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The customer
SIG (Services Industriels de Genève) is a utility firm specializing in water and waste services, energy and telecommunication networks. With a mission to provide modern, efficient and reliable public service, SIG is the primary supplier to the city and canton of Geneva.
www.mieuxvivresig.ch
Overview
SIG has selected RSD Folders for Windows NT for the online distribution of bills and statements to their customers. Today, more than 250’000 SIG customers can easily access their billing information via the Internet, enhancing customer service. RSD Folders, an integral part of the SIG infrastructure, will be rolled out to other departments, especially those involved with customer care. |
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Functionality in line with technological requirements
SIG’s primary objective was to acquire a flexible and robust document management solution that would provide their customers a secure online view of requested information. In addition, SIG wanted a solution that could easily ingest an ever-increasing amount of online data to be centrally archived, eliminating the need for microfiche. While addressing these basic requirements, RSD Folders met the regulatory compliance practices in addition to future project needs:
- restore information independently of the system that has produced it (the invoices are handled by SAP R/3, but the bills generated by the former system must remain accessible);
- maintain the integrity of the documents, since their presentation, especially that of invoices, evolves over time;
- offer a user-friendly Web interface with advanced indexing and search functionality;
- support “on the fly” conversion of the AFP print format used for archival to the PDF format used for online viewing.
 As explained by Mr. Patrick Chevalley, engineer with the SIG production department, “the way RSD Folders worked came closest to the filing system which we needed than the other products we had short listed. On the other hand, the archival of AFP format is particularly well integrated in native mode in RSD Folders and the compression rates for AFP to PDF are quite impressive, particularly for AFP”.
Making billing available via the Internet
To maintain a competitive edge in the electricity market space, SIG had to implement customer-focused services that would enhance the customer experience. Today, SIG customers can immediately retrieve requested information via the RSD API, which provide a customized view that retains the “look and feel” of the originally mailed document.
The customer bills generated by SAP R/3 are produced directly in the PDF viewing format, while those issued from the former system are transformed “on the fly” from AFP to PDF with the RSD converter. In addition, SIG customer documents are produced on pre-printed paper. With the RSD Folders functionality enabling the archival of page backgrounds, the document is reproduced for viewing as it appears upon printing.
Approximately 20’000 statements are issued daily, representing more than 3 million pages per year that need to be archived. To date, RSD Folders contains nearly 3 years worth of data, which is an estimated 4.5 million invoices. “In terms of power and performance, RSD Folders executes just as well today, as it did after the very first time documents were uploaded. This is what was promised to us, but we never believed it before we were able to see it for ourselves” states Chevalley.
The internal deployment of the solution is in progress, and personnel will have access to customer invoices in native AFP and PDF format via the RSD Folders client-server interface for PC. A considerable productivity gain is expected for customer service.
While in the past, the response time to access a document archived on microfiche could take half a day, with RSD Folders, viewing or printing a document is now instantaneous.
RSD Folders: a cornerstone in support of CRM projects
RSD Folders is an electronic filing system ideally suited for the management of all customer related activities, since documents are filed in one
or more logical folders based upon specific requirements. Meeting the objective to provide SIG customers an online view of account information has paved the way for future projects involving RSD Folders. Eventually all client correspondence will be archived and online billing may soon replace paper billing altogether. These are just a few examples of possible developments on CRM projects involving RSD Folders.
Since the implementation of SAP databases five years ago, the volume of documents produced continues to grow. Another important perspective for RSD Folders, its Global Archive for SAP R/3 will enable SIG to leverage the archive by off-loading inactive data while ensuring quick access to information.
RSD Folders’ added value
In particular, the production department team has appreciated the capacity of RSD Folders to leverage SIG’s SAN network. Furthermore, the burden on administration resources is minimal since the monitoring and processes have been automated and the product can be remotely administered.
“RSD Folders has enabled us to install a reliable basic infrastructure for making documents available and for the archival of our content. This tool is going to allow us to unify our document management, as well as to offer a response and structured service to any requests we may be faced with. This will certainly add to the efficiency of our company, especially for our future projects related to customer relations management, which will integrate seamlessly with the RSD Folders cornerstone” concludes Mr. Chevalley.
For more information, contact us at info@rsd.com
Copyright © RSD, May 2004. All rights reserved.
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