This month, we talked with David Alcook, Automation Consultant at Applied Innovation, about a deal his team closed at a large commercial bakery with 2,000 employees.
How did you find the prospect?
We worked with Jeff Hiatt, our Regional Sales Director, to take the company from being a promising lead to becoming a customer. Jeff met with them and uncovered a need for both backfile scanning and document management.
Applied Innovation offers a complete solution by combining DocuWare for document management with professional scanning services through a trusted partner, making us a strong fit for the opportunity.
Who were the decision-makers?
The CFO, the Vice President of HR, and the ownership group made the final call. The company is unique because it’s 100 years old and has always been privately owned.
We also met with the Vice President of IT, who felt confident that Applied Innovation’s team and the DocuWare platform could successfully meet the company’s needs.
What pain points/business problems did DocuWare help solve?
The company’s HR, accounts payable, and accounts receivable departments were ready to move from paper-based processes to digital workflows. Executives liked the fact that they could work with one partner, Applied Innovation, across multiple initiatives.
HR staff needed to search for and retrieve critical employee records quickly and efficiently. This was challenging because they were managing approximately 325,000 HR documents stored in 1,200 banker boxes across five locations. It was difficult to determine where specific records were stored, and retention schedules had to be monitored closely due to a unionized workforce.
The accounts payable and accounts receivable teams process between 3,000 and 4,000 invoices per month and pull data from multiple systems. This made it difficult to identify duplicate entries and flag errors. They wanted a centralized, digital solution to streamline document-heavy workflows and improve accuracy.
What closed the deal?
We won because Applied Innovation delivered an end-to-end solution, combining DocuWare’s document management capabilities with secure backfile digitization services. The company wanted to simplify its technology stack rather than manage multiple vendors.
Having a single source of truth, along with DocuWare’s ability to integrate with their Sage X3 ERP, was a key deciding factor.
We also focused on helping leadership understand the value we would deliver. Every organization has operational “fires,” and we helped them prioritize which challenges to address first for the biggest impact.
Will you be expanding the use of DocuWare to other departments?
There is a potential opportunity to digitize sales documents. Today, sales representatives in the field don’t have easy access to contracts or related documentation. Instead, they call the main office and ask someone to locate the information for them.
What advice would you give a Partner working on a deal with multiple decision-makers?
Don’t rely on internal communication alone. There may not be a single person responsible for sharing the full picture with every stakeholder. Your team needs to ensure that each decision-maker clearly understands the value and impact of the solution you’re proposing.
