Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Pitch

ADM-Live making PDF formats more user friendly

By Lynette F. Cornell

ADM-Live Inc.
Headquarters: South Grafton
Phone: 774-293-1293
Email: raghu.nandan@adm-live.com
URL: www.adm-live.com
Founded: 2009
Employees: 5


In the company’s own words:
“The intrinsic limitation of PDF forms is that they cannot be filled and submitted online. Our software enables an applicant to edit and submit the form electronically with an e-signature and e-pay, auto-route, process, store and retrieve submitted e-forms. This is truly a green, sustainable solution.”

About the technology:
The company has developed a patent-pending Java-based software engine that converts a PDF form so that an end user will be able to fill in the form with their specific data and submit it electronically. Once submitted, the software engine extracts data from the form and saves it into the database. The original form itself, while remaining in PDF format, is also saved into the database. A Sharepoint-based web portal allows electronic and paperless processing, tracking, sign off and approval through an auto-routing process and final approved e-forms are stored in a database according to a retention schedule.

Its first product, ADM-Municipal, is designed to provide towns and cities with a means to automate their permitting process through a system that is custom-built for their particular town. The web portal allows town officials to check on the status of a permit application in real time, track and report on the permits, approve, reject or renew permits online and email the approved, rejected or renewed permits as attachments to original applicants. According to Nandan, the system would eliminate use of paper copies for permit processing and eliminate the need to store paper copies of permit applications. The company is currently an approved statewide contractor in Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.

People behind the company:
Raghu Nandan, CEO and president, has a background in managing software development projects. Abhay Chavan, chief technology officer and executive vice president, was most recently a vice president of strategic solutions with State Street Corp. David DeManche, chief operating officer and executive vice president, previously served as the business manager for the Cornerstone Academy in Northborough. Jagadish Prasanna and Surbhi Jain both serve as programming consultants.

The pitch:
The company is seeking business partnerships with companies consulting on and implementing environmentally friendly business practices, such as paperless forms, for large corporations. The company is also looking for $350,000 in angel investment for use in product enhancement, marketing and sales.

Market size:
The company is targeting the markets of corporations implementing environmentally friendly business solutions and also the market of e-permitting systems for public sector for a combined size of $90 billion, according to Nandan.

The competition:
The company’s competition includes major vendors like Google, with its Google Docs, and DynaFile, a brand of Blue Ribbon Technologies Inc. According to Nandan, each of these vendors is looking for its own niche in the paperless form market arena, and ADM-Live’s speciality is in internal operations that require routing and processing of the forms to be made paperless.