In the interview with Sven Buick from SmartDocuments Deutschland GmbH

In the interview with Sven Buick, we will address the challenges that companies and organizations face when dealing with a high volume of documents and data. He will discuss the “template and document jungle,” which can be resolved through intelligent, centralized management and integration into existing systems such as PIM, DMS, ERP, and CRM.

The increasing demand from companies using Product Information Management (PIM) is particularly exciting. Sven Buick will explain how PIM can serve as a data basis for generating documents to create automated and individualized product catalogs, manuals, operating instructions, product documentation, maintenance regulations, and spare parts catalogs.

Sven Buick: Marco Drost was certain 30 years ago: automating documents leads to greater efficiency in companies and organizations! With this mindset, he began developing software that allows templates to be easily maintained and documents to be created “in a jiffy.” He always says: “More time and focus to do what you’re good at.” In other words, he believes it’s important for employees in companies and organizations to concentrate on the actual content or professional aspects when creating documents, rather than wasting time styling the document or manually copying and pasting data that already exists. His goal was to provide customers with an easy-to-use tool while building on existing, familiar knowledge and software products already in use within companies. This is how the SmartDocuments template management system was created.

Sven Buick: First of all, SmartDocuments is suitable for all companies and organizations with high document volumes, regardless of size and industry. This is also reflected in our customer base. We have customers from a wide range of sectors, such as public administrations, law firms, insurance companies, banks, tax consultants, healthcare organizations, clubs, and a variety of companies from the private sector. From large corporations to small municipal administrations, we cover it all.

But what makes our software so attractive and why do companies and organizations need a template management system? I could now reel off a whole list of benefits, but it becomes much clearer if you take a brief look at the status quo in companies and organizations.

No matter who you ask, the template management process is similar everywhere. Typically, dozens of templates are created in Microsoft Office Word at a central location. Since templates may differ slightly from one another, they are then provided in countless different versions. When you ask about maintenance or how it is ensured that colleagues always use the current version, it usually quickly becomes quiet. This is precisely one of the key pain points. Maintaining a large number of templates takes an enormous amount of time.

A new bank account, a change of address, new shareholders, or a new logo. By the time all documents are updated, the next changes are already pending. In addition, employees save templates locally and are unaware that there has been a new version with updated texts or a new corporate design for “x” months. This leads to outdated documents leaving the company time and time again—not only in terms of content but also in terms of appearance. Professional companies ensure that only “attractive” documents are sent out. However, templates are not always 100% suitable. In sales departments, for example, the trend is moving toward personalized offers with project descriptions, individual agreements, and the like. The absolute nightmare for marketing employees who have spent hours deliberating over design, font sizes, paragraphs, etc., and struggled to create a beautiful document. “I’ll just quickly add something in here”—copy & paste—and suddenly the text is in a different font, and the next four paragraphs are completely messed up. “Never mind, the document is going out.”

Furthermore, the number of software products used in companies is increasing massively. For every problem, there is a specialized application that also generates documents. These documents, in turn, have their own templates, so the template chaos continues.

This is exactly where SmartDocuments comes in. With our template management system, we help companies and organizations “get out of the template jungle!” We see ourselves as a central component for document creation that communicates with other internal applications. SmartDocuments divides templates into the areas of “Corporate Design,” “Content,” “Building Blocks,” and “Variable Data,” which significantly simplifies maintenance and drastically reduces the number of templates.

Sven Buick: As I’ve already mentioned, digitalization is leading to an increasing number of software products being used in companies and organizations. These small digital helpers are the foundation for boosting productivity and are at the core of automation technology. For every little problem, there’s a suitable solution. While a few years ago, there was a stronger focus on “all-round” products and the goal was to develop the “jack-of-all-trades,” today the principle “stick to your knitting” is becoming more and more important. Due to the growing complexity and rising demands in the context of digitalization, it’s crucial to concentrate on your own core competencies. Only then can professionalism be enhanced, and maximum customer benefit ensured.

To still be able to map fully media-break-free processes, it’s essential that systems communicate with one another. In this case, communication means that the individual software components are networked in such a way that company and administrative processes can be efficiently digitalized. That’s why we follow the approach of an open interface culture. As a central template management system, it makes sense for us to be connected at the points where documents are created and where data for documents is available. In other words, we are typically connected to various databases at our customers’ sites to automatically populate documents with data. What’s more, more and more specialized applications—especially in the field of e-government—are opting not to develop their own solution for generating notices but instead integrating our product directly into their own software. Connections to DMS, ERP, CRM, and archiving systems as well as portal, outgoing mail, and signature solutions are also used by our customers. Following the motto “Nothing must, everything can!” we adapt to the individual IT landscape of each customer, because a central template management system offers numerous advantages.

Centralized updates: Changes to templates no longer need to be made in every individual system. Instead, all updates are carried out centrally in one place, which saves a huge amount of time and minimizes sources of error among other things.

Increased efficiency: By centralizing templates, employees can quickly and easily access the documents they need, saving time and boosting productivity.

Consistency and brand identity: Uniform templates ensure that all company documents have a consistent appearance, which helps strengthen brand identity.

Compliance: A template management system makes it easier to comply with legal and internal company requirements, as all templates meet current standards.

Access control: A central system allows access rights to be controlled selectively and ensures that only authorized persons can edit the templates.

Automation: When SmartDocuments is connected to third-party applications, metadata can be automatically transferred to the templates and these can be filled in partially or fully automatically as desired. The generated document is then, if necessary, sent back to the third-party application and stored there.

Sven Buick: PIM refers to the provision of product information for use across various output media. This requires the media-neutral management, maintenance, and modification of product information in a central system—a so-called PIM software—to supply every channel with consistent information without significant resource expenditure. More and more companies have recognized that it's time to "clean up" and, if possible, not distribute data across countless locations but instead centralize it in one place in a uniform format. By integrating PIM systems, these data can be used to generate documents. This means our customers can efficiently and effortlessly create customized product catalogs, product data sheets, product documentation, or other documents. The goal is automated transfer into templates. In other words, the information stored in the PIM system is linked with SmartDocuments templates, and the generated documents are automatically populated. This can be done, for example, via database queries or web service interfaces. This accelerates the document creation process and minimizes errors. I probably don’t need to tell you how much this boosts productivity in companies and organizations.

Sven Buick: SmartDocuments is designed to significantly simplify template maintenance. To ensure this, our software strictly separates layout from content, as previously mentioned. Corporate design guidelines—such as font, logo, font size, color, and the structure of the letterhead—are centrally managed. A clever rights concept ensures that only authorized individuals have access to design elements and can make changes.

Our software is also divided into three parts: SmartControl, SmartEditor, and SmartWizard. While only template administrators and, if applicable, template creators have access within SmartControl, the actual templates are built in the SmartEditor software component. Templates are created in Microsoft Office Word as usual. The SmartEditor then defines the question structure for the SmartWizard: "Which data and information should be gathered in the question dialog?" Simply drag and drop the defined questions or text modules to the appropriate place in the document—done! No technical know-how or programming skills are required. Our development team focuses on user-friendly implementation of functions that are, whenever possible, self-explanatory. Of course, we still recommend an introductory training for new customers, as our coaches provide numerous tips, tricks, and best practices for efficient system use.

Users of the template, i.e., employees who need to create documents, do so via the SmartWizard. The document is filled with the necessary content entirely browser-based, following a question-and-answer principle. Logically controlled, rule-based questions, flexible automations, and help texts make the quick, error-free generation of documents a breeze. Users of the template have no influence on the document’s appearance. The result is always a sleek document that complies with corporate design guidelines. No training is required to use the SmartWizard.

Sven Buick: Public administration is currently facing the challenge posed by the Online Access Act (OZG) to offer all administrative services online. While creating online forms is not a major feat, the real mammoth task is digitizing all the internal processes behind them at the same time. Compared to companies, administrations use significantly more internal applications, making the implementation of a central template management system a complex task. Each department has numerous specialized applications that generate data and documents. These need to be standardized. A forward-looking project is being implemented by the City of Kiel, which will connect all applications via interfaces for different application processes to enable fully media-break-free processes. In this case, our solution is used, for example, for automated decision notices by ensuring that application management, citizen portals, specialized procedures, and template management work hand in hand. This allows Kiel to drastically reduce administrative workloads and significantly accelerate processing times. The Harburg District has implemented something similar in the area of “wastewater disposal,” creating interfaces between the software for network and plant operators and existing applications such as DMS, municipal financial software, and geographic information systems.

Of course, there are many more success stories, but I’d be happy to share those in individual conversations—this format would be too limited.

Sven Buick: We place great value on our customers’ feedback. Our philosophy is to continuously learn and adapt our software to the needs and requirements of our customers. For this reason, we strive to maintain close contact with users. We are available for questions and discussions at numerous events and webinars. Regular conversations and workshops are an important channel through which we gather ideas and feedback. These interactions are crucial for shaping our development strategy.

In addition, we have launched a customer portal that serves as a central point of contact for communication with us and other users. Here, suggestions for optimizing and expanding our software can be submitted, and projects can be presented and ideas exchanged with other users.

Sven Buick: A long, long time ago… My journey began in IT consulting within the savings bank environment. My focus there was on process optimization, defining processes, and developing portal solutions. Even back then, it became clear to me how important it is to connect different applications to enable more efficient workflows and to view digitalization holistically. In the years that followed, I expanded my expertise as a consultant and account manager in the e-government sector. I supported public administrations in introducing and optimizing application management, which ultimately led me to SmartDocuments in 2022. In my role as Head of Sales & Partner Manager, I enjoy implementing SmartDocuments across various industries and developing tailored strategies to position the software as efficiently as possible. It’s incredibly varied and fulfilling in the sense that every day I get to work with people who, together with me, want to drive change and advance digitalization. Those who know me know that I like to end presentations and workshops with an Asian proverb, and what better fit here than: “Make your plans with people who walk the same path as you.” With that in mind, thank you very much for the nice interview.