Document Imaging Blog

Nuance Acquisition of eCopy

It has been an exciting week here, as Nuance Communications, a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, announced that they have acquired us. The combination results in a product set and organization that are complementary, expanding Nuance's imaging portfolio with the eCopy ShareScan, ScanStation and PaperWorks product lines, strengthening our mutual MFP vendor and channel partnerships, and enhancing our channel sales, training and support resources in North America, Europe and Asia.

 

The eCopy and Nuance management teams have already begun to work together on integration plans, and we will be reaching out to our partners and customers throughout the process. There are a few items that we can share with you immediately:

 

1. Nuance is committed to the full line of products from both companies

The eCopy and Nuance products are complementary, and Nuance is committed to the full line of eCopy products, including ShareScan, ScanStation and PaperWorks.

 

2. Nuance is committed to eCopy customers, MFP partners and channel partners

All of your eCopy and Nuance contacts remain unchanged, and can be reached through their existing email and phone numbers. The eCopy web site and support resources are also unchanged. 

 

3. Nuance is committed to a strong, combined organization

eCopy has developed an excellent team, with great products and great sales, sales support and online resources, all of which are highly valued by Nuance.  Throughout the integration process we will insure that we can maintain the high levels of product quality and service that eCopy customers and partners need to be successful.

 

Below are a couple of links to some of the initial industry commentary in the blogosphere about the acquisition. And please drop a comment to us here if you would like to weigh in.

InfoTrends InfoBlog

Xerox – Future of Documents

eWeek Article on Document Imaging and Microsoft Apps

Many organizations struggle with how to best integrate document imaging technologies with their Microsoft applications. A recently published article in eWeek by eCopy's Ed White covers the critical considerations when marrying document imaging with Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Access and SQL Server. The three-part article is a must read for IT managers implementing document scanning in conjunction with Microsoft technologies. You can read the article by clicking here.

AIIM 2009 - What wiil it bring?

AIIM kicks off next Tuesday in Philadelphia with some new branding (Info360) and a lot of anticipation around what the show will bring. Over the last couple of years, the show has been more of a gathering place for vendors, resellers and consultants, mixed with a spattering of end user customers. Will the change in venue from Boston to Philadelphia change that? How will the economy effect numbers? And what will the buzz be about?

One topic sure to be on the minds of attendees is SharePoint. The story has moved from "What is it?" to "How do I use it?" to "What has been your experience with it?" over the past couple of years, but without a doubt it will be a prominent part of many vendor's stories -- including us. We'll be presenting on SharePoint and Document Imaging in the Canon and Microsoft theaters:

• Canon Booth - Tuesday (noon); Wednesday (3:00) and Thursday (10:30)

• Microsoft Booth - Tuesday (11:30) and Wednesday (3:30)

AIIM is still the big event in the ECM realm and is always an important place to be seen and to continue to build the ecosystem. We'll be continuing on our strategy for the show for the past few years and supporting our ecosystem partners in their booths. Join us and our partners at:

• Canon (Booth #1701)

• Equitrac (Booth #2500)

• I.R.I.S. (Booth #605)

• Konica Minolta (Booth #1425)

• Microsoft (Booth #900/MP21)

• Rochester Software Associates (Booth #2248)

We look forward to seeing you at AIIM and I'll be sure to post a couple of times from the show. What are your expectations for this years show? Leave a comment!

Improving paper-intensive business processes

We’ve just completed a new paper on improving paper-intensive business processes. Among the topics covered is how integrating document imaging with the systems underlying BPM, and performing document scanning at the front-end of business processes, organizations can develop a bridge between the paper work and the electronic work that improved productivity and enables continuous improvement of business processes.

 

Enterprise software applications that drive document-centric workflows — such as enterprise content management (ECM) applications, enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing, and human resources applications — are all strong candidates for most organizations seeking to automate BPM and reduce enterprise dependency on paper- based processes. While BPM tools model, monitor, analyze,
and drive business processes, it is the business applications that both execute the steps within the processes, and that contain and manage the content and data. Cross-platform document imaging solutions provide the necessary integration points to include paper-based information into the electronic workflows managed by BPM suites.

 

   

 

 

Additionally, the paper includes an overview of some of the typical business problems caused by paper-based processes and discovery questions that can be used to identify these problems. Clearly, identifying and dealing with paper is only one step in process improvement. But without addressing paper-based processes, any BPM initiative will leave a large process improvement opportunity on the table.

Information Input and Output Relationships

I was talking to an IT director at a large customer of ours recently about his information management strategy and was impressed by his realistic and holistic view of information management…or Enterprise Content Management (ECM), to use AIIM’s industry term. Like many organizations, he has an ECM application in the center of his content management strategy. And, like many organizations, he has mapped out the connections from that ECM system to his line of business applications, Intranets, Extranets, desktop applications and email systems, as well as paper.

 

Where this conversation became interesting was his view of the input/output relationships between every one of these parts, including paper. This input/output relationship is often forgotten when considering paper, with the focus being solely on the act of converting paper-based information to electronic form (input). But conversion and input is only half of the story. Understanding how users work with electronic files (both scanned and digitally originated), is critical to the success of an information management strategy. What he has delivered is an information management strategy that encompasses the complete document or content lifecycle.

 

 

Think about your users’ work processes. Getting a paper document into an electronic system is good for storage, but most of the time that document needs to be accessed again, edited, possibly combined with other documents, and either shared or checked back into the system. These tasks typically consist of performing multiple steps and opening multiple applications. However, using standard document formats like PDF, and working with PDF software that is integrated directly with your other applications, can significantly reduce the number of steps…improving productivity, saving labor costs, reducing resource contraints, and creating a better work environment.

MFPs and Network/Data Security

I wanted to pass along a link to a great article on MFPs and security in Computer Technology Review, written by Sharp's Vince Jannelli.  It is a very succint and well-written summary of security concerns around  MFPs and I agree with nearly everything in it.

However, I want to address the following statment that Vince made in relation to platform virus security:

"A proprietary platform is idea, since it won't be susceptible to viruses designed to attack more popular oprating systems available on personal computers."

I don't dispute the statement. But, it is important to weigh the trade offs between a proprietary platform and an open platform. While the risk of viral attack is lower because it is unlikely hackers will develop malicious code aimed at proprietary MFP platforms, the costs of managing those proprietary platforms are significant -- particularly for those companies that have mixed fleets (brands) of MFPs.

This problem is becoming more apparant as MFPs increasingly fall into the realm of IT and become increasingly integrated into business and IT infrastuctures. Some costs of proprietary platforms include:

• IT Training and Staffing costs
• Limited options fo 3rd party integrations (ISVs resist developing on proprietary  platforms unless that platform has a significant majority of marketshare)
• Integration code isn't portable to other platforms (what happens if you switch brands, or acquire a brand through M&A, etc.)

Furthermore, there are open platform solutions on the market today for MFPs that are secure and meet the criteria that Vince laid out for solutions: data security, access control, audit trails, network security, fax security and platform virus security. To read more about how these and other security concerns are addressed in an open platform, check out the white paper, Addressing Document Imaging Security Issues.

 

 

Partner Ecosystems and the Customer

Jeff Shuey, who writes a great blog about the intersection of People and Process, made a very important comment in a recent post about Microsoft partners. Talking about how each partner in an ecosystem benefited (revenue wise) from the ecosystem, he noted one of the primary benefits of ecosystems for customers:

 

"…customers can take comfort in the knowledge that the partner ecosystem will be there to support them. Note that I said the 'ecosystem' – I did not say the specific partners. A vibrant partner ecosystem allows the mix of partners to change over time to meet the ever changing needs of the customer."

 

This is in reference to Microsoft, but it applies to the Document Imaging ecosystem as well. Hardware manufacturers, ISVs, VARs, Office Equipment Dealers and Systems Integrators all sit in the ecosystem, and can all benefit from working together. But rarely do the ecosystem pieces remain static at a customer. MFP vendors change on a regular basis as leases expire. New software applications are consistently being rolled out. And the VARs, dealers and SIs that sell and support these systems change with them.

 

In the Microsoft world, Microsoft sits at the center of the ecosystem as the glue. Choose to work with Microsoft, and you also get the benefit of working with their ecosystem. With Document Imaging, that glue is an open platform that lets any scanning device (MFPs and scanners) connect to any software application. Add some Xerox devices to a Canon environment? – no problem. Decide to roll-out SharePoint to supplement OnBase and Documentum? No need to change how you handle the problem of getting paper into those systems.

 

Ecosystems are an essential ingredient in delivering customer-focused solutions. And they help drive standards. And, they present revenue opportunities for all the partners involved. It’s no wonder that Microsoft spends so much money on building theirs!

Moving Down the Paperless Trail

"It's cheaper, it's easier, it gives you and your employees more flexibility, your savvier competitors are doing it, and since it requires flexibility it gives small businesses an advantage over large ones."

Wow...that's a pretty compelling argument. What's it about? It's Slate.com's BizBox's description of "going electronic" in an article summarizing an interview that fellow blogger and eCopy employee, Bill Brikiatis, did with Forbes.

The full article provides lots of good information for companies to consider when working to reduce the amount of paper in their work environment, but here's a few high-level takeaways that BizBox called out to backup their statement above:

1. Electronic is faster
2. The transition away from paper requires institutional flexibility, and that gives small businesses a leg up over big ones
3. At this point, being primarily paper-based is inefficient, because everyone's already partly electronic-based
4. Don't forget security

All good arguments for why to move towards a paperless environment. Are you working on a paperless initiative? Tell us how you are going about it and how you are justifying your initiatives!

Kick the Tires on Document Imaging Solutions

eCopy is hosting a free, one-day conference where business and IT professionals can learn more about document imaging solutions. eCopy Discovery Day takes place on October 9 in Boston. 

The conference will provide an excellent venue for organizations with existing or planned document imaging projects. Not only does the day include educational sessions but it also has an exhibit pavilion where all participating vendors are available for individual consultations.

Here’s an opportunity to discuss your organization’s specific document imaging requirements with companies such as eCopy, EMC, Canon, HP, Microsoft, Ricoh and others. The exhibit pavilion will have more than 50 software products integrated with the top MFP and scanner brands, allowing you to see these solutions in action.

The conference takes place at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston. Attendance is free with advance registration and walk-ins will be charged $50.

Ricoh, IKON and Document Imaging

Ricoh’s announcement this week that they will be acquiring IKON is big news in the office equipment industry and certainly is spurning lots of questions about the impact on MFP manufacturers, their sales channels, and customers. Let’s take a look at what this means for users of document imaging software:

1) This is the third acquisition of a large office equipment dealer. First, Xerox purchased Global Imaging Systems. Then, in April, Konica Minolta purchased Danka. And now, Ricoh purchased IKON. And many smaller office equipment dealers have been purchased by a variety of MFP manufacturers. We are certainly seeing a trend here.

2) There is likely to be more consolidation in the MFP industry because margins are shrinking and there are simply too many players.

3) If you are a customer of document imaging software that is used in conjunction with office equipment, it is more important than ever to invest in software that supports multiple platforms (vendors) so that you are protected from these events.

We have often talked on this blog of the importance of using document imaging software that works across multiple brands and types of scanning devices. This trend of acquisitions is another proof point for that message. As we noted in our blog post following the Danka acquisition, platform agnostic software is required if you want to make sure that you are not locked into a particular brand of MFP.

If you have any questions or comments about this acquisition, or its impact on you, please post a comment.