Soft on Hard Copies

Having been involved in the printing and publishing industry for 12 years,

Jordan has been responsible for developing and implementing Adobe’s marketing

strategy. Prior to his current assignment, Jordan has worked with Fuji Xerox

Australia and was director for the Printing Industries Association of Australia.

Reizes spoke to Dataquest on the products launched by Adobe to mark two decades

of Adobe’s existence

l Adobe has

been focussing on media and the publishing industry so far. What are you plans

for other vertical segments like finance and manufacturing?



This month marks 20 years of technology innovation at Adobe. From early

inventions such as Adobe Post Script technology to later offerings such as Adobe

Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign, there has been a

lot of activity in the publishing space. However, people do not realize that

Adobe has a large range of products that cater to requirements of industries

beyond printing and publishing. Over the years, Adobe’s business has expanded

to serve not only the publishing professional, but also the digital imaging and

digital video enthusiasts. Adobe is introducing a range of enterprise solutions–

server based products that will address the document intensive processes found

in financial institutions, government agencies, manufacturing and other

regulated industries. These products will allow easy integration with existing

ERP and CRM systems amongst other enterprise applications.

l How does the

document server integrate workflow with documents for the end user?



A simple XML-based command structure is used for the purpose. For instance,

an investment manager can generate customized information to send to a client.

This document could include a personalized cover letter, up-to-the-minute

information on the client’s current investments, and a prospectus on a

recommended mutual fund. The customized Adobe PDF document is sent to the

manager for review, and then emailed to the client. Adobe Document Server is

expected to be available by the end of 2002.

l What is

Adobe’s marketing and distribution strategy for these products?



Adobe will be selling these products through our partners-Indigo Pacific. We

are also looking at identifying system integrators or end-user companies with

the know-how of integrating the products themselves. On the marketing front, we

have planned a series of seminars on topics like business automation and

enterprise solutions aimed at relevant verticals.

l How will

your alliance with SAP play a role in this strategy?



Adobe signed a global technology arrangement with SAP in early October

(2002). As per this agreement, mySAP will run Adobe Acrobat Server and PDF

technology. Adobe will also provide infrastructure for mySAP.com. This

effectively means that Adobe will enable SAP to provide e-business solutions to

businesses that have a large number of paper-based processes. For Adobe, it

means that the transition from desktop software to integration with the backend

of business has begun.

l What are the

differences between the needs of enterprises in India and those in other

countries?



When it comes to choosing between higher investment in technology and

deploying more people, Indian enterprises still prefer the latter as labor costs

are low in certain areas. However, this is changing especially among IT and new

economy companies. Another issue is the absence of PCs and connectivity for

employees across the enterprise. Putting all company documents in electronic

format may not be beneficial if all employees do not have e-mail access! And

even if all employees use PCs and have e-mail access, all the company’s

customers and business partners may not have access to e-mail. These are

problems Indian enterprises are still grappling with.

Manjiri Kalghatgi