Nexus IS is one of the world’s top integrators of Cisco networking solutions. The Valencia, Calif.-based company designs and builds integrated infrastructures for applications such as unified communications, contact and data centers, network security and managed services. Nexus has installed more than 600 contact centers for 500,000 users globally. Its voice, video and web conferencing solutions support more than 15 million minutes of collaboration every month, and the company has installed more than 50 percent of all Cisco TelePresence units worldwide.
Customer documentation, such as statements of work, request for proposals, and service briefs must be reviewed by Nexus and the customer before installation can begin. These documents can range in size from a few pages to more than 100 pages. Because Nexus serves a large geographic region with many remote offices serving its customers, standardizing the documentation’s look and feel to create a consistent brand was a constant struggle.
Sales staff often stored templates locally on their hard drives and reused them without regard to accuracy or the latest branding communications. Nexus’ internal processes were scattered throughout directories across the network. Finding the right information often meant making several phone calls or performing hard drive searches, which sometimes wasted several hours. Inaccurate customer documentation can cause misaligned customer expectations with the potential to reduce customer satisfaction with Nexus’ services.
Nexus IS, Inc
Information technology
Valencia, California
Reduce the time required to create customer facing documents while building branding, documenting processes, and practice information control.
ActiveDocs Oemplate management and document automation system.
Decrease installation time, promote customer loyalty, centralize document creation processes.
“With ActiveDocs we are better able to control the content that goes out to customers while strengthening our brand.”
– Brook Rice, Technical Writer
Nexus implemented ActiveDocs template management and document automation software as its primary document creation system. The software runs on a server at the company’s headquarters in Valencia. Nexus has users located throughout the U.S.
ActiveDocs software allows Nexus to centrally control and manage its customer documentation so every time a sales representative creates a document, they can be assured that it contains the latest information. Procedural language is also included in the ActiveDocs Templates so field technicians can refer to customers’ installation requirements, reducing their dependence on support engineers and speeding the installation process.
ActiveDocs also enables Nexus to stay current with the latest marketing department messages while creating a consistent look and feel for its documents, strengthening its brand identity. Whenever Nexus changes the look and feel of its collateral, it can quickly redesign its Templates in ActiveDocs to match those efforts.
“Initially, we looked at ActiveDocs as a way to reduce the amount of time a sales rep would spend creating a document,” said Nexus Technical Writer Brook Rice. “However, once we started using ActiveDocs, we realized benefits that we never took into consideration.”
A collection of Templates and blocks of reusable content called Snippets reside on Nexus’ ActiveDocs server. The staff accesses the templates using their browser or a desktop client. Wizards lead them through the process of compiling the document, automatically populating the template with data from SQL databases, Excel spreadsheets and other information sources.
Microsoft integration enables program staff to work in either Word or Outlook without searching multiple information systems for data.
Centralized content mangement increases a document’s accuracy by ensuring that users have instant access to updated content. It also reduces complexity and workload for administrators controlling content, processes, branding and messaging.
Information source integration improves accuracy and consistency across multiple systems.
ActiveDocs has reduced the number of errors in Nexus’ documentation while drastically reducing the amount of time needed to create these documents. Automated content gathering ensures that current, accurate and uniform language goes into every document. Using ActiveDocs allows the company to focus more time on selling their products and less time reviewing documents.
“ActiveDocs enables us to centrally manage all the content that goes into our documentation,” Rice said. “For example, we can quickly update our documentation to reflect the latest state-of-the-art technology available to our customers. We can also reduce the number of mistakes made by providing our field technicians with the latest procedures.”
