01732 759725
24
SOFTWARE
Cost management
Document management
y management
Network management
r management
se POS tools
Mobile Prinitng
£
Work flow integration
Scan document and distribute
Creating searchable
scanned files
Managing users and limit options
Scan document and distribute
Intelligent control of print management
void unauthorised use
re deletion of data
ypted print data transfer
Print monitoring
Automatic reporting
Network scanning
Integrating local printer
on the network
ly Print the colour
ur tool for
essionals
ge colour at will
ur management
rofessionals
AirPrint
Scan document and distribute
OKI Mobile Print
ly create marketing documents
r and speciality media
OKI
Print Smart. Print OKI
UK @OKIUK /OKIUK
exibility that maximises your investment
th
OKI MC700 series
For more information visit
Nuance is calling on the software
industry and UK resellers to do
more to promote the benefits of
PDF technology, as it releases new
research showing that when it comes
to investment in office productivity
solutions, small and medium-sized
businesses in the UK are lagging
behind their counterparts in Germany
and France.
A new study by the speech recognition
and document management company,
Better technology, greater efficiency
, shows
that the adoption of both PDF and speech
recognition technologies is significantly
higher on the continent than over here.
The proportion of businesses with
fewer than 50 employees that use PDF
technology is 92% in Germany, 86%
in France and just 71% in the UK. The
respective figures for speech recognition
solutions are 14%, 6% and 4%.
Perhaps as a result, the proportion of
SMBs that spend more than five hours a
day working on text-based documents
is significantly higher in the UK than in
Germany and France (14%, 10% and 9%
respectively).
Limited use
Although the take-up of PDF software
appears to be high, Steven Steenhaut,
Senior Director of Marketing EMEA, Global
Marketing at Nuance Communications,
warns that any businesses will be using
only the most basic functionality.
“A lot of people have PDF software, but
we have to be careful what that means,”
he said. “There is a strong likelihood that
many will only have a PDF reader installed,
which allows them to open the PDF but
not to edit or convert it.”
Low awareness of PDF features is partly
the result of familiar problems faced by
SMEs, including not having the time (41%)
or money (52%) to learn about and invest
in appropriate technology. In addition,
almost one third (32%) of respondents
only review their software requirements
every year or more.
Steenhaut adds that the software
industry itself is also partly to blame for
poor PDF implementation. “We as an
industry are doing a lousy job of explaining
the advantages of PDF or at least
educating people in how to make the best
use of this investment,” he said.
One encouraging outcome from the
perspective of resellers is a perceived link
between Nuance’s marketing spend and
the adoption of its solutions by small and
medium-sized businesses.
“A figure that was very surprising to
us was that 14% of SMBs in Germany are
using, or at least are familiar with, speech
recognition technology,” said Steenhaut.
“This is a high number, which I think is a
reflection of the marketing activity we have
done in Germany. Advertising that makes
clear what the advantages are of speech
recognition has resulted in higher uptake in
Germany than in the other countries where
we haven't been running these activities.”
Nuance to do more to promote the benefits of its office productivity solutions
T me to invest?
Wasted time
So what are some of the points that
Nuance wants to get across? With four out
of five SMEs surveyed stating that their
business could be made more efficient in
certain areas, including the management,
creation and editing of text documents,
how can PDF software help them improve
their document processes?
“PDF software can help streamline the
document flow in companies in terms of
security and ease of use,” said Steenhaut.
“For example, when you receive a form,
using PDF software you can edit it and
immediately fill in the form on your PC
instead of having to print out the document,
fill it in by hand and then scan it in again.”
He adds that PDF software also
brings big benefits to document filing
and retrieval. “We have a case study of a
legal company that switched from filing
paper documents in metal cabinets and
started using PDFs to store documents
electronically instead. This allowed them
to get rid of all their paper storage,
which freed up a lot of office space. They
saved £60,000 by doing that. Secondly,
because PDFs are searchable, they are
easier to retrieve. Last but not least, PDFs
can be made completely secure through
encryption software,” he said.
Voice processing
Dragon Naturally Speaking speech
recognition software is another Nuance
solution that can help SMBs save time
when dealing with documents.
“The reasons are three-fold,” explained
Steenhaut. “First, it's three times faster to
speak than type – even if you are a good
typist; second, by definition you are not
making any spelling mistakes; and third,
speech recognition also allows you to stay
productive when you are mobile or on the
road through the use of dictation devices
like an iPhone or digital recorder.”
He added: “The typical markets
where speech recognition is already
well embedded, namely the legal and
healthcare sectors, have seen their revenue
increase in an important way thanks to
speech recognition, as it gives them more
time to do other things e.g. cold calling
to find new customers or additional
marketing activities. It frees up time that
can be invested in other activities.”
For time-starved SMBs any technology
mprove productivity is worth a
k.
We as an
industry
are doing a
lousy job of
explaining
the
advantages
of PDF
Steven Steenhaut,
Senior Director of
Marketing EMEA,
Global Marketing,
Nuance
Communications
