Capacity and Infrastructure Issues-White Paper

wHIte pAper How Fax Services Address Cost, Capacity and Infrastructure Issues www.esker.com esker delIverywAre Purpose of this Paper This paper explores the benefits of fax services and is designed to help reduce or eliminate several common fax problems encountered by an enterprise, as well as to demonstrate efficiencies of integrating fax capabilities directly into desktop applications. Above all, this paper is designed to help CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and system administrators learn, plan and evaluate potential fax infrastructure upgrades to meet future business needs. 2 esker delIverywAre wHIte pAper Table of Contents Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................4 The Pitfalls of Traditional Faxing ................................................................................................................................5 Issues surrounding traditional faxing ............................................................................................................................... 5 Manual faxing takes time ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Fax servers require fixed costs and capacity limits .................................................................................................... 6 Completing the process with fax document automation ......................................................................................... 6 Document automation as a service ................................................................................................................................ 6 Reinventing Fax ..............................................................................................................................................................7 What is Fax on Demand? .................................................................................................................................................... 7 How does Fax on Demand work? .................................................................................................................................... 7 Differences between Fax on Demand and traditional fax service providers ..................................................... 7 The Benefits of Fax on Demand ...................................................................................................................................8 Flexibility, simplicity and reliability................................................................................................................................... 8 Fax on Demand always costs less ................................................................................................................................... 8 Operational continuity and Fax on Demand ................................................................................................................ 9 Based on patented technology ........................................................................................................................................ 9 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................10 About Esker ...................................................................................................................................................................11 esker delIverywAre wHIte pAper Introduction Fax technology is an integral part of business to business communication today. With its ease of use, immediacy of delivery and universal accessibility, fax will remain a worldwide business standard for years to come. However, the more faxing grows, the more an enterprise must expand supporting infrastructure. Everyone who sends faxes on a regular basis has experienced those frustrating moments when service is down, the line is busy or others’ faxes are processing. Unfortunately, those time-sensitive and business-critical faxes must wait just like all the others. By implementing CRM, ERP and other applications, many companies have addressed part of the business document management challenge — but they are still standing outside the front door when it comes to effective document delivery. As companies look to the next step to create a competitive edge, there are huge opportunities in the untapped world of information flow. Every day, users fax business-critical documents such as contracts, legal documents, sales quotes, purchase orders, order confirmations and much more. Fax services automate the faxing process and provide unlimited capacity. Today with the ability to access fax services, companies can significantly improve their productivity. 4 esker delIverywAre The Pitfalls of Traditional Faxing While traditional fax remains one of the most common means of delivering transactional documents, enterprises are recognizing that these methods involve: § Inefficient manual tasks § Heavy infrastructure § Significant expense § Limited flexibility to handle volume and peak usage periods As organizations seek to reduce the costs of providing information technology, the number of enterprises using services has steadily increased in the past few years — especially for services such as document delivery. Key factors cited by IT industry analyst Gartner include the desires to focus on core competencies, leverage best-of-breed capabilities without capital expenditures, and reduce operational costs¹. Issues surrounding traditional faxing Sending documents from traditional fax machines wastes valuable time and money. There are several steps involved in sending a document: printing the document, walking to a printer to pick up the document, creating a cover page, walking to a fax machine, sending the document and waiting for confirmation. In addition, there are the risks of exposing confidential information when a fax is left unattended. Manual faxing takes time Time associated with traditional faxing (Based on 2-page fax run) The costs associated with owning and maintaining fax infrastructure include printers, copy machines, fax machines, telephony infrastructure and supplies such as toner, paper and maintenance. If the company uses several fax machines, the typical infrastructure will include fax lines and fax boards, not to mention a fax server. ¹Gartner source - Predictions for Outsourcing in 2004, L. Cohen, L. Scardino, L. Stone, 11 December 2003 5 esker delIverywAre According to a survey conducted by Amplitude Research², 88% of enterprise decision-makers said they send faxes manually to partners or suppliers; 83% expressed concern about challenges in confirming that faxes to partners or suppliers are read, and 43% said they are “very concerned.” Fax servers require fixed costs and capacity limits While a fax server provides significant convenience and value advantages over fax machines, the capital investment is a fixed cost that doesn’t match usage. Most organizations have daily fax volumes that are much lower than occasional peak volumes that occur at the end of the month or quarter. To accommodate these peak volumes, they are forced to choose more complex fax hardware infrastructure. Fax Board Size overflow to Fax on Demand Unused capacity Unused capacity Fax Board Size Used capacity Jan Jun dec Jan Used capacity Jun dec Completing the process with fax document automation Implementing CRM, ERP and other business-critical applications allows companies to significantly improve cash flow. However, each of these applications designed to streamline and improve company efficiency generates large amounts of documents. Moving to the next step, document automation is essential to complete the transformation from a manually driven company to an automated company. Document automation as a service As organizations look for ways to minimize costs and streamline operations, interest in software as a service is increasing. According to IT analyst Gartner, the widespread adoption of IT infrastructure outsourcing (from data centers to help desks), coupled with the acceptance of using services as a business practice to increase focus and competitiveness, has paved the way for its consideration in future business applications. Gartner forecasts a five-year growth rate for enterprise application services that exceeds 6%³. Deciding what information communication solution to invest in doesn’t only fall in the hands of top-level executives. For system administrators, choosing the right technology to integrate with existing applications while enabling seamless communications can be a daunting task. And, finding a fax solution that best fits a company’s unique document delivery environment is critical. Picking the right solution that best molds with the current infrastructure, doesn’t require custom programming, is easy to use and, of course, automates fax delivery should be high on the company wish list. Esker offers all these capabilities and much more with Fax on Demand. ²Commissioned Amplitude Research by Esker to conduct in November 2004 of 100 IT decision-makers at enterprises whose annual revenue ranges from $50 million to more than $1 billion ³Market Trends: Application Outsourcing, North America, 2004, by Allie Young, published on January 18, 2005 by Gartner, Inc. 6 esker delIverywAre Reinventing Fax Reinventing fax sounds like a tall order. But with a strong knowledge of the market and an experienced team, Esker has created Fax on Demand — offering companies complete fax flexibility and new operational efficiencies. What is Fax on Demand? Fax on Demand allows customers to automate faxing of their business documents directly from business applications (ERP, CRM, legacy, mainframe, etc.) without the need for fax infrastructure and supplies. Faxing directly from business applications is as simple for users as printing a document or sending an email. How does Fax on Demand work? Users send faxes directly from common business applications through any Esker solution (Esker DeliveryWare, Esker Fax or Esker VSI-FAX); these documents are securely routed over the internet to the On Demand Center where they are processed and delivered. With multiple, redundant, secure data facilities strategically placed throughout the world, each On Demand Center acts as a backup for the others, providing 24/7 fax services. With real-time status notification, users can follow their fax from start to finish directly from their business application or using Esker Document Manager, an easy-to-use web-based client accessible from anywhere via a simple web browser. If a fax does not reach its destination, the user is directly notified and can take quick action to resend the document to its intended addressee in a timely manner. ENTERPRISE ESKER DESTINATION Fax CUSTOMERS https ENTERPRISE APPLICATION (ERP, CRM, SCM...) Notification Fax SUPPLIERS Fax PARTNERS Differences between Fax on Demand and traditional fax service providers Features Available 24/7 Real-time status notification High-level service for high value documents (invoices, account statements, credit approval, etc.) Send-as-you-go No custom programming Pay-as-you-go model 7 Fax on Demand Traditional Service n n n n n n – – – – – – esker delIverywAre The Benefits of Fax on Demand Flexibility, simplicity and reliability Sending faxes electronically through the On Demand Center for processing and distribution provides a flexible, simple, reliable and seamless solution. § Flexible faxing capacity is available as needed, providing a robust solution that can be implemented for individuals, departments, divisions, or an entire organization. On Demand faxing has no traffic restrictions. Peak faxing such as end-of-month invoice batches are easily handled. § Simplified infrastructure by eliminating telephony investments: – No PBX upgrades – No additional dedicated telephone lines – No fax boards or modems § Guaranteed 24/7 delivery with multiple redundant backup systems that ensure no downtime or delivery failures. § Seamless integration with existing desktop and enterprise applications ensures that Fax on Demand is easy to implement and easy to use. Fax on Demand is quickly installed with no custom programming, no disruption of existing business processes and no changes to existing file formats. Fax on Demand always costs less Flexible pay-as-you-go payment options allow you to only pay for what you use on a per-page basis, providing complete cost predictability and control. Whatever capacity you require and no matter how you calculate the costs and savings, Fax on Demand always works out to be less expensive than traditional faxing: § Enable automated faxing directly from enterprise applications — as easily as printing documents or sending email ANNUAL SAVINGS $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0 10 25 50 100 250 § Eliminate workflow interruptions and manual handling costs associated with manual printing, faxing, and waiting for confirmation § Significantly reduce equipment purchases (printers, fax machines, fax boards), maintenance costs and ongoing materials costs § Eliminate telephony costs for line installation as well as rental and ongoing costs of fax calls § Never pay for unused extra peak capacity through the addition of more dedicated fax lines and more equipment § No internal maintenance costs and no external maintenance fees. Fax on Demand also provides a solid document communication foundation with additional e-document opportunities for delivery through email and Mail on Demand (an external mailroom that provides fast, high-quality, cost-effective mail processing services). NUMBER OF FAXED DOCUMENTS PER DAY 8 esker delIverywAre Reduce your fixed costs by investing in a smaller fax board to handle day-to-day fax needs and routing peak volumes to Fax on Demand. With the overflow feature, you can intelligently distribute fax loads among local fax boards or Fax on Demand services. The distribution occurs following predefined rules based on fax status, account CSID, priority, and fax number location. Fax Board Size overflow to Fax on Demand Unused capacity Unused capacity Fax Board Size Used capacity Jan Jun dec Jan Used capacity Jun dec Operational continuity and Fax on Demand If local fax boards are not responding you can ensure fax distribution continuity with failover to Fax on Demand. This feature ensures that in the event of fax board or telecom emergencies you will stay up and running. With so many business-critical documents going through your fax server, Fax on Demand helps you avoid costly downtime. Loss of productivity and fax jobs Failover to Fax on Demand Without Fax on Demand Jan Jun Dec Jan With Fax on Demand Jun Dec Based on patented technology Fax on Demand uses patented Esker DeliveryWare technology to directly and seamlessly integrate with leading enterprise applications including ERP, CRM, SCM, and others. As electronic documents and data are captured by Esker DeliveryWare, the patented technology automatically recognizes and extracts data to determine formatting, conversion and routing. 9 esker delIverywAre Conclusion CRM, ERP, and other applications are essential to providing cost savings. However, they still leave your employees gasping for air as they run around from the printer to the fax machine. Why stop halfway through the automation process? Adding a service like Fax on Demand allows employees to focus more time on business-critical projects that create leading companies in today’s fast-paced, budget-tight business climate. Fax on Demand can take care of mundane tasks so your employees can focus on their real jobs. Esker provides a patented and proven technology to deliver your faxes anytime, every time. 10 esker delIverywAre About Esker Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations streamline manual, paper-intensive processes and reduce the use of paper by automating the flow of documents into, within and outside the organization. With patented document delivery automation software (Esker DeliveryWare) and hosted document delivery services (FlyDoc), Esker offers a total solution to automate every phase and every type of business information exchange. Customers gain significant and immediate operational efficiencies, cost savings and measurable ROI in as little as three to six months. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally and has over 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.esker.com or www.flydoc.com. 11 wHIte pAper MaDiSON, WiScONSiN § U.S. HEADqUARTERS esker Inc. 1212 Deming Way Suite 350 Madison, WI 53717 Tel : 608.828.6000 Fax : 608.828.6001 Email : info@esker.com WoRlDWIDE ESkER loCATIoNS Asia § www.esker.com.sg Australia § www.esker.com.au France § www.esker.fr Germany § www.esker.de Italy § www.esker.it spain § www.esker.es United Kingdom § www.esker.co.uk © 2007 Esker S.A. All rights reserved. Esker and the Esker logo are registered trademarks of Esker S.A. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. www.esker.com WP-EF-USA-002-A