“But it does the same thing!” – How similar things can be very different

The question is often asked by consumers “Why is X better than Y when they fundamentally do the same thing?” – be it a washing machine, a can of matt emulsion, a bicycle or even a piece of software. And this is true with PacSol’s solutions. We offer our own document management software products alongside (as a channel partner) other vendor applications. At a very fundamental level they are based on the same principles (scan / capture / index / search / retain / secure / automate) but they all offer something different.

It is this difference that is the unique selling point of any item or ‘product’ and the reason why there is not just one homogenised version of everything on the market. Imagine only having the choice of two cars – one in grey or a slightly darker shade of grey! My wife often asks why I need another guitar, “Don’t they all just do the same thing?” No, no, no….

 

A simple analogy for this concept - music.

In western society, certainly since the 16th century, all of us have been exposed to the chromatic scale – 12 evenly distributed pitches (notes) that make up the fundamentals of nearly all music we hear and consume today. Sometimes these 12 notes are defined into a diatonic scale (8 pitches out of the 12) which make up the major and minor keys often referred to. When you look at a piano, it becomes easy to see the ‘rigid’ definition of the system and the repeats (albeit an octave higher or lower) of those notes: 

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C*

(I chose the diatonic major scale of C on purpose as it’s just the white keys on a piano keyboard)

Yet here we are in the 21st century and the catalogue on Apple Music alone quotes an availability of >100 million tracks which in itself is not an exhaustive list of all the unique musical compositions created. But this is where music as an analogy makes it much easier to understand the more complex differences within an application or software suite that seemingly does the same thing.

We all no doubt have our favourite songs, artists, genres, film scores, classic compositions etc. They may be similar choices to the person sitting right next to you but there are undoubtedly differences. If you sit and compare those favourites between yourselves, no doubt based on the 12 chromatic pitches, you’ll see the rich diversity within those compositions. The same but different.

Obviously it is more complicated, of those 100 million tracks quoted, a percentage of those will be cover songs, re-workings or re-recordings of the same composition. However, a cover or re-work can sound unique even though it is based on something already created. And of the more original compositions within that 100 million, I am sure there are a fair few that some might claim ‘borrow heavily’ from previous compositions. I am sure most of us have all heard of at least one copyright case in the courts disputing the ‘originality’ of a song. Conversely there are compositions within that catalogue that try to do something more with the sum of its parts – micro-tonality, dissonance, modes, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, key shifts, atonality - to be unique.

And so it is with document management software - fundamentally built on the same principles and using similar basic functions, however, it is the creativity of the developer and/or the application of those fundamental principles, in a unique way, to address a particular functional aspect that makes these pieces of software different.

PacSol FastScan, DocuWare, Tungsten Automation Capture, IBM Datacap, Zeendoc and Agilico Software (Previously Invu Services) can all interface with a scanner and process (capture) an A4 paper invoice into a digital image for storage within a document management system. However, what happens in the creation of that image, the way it can be stored, the automation processing that can be applied, the availability of extract functions, the integration with preceding or post processes etc, makes each product different.

Back to the analogy and specifically cover versions - taking the sum of something else and making it better. I often cite Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” (a cover of Bob Dylan’s original 1967 composition) that is rightly (in my opinion) not only more famous but considerably better. An upgrade or re-working of an already established ‘product’ to bring greater benefits. Not changing the fundamentals but improving the presentation, flow and elements for a better experience. Of course, sometimes it does work in reverse – William Shatner’s cover of “Rocket Man” being comparable to Microsoft’s Windows 8 release (we have not forgotten Microsoft!!!) after Windows 7.

Toby Gilbertson, Director. August 2024

(Updated from an article previously published November 2021)

 

#PacSolUK #DocumentManagementSystem #BusinessProcessAutomation #DocuWare #TungstenAutomation #AgilicoInvu #Zeendoc #IBM