1) Intro to Doc Gen

Document Generation Podcast Series

Episode 1 of 4: Introduction to Document Generation Software

Watch the Video on Youtube:

00:00 About Us (here)

00:25 Introduction (here)

01:54 Doc Gen Categories (here)

07:08 Doc Gen Automation (here)

10:02 Conclusion (here)

Read the Article Version:

Introduction:

This is the first chapter of a four-part series all about Document Generation Software, featuring host Preston Hurd. In this episode, we’ll provide a high-level overview of the category—the world of Document Generation Software—and how it’s transforming the way organizations create and manage documents. We’ve also created a complete Buyers Guide to Document Generation for Salesforce (here), available on our website for those who want to explore the topic in more depth.

This introductory discussion dives into how document generation automation streamlines the creation of customized, repeatable documents—such as proposals, contracts, invoices, and reports—by pulling data directly from Salesforce. Preston breaks down Document Generation into four key sub-categories, explaining how each supports organizations in creating, managing, and securely distributing documents at scale across departments like sales, operations, and HR.

So grab your cup of coffee, and let’s get started with our first question for Preston.

Body:

All right, here we go...  What are the four categories of Document Generation?

I want to add one important point before we dive in—throughout this episode, we’ll really be taking a Salesforce-focused approach. When we talk about Doc Gen, or Document Generation, we’re specifically discussing how it relates to pulling data from Salesforce. And why Salesforce? Because it’s by far the largest CRM provider in the world. While there are other Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms out there—like Microsoft Dynamics—our focus here is on the Salesforce ecosystem. That’s because Salesforce has an expansive marketplace of applications that extend functionality across nearly every business need, including today’s topic: Document Generation.

So, let’s dive right in. We’ve broken Document Generation down into four main categories—or buckets, if you will. The first is Document Generation Automation. You’ll notice I’ve added the word automation because these tools focus on automating the creation of clean, consistent, and professional documents. These documents pull dynamic data directly from Salesforce (or similar systems) to produce things like proposals, contracts, invoices, or letters—without manual effort. Once the templates are set up, users can generate these documents instantly with just the click of a button.

The second category is Electronic Signature and Digital Agreements. We’ve all used eSignatures on our mobile devices, but these platforms go far beyond simply clicking “sign.” They manage the entire signature workflow—from sending and tracking documents to ensuring contracts are securely handled as legally binding digital agreements.

Next is Forms and Workflow Automation. This category centers around the design and deployment of fillable forms that capture structured data. These forms—whether they’re applications, customer satisfaction surveys, or product kickoff questionnaires—can integrate directly into systems like Salesforce. Once submitted, the captured data can trigger automated workflows. For example, if a customer survey reveals negative feedback, that input can automatically create a service case in Salesforce for immediate follow-up.

The fourth and final category is Enterprise Content Management (ECM). These are robust systems designed for organizing, storing, and distributing digital documents and assets—essentially serving as a secure and accessible hub for all company content. Think of them as centralized, searchable repositories containing signed agreements, customer assets, onboarding documents, and more. ECM systems ensure that the right people within an organization have access to the right documents, with built-in permissions and sharing controls that maintain both accessibility and security.

So, those are the four main categories we’ll be exploring at a high level. As the series continues, we’ll go beyond the overview and dig into real-world examples—specifically within the retail industry—to show how these tools and technologies come to life in practical use cases.

One thing I noticed about your overview was that these are four distinctive categories of Document Generation. However, the first category, Document Generation Automation, sounds very identical to the umbrella category of Document Generation. Right. So how would you break down the difference between the two?

Well, that was intentional, Nick. You’re referring to the overall category of Doc Gen—the parent category—and within that, we have several subcategories that represent different areas of focus. The first one, which is the most closely related, is called Document Generation Automation. All four of these categories include Doc Gen tools in some way, and that can definitely cause confusion—especially since the first category’s name sounds so similar to the overall group.

The reason for that similarity is deliberate. Vendors in this first category are the ones most directly focused on automation—specifically, automating the actual creation of documents. This sets them apart from other categories like eSignature, which deal more with managing and finalizing those documents rather than generating them.

The other three categories—eSignature, Forms and Workflow Automation, and Enterprise Content Management (ECM)—all overlap with Document Generation, but their core strengths and use cases differ significantly. Instead of grouping all of these tools under one broad “Doc Gen” label, we’ve separated them based on their primary capabilities and focus areas. This approach makes it much easier to understand how each type of vendor fits within the broader Doc Gen ecosystem and where their individual strengths really shine.

So like you said, there's different categories, different use cases, and then there's some overlap between them. What would be the different use cases that each of these categories would address?

I think it’ll be really helpful for our listeners to hear real-world stories from brands and retailers—though, of course, Doc Gen is used across practically every industry you can think of. Still, taking a “retail spin” on things makes for a great way to illustrate how these tools work in action. I love talking about the retail side because it’s so relatable and tangible. By looking at a few examples from each of the four categories, we can really bring the concepts to life and help listeners have that “oh, okay, I get it now” moment.

Conclusion:

Thanks Preston. I think your overview of the four types of Document Generation software for Salesforce will really help the audience get a clear sense of what Doc Gen is all about. I'm already looking forward to the next episode where you break down those real world retail examples so we can actually see Doc Gen in action.

And thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Filtered Brew Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and took away some insights that you could apply to your own digital strategy. Be sure to visit TheFilteredBrew.com - it's the place to go for the latest software tech insights and where you can find more episodes and additional resources. If you liked what you heard today.

Don't forget to follow, rate and share the show. It really helps us grow and reach more Listeners like you. This has been the Filtered Brew Podcast where conversations are crafted, refined and brewed to perfection. Until next time, keep your ideas brewing and visit TheFilteredBrew.com

Transcript Timestamps:

00:00 About Us (here)

[Music]

00:25 Introduction (here)

0:25 Hello. Get ready for some tech talk over coffee where we filter through the latest digital tech one sip at a time. Welcome to the filtered brew, a tech podcast all about software. Your host is digital consultant Preston Herd. So join us for a cup of coffee. And let's get into what's brewing on today's menu. This is the first chapter of a four-part series all on document generation software. We will be providing a high-level overview of the category, the world of document generation software with host Preston Hurd. We've also created a complete buyer guide on our website, so we'll be sure to include a link to that in the podcast description. This first high level overview discussion explores how doc Gen automation transforms the creation of customized repeatable documents such as proposals, contracts, invoices, and reports by connecting directly with data from Salesforce. Preston breaks down Document Generation as a category into four key subcategories, explaining how each supports organizations in creating, managing, and securely distributing documents at scal across departments such as sales, operations, and HR. So, grab your cup of coffee and let's get started with our first question for Preston.

01:54 Doc Gen Categories (here)

1:54 All right, here we go. What are the four categories of document generation?

2:00 Thanks Nick. Great initial overview. I want to add one thing to it and that is throughout this episode we're really going to be having a Salesforce focus.

2:14 So Doc Gen - Document Generation exactly what you said. we are going to be talking about as it relates to pulling data from Salesforce.

2:27 Why? Because Salesforce is by far the largest CRM provider in the entire world. There are other customer relationship management CRM softwares out there. There's Microsoft Dynamics, for example, but we're really focused on the Salesforce ecosystem here. And that's because there's a vast variety of apps within this ecosystem and they extend functionality to just about anything you can think of including today's topic doc gen. So let's dive right into it. The the first one…

3:02 The first category we've broken this down into four different categories, four different buckets. The first one I'm calling Document Generation Automation.

3:14 You notice I added the word automation to it. These are tools that are focusing on automating the creation of documents.

3:25 But what kind of documents? Clean, consistent, professional documents. And they're using dynamic data that's pulled in directly from Salesforce or it could be pulled in from other similar systems.

3:37 So why is that important? Companies use that for proposals, for contracts, for invoices, for letters without manual effort. If it's an automated process,

3:48 They're able to do that once it's set up with a template with a click of a button. So that's the first category.

3:55 Number two, and by the way, all of these different categories, all four of them offer document generation in some way, shape, or form. Electronic signature and digital agreements. e signature. We've all heard, we've all done e signature on our mobile devices. These are platforms that specialize in managing signature workflows. There's a lot more to it than just clicking sign on your mobile device. It's the sending, it's the tracking, it's managing contracts that are legally binding agreements for digital acceptance and signature in that whole process.

4:38 Third, forms and workflow automation. So the third category is really more on the forms side of things. We're talking about the design of the forms, the deployment of these fillable forms. They have fields, how the data is taken in which can be used to and integrated into systems like Salesforce.

5:04 This is all about capturing structured data and you know whether it's an application or it's a customer satisfaction survey or a product kickoff questionnaires and then pushing that data right into Salesforce where it can be leveraged where it can be used that can then create other automated workflows to flow that into if it's a customer satisfaction survey and it's

5:28 Something that you know was a negative review well hey let's address that right ow and turn that into a case and manage it, right?

5:37 And then the fourth fourth category that we're talking about here is ECM. That's enterprise content management. These are robust systems that have robust capabilities for really focusing on the organization, the storage, the distributing of digital documents and assets. Could be content as well falling within content management systems. CMS and these enterprise content management systems provide security but also accessibility within their framework.

6:15 So, you know, think about here centralized searchable repositories. I love that word repositories of all of these signed agreements, these customer assets, the onboarding agreements, you know, all of the tools for then the access to these documents to the right people within the right divisions of companies for the control and then the sharing certain sharing privileges going along with that as well.

6:41 So, breaking it down, those are the four categories that we're going to be covering at a high level. And then we're going to touch on and really focus on when we get into actual use cases, telling stories about how is this used the the retail industry, brands, and retailers specifically when we dive into it. So, we've got some fun kind of uh ways for you to visualize this highle overview,

7:04 But that breaks down the four categories.

07:08 Doc Gen Automation (here)

7:08 One thing I noticed about your overview was that these are four distinctive categories of document generation.

7:17 However, the first category document generation automation sounds very identical to the umbrella category of document generation. Right?

7:28 So, how would you break down the difference between the two?

7:33 Well, that was intentional, Nick. You're talking about the overall category of Doc Gen, right? So, the parent category of Doc Gen, and within that we have the subcategories of all these different areas.

7:49 The first one which is the most closely related we've called document generation automation.

7:57 All four of these categories include Doc Gen tools and that can definitely be confusing especially since the first category sounds alike. Doc Gen Automation has a name that's very similar to the overall parent group. And when I say that's intentional, that's because vendors in this first category are the most directly focused on the automation, automating the actual creation of documents as compared to say e signature for example. So we named it that way with a focus. The other three categories that we're we've looked at e signature forms and workflow automation and ECM enterprise content management they all overlap with doct but their core strengths and the use cases for them are very different. So instead of grouping everyone under one umbrella of doct we split them up based on their primary strengths and where their capabilities really lie. In this way, it's a lot easier to understand how each of these different vendors because we looked at vendors and each one of these categories fits into the broader ecosystem.

9:13 So, like you said, there's different categories, different use cases, and then there's some overlap between them.

9:22 What would be the different use cases that each of these categories would address?

9:30 I think that'll be helpful for our listeners to see realworld stories of brands and retailers. For example, could be any industry. Doc Gen is used across practically every industry that I can think of.

9:46 But looking with the retail spin on things, and I love talking about this, the Retail side of things, you know, I think if we look at a couple examples for each one of these categories, it'll really shed some light on like, oh, okay, I get it.

10:02 Conclusion (here)

10:02 Thanks, Preston. I think your overview of the four types of Document Generation software for Salesforce will really help the audience get a clear sense of what Doc Gen is all about. And I'm already looking forward to the next episode where you break down those real-world Retail examples so we can actually see Doc Gen in action. And thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Filtered Brew podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and took away some insights that you could apply to your own digital strategy. Be sure to visit the filteredbrew.com. is the place to go for the latest software tech insights and where you can find more episodes and additional resources. If you liked what you heard today, don't forget to follow, rate, and share the show. It really helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. This has been the Filtered Brew Podcast, where conversations are crafted, refined, and brewed to perfection. Until next time, keep your ideas brewing and visit the filteredbrew.com.