Another Choice of PDF Converter

The legal industry is one of the largest consumers of paper; and Best, Best & Krieger was no exception. Using paper and manual filing systems to store case documents is both tedious and costly. Effectively managing, sharing and securing information can help corporate legal departments and individual law firms reduce administrative costs, protect case records and improve levels of customer service. Improperly managed, case information creates unnecessary risks, and is a huge drain on productivity as employees are forced to sift through an ever-increasing number of documents to (hopefully) locate the critical information they need to do their jobs.

Going Paperless

Recent catastrophic fires, floods and other disasters have forced the legal industry to re-evaluate its continued reliance on paper and manual filing systems to store case documents. Faced with the risk of losing vital case files and the inefficiencies and cost of handling and storing paper, many firms (including BB&K) have mandated using less paper and finding better ways to create, share and archive their electronic information. In the quest to implement a 'paperless office,' one of the greatest challenges to eliminating paper and streamlining document-based processes is the fact that simply scanning paper to create a digital file is not enough. Files must be converted to an electronic format that makes the information stored within useful and accessible. Moreover, there are two incompatible dominant electronic document formats in wide business use ' Microsoft Office and Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). Microsoft Office provides millions of office professionals with a rich environment for document creation and collaborative authoring. However, the editable Microsoft Word file format is not well suited for sharing and storage of electronic documents. The PDF format has been widely accepted as the open standard for image file support by business and government organizations, including almost every court in the country. PDF files are compact and easy to e-mail, universally viewable, and print just as they would from the source application. While the PDF file format ensures the future compatibility of your case data, it is not always possible to work with PDF files without special software. Be aware ' all PDF creation software is not created equal.

One of the first steps to implementing a policy of paper reduction at any firm involves standardizing the electronic format for information storage. Most firms utilize two electronic document formats ' Microsoft Office Word and/or Corel WordPerfect (editable formats, ideal for authoring and collaborating). Unfortunately, these authoring formats lack the security features legal professionals need because a document's original content can be so easily changed. Adobe's PDF provides an ideal tool for sharing and storing sensitive information by maintaining the integrity of a digital document while providing secure, reliable access to both internal and external recipients.

As an IT manager, I wanted to safeguard the information found in our paper and electronic files in a cost-effective manner. We adopted the use of PDF files and purchased a few copies of Adobe Acrobat years ago, but we couldn't provide it to all of our employees because it was so costly. I knew PDF was an open standard and reasoned that I could find a PDF solution that was better suited to my organization's budget and business needs than Acrobat. I heard about ScanSoft PDF Converter Professional from a colleague, and it soon became clear that Adobe's one-size-fits-all product wasn't the firm's best option. We ended up replacing Acrobat with PDF Converter Professional because it has the core functionality found in Adobe Acrobat and provides a PDF solution for our entire firm at an affordable price. We saved approximately $135,000 by switching to PDF Converter Professional.

Switching Brands

The decision to replace a PDF tool should not be taken lightly. Acrobat has been on the market for years. One could easily argue to stay with them because they created the technology and are well known with a good reputation. Some people at BBK did not realize that PDF is an open standard. Some expressed concerns about moving away from a known brand like Acrobat. This is understandable. For many years, there have been numerous print-to-PDF tools available from small fly-by-night companies that couldn't be relied on to support an enterprise level organization such as ours. That has changed. PDF Converter's publisher, Nuance Communications, has been a recognized name in scanning and document management since the 1990s. Adobe may have a better understanding of PDF for graphics professionals and a higher corporate market penetration rate, but PDF Converter Professional is focused only on the business PDF user. Today, Nuance is the clear number two PDF solution provider with more than 1 million seats licensed to date. When pricing is thrown into the mix, PDF Converter Professional becomes a very attractive alternative to Acrobat.

With all this in mind, our Executive Director made the decision to purchase 425 copies of PDF Converter Professional. As is the case with any new technology, people must be trained. With a deployment as large as ours, formal training was offered to make people comfortable with new tools and workflows. While Nuance's PDF application is an easy-to-use desktop tool that onramps paper into electronic practice management and document archive systems, some people grasped it better than others. Others needed a lot of handholding.

Organization and Sharing

PDF Converter Professional overcomes the limitations of hardware-produced PDF files by delivering PDF 'normal' files that are fully searchable. Its document assembly and annotation tools make it easy for our legal professionals to organize, find and share all of their paper and digital documents. When you create a PDF file the software automatically adds a 'text layer' to the document, which makes the file keyword-searchable in seconds versus minutes or hours for paper-based information. The power of PDF gives our employees the ability to manage case files on desktop PCs or in a centralized repository with drag-and-drop ease faster and more affordably and effectively than with antiquated paper files.

Before the firm deployed PDF Converter Professional, our process for working with PDF files was somewhat tedious. Only a select few of our employees had Adobe Acrobat installed (due to the cost). This situation forced everyone to rely on these few 'power users' to support the PDF creation needs of the entire firm. The PDF file format is important to our firm because the courts typically require this format for documents when e-filing. Also, with the increase in collaboration between the firm, clients, and other interested parties, the requirement to provide a document with variable levels of security, as needed, has become even more apparent. As we look to move toward a 'paperless office,' the PDF file format is increasingly becoming an important, viable method of retaining a firm's legacy documents. Whether you're a corporate lawyer, IT manager, paralegal, or in litigation support, it's critical to have a secure, easily accessible way to share legal documents with clients, co-workers, and outside counsel. It's also essential to be able to archive documents and maintain an audit trail of all correspondences, including e-mails and their attachments. PDF Converter Professional streamlines, secures, and expedites document collaboration for employees at BBK. We use PDF Converter Professional in conjunction with our Microsoft Office applications, mostly Word files. Besides creating PDF files, we also frequently use PDF Converter Professional to convert PDF documents to Word (*.doc) files as well as converting Web pages to PDF. To date, the product's PDF creation speed appears to be sufficiently quick and very accurate.

The deployment of PDF Converter Professional at BBK has been successful because this product gives us all the functionality found in Adobe Acrobat at a much more competitive price. Everyone now has the ability to create, edit and annotate PDF files instead of just a few employees. PDF Converter Professional's annotation tools make group case collaboration a breeze. We can even use the FormTyper feature to instantly make static PDF forms fillable. PDF Converter Professional is now our standard PDF creation and editing tool for every employee's desktop. We have been able to give this functionality to all our employees at a fraction of the cost of Adobe and we no longer have to keep track of all the individual licenses. Switching to this product has solved major problems for BBK.

The legal industry is one of the largest consumers of paper; and Best, Best & Krieger was no exception. Using paper and manual filing systems to store case documents is both tedious and costly. Effectively managing, sharing and securing information can help corporate legal departments and individual law firms reduce administrative costs, protect case records and improve levels of customer service. Improperly managed, case information creates unnecessary risks, and is a huge drain on productivity as employees are forced to sift through an ever-increasing number of documents to (hopefully) locate the critical information they need to do their jobs.

Going Paperless

Recent catastrophic fires, floods and other disasters have forced the legal industry to re-evaluate its continued reliance on paper and manual filing systems to store case documents. Faced with the risk of losing vital case files and the inefficiencies and cost of handling and storing paper, many firms (including BB&K) have mandated using less paper and finding better ways to create, share and archive their electronic information. In the quest to implement a 'paperless office,' one of the greatest challenges to eliminating paper and streamlining document-based processes is the fact that simply scanning paper to create a digital file is not enough. Files must be converted to an electronic format that makes the information stored within useful and accessible. Moreover, there are two incompatible dominant electronic document formats in wide business use ' Microsoft Office and Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). Microsoft Office provides millions of office professionals with a rich environment for document creation and collaborative authoring. However, the editable Microsoft Word file format is not well suited for sharing and storage of electronic documents. The PDF format has been widely accepted as the open standard for image file support by business and government organizations, including almost every court in the country. PDF files are compact and easy to e-mail, universally viewable, and print just as they would from the source application. While the PDF file format ensures the future compatibility of your case data, it is not always possible to work with PDF files without special software. Be aware ' all PDF creation software is not created equal.

One of the first steps to implementing a policy of paper reduction at any firm involves standardizing the electronic format for information storage. Most firms utilize two electronic document formats ' Microsoft Office Word and/or Corel WordPerfect (editable formats, ideal for authoring and collaborating). Unfortunately, these authoring formats lack the security features legal professionals need because a document's original content can be so easily changed. Adobe's PDF provides an ideal tool for sharing and storing sensitive information by maintaining the integrity of a digital document while providing secure, reliable access to both internal and external recipients.

As an IT manager, I wanted to safeguard the information found in our paper and electronic files in a cost-effective manner. We adopted the use of PDF files and purchased a few copies of Adobe Acrobat years ago, but we couldn't provide it to all of our employees because it was so costly. I knew PDF was an open standard and reasoned that I could find a PDF solution that was better suited to my organization's budget and business needs than Acrobat. I heard about ScanSoft PDF Converter Professional from a colleague, and it soon became clear that Adobe's one-size-fits-all product wasn't the firm's best option. We ended up replacing Acrobat with PDF Converter Professional because it has the core functionality found in Adobe Acrobat and provides a PDF solution for our entire firm at an affordable price. We saved approximately $135,000 by switching to PDF Converter Professional.

Switching Brands

The decision to replace a PDF tool should not be taken lightly. Acrobat has been on the market for years. One could easily argue to stay with them because they created the technology and are well known with a good reputation. Some people at BBK did not realize that PDF is an open standard. Some expressed concerns about moving away from a known brand like Acrobat. This is understandable. For many years, there have been numerous print-to-PDF tools available from small fly-by-night companies that couldn't be relied on to support an enterprise level organization such as ours. That has changed. PDF Converter's publisher, Nuance Communications, has been a recognized name in scanning and document management since the 1990s. Adobe may have a better understanding of PDF for graphics professionals and a higher corporate market penetration rate, but PDF Converter Professional is focused only on the business PDF user. Today, Nuance is the clear number two PDF solution provider with more than 1 million seats licensed to date. When pricing is thrown into the mix, PDF Converter Professional becomes a very attractive alternative to Acrobat.

With all this in mind, our Executive Director made the decision to purchase 425 copies of PDF Converter Professional. As is the case with any new technology, people must be trained. With a deployment as large as ours, formal training was offered to make people comfortable with new tools and workflows. While Nuance's PDF application is an easy-to-use desktop tool that onramps paper into electronic practice management and document archive systems, some people grasped it better than others. Others needed a lot of handholding.

Organization and Sharing

PDF Converter Professional overcomes the limitations of hardware-produced PDF files by delivering PDF 'normal' files that are fully searchable. Its document assembly and annotation tools make it easy for our legal professionals to organize, find and share all of their paper and digital documents. When you create a PDF file the software automatically adds a 'text layer' to the document, which makes the file keyword-searchable in seconds versus minutes or hours for paper-based information. The power of PDF gives our employees the ability to manage case files on desktop PCs or in a centralized repository with drag-and-drop ease faster and more affordably and effectively than with antiquated paper files.

Before the firm deployed PDF Converter Professional, our process for working with PDF files was somewhat tedious. Only a select few of our employees had Adobe Acrobat installed (due to the cost). This situation forced everyone to rely on these few 'power users' to support the PDF creation needs of the entire firm. The PDF file format is important to our firm because the courts typically require this format for documents when e-filing. Also, with the increase in collaboration between the firm, clients, and other interested parties, the requirement to provide a document with variable levels of security, as needed, has become even more apparent. As we look to move toward a 'paperless office,' the PDF file format is increasingly becoming an important, viable method of retaining a firm's legacy documents. Whether you're a corporate lawyer, IT manager, paralegal, or in litigation support, it's critical to have a secure, easily accessible way to share legal documents with clients, co-workers, and outside counsel. It's also essential to be able to archive documents and maintain an audit trail of all correspondences, including e-mails and their attachments. PDF Converter Professional streamlines, secures, and expedites document collaboration for employees at BBK. We use PDF Converter Professional in conjunction with our Microsoft Office applications, mostly Word files. Besides creating PDF files, we also frequently use PDF Converter Professional to convert PDF documents to Word (*.doc) files as well as converting Web pages to PDF. To date, the product's PDF creation speed appears to be sufficiently quick and very accurate.

The deployment of PDF Converter Professional at BBK has been successful because this product gives us all the functionality found in Adobe Acrobat at a much more competitive price. Everyone now has the ability to create, edit and annotate PDF files instead of just a few employees. PDF Converter Professional's annotation tools make group case collaboration a breeze. We can even use the FormTyper feature to instantly make static PDF forms fillable. PDF Converter Professional is now our standard PDF creation and editing tool for every employee's desktop. We have been able to give this functionality to all our employees at a fraction of the cost of Adobe and we no longer have to keep track of all the individual licenses. Switching to this product has solved major problems for BBK.