Document Imaging Blog

Scanning as a Compliance Driver

In an unpublished InfoTrends’ research project conducted slightly more than one year ago, we surveyed the US financial services industry to learn about the adoption rates and technology usage behaviors of office/workgroup document solutions. Compliance matters loomed large in this study.

We surveyed more than 350 businesses in the segments of: banking, insurance, investment, and credit and lending. Approximately 50% of the respondents came from large businesses with 1,000 employees, followed by an even split between medium (100-999) and small (1-99) at 25% each.

We asked many questions about technology and compliance. One question in particular caught my attention and was able to summon up the slide from my archives. The question posed had 344 respondents and it was phrased this way, “please identify whether you believe the following technologies would help with the following compliance regulations. Please check all that apply.” (refer to graph immediately below)

View this photo

Scanning hardcopy documents as an action to help organizations meet the requirements of compliance ranked highest in value across all ten compliance measures tested, whereas, scanning hardcopy documents directly to a central repository scored second highest in value against these same measures.

It became clear to us that scanning as a baseline business activity is highly valued by the respondents of our survey as playing a critically important function in helping their organization to satisfy a plethora of compliance regulations. Capturing paper-based documents digitally via scan followed by indexing, routing, storing and securing same is vital to an organization’s ability to be compliant, regardless of the regulation in play.

So is scanning a compliance driver? From our perspective, yes indeed.

For more information, I would focus on the following regulations/standards, which hit all of the major elements of compliance and are the most far-reaching and well-known:

Amended FRCP (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure)

Records management, archiving, and discovery perspective

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Rules_of_Civil_Procedure <-- high-level overview
• www.uscourts.gov/rules/EDiscovery_w_Notes.pdf <-- the amendments with notes
• https://extranet1.klgates.com/ediscovery/ ß a searchable database of e-discovery cases… good stuff

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Assurance Act)

Security and privacy

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA
• http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/ - Health & human Services Web site for HIPAA information
• http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/m2e411a1.htm - HIPAA Privacy Rule and Public Health Guidance from CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services*

SOX (Sarbanes Oxley)

Internal controls

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOX_404_top-down_risk_assessment <-- section 404 of SOX is the infamous “internal controls” part… this risk assessment is a key aspect of compliance

This is also interesting -- http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2008/m08-15.pdf

A white house memo saying that “When planning for and acquiring information systems and services, agencies must incorporate records management and archival functions, including the cost of implementing and maintaining those functions, into the design, development, and implementation of information systems.”

MFPs in Distributive Scanning

Because of the proliferation of MFP devices in the office, the accessibility to scanning has increased.  Awareness and use of the MFP scanner have risen because of the ease of integrated solutions and openness to share the device.  At InfoTrends, we believe that the acceptance of scanning due to this proliferation of MFP devices has exponentially increased scanning activity (the overall pie has grown). More workers in the office are becoming accustomed to scanning Ad Hoc documents; therefore, this is no longer a specialized application in the office environment.  As workflow solutions begin to play a greater role in the office environment, scanning and scanner technology are becoming vital elements for knowledge workers.  The following interesting statistics are from a recently published study (conducted at the end of 2007 and published in early 2008) from our Image Scanning Trends practice area entitled US Document Image Scanning Report 2007:

·         70% of companies using document scanners report that MFPs are used for scanning in their organization.

·         Respondents using MFP scanners estimate their weekly average scan volume is greater than the weekly average scan volume reported for Workgroup scanners - The mean volume per scanner per week is estimated at 2,672 pages for MFP scanners and 1,892 pages for Workgroup scanners.

·         Many respondents (56%) estimate that their MFP scanning volume will increase - 31% estimate that their MFP scanning volume will stay the same, while only 13% estimate that volume will decrease.

·         The highest percentage of documents scanned on MFPs is for ad-hoc purposes (40% of documents). However, increasing numbers of users are scanning for more advanced applications such as records management (62% of users) and for business process applications (54% of users) - The percentages of documents scanned for records management and business process applications are not as high as for ad-hoc scanning, but the percentage of respondents who are broadening their usage of MFP scanning is significant.

·         Many respondents expect they will be scanning more documents to use as part of business processes - 40% of those that use MFPs for business-process applications report that their use of scanning to enable business processes will increase. 24% believe that they will increase the number of documents scanned so that data may be extracted from the documents and used as part of a business process. 33% believe that the volume of documents scanned for archiving, document management, and records management will increase.

·         Higher percentages of users who use single-function document scanners in addition to their MFPs scan for business-process applications than those who use only MFPs - Users with only MFPs tend to do a higher percentage of ad-hoc scanning (52% of documents) than those who also have distributed single-function scanners (34% of documents). More respondents who have both MFPs and single-function document scanners use the MFPs for records management (70% of users) than those who use only MFPs (44% of users). We therefore speculate that users who employ distributed single-function scanners may be more inclined to extend the applications they perform on distributed single-function scanners to their distributed MFP scanners as well.

For the near term, InfoTrends believes that MFP scanning will largely continue to be used for low-volume applications rather than high-volume applications, primarily because sharing a device with those who are copying and printing is not practical in a high-volume situation. It is likely that numerous small companies that wish to scan and have very little equipment will turn to MFPs in these situations, rather than buying a low-volume, single-function scanner. At the same time, many companies will still appreciate the capabilities that a single-function scanners bring to the office in terms of image quality, usability, and paper handling, and will opt for these devices. Single-function scanners are also beginning to be equipped with some of the same features as MFP scanning devices, such as large screen displays, networked (shared) capabilities, and application integration support.  At any rate, we believe that scanning, whether it is from an MFP or scanning device, has acquired a significant role in the office environment.

Greening the Office/Workgroup Environment

The “green” wave is finally working its way into the daily conversation and consciousness of American business. Although this topic is complex, multi-faceted, and far too sophisticated to be covered adequately in a one time blog entry, I thought I might take this opportunity to focus on one tiny element of business sustainability: document capture and scanning.

Reducing the negative impact of a business on the environment has become an imperative strategic initiative for an ever increasing number of SMB and enterprise class organizations. The methods being used to achieve this goal range from reducing resource usage and implementing carbon offsets to recycling and engaging in many other green activities: this list goes on and on.

Many organizations are finding that document management solutions and imaging products are integral to their environmental agenda, assuming they have one. Among other benefits, businesses that implement document management strategies often experience a dramatic reduction in their company-wide paper consumption and CO2 emissions through the reduced printing, postage, and storage of everyday business documents.  An obvious way to reduce paper usage in the office is to use scanners to convert paper-based documents to digital format.  Although there is still a paper component in the scanning process, the purpose of the process of the workflow (i.e.: scan to repository) is to reduce paper and increase efficiency.  This results in other positive residual effects on the environment such as reducing the storage or physical mailing/transporting of paper-based documents, which can impact fuel costs related to the transportation of those documents.

In the case of the office/workgroup, reducing the consumption of environmental resources, , can be accomplished by addressing the endless sea of paper that is used by implementing an electronic document management system. The digital age has already transformed the office environment as it relates to paper.  Just 20 years ago, the office did not have tools like the Internet or e-mail. The Internet has changed the dynamics of communications and had some positive effect on our environment, as it has led to less copying of documents and a lower volume of memos being sent around the office or to other locations.  One would think that the shift to electronic storage and transport of documents electronically would benefit the planet and reduce the consumption of paper-based documents, but the question remains whether our generation is still printing pages at its destination and/or reprinting electronically stored documents.

As with any tool or technology, it is how these mechanisms are deployed, managed, and policed that can really make the difference when attempting to bring about change.  Taking the initiative to set these policies, put these practices (to store more and print less) into place, and make a conscious effort to help future generations is really the only way we will be able to make a difference.

Document Capture in a Down Economy

Because of the mixed effect of general economic conditions here in the USA many economists and industry analysts have opined that IT spending will continue at a flat rate through 2008, although the majority of IT spending that does occur will be heavily focused on ROI in addition to technologies that address and promote knowledge-worker efficiency.  We see this as a grand opportunity for the document capture, workflow and the document management markets.  As companies continue to focus on reducing costs and invoking parallel cost avoidance measures, so are vendors looking to provide solutions to help companies achieve these goals.  InfoTrends has observed an important trend unfolding in our market and it has to do with the growing interest and activity around the optimization of MFP fleets and the initiation of workflow improvements to increase work efficiency and reduce costs.

 

In our on-going research in this area, we continue to measure companies’ document related output spend and that in  many cases we have observed SMB and enterprise class businesses spending upwards of 6% of their annual overall revenues on document output related activities! InfoTrends believes the first step toward the realization of cost savings can most easily be achieved through managing output spending more effectively via fleet management – Sharing MFP devices and eliminating from the fleet inefficient devices that are costly.  The next step in reducing unnecessary print output and also improving efficiencies is through capture, workflow and document management initiatives.  Interestingly enough, when C-Level executives first experience the savings from both of these initiatives, they are much more inclined than not to act upon these reasons than any other.  In a recent Multi-client study entitled,” Document Assessments and Cost Optimization” InfoTrends found that, on the average, companies that have performed document assessments have saved 15% to 20% on output related costs. Furthermore, 90% of these very same organizations implement strategies and tactics to continuously improve document workflow across the enterprise in their drive toward operational efficiency. When asked “What types of software solutions has your company incorporated in your organization due to implementing document assessment and workflow services?” – The top 2 solutions mentioned were document management/electronic storage and scanning/capture technologies.

Jon K. Reardon - Group Director, InfoTrends

Four Tips for Document Imaging and SharePoint

"Companies are turning in droves to Microsoft’s SharePoint platform, quickly recognizing the benefits of a system that enables better collaboration and document workflows, and therefore improving information worker productivity and efficiency. However, many processes and workflows require information that’s only available in paper documents."

This is the start of an article this week in WindowsITPro, and is a statement that more and more end user organizations can relate to as they implement SharePoint and face the problem of integrating their paper-based and electronic workflows. Document imaging software – made available to any office worker – is the best solution, but there are many choices of which software to use.

When considering document imaging software for use with Microsoft SharePoint, four considerations can help you make a good decision:

1) The document imaging software should have a zero footprint on the SharePoint server.

2) Look for software that offers out-of-the-box functionality and navigation into your SharePoint environment. Document imaging software should adapt immediately to the environment that you have setup – even if you have done extensive customization to the environment.

3) The document imaging software should offer support for all SharePoint Content Types, Metadata, Workflows (Workflow Foundation Server), etc.

4) Security – The software should match the user authentication and access rights settings that have been set on the SharePoint server. There should be no need to setup separate authentication processes for document imaging.

There are lots of additional resources to learn about document imaging for SharePoint, including archived Webinars and case studies, at this link.

Distributed Capture Platforms

Frost & Sullivan has released a new white paper: “Distributed Capture Platforms: Reducing Costs, Removing Bottlenecks and Mitigating Risk”. It provides a great overview of distributed capture, the opportunities that it presents across multiple industries and challenges that may face. In full disclosure, eCopy co-sponsored this report with EMC. Download the report here.

A particular phrase within the report struck a chord with me.

“Regardless of why a distributed workforce exists, the use of distributed capture technology can help ensure employees in decentralized settings are successful.”

A distributed workforce no longer just the realm of the sales team and a few specified industries like retail and banking. The fact is -- when considering how to capture paper – if that paper has to be moved from its point of origin than a distributed workforce exists and there is an opportunity for distributed capture.

If you are heading to EMC World in a couple of weeks, be sure to stop by the eCopy booth (#323), the EMC booth (#425) or the Burntsand booth (#413) to chat about distributed capture and how the three companies can combine to deliver a powerful distributed capture solution.

Guarding against insider security threats

Alan Joch wrote an interesting post on the Printing & Imaging Blog this week about insider security breaches and steps companies are taking to protect their information. He suggests that companies investigate print logs – paying attention to what is printed, who is printing that information and when (during or after business hours, for example).

This is a good practice, especially for companies that deal with compliance and audit concerns, and should also be considered for scanned documents. It reminds me of a story a colleague shared recently about a customer of ours in the Securities industry. Being in the business of securities and trading – and therefore under the watchful eye of the SEC -- the company had concerns over who was sending what information, and where it was being sent. They wanted to allow employees to scan and e-mail documents from the MFP and therefore need to choose a document imaging solution that could meet those security requirements. This company recognized two core document tracking needs to address when it came to choosing their document imaging solution:

1) They needed to be able to track & log information such as the sender, time, date, # of pages and recipient for any document scanned and sent from the MFP
2) They needed to be able to log and store the actual content of the scanned document

Some document imaging solutions are able to address #1, and some can also address #2. However, this company also wanted the ability to encrypt scanned documents, a very common document imaging requirement. By adding encryption to the mix, the ability to log and store the actual content of scanned documents is a much more difficult task. But it is an important need to address. Think about it. An employee may very well think that they can go up to an MFP, scan a document, encrypt that document and send it via e-mail. Because it has been encrypted, they believe that no one could see what the contents were.

To my knowledge, eCopy ShareScan is the only imaging solution that can handle this requirement. Our document tracking feature, which is accessed through the administrative console, can be set to both log document scanning activity and send a copy of the scanned document to a storage location that has access dictated by network security policies. If the document has been encrypted during scanning, the copy sent to the storage location is stored unencrypted. The beauty of this is that is doesn’t restrict functionality such as encryption that is used for “good”, it just lets you track abuse.

So if there is a need for “Big Brother” in an organization, you should make sure that both the ability to log print and scan jobs is included. And make sure that there are no loopholes, such as encrypted documents, that can poke holes in these security measures.

AIIM Webinar Q&A – Part 4

Time to answer the last question posed during the April 9th AIIM webinar, Document Imaging for Microsoft-Driven Organizations. If you missed the webinar, a recording is available on our Website.  And please post a comment to this blog post if you have further questions that you would like me to answer. I’m happy to keep this Q&A going as long as the questions come in!

Our final question is around document services and came in from an IT executive at a professional services company. He asks:

Does eCopy have the ability, when dealing with a common document format to, while scanning the doc, pull data in certain areas for OCR, then using that data for naming, routing, or storing metadata in a database?

Yes and no. eCopy ShareScan comes bundled with an OCR engine for full text indexing and search purposes. For example, a document can be OCRd during the scanning process to create a searchable PDF for improved search and retrieval from databases or back end application. Our product does not automatically extract portions of data (i.e. zonal OCR) for purposes of indexing and routing. However, eCopy ShareScan is an open development environment with a published API and document services interface. Through this services interface, capabilities such as metadata extraction, barcode recognition, and image compression and cleanup can be easily added. For example, one of eCopy’s partners, I.R.I.S., has used the SDK to offer a set of document services for ShareScan.

Thanks again for all the great questions around document imaging & Microsoft. And please, if you have any other questions, please post them as a comment to the blog.

Bill DeStefanis
Director of Product Management

“Easy to Use” Scanning

Visioneer’s VP of Marketing wrote a post on Xerox’s “Big I, Little t” blog about easy to use scanning solutions. He said that what his customers have told him is that it is important for them to be able to scan documents and send them to a destination such as a back end application by touching a single button – something that Visioneer’s OneTouch solution can deliver. Granted, this is very easy to use. However, it is not always appropriate for companies’ various document workflows.

His post specifically mentions Microsoft SharePoint as a backend application that customers would want to include paper-based information in. This is a perfect example of why it is important to offer employees a scanning solution that is both easy to use AND supports various document workflows. SharePoint is a powerful collaboration and workflow tool for knowledge workers. And those knowledge workers want to be able to include paper-based information inside SharePoint. But it is rare that every document will need to go to the exact same destination, or will need advanced imaging processing. Most of the time, knowledge workers are interested in converting that paper document to a PDF file, possibly OCRing the document and/or adding some simple indexing information for improved search and retrieval, and then choosing the destination (site, subsite, document library, etc.) within SharePoint to send it to. They can not do this when the scan task is pre-defined.

There may, of course, be some cases where a choice of “one touch” scanning for a repeatable scanning task and destination may be the preferable method. An example of this could be scanning in timecards to a destination that the payroll department can access. This type of scanning can be combined with more flexible options in a solution that provides users with the choice to scan and send documents in the way that best meets their workflow needs.

In this scenario, when that user walks up to a scanning device, they may be presented with two (or more) choices – Scan to SharePoint (which allows them to select scan settings and navigate to areas of SharePoint that they have access to) and Scan to Payroll (which automatically chooses the scan settings and routes the document to the destination with one touch). The point is that a document imaging solution that is flexible enough to support any workflow is, in fact, the easiest to use because it does not make knowledge workers change the way that they work.

Choice -- especially when presented in an interface at the scanning device which is comparable to the interface at their desktop -- does not equal complexity. And it benefits employees by saving time and effort, improving accuracy and increasing job satisfaction – all while increasing the value of a shared scanning device.

Konica Minolta, Danka & Cross Platform Software

On April 8, MFP manufacturer Konica Minolta announced that it intends to acquire Danka, a large office equipment dealer. You can read the press release here. Danka is a well established dealer for Canon MFPs and also represents Toshiba, too.

If the acquisition is completed, Danka customers will likely face the possibility that they will no longer be able to buy Canon MFPs from Danka. In addition, they will need to consider if they want to continue with the same document scanning software. If their current document scanning software works on both Canon and Konica, then the MFP hardware (and the acquisition) won't be an issue. But if the currently-used software doesn't work on Konica and they want to continue with Danka, new document scanning software will be required. And new software means that the users will need to be retrained and any customization or application integration will need to be re-developed.

This is an extreme example of why the industry analyst firm Gartner recommends that their clients select document scanning software that works across MFP platforms. See my earlier post from the Gartner Print and Imaging Summit for more details on what Gartner recommends. Platform agnostic software is required if you want to make sure that you are not locked into a particular brand of MFP.

MFP Development Platforms – Part 2: Cross-Platform SDKs

The topic of MFP platforms and the SDKs for writing to these platforms is gaining steam. Take a look at Alan Joch’s post today on the Print & Imaging Blog.

In Part 1 of our post on document imaging platforms for MFPs, we talked about some of the considerations that developers should consider when choosing a platform to write to when looking to integrate MFPs with software applications.

The biggest may be cross platform support. Developers should look for a document imaging platform that offers a single SDK that allows the development of a connector or document service that will work across any type or brand of scanning device – whether that is an MFP or a scanner. Even if your environment today only has one brand, taking a cross-platform approach will prevent problems that result from being locked into a specific brand or type of device and allow flexibility in office equipment purchasing decisions down the road. 

There are also other advantages to a cross platform approach:

• A single SDK – eliminates the need to track changes to SDKs from multiple vendors that support different and limited capabilities
• Scanning Services – eliminates the need to learn how different MFPs and scanners scan documents, change scanner settings and handle scanning errors, etc. This is built into a cross-platform document imaging solution
• Administration – you can integrate any connection or document service into a single administration console that can be used for any MFP or scanner in a heterogeneous environment.

Whether you are a corporate developer or software vendor, the emergence of development platforms for MFPs are certainly worth looking into in order to help get paper-based information into software applications.

Making Scanning & Sharing Documents Easier with SharePoint

Microsoft posted a SharePoint customer case study article today on the Microsoft Momentum site. The article features eCopy document imaging software customer Introgen Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that used SharePoint and eCopy to meet government regulations. The author, Alan Earls, discusses how eCopy duplicates the Microsoft SharePoint user experience at the MFP. To read the article click on Microsoft SharePont document imaging.

EMC & eCopy Webinar on Distributed Capture

On Tuesday, March 18, EMC and eCopy will be co-presenting a Webinar on Distributed Capture. A distributed capture approach is a highly effective way for organizations with multiple locations – across a campus or the world – to quickly and securely share information between remote locations and a central processing site.  This is particularly true for transactional, paper-based content that may need to be processed through advanced document processing software -- such as EMC Captiva – but arrives in a location separate from the central processing site.

Tune into this Webinar on Tuesday to learn how to:

• Leverage the office equipment that you currently use – like MFPs/copiers and scanners – to capture incoming paper documents from multiple locations
• Add intelligence to remote scanning operations – from content capture to classification, extraction, validation and delivery
• Control access to sensitive paper documents by eliminating the need to ship outside the office
• Reduce document processing time from days to seconds

To register, click here.

eCopy Launches The Document Imaging Wiki

The Document Imaging industry encompasses a lot of technology, companies, experts and products – from scanners to MFPs, desktop applications to enterprise-wide software and everything in between. When conducting research about document imaging, information is not always easily accessible or consolidated in one place.

To help solve this problem, eCopy has created and launched the Document Imaging Wiki as a centralized source of information open to anyone who is researching document imaging technologies and trying to learn what would best benefit their work environment. It’s basically a Wikipedia for the Document Imaging industry, including information on industry terms, companies, industry experts and analysts, and sources to find additional information on document imaging.

The Document Imaging Wiki is a public Website and is designed to be updated at any time by individuals with knowledge of the document imaging industry. In addition, people are encouraged to contribute questions to be addressed by the document imaging community in the discussion forums.

For more information on the wiki, you can read the press release. We look forward to seeing your contributions to the site and helping it grow as a resource for the industry.

Leveraging MFP Investments – Part 1: Development Platforms

Let’s assume that your company’s employees are scanning documents using your MFPs. They appreciate the accessibility and familiarity of using this familiar office device to not only print and copy, but also convert their paper documents into electronic files that they can work with like the rest of their information. There is a good chance, however, that most of the time they are scanning paper documents and either sending them to themselves via e-mail or saving them to a network file location where they then retrieve them.

While this is a good first step, it still leaves a multiple-step process for adding paper into the business applications that run your business – scan, send, search, retrieve and then add to business applications. And, it does not leverage the capabilities made possible by today’s MFPs and document imaging software through their development platforms.

These development platforms make it possible to build integrations between the MFP and business applications so that users can directly access and scan to those applications while at the MFP – saving extra time, steps and increasing document security.  There are two ways to leverage these development platforms, either as a corporate developer, independent software vendor or systems integrator:

• Write the integration directly to the manufacturers’ platform using their SDK
• Write the integration to a document imaging platform that offers support for multiple manufacturers’ platforms, such as eCopy ShareScan

A number of factors can play into which option to go with, but here are three of the biggest reasons to use an open platform environment, like eCopy’s:
1) If your company is using more than one brand of MFP, or if you upgrade devices in stages vs. the entire fleet at a time, you will have to build and update the integrations for each brand and, likely, each time you get a new MFP
2) Multiple integrations require the use of multiple SDKs. You should choose an SDK that uses an industry-standard environment - like MS Visual Studio, and has features that make it easy to use such as a UI forms designer and wizards.
3) The development platform should support the features that you need for your scanning process, including document services such as barcode recognition and image enhancement; identity services; OCR; and cost recovery services.

Integrations between MFPs and business applications are a key component to leveraging investments in both your MFP and the business applications that run your business. Using open platform document imaging software like eCopy ShareScan, these integrations can be easily built to support your current business environment, as well as changes to that environment and business needs moving forward.

Document Imaging Boosts SharePoint 2007 Workflows

When West Chester University’s (WCU) Provost’s office needed a more efficient and cost effective process to collect and distribute lengthy meeting agendas and materials for a 90-member committee, they turned to SharePoint. A streamlined, electronic process was mapped and put in place using Microsoft SharePoint, developing a Portal for the committee and document libraries for monthly agendas and supporting materials.

The process and technology was an ideal solution – except for one problem. A significant amount of the material for these meetings was still generated in paper form. WCU solved this issue by implementing a document imaging solution.

Like the scenario at WCU, SharePoint is used by all the information workers in a business and so it follows that you also need a document imaging solution that allows those workers to scan paper documents themselves directly into SharePoint repositories. This requires the use of a shared scanning device, such as a MFP or networked scanner, and tight integration of the document imaging software with SharePoint 2007.

When considering a document imaging solution for SharePoint, it helps to consider the following:

• The scanning interface should mirror the SharePoint user experience at the desktop
• SharePoint security models and policies, including authentication and access rights setting, should be incorporated
• The document imaging software should have zero footprint on the SharePoint server
• Full navigation of SharePoint sites, subsites and document libraries should be available at the scanning device
• The document imaging software should support SharePoint content types and workflows
• The integration between the systems should be dynamic to eliminate the need to make changes to both systems

Capture for Content Management Systems - EMC Announces Captiva eInput 2.0

EMC last week announced Captiva eInput 2.0, a Web-based distributed document capture solution designed to make the scanning and indexing of paper documents from remote offices faster and easier. This is the second announcement within a week from a large ECM system vendor that is focused on capture – further emphasizing the growing focus on document imaging within the ECM space.

Captiva eInput is an extension to the Captive InputAccel platform and basically allows employees in remote locations that do not have access to a centralized scanning location for scanning paper into InputAccel to scan a document to a Web interface, where it can then be indexed and routed to the InputAccel server for processing. It is a great application for a single worker using a desktop scanner attached to a personal computer.

However, what both of these recent announcements have not addressed is how to use shared scanning devices for distributed capture. Shared networked scanners and MFPs populate almost every office location with more than one or two employees. And having already made the investment in these devices, it does not always make financial or operational sense to also provide single-user scanning devices for capturing documents. Using an MFP or networked scanner to scan and distribute documents is easy and, by using a document imaging platform, can provide multiple distribution options for those documents vs. being tied to a single destination.

When considering how to use a shared scanning device, you should consider the following:

• Authentication at the scanning device is essential to ensure only authorized users have access to the network and applications
• Authentication should provide an audit trail of what was sent by whom
• Authentication should match existing corporate security policies
• Companies should look for features such as session logon; authenticated Scan and Mail; and activity logging

Workers today are found in many differing office environments and a distributed document capture solution should be implemented to address the needs of all of these environments. The capture suites that many ECM companies are putting together help address some of the environments and can easily be supplemented by third-party capture solutions to deliver a complete solution.

Document Imaging & Security

Document imaging makes it possible to integrate paper documents with existing electronic processes. But how do you ensure that the document imaging process is safe and the integration into the electronic processes is secure and meets information policy requirements and regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley?

Since paper documents frequently contain information that is confidential or sensitive in nature, the security of those documents must be assured, perhaps even more so that their paper originals.

To achieve this security in document imaging, three key areas must be addressed: users, documents, and devices.

Users: When using a shared device in a public area to scan documents, authentication is essential to ensure that only authorized users have access to the network. Authentication can also provide an audit trail of what was send and by whom. Authentication at a scanning device should match existing corporate security policies and users should look for features such as session logon; authenticated Scan and Mail and Scan and Fax that dynamically integrates with the corporate e-mail and fax applications; and activity logging. 

Documents: With document imaging solutions, encryption, secure deletion of temporary files and inbox security can help keep scanned documents visible only to those with proper authorization.

Devices: Security should be in place that limits the activities that can be performed at a shared scanning device. At a minimum, the document imaging system should provide the same level of network security as any desktop system on your network, including: restricted network access; auto logon and application startup; application lockdown; physical security of PCs; and eliminating any removable drives.

Stringent user, document and device security standards enable companies to extend their electronic security protection to paper documents, opening up the wealth of productivity benefits that can be achieved through document imaging.  Download the white paper Addressing Document Imaging Security Issues for more information.

Document Capture for ECM Systems: Oracle Buys Captovation

Oracle yesterday purchased Captovation, a document capture software firm which, according to analyst Harvey Spencer, Stellant had been OEMing for its batch capture functionality. When Oracle purchased Stellant, they did not own a capture solution and, according to a customer letter sent by Oracle, with this acquisition “Oracle expects to extend its comprehensive and integrated solution for ECM with transactional content processing.”

This acquisition is further evidence that major ECM players are recognizing the critical importance of incorporating paper-based content into electronic workflows and providing an easy method to include content from those paper documents into the ECM systems that drive those workflows.

What is worth noting, however, is while the focus of this acquisition is on transactional content processing – which is generally handled in a centralized scanning process or by power users in a distributed capture environment -- end user organizations should also be considering their ad hoc capture needs for both transactional and non-transactional content. All employees need access to a capture solution that is simple to use and allows them to distribute paper-based content to wherever it needs to be – either their desktop, a network folder, e-mail recipient, or a document management or ECM repository like Stellant.

Another major consideration for organizations looking at capture solutions is where content needs to go. It is very common for organizations to have multiple ECM and document management repositories, such as Stellant and Microsoft SharePoint, for differing needs. In a centralized scanning environment a capture solution can be tied into a specific repository. However, ad hoc capture puts scanning in the hands of any knowledge worker. With this opportunity comes a need for a single document capture solution to get paper into any repository or location from any type of scanning device, be that a desktop scanner, MFP or document scanner. Using only a capture solution tied to an ECM repository simply does not satisfy this need.

School Pays for Student Laptops via the Paperless Office

The UK national newspaper The Guardian posted an article today in its education section about a high school that helped pay for its students' laptops by implementing a paperless office strategy through MFP document imaging. The savings came from eliminating the cost of distributing paper documents. The article can be read by clicking here. You know that when a national, daily newspaper starts writing about MFP document imaging, the topic is beginning to be popular.

Platforms power the future of the MFP (Part 3)

In earlier posts, I covered how MFPs are becoming more input-centric and how platforms and APIs are tying together the MFP with backend office and enterprise applications. But there is a roadblock that must be overcome in order to make this all work seamlessly in the real world.

The roadblock: MFP platforms are not all the same. Each of the platforms that I mentioned in Part 1 have different APIs. So, for a developer of a software application to integrate with more than one MFP brand it would need to use a separate SDK to write code for every brand. This gets even more complex because changes occur most times a new MFP is released, requiring new QA testing on every device – even if the platform hasn’t changed.

To give an example of this complexity, there are nine major MFP brands and each release 3-4 new “families” of products per year. So at a minimum, you are dealing with about 30 new devices to write to and test each year. Ensuring that the connectivity between the MFP and software application runs effectively is an enormous undertaking and one that most software developers do not have the resources to support. This is a major barrier and has restricted direct connectivity between MFPs and hardware. There are only a handful of software companies that write integrations directly to MFPs.

But there is a solution. A document imaging platform can be used to act as the connection between the MFP and software applications. The document imaging platform provider is the only one that needs to keep up with the ever-changing MFP manufacturers, updating its software to ensure that it works on all MFP brands. With this work completed, any software vendor can then just write integration to the platform and work with all of the MFPs that the document imaging platform supports. This “write-once, work with many” approach gives the software vendors the opportunity to let any end user on any MFP leverage the new input capabilities that I have discussed earlier. 

This three part combination will deliver new opportunities to utilize MFPs in a more strategic way to power business process efficiency:
1) Hardware manufacturers making devices more “input-friendly”
2) The maturation and expansion of document imaging platforms to run on any MFP
3) Software vendors writing integration to the document imaging platforms

Platforms power the future of the MFP (Part 2)

In part 1, I talked about how the advancement of platforms by hardware vendors was driving the evolution of MFPs. The opportunities here are around connectivity – platforms allow an application to talk to a device. From a document imaging perspective, for example, the platform allows for a connection between the scanning hardware (an MFP or networked scanner) and the backend application that a scanned document will be distributed to (an email system, fax server, document management system, etc).

This connection happens through an API (application programming interface). This API allows the back end software application to “command” the MFP to perform functions that need to happen in order for a document to be scanned and distributed. At a very high level these commands might include: authenticate the user, scan the document, convert image to PDF, display a preview of the scanned document, display a list of destination folders, select folder, add metadata, display confirmation of a successful scan, etc. Of course, at a more detailed level, there are hundreds of commands that go into the process of scanning and distributing a document.

From the user perspective, this connectivity (or integration of systems) is displayed at the MFP as a simple to use interface that takes the user through the steps for scanning a document. In some cases, the interface at the MFP mirrors the interface that they are used to seeing when working with a backend system at their desktop. This is made possible by the platform and API working to present the backend application in real time at the MFP. This real-time integration allows for things like pre-determined access rights to software applications to be passed along to the MFP (most of the time through Active Directory), real-time confirmation of document delivery, and changes to back-end systems (such as creation of new folders, etc.) to be available immediately at the MFP.

The platform and API truly allow for the MFP to integrate with office and enterprise applications, becoming the on-ramp for paper documents to become part of electronic workflows and elevating the device to a new level of importance among businesses. But there is a caveat…more in part 3.

Gartner Print & Imaging Summit

I just returned from the Gartner Print and Imaging Summit, a printing and document imaging conference that is growing in popularity. In the first presentation on the first day of the conference, Gartner Research Director Don Dixon discussed some incredibly useful information for IT professionals at large organizations.

One of Don’s slides covered the future for “smart MFPs,” which is the term that Don has coined for devices that include embedded architectures and can run business software applications. The slide listed four predictions for smart MFPs:

• Document communications in and out of MFPs will be secure
• MFP platforms will take an open source approach – truly vendor agnostic
• They will be more alike and interoperable

The final area that Don covered was the need for document imaging applications to be MFP brand agnostic, meaning that software should work on all smart MFPs so that customer organizations aren’t locked into one brand of device just because they don’t want to change the document imaging software they are using.

Overall the conference was packed with useful information for IT professionals. If your company is a Gartner client, you should consider attending the next Print and Imaging Summit.

Platforms power the future of MFPs (Part 1)

It’s interesting to think sometimes about the evolution of the copier. It wasn’t too long ago that the copier was just that – a single function copy machine. It wasn’t even connected to the network. Today, the copier has morphed into the multifunction peripheral (MFP) – offering copying, printing, scanning and faxing. And now, two technology advances by the MFP manufacturers are pointing towards the device becoming more input-centric than output-centric -- a far cry from its roots.

On the hardware side, vendors are making control panels larger and easier to use, as well as adding full size, external keyboards to the MFPs. And on the software side, there have been a number of advances in MFP device platforms, such as: Canon MEAP; Xerox EIP; Ricoh ESA; Konica Minolta Open API; and Sharp OSA among others. These platforms allow for 3rd party software applications to be built to run on the MFP, using the MFP’s interface to display the application.

These advances are essentially making MFPs act as computers – enabling two-way interaction with business applications and a user experience at the capture device that is very similar to what they have at their desktop. And it is the delivery of a quality user experience through development on that platform -- providing functionality such as the ability to scan and distribute paper documents into existing business workflows -- that will continue to drive the evolution, adoption, and value of the MFP.

As mentioned earlier, the common trait of both of these advances is that the biggest value they bring to the end user is related to input of information. Of course, there will continue to be value in output-related applications for MFPs. But the future of the MFP is both an on-ramp AND an off-ramp for paper.

Look for more about platforms for document scanning later this week...

Fax isn't dead...but the fax machine may be

The blogger at ScanGuru wrote up an interesting post titled Isn’t fax dead yet. In it, he hit on the point that fax remains a standard for transmission of paper information for many businesses (he is recommending a move to network faxing). One point that ScanGuru made about why faxing is still alive and well in organizations is that it is an accepted and fully adopted standard and that some people just refuse to give it up. Very true…faxing is not going away.

However, I can envision the problems of trying to have people change from using an analog fax machine to their desktop for outbound faxing. And, you still need something to do the document imaging work of converting the paper. What ScanGuru missed out on is that the natural replacement for the fax machine is the copier or MFP. It is just as accepted and fully adopted as the fax machine (maybe more) and can be easily tied into the network fax systems with document imaging software. So, if you are still using faxing for transmission of paper, leverage your MFP…it can do more than you may think.