The Web-based service provides clients with the ability to track and administer PDF documents through a variety of distribution channels.On Thursday, Toronto-based company Remote Approach announced the launch of its inaugural solution, an online service that provides its clients with the ability to track and administer PDF documents through a variety of distribution channels.
"A user uploads the PDF they want to track to Remote Approach, assigning variables like 'distribution channels' and 'groups' to add additional detail to the data captured. From there, they can download and distribute the PDF as desired," said John Bielby, president of Remote Approach Inc.
"Every time the PDF is read, it briefly interacts with the reporting repository to record the event. The user has access to live reports and data to see reports on views, distribution by channel or user group, or even download the logs into other systems and applications," Bielby said.
According to Bielby, clients of the service already are using it in several ways.
Some simply wish to know whether their customers actually read or forward a client's PDFs after downloading them from the client's Web site, while others engaged in peer-to-peer marketing want measurable data on whether their available PDF is being effective, given that traditional Web analysis can't measure such data.
"Using our service, [our clients] have been able to gauge the depth of their document penetration through the peer-to-peer networks. They can then use this data and reports to measure the effectiveness of their budget, identify more effective file names and determine timelines for document distribution," Bielby said.
Forrester Research principal analyst Bob Markham said that while other applications exist that are similar to Remote Approach's, he is not aware of any other solution that is subscription-based.
Bielby said that designing the solution as Web-based was intentional.
"We wanted to make sure anyone working with PDF documents would have access to our software and not roll out various versions for Windows, Mac, Linux [and so forth] over years, as some companies have chosen to do," said Bielby, adding that integration with other reporting applications was a key concern for Remote Approach.
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In addition, Remote Approach took a Web-based services approach because it wanted the cost of entry to be low.
"Rather than taking on additional engineering projects and putting the client at risk with questions of whether their program was supported, we ensured that access to not only the reports but the raw data itself is available to our clients. With this method, they can not only use our reporting systems but can export the data to any other applications" that can access the data, Bielby said.
Next Page: Skepticism surfaces.
For his part, however, Forrester analyst Markham expressed skepticism about what he described as a lack of value for the customers of clients using this service.
According to him, clients of Remote Approach risk the possibility that their customers will rebel against what they perceive as intrusiveness if they perceive that they do not benefit on their end.
Remote Approach's service "doesn't offer the customer any type of security in the way Adobe [LiveCycle] Policy Server does, [such as] a small logo that indicates this [PDF] is authorized as an official document from the company. Nor does it offer 'active document' capabilities" that could, for example, update a product spec sheet for the end user, Markham noted.
In response, Bielby said that within the next few weeks, Remote Approach will be offering its clients the optional feature of including a Remote Approach logo at the top of any tagged PDF.
At the same time, Bielby pointed out that the purpose of the service is tracking, reporting and analytics.
He added that he does not think customers will find it too intrusive; no more information is being collected in this fashion than when a visitor surfs to a given Web page, because Remote Approach's service uses well-established reporting norms, he said.
"If a user is disturbed that when visiting Yahoo [his or her] IP address is recorded and a record of that page view is stored in the server logs, then [he or she] will be similarly unhappy with this service.
"It's overdue to provide PDF publishers the tools that Web publishers have had for some time. It will allow document publishers to know what their audiences like and dislike so they can produce more—or less—of it," Bielby said.
Document Management 
