Output Management – Where are we Headed?
The output management sector has changed radically over the past few decades, particularly due to the rapidly increasing significance of electronic documents – and these changes are continuing. The market is becoming increasingly complex and therefore confusing for both users and suppliers. Last but not least, this has also had a major impact on the definition of output management. Depending on the sector, functional area and field of activity, individual sections of the overall process are often considered to be part of output management, such as the central administration of printers by standard software.
However, output management is much more and covers the entire process: The creation of a document on the basis of the content available from different input systems, complete further processing and transfer to the target recipients or storage in the required archive. Output management also involves the optimization of this overall process with regards to time, quality and costs.
Further processing not only involves processes on a document and mailing basis, but also the management of all devices involved in the process, such as printers, enveloping machines etc. Attention is also directed towards the seamless monitoring of individual stages and automatic error recognition and resolution.
Output management is particularly interesting due to the fact that the use of electronic documents, e.g. invoices sent by email in a PDF format, are becoming increasingly established as a quick and low-cost alternative to classic paper documents. Moreover, focus is increasing on the observation of special guidelines and requirements, such as adherence to the PDF/A standard for the production of electronic documents for long-term archiving.
Current developments, such as the E-Postbrief or De-Mail, therefore enable secure digital communication in real time, showing that output management will also require a great deal of innovation due to constant further developments over the coming years.
Multi-channel for Batch Output – For All Formats and Documents
Another trend is very clear: While highly modern organizations previously printed individual letters at their desk before collecting, enveloping and stamping them "by hand", progress is now being made in the form of "managed document services": Individual letters are created, spooled and produced using large output. As also observed at Compart, outgoing mail managers are abandoning their resistance towards Word documents: The Windows print driver interface is by far the most popular interface for tapping output. These interfaces must be supported, which we have been doing for years. Currently, decentralized applications also produce a wide variety of files using web and similar services. Our software DocBrigde Pilot acts as the central hub for these applications, including individual documents sent via web services. It is no longer possible to enter documents into the output system using an XML file in a random location. Documents are sent through online interfaces and sent through print driver interfaces and all of those systems which need to be connected to integrate all types of output in addition to classic batch processes. For example, an administrator in an insurance company uses a Word application which the IT department created for him years ago and he has been using ever since. Until now, he has printed the documents using his local department printer, but now they are, fortunately, sent into the output system. This document can then be sent as an E-Postbrief, for example. This end-to-end processing ultimately becomes a complex system: The user has the required input and output, while the hub which controls the process from a central location. Batch output submitted or archived using all common channels in the required format – as a printout or e-mail attachments, download files in a web portal or E-Postbrief.
Output Management Always Involves Archiving
Wherever multichannel output is being used, the entire electronic output, including e-mails, should be managed by such a system, including the archiving process. The output system should support this channel in all cases. Nowadays, output management projects are also always archiving projects. Diversity is also growing on both sides of the hub where the output for companies is organized. There are a large number of multichannel tasks to be dealt with during output. Keyword transaction documents: An increasing number of invoices, account statements, bills etc. are created electronically rather than being printed. New types of products, such as De-Mail and E-Postbrief, have strengthened this trend. Providers of these services suggest that deciding whether to send the documents physically or digitally should take place at a late stage. They themselves would like to take over the documents completely and decide whether they need to be printed and enveloped or sent electronically.
Ultimately, each company itself decides how many documents need to be sent. The option of using a wide range of channels for this purpose is convenient and efficient.
Harald Grumser, CEO at Compart