Electronic Vault vs. PDF? The Future Is in the Vault
Today's companies are constantly searching for the best, and most cost effective, way to store business-critical documents. Twenty years ago, microfiche served as the industry standard. Today, many companies have turned to PDF for long-term document storage. But, while PDF may have become the default standard for electronic document storage, many companies that rely on this technology to manage regulatory compliance, business continuity, and customer satisfaction are at a distinct disadvantage. Alternatively, an increasing number of companies are choosing to store their documents using electronic vaults — high-speed repositories that maintain print streams in their native format.
There are six factors that set electronic vaults significantly ahead of PDF storage. These factors consist of:
- Document accuracy
- Document quality
- Flexibility
- Speed
- Accessibility
- Long-term viability
Document Accuracy
With a PDF, what you see is not always what you get. PDF files may be different from the original document, particularly when it comes to applied colors and fonts. This problem is compounded when you take into consideration the effects of language translation. While you can, for example, translate a Spanish document into English, even subtle variations can change the meaning. Each level of translation introduces more errors that can never be undone. Take, for example, the translation and re-translation of the following simple phrase:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Translated into Spanish by Babelfish:
El zorro marrón rápido salta sobre el perro perezoso.
Translated back into English:
The fast brown fox jumps on the sluggish dog.
To avoid these problems, electronic vaults store documents in their original format. This technology offers native support for all major APA streams, output formats, and common data formats. Basically, the exact print stream used to generate the original document is stored, with no alterations or chance for errors. This is critical especially when archiving regulatory compliance documents, where the documents must remain unchanged.
Document Quality
Print streams, once ingested into an electronic vault, are compressed. This compression substantially reduces the amount of storage space required. But, unlike PDF compression where resolution is sacrificed, files can be decompressed in the electronic vault and restored to their original high-resolution quality.
Flexibility
There are many tools that allow the manipulation of PDFs, but converting a PDF is a difficult undertaking. PDF does not recognize paragraphs, formats, headers, footers, indentations, broken words, or line breaks – making it nearly impossible to transform back to the original. Electronic vaults, on the other hand, support multiple print and file formats, while providing the flexibility to enhance, modify, combine, and engineer print streams. Shared repositories provide access to both documents and data sources to support any type of analysis, web presentment, customer care, or self-service application.
Speed
Although print stream to PDF conversion is easy, the transformation is slow and must take place during data ingestion. Conversely, documents can be quickly loaded into an electronic vault with virtually no disruption to operations. This gives both customer service representatives and customers access to documents within hours of production.
Access
Quick and efficient document archival and access is critical. Indexing a manageable number of PDFs is an option. But, as the numbers of PDFs grow, and the index increases, performance degrades and response time slows. The benefit of electronic vaults is that they experience no performance degradation even as the repository increases. The more efficient ingestion process creates a much more scalable solution. The result — users quickly retrieve the exact page they want, regardless of file age, print stream page number, or document page count.
Long-Term Viability
Storage options for mission-critical documents must be able to maintain the files over the long haul. Since it is unknown what applications will be used in the future, it is important to store documents in their native format — something that storage in an electronic vault guarantees.
Companies around the world are realizing the many advantages of Group 1's e2 Vault. This high-speed, high-volume, high-performing repository provides access to critical communications — through virtually any interface or application. Users can instantly search, retrieve, and display customer documents.
With the electronic vault solution, customer service representatives, auditors, administrators, and brokers can view years of stored data, including statements, policies, and correspondence, saving significant time and money. Real-time indexing, compression, storage, and direct data-retrieval make it possible to integrate the most advanced document archive and retrieval solutions directly into call centers, partner networks, or customer websites quickly, usually in a matter of weeks.
Overall, the electronic vault approach rates high as a method of document storage when measured on factors including expense management, customer service, and compliance risk — with distinct advantages over PDF on multiple variables including document accuracy, document quality, flexibility, speed, accessibility, and long-term viability.
Download the Electronic Vault Advantage white paper, or learn more about Group 1's e2™ Vault and electronic document management.