The merger between Foodstuffs Wellington and Foodstuffs Auckland Co-operatives prompted Foodstuffs North Island Limited to review its software. This process included assessing the various PDF solutions which were already in use by staff, as well as alternative PDF solutions available in the marketplace.

Foodstuffs North Island’s goal was to identify and implement a PDF solution that delivered value for money, capability and easy deployment. Their quest led them to Nuance Power PDF.

“As a result of the merger we discovered that staff were using a mix of software particularly when it came to PDF solutions. These included various versions of Adobe Acrobat, Nuance PDF Converter, PDF Create and a whole host of other PDF software. Supporting all these PDF solutions was untenable and we needed to identify the best PDF fit for our people,” explained Rachael Butterworth, Foodstuffs North Island, Software Asset and IT Administrator.

One of the key criteria the chosen PDF solution had to deliver was value for money.

“We have a large number of finance staff who are our primary users of PDF software, so we needed a solution that was monetarily viable given the quantity of licenses required. We looked at the free PDF software available but it lacked functionality. This was also true for many of the cheaper PDF products on the market.

“Some of the other solutions we looked at were cloud based and required both a license fee and an annual subscription, making them an expensive option. So we focused on non-cloud options and zeroed in on Nuance Power PDF. This solution was highly competitive. In fact, after examining costs we found that Nuance Power PDF was up to 80% cheaper than some of its competitors,” said Rachael.

However, while Nuance Power PDF was cost competitive, Rachael was also keen not to forgo functionality for price. The chosen software had to provide other important features including allowing staff to easily mark up PDF documents, highlight sections, make changes, add and delete pages, search documents as well as convert, extract and import data.

In addition, because the software was primarily used by the finance team, the ability to manipulate numerical data without losing or distorting figures, tables and diagrams was a must.

After examining Nuance Power PDF, it was apparent that the software could more than meet the needs of Foodstuffs North Island. “Nuance Power PDF is very feature-rich and reliable. Staff can do a lot with the software, including extracting numerical tables and diagrams and dropping them into their financial reports without fear of them becoming corrupted. In fact, I don’t think we realised the extent of the software’s capability until we rolled it out,” remarked Rachael.

Joanne Matthews, Manager of Non Stock – GRIR for Foodstuffs North Island agrees. “Nuance Power PDF offers the user ample capability and this has greatly helped us improve the efficiency of our processes.

“We use the software to electronically process invoices that accompany statements, but which have no purchase numbers attached to them. In the past, these invoices were printed, the purchase number written on the invoice, then scanned and resubmitted into the system.

“This was frustrating and very time consuming. With Nuance Power PDF, this is all now done electronically and within minutes, and has helped us save time, be more productive and improve processes.”

The team also uses the software to compare documents side-by-side explained Joanne. ‘Past invoices can be compared side-by-side with current invoices. If anything needs to be queried it is highlighted or extracted with a few simple clicks before emailing it back to the supplier.

In the past, all of this was done manually, which again was both laborious and time intensive.’

Foodstuffs’ finance team also uses the software to convert PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Nuance Power PDF does this with ease and most importantly, accurately. This in turn helps to increase the team’s productivity as information is not lost or corrupted.

Nuance Power PDF has also helped the organisation become increasingly paperless. “Although this was not a goal that we identified, it is nevertheless a very welcomed by-product of using the software. As staff no longer have to print documents to get their work done, we have cut back on paper, which is helping us become increasingly paper free,” said Rachael.

Apart from helping staff save on time and paper, and improve internal processes, Nuance Power PDF is also easy to use according to Rachael. “From an individual user perspective you don’t need to be an IT guru to work Power PDF, you only need some common sense. And it’s just as simple to deploy and manage. We just add or delete it to our Active Directory Group. It requires minimal management and maintenance which is very much appreciated when you’re busy providing IT services and support to a large number of staff.”