think about where your business is right now and where you want it to go. Make sure the new system can bring you from point A to point B, or at least move you in the direction of B.
Where Can I Find an EDD System that is Right for My Business?
As mentioned above, your existing information systems vendors may have an EDD solution they have tried and tested with a system you already have. If you are happy with the work they have done for you in the past, they can probably offer you the best solution.
If your existing vendors do not have a solution for you, or if you have been less than impressed with their offerings in the past, think beyond your EDD project during your search. Are there other systems and processes you would like to eventually bring online? If you are not sure, consider consulting an information systems expert consultant. Even if you are technically savvy, a fresh perspective from an outside consultant can provide valuable insight and ideas.
Integration between the EDD system and a document management system is natural because these systems deal with the same documents in the same format. For legal and customer service oriented reasons, you probably need to keep the documents you distribute on file anyway, so you should probably consider the deployment of a document management or records management system before or at the same time you deploy your distribution system.
Once you have narrowed down your selection of EDD systems to just a few, request a demonstration of each system. You should feel comfortable that the system is easy to use and manage. Lastly, go a step further and ask for customer references get input from people who have put the system into action within your industry.
About the Author: Adam T. Anthony, an expert in records management and information systems, leads the product deployment team at the MultiProcess Computer Corporation in Windham, NH. MPCC has provided document imaging and archiving solutions to businesses across industries for over nineteen years.
Do you want to STOP WASTING TIME trying to find documents in a sea of paper? Couldnt you find a better use for the space wasted by dusty cabinets and boxes full of files? Find out how technology can help your business do more than OVERCOME THESE HASSLES at http://www.multiprocess.com
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