Documents of All Shapes

More ways to distribute information

By Stacey Wenzel

We often start the month of January by making resolutions of how we can become more productive, successful and ultimately, happy in the new year. The process of evaluating the past year and taking action toward new goals in 1998 can be a useful technique, both personally and professionally.

For distributors to have a prosperous 1998, it is important to further improve on areas that led them through a successful 1997 as well as develop new strategies for areas that proved to be less successful.

One way to begin the new year on a positive note is to determine what you need to do to keep your customers satisfied. Here is what a variety of end-users had to say about the past year, and what's on their minds for 1998.

End-User Buying Trends

The industry has been making a slow but steady shift toward electronic documents for the past few years.

It's no surprise that end-users predicted seeing even greater growth in that area during the next year.

According to Xplor Internation-al's 1997 Technology Directions Survey, the document landscape is changing. Xplor listed the following reasons

There is a strong availability of highly capable digital equipment.

Formal policies guide document decisions at one-third of end-user companies.

Electronic forms and storage systems are the top concerns addressed by document policies.

The survey suggested that electronic forms, one of the earliest computer printing applications, leads the list of functions covered by document policies with 78 percent of user companies addressing electronic forms in their formal policies.

Patrick O'Donnell, manager of document production for Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Detroit, said that he foresees growth in all areas, not just electronic documents.

"Information is doubling every two years," said O'Donnell, adding that the average rate not too long ago was every four years. He attributed the tremendous growth of information to the use of personal computers.