Document Imaging Blog

Document Imaging for Microsoft-Driven Organizations – Webinar Q&A

I co-presented a Webinar on document imaging for Microsoft-driven organizations with Forrester Research last Wednesday afternoon.  A terrific audience of nearly 400 attendees posed a number of questions at the end of the Webinar and I will be posting those questions and answers on the blog this week. If you missed the Webinar last week, you can download a recording here.

The first question I will cover came in from an end user who works for a Credit Union. He asked:

In a distributed capture model, who captures the metadata/index information? How do you best control consistency and accuracy? And, how do you control user/site license costs?

While I hate to start off this week-long Q&A like this, the answer is it depends. A good distributed capture application should be flexible enough to automatically capture metadata information  based on items such as username, date, time, etc., AND present a Windows-like user interface that prompts the user for metadata information. In terms of control and accuracy, this can be addressed by the application designer/administrator through the use of tools such as list boxes, character limitation, mandatory indexing, and other selection fields. In the case of eCopy ShareScan, user selections would be pulled live from the backend application – for example with SharePoint, indexing fields are displayed with options such as content or document type to reflect the same metadata requirements at the MFP that users would see at their desktop. So, if you have trained your users to save electronic documents to a repository, the same process will apply at the MFP.

In terms of controlling user/site license costs, scanning at shared scanning devices like MFPs is typically not charged on a per user basis. When working with a backend application, a users SharePoint CAL is valid at either the user’s desktop and the scanning device, so no additional CAL should be necessary.

A follow-up question to this was also posed:

So, while reducing a centralized scan/capture environment, would we still need a centralized index/quality control-type environment?

Distributed scanning processes are not necessarily designed as a replacement to centralized scanning operations. So, it is very likely that both will be maintained. As far as indexing/QC operations, in an application like eCopy’s those functions are done by the user at the point of capture (preview, indexing, metadata, etc.). However, a distributed capture application can also augment a  centralized capture process, pushing the indexing/QC functions further out to the workforce.

We’ll have more questions on the blog later this week. In the meantime, please feel free to post any questions that you may have about Document Imaging in the comment field below.

Bill DeStefanis

Director of Product Management

Document Imaging for Microsoft-Driven Orgs – Webinar on April 9

This Wednesday we are co-presenting an AIIM-hosted webinar with Forrester Research analyst Craig Le Clair on the topic of Document Imaging for Microsoft-Driven Environments.  To register for the free Webinar, click here.

The webinar is designed to help companies that have invested in Microsoft software understand how to best integrate paper-based documents into the electronic workflows that are powered by applications such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint, SQL Databases and beyond. Craig will also talk about how companies can leverage both Microsoft technologies and 3rd party applications that tightly integrate with Microsoft to help bridge the information gap between back office operations and the front office, leading to the goal of a highly productive Information Workplace.

Join us on Wednesday at 2:00 EST for this Webinar, followed by an open Q&A with Craig and Bill DeStefanis of eCopy.

Corporate Developers & Document Imaging SDKs

In a post on the Xerox blog Big I, little t, Roger Ellefson writes from the AIIM Expo that:

I was speaking with a senior manager from the IT department of one of our largest customers - he was very interested in how the software developers on his staff could gain access to our SDKs just as any of our traditional ISV partners can.

eCopy also has found that many of our end customers are interested in using our SDK to create integration between eCopy's document imaging platform and their software applications. Like the Xerox SDK, it will allow developers to create integration so that end users can use the document scanning capabilites of their Xerox MFPs to incorporate paper documents. eCopy's SDK includes a powerful "connector" development wizard that makes it nearly effortless to create native integration. Over 80 ISVs, SIs and corporate developers already have created integration that works with Xerox MFPs.

AIIM’s State of the ECM Industry Report – Paper Déjà vu

This month, AIIM released its annual State of the ECM Industry Report, which is always a good read and full of good data points collected from AIIM’s survey of end user organizations. Among the many observations in this year’s report, AIIM President John Mancini highlighted a topic that is near and dear to document imaging -- Paper Déjà vu. He says:

There are three dimensions of this problem that we need to help organizations understand. The first is the traditional one – getting rid of paper. The second dimension relates to getting rid of paper from information that was actually born digitally. We have a tendency in the work of blogs and wikis and Enterprise 2.0 technologies to somehow imagine the paper is a thing of the past… And lastly, I think that part of the renaissance of paper concerns in organizations will center around green concerns.

I agree with all three dimensions, but think that a fourth needs to be added to that list: information access. John references this as one of the four major trends in ECM, but in an echo of what I hear from end user organizations, he focuses on electronic information access. For organizations to capitalize on the value that applications like SharePoint and other document tools the reach the desktops of workers across an organization, electronic and paper-based information need to be merged together in these new workflow processes. Providing all employees access to an easy to use document imaging solution can help meet this goal.

AIIM Picks City of Torrance for Best Practices Award

Last week during its awards gala event, AIIM announced that it had selected the City of Torrance for a Best Practices Award. AIIM picked well. Never before have I seen an organization that used technology to so thoroughly transform itself. The Torrance City Attorney's Office used document imaging, document management and case management software to:

• Eliminate nearly 300 cubic feet of file cabinets, easing City Hall space constraints.
• Bring over 95 percent of legal work performed in house, saving outsourcing costs.
• Save administrative staff expenses estimated to be $240,000 annually.

If you would like to know more about why AIIM picked Torrance for a Best Practices Award, see the eCopy case study by clicking here for the PDF.

AIIM Expo - Presentation for Developers

If you are heading to the AIIM Expo next week and are a software developer, systems integrator or corporate developer interested in learning how to add document imaging and capture capabilities to a software application, head to the Application Showcase Theater on the show floor at 11:30 on Tuesday, March 4th. Chip Whitman, director of software alliances for eCopy, will be presenting "Eight Critical Considerations When Extending Your Software to Include Document Imaging." 

Software applications are only as valuable as the information contained within them, and integrating document imaging capabilities to those applications can increase their value by providing an easy way for any office worker to scan paper documents and include information contained in those documents into software applications.

The session will outline the critical factors that need to be considered in a document imaging platform so that the resulting application is not only easy to use and administer but also securely connects to existing business workflows. The session will also highlight the go-to-market considerations for developers as they bring these scanning applications to customers, including:

• How to select the right MFP and scanner platforms for document capture.
• The essential tools a document imaging software development kit must deliver.
• A look at integration issues when connecting document scanning with business software applications.
• Best approaches for building customized solutions to address specific application issues.
• The “must have” document services that should be included in any development platform.

We hope that you can stop by on Tuesday to hear this presentation. And don't forget to look for eCopy in the many booths that the product will be demonstrated in next week!

AIIM Expo – Connecting Hardware and Software

The annual AIIM Expo is coming up in Boston on March 3-6. Since combining with the Print On Demand show a few years back, the AIIM Expo has really become the premier opportunity to see both the hardware and software vendors that work within the content and information management industry.  On the hardware end, all the major MFP and scanner manufacturers are usually in attendance. And from the software side, everyone from the largest ECM vendors to specialized ISVs is represented.

For those considering document imaging solutions, it’s the perfect show. At the hardware booths, you can talk about what software applications they can connect to as part of a document management or content management solution.  And at the software booths, you can talk about what your options are for ensuring that paper is easily and securely included in those systems. Too many times, organizations look at their hardware purchases and software purchases in silos, not thinking about how they can and should be integrated.

So if you are heading to the AIIM Expo in March and are walking the floor, think about your document workflows and whether there is a way to integrate your organization’s hardware and software systems. And if you are in one of the following booths, be sure to ask them to demonstrate eCopy ShareScan to you.

Hardware Vendors: Canon (#1416); Konica Minolta (#913,916); HP (#1817); Ricoh (#631)

Software Vendors: Artsyl Technologies (#2773); ADOS (Microsoft Pavilion/MP16); ABBYY (#2451); Biscom (#2472); EMC (#2231); I.R.I.S. (#2817); K2 (Microsoft Pavilion /MP16); Questys (#2655); Rochester Software Associates (#625); Sagem-Interstar (#2967); Softlinx (#2364); Equitrac (#947); Laserfiche (#2525); Hyland (#2731); and Westbrook/Fortis (#2243).

Top Enterprise Content Management Trends for 2008

AIIM yesterday announced its Top Enterprise Content Management Trends of 2008. The top-level message of the AIIM findings is that ECM is being driven by collaboration and innovation, as well as the more traditional need for information control.

Top on the list of trends from AIIM is the evolution of Microsoft SharePoint as a serious player in the ECM infrastructure marketplace. We certainly agree and have blogged about that here and here. Or click here to listen to a Webinar about SharePoint and ECM with Forrester’s Barry Murphy.

A second trend is increasing tensions between “control” and “access”. AIIM notes that the pendulum has been on the “control” side for a while, but is now swinging towards access issues.

And not surprisingly, listed among the top 10 trends was The Renaissance of Capture. AIIM notes that as the market expands into mid-sized organizations, there are untapped opportunities in organizations still reliant on paper processes.

If these trends hold and ECM is, in fact, being driven more by collaboration and innovation, than capture will certainly play a significant role. Collaboration, innovation and access to information are all powered by electronic business processes. Paper slows these processes and organizations who are adopting ECM strategies and technologies need to include strategies to incorporate paper into their electronic business processes in order to successfully adopt ECM.

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.

SharePoint Meets ECM

SharePoint seems to be everywhere these days. Microsoft reports that more than 85 million licenses of the collaboration software have been purchased and many more organizations are using the SharePoint services that come bundled with MS Office. The power and potential of this software is almost unthinkable, yet many companies are struggling to navigate through the "bees nest" of its capabilities and understand how to deploy, use and manage the software.

We were fortunate to be able to speak with Barry Murphy of Forrester as part of an AIIM Webinar on the subject of SharePoint Meets ECM, which provided an overview of SharePoint's capabilities, what applications it is good for, where it falls short and how to use document imaging software with SharePoint. Here's a  recording of the Webinar.

If you are one of the many people rolling out SharePoint and have paper documents that should be included in the system, consider the following when choosing a document imaging solution:

• Ensure that you do not add a footprint on your SharePoint server; the less third-party software that runs on the server, the less likely you are to have to deal with a server crash
• Look for document imaging software that has "out of the box" functionality for your needs; customization costs can quickly run amok with SharePoint roll-outs
• Make sure the document imaging solution can support for SharePoint content types, metadata and workflows (Workflow Foundation Server, etc.)
• Keep security in mind with your imaging solution; the solution should uphold existing security models and policies; it should be able to pick up the authentication and access rights of your environment