Output Medium for the Purchasing Documents in SAP SRM

I was exploring as, how to configure the output medium for transmitting the POs to the  Vendors in SRM. This simple thought struck my mind. We can transmit the PO to the vendor by hard copy, fax, email, xml currently.

How about printing the POs directly in the printer at the vendors place ?

I can think of lot of advantages doing this both to the buyers and suppliers. 

I see a lot of benefits for the buyer in doing this :

1.      Save time and resources who handle courier and post activities in the organization.

2.      Delays due to courier/post could be avoided.

3.      Saves a lot in stationery/printer maintenance over a period of time.

4.      On the other hand all the cost is indirectly covered by the supplier.

5.      Save costs if the POs are sent as a Fax to the customer. 

Lets see the advantages from the vendors side:

1.      This could be a simple solution for vendors who cannot afford to store and process in Business Applications at the same time expect a hard copy of the POs for their records.

2.      The POs can also be sent as emails, if a soft copy is also required by the vendor. 

What it takes to technically implementing this kind of transmission:

1.      There should be a PC/printer at the vendors end connected to the internet. I believe this is bare minimum requirement and organizations do have computers.

2.      A small application which runs on both the sides to monitor the incoming POs and take care of the failure of transmission due to internet problems, printer problems etc.

3.      The Application should also take care of the acknowledgement and maintain the log of the POs transmitted to make the system fool-proof.

Your comments…….