AmVia, the SA distributor for fax server vendor RightFax, is driving customers` return on investment (ROI) by educating them on its use for automating business processes and disseminating anything from purchase orders to month-end invoices, directly from business apps.
While customers will revel in the additional functionality that some never knew they had, this will necessitate better deployment (and thus increased channel sophistication). But it will also increase channel income and is aimed at cementing the vendor`s market leadership position and relationships.
While the company scoffs at the idea that modem-based fax solutions, pitched at the entry level, can compete with RightFax, it is clear that it wants customers to put the software to better, production-centric use.
Robyn Grobbelaar, AmVia`s head of operations, says the term "faxing" is a misnomer in RightFax. "While it is a strong brand, technically what we do is document delivery."
The benefits of faxing right
Grobbelaar points out that there are many hard and soft costs savings to faxing digitally, before even getting to production capabilities. "In the (entry level) normal enterprise faxing space, where there is to some extent local competition, faxing software means you can send and receive faxes from the desktop.
"This negates the need for a huge investment in fax machines and consumables, and in addition, cuts the soft costs of time wasted when faxing with a dedicated, analogue fax machine."
RightFax is deployed with least-cost routing software, which determines the most efficient network to fax documents and may use an enterprise wide-area network to a branch office, for the cost of a local call.
But the real cost saver is the fact that high-end RightFax deployments feature connectors into Oracle databases and SAP business applications, meaning the system taps directly into legacy systems for mail-outs.
"Whereas previously one would typically outsource mailing of month-end invoices, the enterprise app connector on RightFax means you can send statements and so forth as faxes, securely and over the Web," she says. "The recipient gets an e-mail, digitally encrypted for security, and a receipt notification is sent back to Oracle."
In the same way, RightFax acts as a multi-channel disseminator for anything from delivery notes, purchase orders and more.
Why fax?
The question remains whether customers will see this as a useful alternative to e-mail. "It is too expensive to integrate paper-based legacy systems with e-mail technologies. Moreover, she says, not everyone has e-mail or Internet access. "Fax is still the one medium you can contact anyone on."
Grobbelaar says use of the system is simple. "If you can use Outlook, you can send a fax. Simply type the number in or select from the address book, and if you receive a fax, it is a matter of clicking File, Print and selecting the correct driver." Hence training is quick and cost-effective.
Channelling benefits
"We`re taking the skills of deployment, legacy integration and servicing to the channel," says Grobbelaar. The distributor keeps out of this annuity income and instead makes a business mainly out of licensing sales and version protection. Channel partners, totalling 40 in SA, also invest in training and make their customer bases accessible to AmVia.
Licences sell for R15 000 to R20 000 for enterprise fax software, and for between R150 000 and R300 000 for production fax capability server licences. The company promises ROI in three to six months.
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