First steps
When we founded DocPath in 1992, our only concern was to produce solutions that, in our opinion, the market were demanding to satisfy customers’ needs and thereby establish our future business. Only that way would we secure a place in the area of document software technology.
As with any organization that begins from scratch, it took us a little time at DocPath to understand the importance that other business affairs would have for the future of our business. In fact, we could even say that we underestimated some things that later proved to be crucial for us.
Fortunately, our business was established over the first months in operation and we experienced steady growth, which was sometimes faster than we would have liked. At first, we made sure to reinforce departments that were linked directly to our primary business focus, i.e. departments relative to design, development and quality. Shortly after that we realized it was necessary to create an authentic organizational infrastructure that would give life and personality to our business. It also occurred to us that it would be a good idea to establish a solid and coherent Marketing strategy, since thereby we would be able to reach a larger market segment and consolidate our position with respect to other document technology manufacturers.
Consolidation
After we established our first commercial relationships and made a few significant sales that secured a stable income stream, we put our heads together to determine the next steps that we should take to consolidate our business and achieve sustainable growth.
Our first need was to acquire an integrated management system that would minimize our administrative costs and be flexible and scalable so that it could be part of our future infrastructure. After analyzing different options that the market offered us, we concluded that we ourselves should develop our own integrated management system. This would allow us to use our own products and have this new area serve as an additional research laboratory from which we could extract new ideas and applications, and in which we could even ‘baptize’ our more novice employees.
I must admit that this project has been a resounding success for us. Not only have we met all our initial objectives with it, it has also become the basis of our quality control system, which underpins all our operations and processes, and for which we obtained ISO certification several years ago.
It should be noted at this point that quality has become a cornerstone of our business. Our recently established integrated management system, Magallanes, which our American colleagues affectionately refer to as ‘Maggie’, has enabled us to thoroughly document and control all of our processes. Using this powerful computing tool has reduced mistakes to a minimum because now it’s not necessary to rely on someone to remember at the right time to move on to the next step in some particular process as the system automatically monitors each step of our business processes.
Looking ahead
The second task that we addressed was the creation of a Marketing department that would be responsible for promoting our solutions and corporate image in the market. For this purpose, we hired qualified marketing professionals, and once they received the necessary training, they went to work to achieve our desired goals. These professionals are complemented by external support, which includes consulting with Electronic Commerce and Public Relations agencies.
After this fundamental development, other no less important advancements followed. Procedures were set up to establish regular customer relationships and for determining our customers’ feelings and needs as well as their levels of satisfaction with our products and services. At DocPath we do an annual survey of all users of our products. This allows us to convey to our customers that they can always count on our full support.
The belief that a company doesn’t exist unless it’s on the Internet led us to develop our Web site several years ago. It’s primary purpose is communication with our customers. Currently it’s going through its latest changes. We believe this powerful communication tool should be alive and evolving with the times.
The importance of new mass media
At DocPath we’re aware of the importance of mass media for informing customers about different products. For this reason, we regularly issue press releases to the market, we participate in special sections that newspapers and magazines dedicate to document software, and we write opinion pieces on the most debated current issues.
To boost the effect of communication media, we use the powerful PRWeb® tool and we have hired the support of an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert. With this assistance, we can increase viewing on the Web of different DocPath news items, optimize our positioning on the major search engines and redirect traffic to our Web site.
DocPath firmly believes that social networks and blogs are very practical tools, since they can be used to communicate directly with target audiences.
Thanks to our PR agency, all our press releases are accessible to anyone with a Facebook profile. Additionally, as part of our modernization process, in the next few months we hope to start a blog, where our customers will be able to find additional information about our software solutions, where we’ll be able to discuss topics of interest with our customers, and where we’ll be able to help our customers get the most out of our products.
Julio Olivares,
President and Founder of DocPath