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Q & A
PITR:
Why should dealers offer
PDF solutions? Aren’t they already
ubiquitous?
Steven Steenhaut (SS):
Given how
long PDF has been around, you’d think so.
However, although it was conceived as a
universal document format, for reasons like
complex licensing agreements and high
costs, not all organisations were able to
make it available on every desktop, slowing
the broader deployment of this very useful
‘universal’ solution.
Previously, a company may have
purchased a small number of relatively
expensive PDF licences for a few users,
turning them into a resource to be used
by other parts of the business. Those users
soon started to experience a decline in their
own productivity as colleagues interrupted
them with PDF-related requests. This was
one of the reasons why the ability to put a
PDF solution on every desktop became all
but irresistible. And, with more affordable,
enterprise-class PDF solutions now
available, this broader deployment is now a
reality for every business, which presents an
opportunity for resellers.
PITR:
Couldn’t the cost challenge
have been addressed by PDF
freeware solutions?
SS:
Not really. It’s important for dealers
to question how well freeware solutions
would stand up to serious business use
in an SME or enterprise environment.
Furthermore, freeware solutions quickly
become more of a hassle than they are
worth – even for a free solution. They
provide only the most basic of features
and the minute a user wants to do
something more complex and important,
like converting a PDF to a Word file, they
are prompted to buy the ‘full’ version. Over
time, this creates increased frustration and
a burden on IT as requests come in for
enhanced features.
PITR:
How can PDF help address
document security concerns?
SS:
With so much focus on addressing digital
or technology-based risks, paper’s analogue
format seems to have been overlooked from
a security perspective. Yet paper and, more
importantly, its contents pose a risk that
every company should consider.
In fact, security could well be the driver
for the often-promised, but rarely achieved
paperless office; banishing paper, digitising
documents and saving them as PDFs as
part of a secure document workflow is one
way resellers can help their customers add
further resilience.
PITR:
What do dealers need to be
aware of when recommending PDF
as part of a document workflow
solution?
SS:
Saving documents as PDFs isn’t
necessarily a panacea for document
security concerns, as research conducted
by the Ponemon Institute illustrates.
Companies that have made a full
(or partial) transition to
digital documents could
still leave themselves
exposed and vulnerable
to risk or data loss.
Resellers need to ensure
they are advising their
customers on how to use
all the security features
available in PDF solutions,
like redaction, if they are
to mitigate as much risk
as possible.
Nuance has
published a free new
whitepaper entitled
Using PDF documents
for more secure
document workflows.
The whitepaper explains
how the PDF format can
Steven Steenhaut, Senior Director, Global Demand Center,
Nuance Communications, explains why PDF software is too good
an opportunity for resellers to ignore.
New dawn for PDF
help turn paper files into electronic ones
effectively and effortlessly, optimising
document workflow security while
facilitating adherence to compliance
responsibilities.
PITR:
How has PDF developed to
meet the needs of new users?
SS:
Today, users want the convenience to
navigate, draw annotations and type using
a tablet or notebook and a pen or finger, so
they can be productive in the office or on
the go. To that end, we’re seeing real strides
in user convenience and we’ve responded to
businesses’ growing need for PDF software
to support touch-enabled hybrid devices,
which has been driven by the user adoption
of Windows 10 and next generation hybrids.
PITR:
What should dealers new to
PDF solutions look for in a vendor?
SS:
Only with comprehensive support
and guidance can dealers ensure they
are offering their customers the right PDF
solutions for their imaging needs. That
means working with a partner that has
invested in a partner program that provides
resellers with the resources and support
needed to help them to reach their sales
goals, through a combination of initiatives
and assets like access to a sales training
program and ‘not for resale’ licenses for
internal use.
To further accelerate the pace at
which resellers can make a success
out of offering PDF solutions, they
should seek an experienced imaging
partner that can offer access to
vendor-generated leads, the support
of dedicated channel account
managers, as well as access to a
dedicated pre-sales engineer and
a reseller incentive scheme. It’s my
belief that this is an exciting time
for the channel as we’re entering a
second dawn for PDF, fuelled by the
movement towards more secure and
flexible digital document workflows
and the ability finally to put an
affordable, enterprise-class PDF
solution on every desktop.
Security could
well be the
driver for
the often-
promised,
but rarely
achieved
paperless
office
Steven Steenhaut
NUANCE :
Power PDF Advanced
