It seems that an Indian Delegation will be visiting us tomorrow.  Paul Treloar (above) who runs the Daresbury Innovation Centre has kindly invited me to meet them, which unfortunately clashes with another appointment. Most of these companies are looking for buyers and channel partners and interested in forming strategic alliances. It would be interesting to hear their thoughts on automating exchange of structured documents between companies.

I was first introduced to Paul in June 05, when I presented ebdex to Rising Star for funding, well before the first line of code was written. Paul willingly gave me a guided tour. We relocated in Feb 2006. Paul is a very busy person (like you and I are not!). His mission is to understand our needs and provide help as much as possible. He is also a man with extensive contacts.

Technorati Tags : Daresbury Innovation Centre

Yesterday, Mark and I visited a company to introduce ebdex Document Exchange. The company is a subsidiary of a FTSE250 plc with revenues of over £12m and 100 staff with number of city based offices operating predominantly in the UK. They operate in a growing sector with number of large incumbents. Whilst they have a large parent (over £700 m revenues), they operate as an independent, whilst their incumbents are small subsidiaries of very large corporations (almost institutions). The company has achieved significant growth over the last couple of years.

One of the things their CEO said stayed in my mind and I thought I will share it with you. He put down getting closer to customer as a key differentiator.

Our account manager, each look after about 25 clients, and they are small clients of each generating around £1m. Whereas the account managers of industry incumbents look after about 75 clients.

Without going into too much detail, getting closer to customer is crucial to any business. You need to identify customer pain before you can offer relief. And this company is doing it. And they have the potential to be one of the leading companies in their industry, as long as they can maintain this level of service. The incumbents have much more resources at their disposal, so why are they not allocating lesser clients for each account manager? Could this be a cultural issue? They are in a growth industry, therefore there is plenty of businesses to be had. The incumbents will only start noticing if their clients start to go elsewhere or their market share, revenues or profitability start dropping.

So, is incumbents’ strategy wrong? I do not think so. But if they pay bit more attention, perhaps their growth rates may start to look even rossier and thier dominance in the future may be secured.

Tags: Customer, Service, FTSE 250

ebdex Document Exchange can be used in two ways, these being:

1. Web based stand alone solution
2. Integrated solution with your accounting/ERP/CRM solution

Most companies will start or trial with web based solution before integrating with their systems for receiving the maximum benefit.

Web based stand alone solution

1. Available 24/7 from anywhere in the world – only needs are a web browser, an Internet connection and active account with ebdex Document Exchange.
2. Use web template to create a Structured Document such as an invoice (which can be saved in Word, Excel or pdf formats).
3. Select recipient from the list of Trading Partners (we will register your Trading Partners at your request – some of them may already be using the service)
4. Attach any Supporting Documents such as Time and Expense sheets in Excel
5. Once the Transaction accompanying the Structured Document (with Supporting Documents) arrives successfully at the recipient’s account, the status will be changed to "Delivered" in both accounts.
6. The Trading Partner will be notified by e-mail, the arrival of a new Transaction
7. After review, the Trading Partner can approve or reject the Structured Document.
8. The Transaction status will immediately be updated on both accounts.
9. Trading Partner can save the Structured Document either in Word, Excel or pdf formats.
10. Advanced search facilities are provided for Structured Documents, Supporting Documents and Transactions.

 Integrated solution with your accounting/ERP/CRM system

1. Create a Structured Document from your accounting/ERP/CRM system
2. Post to ebdex Document Exchange (similar to printing or e-mailing)
3. Attach any Supporting Documents (optional)
4. Thin client converts the message (Structured Document together with Supporting Document) to a format that can be readily understood by ebdex Document Exchange.
5. Upon receipt, ebdex Document Exchange stores a copy and routes the message to recipient’s thin client at which point it converts to recipient’s format.
6. Recipient allocate account codes and post into appropriate ledgers.
7. Recipient as well as sender can log in at any time to review the saved copy of the invoice.

In the integrated mode, no effort is duplicated resulting in significant operational efficiencies and cost reductions, in addition to improved visibility, up to date information for management decision making, audit trail for corporate governance and compliance.

ebdex Document Exchange can also be used with only one party’s system integrated and the other party accessing the functionality from the web based solution. It can also function as the system for exchanging Structured Documents with all your Trading Partners or as a partial solution operating in harmony with existing solutions such as EDI systems.

Technorati Tags: ebdex Document Exchange, EDI