Intelligent Document Handling at Bibby
Bibby Financial Services chose the IBM System i as their preferred operating platform. The System i is secure, reliable and can be accessed from any location making it an excellent choice for a company such as Bibby Financial Services who have many different locations and a need to guarantee customer confidentiality and application availability.
A number of the Groups core financial services companies had a need to produce customer documents which are of a set format and layout. Printing would historically be done onto pre-printed forms using an application which overlays the data onto the pre-printed stationery in the correct positions. All this takes place on a server running at one of Bibby Financial Services locations. Extending this to allow other companies within the group to utilise the same facilities would require the installation of a server and software at each location.
Bibby Financial Services turned to SpaceTec an IBM business partner specialising in applications for the System i for advice on overlay printing and the use of their System i. SpaceTec recommended that they deployed InterForm400 an intelligent output management software designed for the System i. InterForm400 enables the formatting, distribution and archiving of System i documents. It provides the standard tasks such as automatic merge of documents from the spool file to form, plus additional benefits such as a form designer allowing you to create any type of form with no assistance necessary from the vendor. Another feature is the ability to create a pdf document and then distribute this document as an email, reducing postage costs and labour time.
By using InterForm400 Bibby Financial Services have been able to:-
Reduce costs. InterForm400 is installed on the System i at one location reducing the need for separate servers and software at multiple locations.
Decrease deployment, training and support times. Bibby Financial Services have saved 2-4 days per site of engineer time for the installations alone without taking into consideration any ongoing support time that would be required for the servers.
Increased Bandwidth efficiency, InterForm400 is quick and effective when processing print jobs freeing up WAN Bandwidth for other applications.
Increased Printing Speeds. The System i is far more effective at processing the forms overlay print jobs significantly improving remote printing performance.
Make use of additional Features. InterForm400 is a comprehensive tool that has a number of additional features. Bibby Financial Services also use the print to PDF and the data compression features of InterForm400 to manage report distribution via email and transfer of data to service providers.
Malcolm Spence-Herbert, project manager of Bibby Financial Services said:
“Apart from the flexibility that InterForm400 provides in the production of forms and documents from the System i, we have also made significant cost savings against the software and hardware we would have needed to replicate the legacy server solution”.
InterForm400 is a modular product, comprising of a number of different applications for the System i. Additional modules allow you to merge data with documents created in any PC word processor, Distribute documents directly to fax, instantly archive copies of documents no more need for hard copy filing and create and distribute secure pdf’s ensuring only the intended recipient can view the information.
Patrick Race, MD of SpaceTec said:
“We have many customers using InterForm400, most of these are now also using one or more of the additional modules. Without exception all of our InterForm400 customers have made cost savings and now have a more reliable and stable platform to work on.”
About Bibby
Bibby Financial Services is a market-leading specialist in the provision of a range of business cash flow solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises.
As a global services provider, Bibby Financial Services has a network of 15 operating units throughout the UK and Ireland, and overseas companies in the USA, Poland, Australia, and France, offering a local, fast and flexible approach to servicing clients.
Bibby Financial Services is wholly owned by the Bibby Line Group, a business-to-business services group with interests in ship owning and operation, shallow water accommodation, oil field services, contract logistics and business finance.