Case story

Real World: DocOut™ Outperforms Again

Two challenges that health and life insurance provider Pacific Guardian wanted to conquer were finding a solution that would allow its employees to print on network printers from their AS/400 and finding an alternative to archiving reports on microfiche. Through research and evaluation, Pacific Guardian decided to purchase DocOut™, which appeared to fit the specs, cost, and flexibility that Pacific Guardian desired.

Pacific Guardian opened its doors in Honolulu back in 1961 and now, in 2000, Pacific Guardian is the largest life and health insurance company in Hawaii, with markets in 20 western U.S. states, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

A mixed network of core AS/400 and NT servers has been an integral part of the company's business system, fulfilling both internal employee needs and external customer needs.

Since Pacific Guardian already had a workable hardware solution, its expectations in terms of dependability, functionality, and manageability were extremely high.

Bringing you up to speed

Pacific Guardian was faced with two challenges, the first being that it could not print from the AS/400 to the network. This problem demanded that Pacific Guardian purchase and maintain specific printers for its AS/400 system.

The second problem involved archiving reports generated by the AS/400. Pacific Guardian's current method of archiving these reports involved transferring the reports to microfiche. However, this method was expensive and required a large amount of storage space as well as special equipment for viewing and printing. To recover a certain document was very time consuming.

Looking for help

The systems networking and technologies department at Pacific Guardian sought a more elegant solution. Via the Internet Pacific Guardian narrowed its choices to two products, one of them being DocOut™. Both solutions claimed to have the ability to allow AS/400 machines to print on network printers, and both solutions' manufacturers offered a free evaluation period, a requirement for Pacific Guardian to purchase any product. Evaluations went well, successfully allowing Pacific Guardian to use one printer for both AS/400 and regular network printing. However, DocOut™ offered a PDF feature, which would become the solution to using microfiche to archive documents. As a result, in light of its superior performance and additional benefits, Pacific Guardian decided to purchase DocOut™.

DocOut™ offered the solution of integration and transparency of LAN and AS/400 printing. It enabled employees to use existing hardware and eliminated the need for printers designated specifically for the AS/400 and maintenance associated with running multiple printers. DocOut™ also allowed employees to use the optional output bins that HP printers offered; jobs could now be separated and sorted properly without having to allocate additional time and resources. DocOut™) even supported duplex printing.

The most important aspect of the DocOut™ software was its ease of use in creating PDF files from AS/400 spool files. Employees simply had to release the spool files in the out queue, and DocOut™ did the rest. This feature alone saved the company thousands of dollars. For example, what used to cost $1,000 in microfiche could now be put on a 69-cent CD-ROM, not to mention the time allocated to producing and storing the microfiche. In addition, the expensive machines required to produce and read the microfiche were now history. Furthermore, the PDF archiving solution positions Pacific Guardian for future distribution of reports to its agents, brokers, and customers in an industry-standard format.

A sound solution

Being a life and health insurance provider, Pacific Guardian's goal is to deliver the best service to current clients while building a stable foundation to acquire and support new clients. DocOut™ supports up to 200 printers per server, allowing Pacific Guardian to grow without having to worry about the consequences of adding more printers.