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From ScanGuru

The Capture Applications on the market today are outstanding when it comes to automation. For any organization that has a large scanning project, or requires minimal time and maximum efficiency from its scan operators, some level of automation is a necessity. So what does automation mean when we are discussing capture applications

Below are some key feature that will minimize the time and effort required to scan and process documents:

Document Separators – with most scanners, if you have 10 documents to scan, you will need to run each set of pages through the document feeder, and save them off individually to your repository. Applications that allow document separators provide a means to place separator sheets between each of your document sets, place the entire pile into the document feeder, and let the software split the stack into individual files. This is a huge time saver, even with a small number of documents. continue reading...

From ScanGuru

What should a Law Firm look for in a scanning application?

Here are some suggestions:

Barcode Separator Functionality - Separator pages allow the user to insert a specially coded page between documents in a stack. Once scanned, the software uses these pages to determine when a document begins and ends. This allows the scanning of many documents at once, rather than scanning one at a time. There is also the notion of "intelligent separators" which allow you to encode data on the separator page, such as case, matter, attorney, etc.

Image Enhancement - These tools will automatically adjust contrast and brightness, remove problematic colors, remove speckles, and thicken fonts. If you want the highest quality image, with the least amount of scanning operator intervention, this is a key component to any scanning system.

From ScanGuru

What should a Law Firm look for in a scanning application?

Here are some suggestions:

Barcode Separator Functionality - Separator pages allow the user to insert a specially coded page between documents in a stack. Once scanned, the software uses these pages to determine when a document begins and ends. This allows the scanning of many documents at once, rather than scanning one at a time. There is also the notion of "intelligent separators" which allow you to encode data on the separator page, such as case, matter, attorney, etc.

Image Enhancement - These tools will automatically adjust contrast and brightness, remove problematic colors, remove speckles, and thicken fonts. If you want the highest quality image, with the least amount of scanning operator intervention, this is a key component to any scanning system. continue reading...

by Corey Smith

When it comes to making decisions on moving to an electronic content management system in your business, who is the person most responsible for making that decision?

In the Records Management Report from AIIM last year, I found a very interesting chart.

Let me ask this... Why would the records of a business be an IT decision? What does IT have to do with records management?

by Corey Smith

When it comes to making decisions on moving to an electronic content management system in your business, who is the person most responsible for making that decision?

In the Records Management Report from AIIM last year, I found a very interesting chart.

Let me ask this... Why would the records of a business be an IT decision? What does IT have to do with records management? continue reading...

By Corey Smith

When considering the many costs that an organization has to expend, one of the most mis-understood is that of printing costs.

The Gartner Group estimates that as much as 30% of organizations' print costs can be eliminated with simple print device management.

The challenge organizations have is that often there is a division of responsibility for purchasing print devices and supplies for those print devices. Different departments have different responsibilities when it comes to creating efficiencies and cost control strategies.

I have spoken with many IT directors that simply don't care how much printer supplies costs. The cost can be 15 cents for a b/w print and 50 cents for a color print but as long as the cost of acquisition of the device is low, they will buy it.

By Corey Smith

When considering the many costs that an organization has to expend, one of the most mis-understood is that of printing costs.

The Gartner Group estimates that as much as 30% of organizations' print costs can be eliminated with simple print device management.

The challenge organizations have is that often there is a division of responsibility for purchasing print devices and supplies for those print devices. Different departments have different responsibilities when it comes to creating efficiencies and cost control strategies.

I have spoken with many IT directors that simply don't care how much printer supplies costs. The cost can be 15 cents for a b/w print and 50 cents for a color print but as long as the cost of acquisition of the device is low, they will buy it. continue reading...

by Jon Reardon

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.

by Jon Reardon

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. continue reading...

By Corey Smith

Every six months or so, comes a concern via the media that the MFP, or multifunction printer, is not secure and causes security holes on your network. When considering security on your network, there are some common sense approaches to ensuring you are protected from harm.

At eWeek, Rosen Sharma wrote a very simple article on securing your MFP. The article opens with the following:

Think you’ve plugged all of the vulnerabilities in your enterprise network? How about that multifunction printer over there in the sales department? As Dr. Rosen Sharma, president and CTO of Solidcore Systems explains, these devices frequently contain operating systems that are just as vulnerable to malware as your desktop computers.

By Corey Smith

Every six months or so, comes a concern via the media that the MFP, or multifunction printer, is not secure and causes security holes on your network. When considering security on your network, there are some common sense approaches to ensuring you are protected from harm.

At eWeek, Rosen Sharma wrote a very simple article on securing your MFP. The article opens with the following:

Think you’ve plugged all of the vulnerabilities in your enterprise network? How about that multifunction printer over there in the sales department? As Dr. Rosen Sharma, president and CTO of Solidcore Systems explains, these devices frequently contain operating systems that are just as vulnerable to malware as your desktop computers. continue reading...

from ScanGuru

The Business World is a rapidly changing entity, and technology helps adapt to these changes quickly and will help a company keep its competitive advantage. Paper has always been an inefficient medium for conducting business processes, and recently has become a key focus for Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives. So what are the main reasons for a company or organization to move towards the paperless environment?

Below are the two main categories: continue reading...

By Corey Smith

Last year AIIM released the Records Management Report.

One of the questions that was asked was why people would consider implementing an electronic content (record) management system (often we simply call it document management). I find the results very interesting, but not surprising.

[Click image to enlarge]

The two most important reasons that companies want to implement an electronic document management system are (1) efficiency and productivity and (2) compliance to legal regulations (FACTA, SOX, HIPPA, etc).

By Corey Smith

Last year AIIM released the Records Management Report.

One of the questions that was asked was why people would consider implementing an electronic content (record) management system (often we simply call it document management). I find the results very interesting, but not surprising.

[Click image to enlarge]

The two most important reasons that companies want to implement an electronic document management system are (1) efficiency and productivity and (2) compliance to legal regulations (FACTA, SOX, HIPPA, etc). continue reading...

from ScanGuru

Many of the Document Management and ECM System Implementations fail right out of the gate due to several factors. Most of them revolve around planning, and project definition and focus. Below are some key areas that are imperative to a project’s success:

Infrastructure
A huge part of the planning for a DMS/ECM System is examining your organization’s network infrastructure and ensuring it is ready. Implementing a system with inadequate resources can provide wrong end user perceptions. Focus should be placed on the below items:

• PC Clients – the client PC’s should have appropriate horsepower to handle their specific tasks. Obviously, basic search clients will not require extensive resources such as memory or hard drive space, but a scanning or OCR station may.
• Network – It is time to get rid of those hubs your brother in-law gave you, and upgrade to 100MB, or in some cases (at the server), Gigabit technology.
• Server – adequate memory, processor and storage is a necessity.
• Backup- often an overlooked area, planning for system backup, now and in the years beyond is very important.

from ScanGuru

Many of the Document Management and ECM System Implementations fail right out of the gate due to several factors. Most of them revolve around planning, and project definition and focus. Below are some key areas that are imperative to a project’s success:

Infrastructure
A huge part of the planning for a DMS/ECM System is examining your organization’s network infrastructure and ensuring it is ready. Implementing a system with inadequate resources can provide wrong end user perceptions. Focus should be placed on the below items:

• PC Clients – the client PC’s should have appropriate horsepower to handle their specific tasks. Obviously, basic search clients will not require extensive resources such as memory or hard drive space, but a scanning or OCR station may.
• Network – It is time to get rid of those hubs your brother in-law gave you, and upgrade to 100MB, or in some cases (at the server), Gigabit technology.
• Server – adequate memory, processor and storage is a necessity.
• Backup- often an overlooked area, planning for system backup, now and in the years beyond is very important.

continue reading...

by Corey Smith

How much paper do you use? Do you foresee getting rid of it in the near future?Industry analysts suggest that this will be the year that we’ll start to see the turn from paper to paperless. We have been talking about the paperless office for better than 30 years now. Can this really be the year that we will do away with paper?

Well, that is a lofty goal for this year. But, the analysts do think that the turn toward the reduction in paper will start this year. I think that no one is going to totally eliminate the use of paper, but more and more companies are realizing the benefits of converting an increasing amount of paper into digital files.

So, what is it going to take? I tend to think that document imaging is really about fundamentally changing the way you do business. Fundamentally changing the way you think about your business.

It is all about change. We have to be willing to change the way we do things. If we are not willing to change our strategies and approaches, it will never happen.

And, the only way that we will ever be willing to change our strategies and approaches is if we see a possibility of improvement.

by Corey Smith

How much paper do you use? Do you foresee getting rid of it in the near future?Industry analysts suggest that this will be the year that we’ll start to see the turn from paper to paperless. We have been talking about the paperless office for better than 30 years now. Can this really be the year that we will do away with paper?

Well, that is a lofty goal for this year. But, the analysts do think that the turn toward the reduction in paper will start this year. I think that no one is going to totally eliminate the use of paper, but more and more companies are realizing the benefits of converting an increasing amount of paper into digital files.

So, what is it going to take? I tend to think that document imaging is really about fundamentally changing the way you do business. Fundamentally changing the way you think about your business.

It is all about change. We have to be willing to change the way we do things. If we are not willing to change our strategies and approaches, it will never happen.

And, the only way that we will ever be willing to change our strategies and approaches is if we see a possibility of improvement. continue reading...