Thomas Schneck
This week I speak with Thomas Schneck, vice president of DocuWare about document management and end user’s and dealer’s perceptions of this key solutions segment. I started the interview by asking Schneck what the concept of document management means to its dealers and end users?
“There are a lot of people out there with an understanding of document management, but there are still a lot of people out there who don’t understand how it’s going to be deployed in their organization, whether or not they can afford it, and how long it takes to implement,” notes Schneck. “People understand the category, that it’s been around for awhile, but a lot of people don’t understand it’s for them. They think it’s just for large organizations and that it takes over IT. In our messaging we try to say it’s A, it’s affordable, and B, it goes in quickly, and you don’t need dedicated IT staff to maintain it. Those are the key messages they have to hear to feel that it’s really for them and can be used in their organization.”
Has it become any easier for DocuWare and its dealers to get around that misconception that document management is too expensive and only for big companies?
“Yes, we’re getting the message through,” states Schneck. “As people get more familiar with this technology they feel more comfortable with it.”
However, selling document management stills poses some challenges.
“There are many aspects [to document management], says Schneck. “One is the emotional aspect; you’re in a paper environment and the time [spent] filing and the personal pain of handling documents. That’s what they [businesses] they go through every day and they want to address that. The other is the business value aspect because the people we initially talk to are the internal champion in their organization and they say ‘I want to know more about it’ and then bring it to the decision makers who sign the check.”
For those individuals the best approach by a dealer is to position document management as a business efficiency process and tie it into the workflow of the organization.
“Look at accounts payable, accounts receivable, and how they can automate those two processes,” suggests Schneck. “It’s a combination of what’s in it for me and how can I make your life easier and back it up with a business argument.”
When the dealer does that, Schneck says, the customer often says, “That makes sense.”
For those dealers who stumble when trying to sell document management, Schneck says one of the issues is not targeting their existing accounts and focusing too much on new accounts.
“It has its place there as well,” says Schneck, “but we really see them moving back to their existing accounts and trying to up sell them. From a buyer’s standpoint, document management is primarily a trust sale and the office equipment channel has great relationships and can use it as a springboard from the purchasing to the IT guy. It’s doable, but has to be done by management at the dealership. It’s not that complicated, it’s pretty straightforward.”
For dealers who find a document management opportunity, DocuWare can help them close the deal.
“We just expanded our sales force and now have 15 field sales reps,” notes Schneck. “If the dealer has an opportunity our people go in and identify the pain points, the transfer, and the ROI. We’re there to help the dealers drive those sales.”
Schneck has seen an increased interest in document management from end users over the past five years, particularly those who are looking to do more with less.
“That’s a challenge for any company as well as compliance issues,” says Schneck. “We can help with those as they get tougher and tougher to fulfill.”
Expect to see a host of announcements out of DocuWare in 2013, including DocuWare 6, scheduled for rollout in early March. As a standard feature in the new version, DocuWare will offer the full range of its management system’s features using browser technology. A host of add-on modules will also be announced, including an intelligent Indexing Service.
Without complicated configurations, this Internet service learns independently when each document is stored, using this knowledge to automate future indexing. According to Schneck, this application is well-suited for companies handling a smaller volume of documents of varying types.
Here’s how it works: when first capturing a document, users take the new one-click indexing feature to click on the company name, date, and any other important indexing terms in the document. A document type is selected from a list provided. Intelligent Indexing learns from the user: when similar documents are scanned from the same company, indexing criteria are applied automatically. Documents are stored in seconds – all grouped by document type and sorted by date. Filling in fields manually is no longer necessary; entries are simply confirmed with a click.
Schneck expects this service to revolutionize indexing in the document management market.
The Intelligent Indexing Service and the one-click indexing feature are available to users of an in-house DocuWare system as well as those using the company’s cloud solution, DocuWare Online.
In addition to the rollout of DocuWare 6, another big happening in the near future is DocuWare’s annual conference, DocuWorld 2013, May 8-10 in Dallas. This yearly event gathers together customers, solutions experts from DocuWare partner companies, and the DocuWare team to share insight into the latest products and solutions in information management. DocuWorld will also be offer the educational launch of DocuWare 6. For more information on DocuWorld visit: http://docuworld.docuware.com/americas/2013/
