Fast, flexible, accurate document configuration—time to go beyond copy/paste and template?

Both your company and the customers you serve are bombarded with information today, and it’s coming in faster every day, with more complexity and more urgency. When it comes to business, that information needs to be captured, organized, and presented in consistent, professional formats. Quickly. Without errors. And increasingly, with a twist of “tailored to your demands” for everything you need to deliver to customers, partners, suppliers, government and legal entities.

That goes for quotes, specs, contracts, invoices, project or investment plans, regulations, marketing collateral, and more. You may be working with stellar business systems and have a proven reputation. You may have or know about reporting tools, predefined document or text block generators, templates. That said, it’s difficult to enforce updating and using the latest versions, indeed to enforce using them consistently.

Turn confusion and complexity into simple, consistent, professionalism. Scenarios can range from people re-keying data manually, copying/pasting from other applications, tweaking information and layouts on the fly, using outdated logos. Even if you have advanced Microsoft Office tools and macros, are people spending too much time wrangling complex information into presentable, professional, customer-specific documents?

If you are dealing with lots of variables and complexity, these tools may be too rigid, and demand too much manual intervention to sustain speed, accuracy, and ultimately reputation and customers. You might want to consider another option—dynamic document configuration. This “living” tool lets users input all variables in real time, and immediately generate and deliver results that reflect pinpoint accuracy for content, layout, branding, and format. Even better, all that information is drawn directly from your real-time database. A configurator’s rules engine is constantly using that information to make decisions about what options to offer. Those are presented in a smart questionnaire that lets people make the right choices about content and document type. The results go directly to your system. In minutes, you get started on meeting accurate promises.

Why a configurator for documents? Because it works in real time with real context

A configurator is a complex rules engine with a UI that displays as an intuitive questionnaire. From the start, a configurator will dynamically determine what type of document is needed. Example: a salesperson needs a proposal. If he selects “direct proposal,” a customer-ready layout will serve as base. Depending on setup, he might type in the customer’s or ID and relevant information on record will go into layout automatically. If he selects “indirect,” he may be prompted for additional input, such as “select the partner proposing the document.” Based on that choice, the partner logo is dynamically added to the document. There can be many options that impact the content of a document, and a robust configurator will ask for the right selections, guide the salesperson, and ensure that the layout and content areas are spot-on. Choices can include extended pricing or only a pricing summary, formal or informal purpose, adding terms of conditions and payment or not, specific product descriptions, a brief overview. Nothing falls through the cracks, data entry is minimal, and very important, the user isn’t overwhelmed with detail. The rules engine takes care of that. 

Result? Flawless, fast layout and content that impresses customers and fuels great offerings

Whether you’re dealing with products, services, projects, or other offerings, getting all the options right the first time for your customer is getting more difficult.  A configurator solution that can automatically generate the tailored documentation you need, based on a cutting-edge rules engine, may be the answer. e-Con offers that, along with CPQ that converts documentation with a click into production-or fulfilment ready-orders. Impress prospects and customers end-to-end with one tool that’s designed for them. Benefits to you include:

• Work with one tool, with no need to juggle separate applications for documents
• Reduce error risk with minimal data entry and copy/paste
• Generate complete, accurate, audience-specific documents in minutes
• Convert quotes to production- or fulfilment-ready orders and docs with a click
• Ensure all users work with appropriate layouts and consistent, well-branded corporate identity
• Rest assured content syncs with real-time, centrally stored information
• Easily update any document with assurance of system-wide updates and version control
• Configure virtually any type of document you need

Here’s real flexibility–explore flavours for dynamic, tailored document generation

We’ve been discovering that e-Con document configuration can give organizations a great marketing tool. Our own success story: we decided to use e-Con as an online brochure configurator. Visitors to our site are prompted to answer some questions that establish context for a relevant brochure. For instance, a CTO for a retail e-Commerce furniture company is focused on different aspects of e-Con than a rep selling pumps to select dealers. Based on your input, the e-Con rules engine generates a printable, well-branded brochure that speaks to your challenges and business scenarios.  

Visit our site and configure your own brochure, then check out our demo-lab to see how we combine sales, product, and document configuration within one easy UI.