Large Format Scanning and Document Management: Considerations for Buying or Outsourcing

If your business routinely handles documents larger than letter-sized, you probably wrestle with the large format scanning dilemma. If document management is a real issue for you, here are some perspectives that may shed some light on your own situation and move you to action.

Justifying the Expense of Large Format Scanning
To address the elephant in the room--cost is a consideration. GPS World writer Henrik Vestermark outlines the primary considerations taken into account when justifying the expense of large format scanning and document management:
Innovation. Large format scanning capabilities allow a business to serve your clients as well as your own in-house needs
Differentiation. Document management capabilities are a great selling point to separate your business form your competition
ROI. Added premiums for large format scanning and document management service can easily pay for equipment or outsourcing investments

Buying a Large Document Management System
If you’re moved to buy, you’ll need to know the features that separate the quality scanners from the rest of the field. Association for Information and Image Management (AAIM) contributor Lisa A. Desautels reveals large format scanning capabilities that your document management system should be able to handle based on project needs: sorting, control number labeling, color, scanning to 300 dpi, file management, etc.

Outsourcing Large Format Scanning and Document Management
If buying a scanning apparatus is not cost-efficient, outsourcing your project needs might fit your scenario. Vendorseek touts the advantages of outsourcing to include easier document handling and an decrease in misplaced files.

Is My Company Ready for Document Scanning Services?

Perhaps you’ve been asking yourself that very question every time you set down for a marathon session of scanning your business docs into the PC. Sure, you’re saving money by doing it yourself--or delegating the task to an employee--but could you be doing something more profitable with your time?

Driving the Document Scanning Trend
According to Yahoo! Finance, a combination of the effects of the economic stimulus package and the introduction of new technologies are stimulating interest in the document scanning revolution. For example, Lakewood, Colorado-based Records Nations has just recently assisted their 10,000th business in going paperless with their document scanning solutions.

The Benefits of Document Scanning Services
An article featured on ZD Net discusses the benefits of document scanning and why those tasks should be outsourced to scanning service professionals. In a nutshell, the costs and effort spent handling scanning in-house is typically larger than expected. Outsourcing to document scanning services vendors eliminates these unknowns and allows for tighter budgeting.

What You Don’t Know About Document Scanning
Vendorseek offers a unique FAQ on document scanning services that should be required reading for every CEO considering making the jump. In effect, the process is made simple by e-mailing documents to your processor. Data is then kept on tapes or in a virtual database that can be accessed at any time for reference or to backup lost files.

The bottom line is that document scanning services simplifies proper management of business-critical data.

Document Scanning Debate: On Tapes or Online?

Document Scanning is ‘In’, But…
The document scanning and imaging industry has graduated from a novel concept to a full-fledged business trend. And there are no signs of it slowing down. According to AllBusiness, the North American document imaging market saw over half a million document scanners shipped in 2007. New trends point to increased availability of scanners and multiple storage options. Which begs the question...data storage on tape or online?

Document Imaging on Tapes, Or…
A recent article by Alan Earls in Search Data Backup mulls the pros and cons of tape storage--particularly the dilemma of recycling. Understand that tape storage, while a bit antiquated--tapes are still a viable, low-cost means of backup. The problem is that there is still sensitive data left on recycled tapes. And without a complex formula of degaussing passes, large amounts of data can be extracted from what is supposed to be a fresh tape.

Document Scanning Online, Maybe…
Web-based document scanning and imaging is the certainly the future. Virtually unlimited storage is one reason for the change. But online document imaging is not without its problems also. For example, digitally-stored data can also fall into the wrong hands rather easily. And, power failure without backup makes document retrieval impossible.

The bottom line is that there is an entire spectrum of challenges to be conquered before document scanning takes its rightful place as THE data exchange process of the business world. And many of the issues will be solved through trial and error.

Document Scanning Revolutionizes Personal and Business Banking

In an effort to slash costs and become increasingly pertinent to the new economy, personal and business banking organizations are turning to document scanning by the truckloads. But is this new technology catching on? Several banks and an award-winning company weigh in.

Document Scanning the Swiss Way
In a case study commissioned by the Swiss financial group Basler Kantonalbank (BKB), the bank created an innovative records management system by linking high-speed production scanners to a 500-gigabyte NAS Hitachi storage system and Dell computers. The result was a serious reduction in labor hours filing personal documents and receiving check deposits.

Document Scanning Cuts Courier Costs
Sometimes, all it takes to push a bank into the new age is some good old-fashioned regulation. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) is one such piece. When Bank Mutual made the leap to document scanning out of compliance, they found a wealth of other benefits. Its distributed document imaging solution enabled Bank Mutual to cut courier service costs by $250,000.

Kodak is the New Face of Document Scanning
According to AllBusiness, the Kodak Company wins the blue-ribbon for peripherals at the FOSE 2008 Conference and Exposition. The company’s KODAK i780 Scanner beat out all other document scanners and multi-function printer/ copiers with respect to image quality and rapid capture speed. Look for the i780 Scanner coming to a bank near you.

Document scanning certainly appears to be the wave of the future in the banking world.

It's the Scanner, Stupid

One of the best things you can do for your office, if it already hasn't been done, is to buy a scanner. However, don't buy a scanner that makes you feel stupid.

Before purchasing a document scanner, evaluate:

-- Ease of use, for instance if there is an Automatic Document Feeder
-- Ease of storage, after the documents have been scanned
-- Ease of searchability, after the documents have been scanned
-- Ease of training new people on the scanner
-- Ease of clearing paper jams from the scanner

It is great to have a smoothly running office scanner, but certain scanners, they just make you feel stupid. It keeps jamming up, then you start hitting it, or it takes forever, and you start hating it.

Buy the right scanner for your needs and your office can be a happier workplace.

Nuance, eCopy, and the New Document Management Frontier

In yet another sign that document imaging is on the inexorable rise, Nuance has acquired eCopy. This is going to be an interesting combination of companies.

Nuance makes all sorts of interesting products, including Dragon speech recognition products, mobile texting applications, and PaperPort document management software.

The acquired company, eCopy, has more narrowly focused on document scanning, imaging, and general "workflow" solutions, including multi-function printers.

The joining of these companies indicates the continued integration of various types of communications data and equipment. Document imaging providers traditionally have cornered the "input" side of things as far as scanning documents into the digital world, while speech input software has been another, not especially related niche industry.

Now that so many documents are already digital, with millions upon millions becoming digital by the day, it's time to put it all together. Nuance and eCopy will look to do just that.

Document Imaging and the Franchising Phenomenon

I attended the Franchise Expo today and I have to say it is amazing how the concept of franchising has impacted the American business scene. As Michael Gerber explains in his excellent book, The E-Myth, an entrepreneurial spirit takes you far when you have a system to work within.

From income tax preparation franchises to restaurants and back again, the L.A. convention center sparkled with positive energy as aspiring business owners sized up their options.

For the proprietor of this humble document imaging blog, the franchise mania on display brought to mind thoughts of creating a franchise to specialize in document imaging.

It seems there is at least one document imaging franchise already in existence, but with all the work coming down the pike (electronic medical records), it would be a shame if some clever soul didn't create a document imaging franchise within the next three to six months.

If you're an expert in document imaging, and would like to own your own business, consider building a franchise prototype. If that interests you and at the risk of repeating myself, I do very heartily recommend Mr. Gerber's fine book to lead you through the process.

Document Scanning Is Incredibly Cool

One thing that you may be underestimating, if you're a business decision-maker looking for a document scanning solution, is how incredibly cool document scanning actually is.

You can't say you don't impress when you pop a stack of paper into a high-resolution scanner with automatic data feed, and then that machine turns that mess into a digital file that can be saved forever and easily found via digital search...

If you're engaged in scanning in front of customers, the effect can be downright impactful. Something about the way you scan, the fact that you are so facile with that stuff, is bound to impress that customer with your professionalism.

When speaking of document imaging, image matters. And that includes the clean, green, mean image your business portrays when it uses document imaging technology effectively.

Document Imaging Is the Solution to Bank Overdraft Fees

OK, that headline may be slightly overblown. But only slightly, because document imaging technology may soon help bank customers avoid overdraft fees.

Overdraft fees, which are expected to generate $39 billion in revenues for banks in 2009, are often caused by the fact that banks run withdrawals immediately, but do not run deposits immediately.

For example, you can swipe your debit card to buy some gas and it goes through right now. But the paycheck you deposited two days ago is still not credited to your account.

Therefore, your gas purchase causes an overdraft, which costs you $35.

Enraged by such practices, bank customers are fighting hard for a solution. Document imaging may be just such a solution.

If you can scan your paycheck from your home computer or even your cell phone, and then send the scanned image to the bank, banks may start crediting deposits sooner.

Document imaging has already greatly changed how banks do business. It looks like that trend will continue.

Document Imaging Becoming New Revenue Source for Crafty Companies

Document scanning has always been a wonderful tool for storing files without filling up entire warehouses with filing cabinets. And most companies at least begin the foray into document imaging by exploiting the storage, record-keeping component.

But some--increasingly many, actually--companies are going beyond the storage utility of document imaging to create new revenue streams with document imaging technology.

AIIM had a nice case study of a company called Security Benefit that illustrates this point. Sign up at AIIM as a member to download the full report, but the short version tale is this:

Security Benefit handles retirement investments, and has reduced its overall IT costs 40 percent by automating its paper processes, which are very intensive.

Now, Security Benefit is selling its document imaging-fueled system as a product, to other companies in its industry. The selling point, easy: we reduced our IT costs 40 percent.

Can your company go beyond the basic uses of document imaging to actually create new revenue from document imaging? We wouldn't rule it out.

Slowly But Surely, Mobile Document Imaging Becomes Reality

Mobile document imaging has seen considerable excitement over the past year, as new products intended to facilitate "distributed capture" enter the marketplace. Distributed capture refers to the idea that documents can be scanned from anywhere, at any time.

Did you know there's an iPhone app for mobile document scanning?

Canon, meanwhile, released today a nifty little machine called the FORMULA P-150, a personal document scanning device meant for the "road warrior."

Set to retail for $295, the P-150 seeks to capitalize on the growing realization by road warriors (and their ilk) that scanning documents while on the road and shooting them back to a centralized database is something a road warrior could really get used to.

The accuracy of mobile document scanning, up till now, has not been on par with full-scale office scanners. But with each new product that comes out, mobile document imaging takes another strong step towards the status of the coolest technology most people don't know exists.

Document Imaging Can Save Your Business -- Literally

Although we've blogged about document imaging and disaster recovery before, the topic deserves repeated looks because of how incredibly important it is:

Business owners who maintain hard copy files, and do not scan those documents and save them to another location, are quite literally risking the survival of their business should disaster strike.

Document imaging can save your bacon if your office gets hit by a fire, flood, or burglary incident. Could your business survive without those documents? Think about it even though it's unpleasant to even bring up the thought, because this is a serious matter.

There are a variety of reasons to work with a document imaging service provider, but the "insurance policy" aspect is perhaps the most powerful. In some cases, such as with financial or legal documents, document scanning helps business owners comply with actual laws about handling certain documents.

However, business decision-makers should not need a law to tell them that document protection in the event of a document-destroying disaster is as important as important gets.

3D Scanning in Real-Time by Imaging3

Document scanning is not the only kind of scanning that is making a big impact on the field of medicine. Scanning of the human body is another area of scanning innovation.

One small company that has created an interesting scanning device is called Imaging3. Chairman and CEO Dean Janes invented a scanner called the "Dominion," which images the human body in three dimensions in (almost) real time.

Watch Dominion videos here.

This desire in the medical profession for increased transparency, better, faster information, is by no means confined to the desire for electronic medical records. Diagnostics equipment of increasing complexity and power is a part of this general trend.

Seeing is believing when it comes to the role of scanning in medicine.

Google's Secret Weapon: Document Scanners

Microsoft has a fancy new search engine on the market, and SharePoint, too. But Google is, most methodically, doing some serious damage to competition with their use of document scanning and document imaging technology.

Look at this news clip here, as turned up by Google natural search.

Scan as many newspapers as possible, with labor had for cheap enough, right, and then see what happens--this strategy seems a smart one. Not only can you populate the rest of the page with ads, your search stands out from the competition in terms of quality.

Remember, for instance, how newspapers used to employ great writers and pay them enough to live with. Those days are not yet completely gone, but another age has arrived in the meantime.

Discount Document Imaging Doing Big Things

One thing that strikes the casual or not-so-casual observer about today's demand for document imaging is the sheer humongous size of the projects being undertaken. Google is scanning books by the millions (with a cool scanner machine, too!). Obama wants all medical records electronic.

The massive size of these projects makes discount document scanning appealing.

Discount document imaging, price-wise, usually comes in at about 3 cents per page. Non-discount document imaging, you're looking more in the range of 8-15 cents per page, depending.

Discount document imaging is all about securing that giant project, and then blasting through it with incredible speed. Document imaging service providers who master this art-will be raking in the revenues over the next five years.

One thing to think about, from the client side, is the quality of the images being produced, especially with respect to how they can or cannot be manipulated after the fact.

Very low resolution scanned documents, or documents saved in file formats not in wide use, are going to cost you money in the long-run if you need to do anything else with them other than the simplest store and back-up.

Document Imaging, Paper, and the Best of Both Worlds

Katie is known as an eccentric business owner. Part of her eccentricity comes from her refusal to use computers to maintain customer files.

Instead, Katie uses an "old school" filing cabinet system where each customer file is literally a file, in a manilla folder. There is something very charming about this system, and it works great, so customers are not really losing anything by Katie's decision to stay un-digital.

Unless, of course, those hard copy files are somehow lost.

With document imaging, Katie could have backups of all those paper files at a separate location. Hiring a document imaging service would not be prohibitively expensive. And a lot cheaper than taking the chance of losing decades worth of customer data.

Reaching business owners like Katie is a challenge for document imaging services. Overcoming inertia can be a hard sell.

Bank Document Imaging Initiatives Have Changed Banking Industry

Whenever you, as a business decision-maker, choose to implement a new technology and make it a part of your business, doubts and questions arise as to how "worth it" this technology is really going to be. Wouldn't it be better to just leave things the way they are?

In terms of document imaging as a change agent technology, there is no better example of how document imaging can change a business than what has been done by the banking industry.

Document imaging has revolutionized the banking industry at multiple levels. The "Check 21 Act," for example, said that banks didn't need to physically send checks to each other before cashing them. Now, they simply scan them and cash them.

The ATM scanning of checks is notable, too. There are even a couple initiatives in motion to allow depositors to scan checks on their home computer, and "email deposit" to the bank.

Document imaging has changed banks, and the banking industry.

Thoroughly.

Paperless Office Giving Way to "Less Paper Office"

The dream is officially dead. The "paperless office" is not going to happen. Ever.

What is happening, though, and with astonishing rapidity, is the rise of the "Less Paper Office." Conservationist trends have merged with technology improvements to enable most--though not all--documents to be more effectively managed electronically than in hard copy.

Loan documents, for instance, used to be stored in on-premesis filing cabinets. You would then "dig up" the file when you needed it...as the file was 300 pages long, this took a while.

Now, if you have a searchable document management solution, and as long as documents are properly file-named when they are imaged, you can pull up any part of any file with a couple clicks of a mouse.

If you're interested in getting to that level but not sure where to start, contact a document imaging service today to build a solid foundation.

Document Imaging and the Partner Mentality

Document imaging depends heavily on software and hardware systems working together, rather than in proprietary isolation. It's only when documents can be freely shared and easily accessed that a document scanning project has shown its worth to an organization.

The major players in the document imaging industry seem to have realized the importance of their stuff working together. This story about Kodak partnering with MMR to develop electronic medical records that work across various technology platforms is a strong example of the partner mentality's ascendancy in the document imaging industry.

By always taking into account that scanned documents must be visible and usable on a variety of machines operating a variety of software platforms, document imaging vendors can get ahead of interoperability issues before they occur.

The partner mentality helps everyone--especially the end user of document imaging technology.

Tax Preparation Process Shows Promise, Peril of Document Imaging

I am a partner in a tax preparation firm and I am excited about what document imaging technology may do for our business in terms of efficiency, client satisfaction, and reduced costs. But I'm also concerned about being sued because of document imaging gone wrong.

There are some very interesting income tax preparation document imaging applications being developed; in fact, some such apps already quite well-developed. Here is the document imaging app called "Document eSort" from our software partner, Intuit.

Document eSort aims to give me, the tax consultant, the ability to scan an entire disorganized client folder (the proverbial tax receipt shoebox) and receive back, within 24 hours, an organized file that helps me do that tax return in less than half the time.

But what about client privacy of information? How can I guarantee that our clients do not see their social security numbers or other sensitive financial information stolen when it's passing through those Internet wires? Isn't it safer to keep that info in-house, off-line?

Addressing these security and litigation concerns should be a top priority of document imaging salespeople.

Document Imaging, Going Green, and Lower Costs

Going green is one of the most fundamental reasons for increasing the use of document imaging technology within an organization. But is going green through document imaging good business in the traditional sense? Meaning, of course, contributory to the bottom line.

The answer to how much of impact going green through document imaging will have in reducing costs of paper and ink obviously depends on the processes of the organization in question, but all companies should notice at least some level of cost savings if doc imaging is properly done.

Specific areas to target for waste removal include:

-- Payroll (invoicing)
-- Human resources
-- Financial reporting

By re-thinking each of these functions with green goals in mind, there is bound to be some dollars saved from the lower volume of printing and copying.

Pitching Cost Savings of Electronic Medical Records to a Skeptical Populace

Many Americans are angry, even furious, at Democratic Congressmen who are holding town hall meetings across the nation talking up the various Democratic plans to overhaul the medical system. Concerns are that such an overhaul will bankrupt everyone involved.

Democrats and others in favor of large-scale medical reform are countering these fiscal irresponsibility arguments by restating claims of how much money can and will be saved by making major changes to the system.

Document imaging is at the heart of such cost savings plans, because document imaging is the first step to moving all medical records into digital format. However, how much money can actually be saved through electronic medical records is uncertain.

Nevertheless, our current medical record-keeping technology systems can only be described as poor overall, as measured against other industries. David Goldhall points out some of these inefficiencies in his moving essay, "How American Health Care Killed My Father."

This is certainly a hot issue that will continue to be hotly debated.

Document Management Key Concept: Separate Silos, Linked

When using document imaging in hopes of developing a full-scale document management system, there are certain ideas that inform--or should inform--every step of the process. Especially if your organization is planning to purchase a robust software program for the document management system, it's essential to have the right ideas from the beginning.

One of the most important ideas regarding document management is "siloing" content appropriately from day one. By putting related content into the right silo, but still enabling each silo some degree of communication with the others, an effective document imaging system can be developed.

A good silo strategy is important, for instance, when working with Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint has some great collaboration tools, but your organization is not going to be able to best use those tools if the actual content is hard to find or totally miscategorized.

Before and during the implementation of a document management system, it's wise to be putting the right content in the right silo. Make it a priority.

Document Scanning Fever Spreading Across the Globe

Market research firm IDC put out an interesting report on IT spending during the recession. Among the survey's findings is that scanner hardware shipments will rise 3.5 percent, to 1.3 million units, in 2009.

And much of this growth is due to document scanning needs outside the U.S.

India is one country in particular that is riding the document imaging wave. There are many Indian outsourcing companies that provide document imaging and scanning as part of their services.

The globalization of document scanning as a universal business practice even during a global downturn may be taken as an indication that document scanning can help companies become more efficient, even more profitable.

The ROI of document imaging is most immediately apparent in the elimination of manual labor-intensive tasks such as processing invoices. This is a good place to start.

And the world has started.

The Dangers of Outsourcing Document Imaging

Outsourcing document scanning and imaging to a third-party firm can be a great business decision. Often, the cost savings, efficiency, and expertise provided by outsourced document imaging services are more than worth the affordable cost.

However, there are dangers that business decision-makers must remain aware of.

First and foremost among the dangers of outsourcing document imaging are the security concerns. Document imaging outsourcing, after all, entails outsourcing documents. Some of the heaviest users (and beneficiaries) of outsourced document imaging are doctors, lawyers, and accountants. The documents handled by such people can be highly sensitive.

The second major danger of outsourcing document imaging is more vague but no less threatening. When a document imaging service does not understand the business processes of the company that has hired them, effective document management is impossible.

You are wise to ask about security and explain how your business works in detail before outsourcing a document imaging project to a third-party company.

Document Imaging Industry Building for Big Workload

We have blogged repeatedly about the Obama Administration's push towards electronic medical records and what this means for the document imaging industry. Namely, it means that the document imaging industry is about to get a lot bigger.

But bigger not only in terms of revenues and numbers of companies offering third-party document scanning and imaging service, but bigger, too, in terms of machinery capability.

Business users are starting to see this enlargement in the new round of high-capacity Multi-Function Printers, some of which are built to process literally hundreds of thousands of documents per cycle. Truly, these new MFPs are fully futuristic.

Currently, such machinery is pretty well-confined to large corporations like insurance companies. However, third-party document imaging providers themselves are increasingly purchasing these high-end MFPs and offering high volume service to smaller clients.

Over time, this enlargement in capacity at the input level should make it cheaper to scan all documents, rather than just the really important ones.

Will Electronic Health Records Result in Actual Cost Savings? Ask Businesspeople

In the real world, theory can be dangerous thing. President Obama is running up against this paradox as he pushes for healthcare reform. In particular, the Obama Administration's claims that measures such as electronic healthcare records will save real dollars is facing challenges.

Document imaging thus finds itself at the heart of a national controversy.

At issue, as outlined in this electronic health records cost savings analysis, is the question of whether more information will result in more care. If so, the cost savings of cutting paperwork could be overwhelmed by the fact that patients and doctors who have better access to information will want more treatment.

This is a difficult matter, to be sure. Perhaps business users of document imaging technology can provide some assistance to a medical field desperately seeking to discover a balance between cost and performance.

Business users, after all, must confront this dilemma daily.

Microsoft Focusing on Document Imaging as Future Profit Center

Apply may be getting all the great press because of cool consumer electronics gadgets like the iPod and iPhone, but Microsoft continues to plug along satisfying business user needs. One area where Microsoft is focusing, and succeeding, is document imaging.

Microsoft SharePoint has been the crown jewel of this push into document imaging, establishing itself as the premier (arguably the only) platform for storing scanned documents in a way that allows full file sharing and manipulation. Many innovative document imaging solutions offered by third-party document imaging services use Microsoft SharePoint as a cornerstone technology.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has also pushed into the lower end of the document imaging spectrum, by including more document imaging functions in Microsoft Office.

By using "vertical integration"--i.e., making sure that every step of the document imaging process includes use of a Microsoft product--Microsoft is staking a strong claim to a promising territory.

Document Imaging Capture Here, There, Everywhere?

Some of the most exciting--and confusing developments--in the document imaging industry are occurring in the realm of document capture. That is, the means and methods by which paper documents are digitized.

Optical Character Recognition is the technology headline in this area, allowing the document capture process to operate on autopilot without data entry workers needing to manually input and correct document data.

However, Optical Character Recognition is still a highly inexact science.

Meanwhile, distributed capture techniques such as mobile document imaging are entering the realm of possibility, when once they were science fiction. The ability for sales road warrior types to actually image documents from mobile phones or PDAs could be revolutionary.

Again, though, this looks like the second inning of a nine inning game.

Document Imaging & Workflow: Talking Touches

Many business decision-makers realize the importance of streamlining work processes in a theoretical sense, but are uncertain what specific metrics to apply to their particular processes. Since every business is different--one requiring speed, for example, while another needs near perfect quality--there is no universally applicable process re-examination criteria.

One informal but very helpful measure, however, in terms of evaluating information-intensive workflow processes, is to count the number of "touches" per document. If a document is faxed, mailed, emailed, or otherwise handled by more than two to three people, chances are that these processes could be streamlined.

Often, just the exercise of counting the touches will bring a new perspective to thinking about new technologies such as document imaging, records management, and content sharing.

Document Management Vendors Must Find Ways to Service Small Clients as Well as Large

We've all had the experience of walking into a store, being treated like a king, and then being treated like a dog when it becomes clear that we're only going to make a small purchase.

All too often, small business owners and/or IT staff have this experience when working with a document imaging or management service. Part of this is due to the history of this industry. Enterprise Content Management has been the domain of giant corporations since its infancy, and is only now moving down the so-called "food chain."

However, that's no excuse for subpar service. Small businesses need--and deserve--the same high level of service that huge companies receive.

If you are a small business member considering working with a document imaging or management service, make sure to ask about their previous experience working with small businesses. Get a couple references and call on them.

Eastman Kodak Stock Surges: Document Imaging to Blame?

Owners of Eastman Kodak stock (symbol: EK) have taken a brutal beating over the past ten years. On October 8, 1999, EK sold for $74.75 per share. Today, the stock sells for less than $3 per share.

Not much less than $3 per share, though, thanks to a seven percent jump in the share price just today. Although many traders are attributing this sudden stock price rise more to a technical "short squeeze" than improved fundamentals at EK, it's worth considering the fact that Kodak has made good inroads into the document imaging market.

EK management has aggressively moved into the imaging and scanning market, even to the extent of cannibalizing their prime business over the years, which has involved selling the inks and paper and printers necessary for producing physical rather than digital images.

Today, digital images are not only the future but the present. Document imaging services are multiplying daily and document scanning is commonplace in offices large and small.

Credit Eastman Kodak for facing those facts and moving in the right--digital--direction.

Document Imaging Makes Random Notes (Potentially) Valuable

Anyone who's ever worked in an office has been in an office meeting, and anyone who's ever been in an office meeting has doodled something brilliant on a notepad.

Then that notepad goes onto a desk, gets buried under other papers, and eventually thrown into a trash can. That brilliant idea, even if it was only half-brilliant, is lost forever.

Document imaging technology, as it penetrates further and further into the business world, may increase the value of those random notes by storing them and sharing them in the digital world. Over time, the retention of random notes could add up to something within a company.

What else is the blogosphere, after all, except a collection of retained random notes?

Of course, scanning random notes, let alone storing and sharing them, does not make sense if the scanning cannot be done at extremely low cost and decent quality. Optical Character Recognition technology, then, may be the most important factor in making such projects feasible in the real world. When computers can read handwriting, those random notes may finally something.

Document Imaging: Go Basic or Go Big

Not sure if you've noticed, but document imaging, as a topic, is being talked about more and more, both in business publications and niche sites covering specific industries. The increasing hype is due in part, no doubt, to the Obama Administration's focus on electronic medical records.

The hype is further due, no doubt, to the fact that a document imaging solution can make a real impact on the ability of an organization to cope with--indeed, thrive on--the harsh reality called "Information Overload."

Before attempting to implement a document scanning or imaging solution, however, it's necessary to consider how much time and money you're willing to put into the effort.

There are, for document imaging first-timers, two options: go basic or go big.

The basic document imaging solution focuses on scanning loads of documents and bringing them online in an organized fashion, i.e. putting things in appropriate digital folders.

Going big entails a total rethinking of the way documents are managed. Far from "just scanning," big projects involve new technology and processes, such as SharePoint installation, records management, distributed capture, and security procedures. A larger project like this may need outside document imaging consultants to effectively implement.

Hooking up with a good document imaging service in the basic stage may help your company see the big possibilities down the road.

Scanned Documents Findable By Lawyers -- For Better and For Worse

The impact of document scanning and imaging on the practice of litigation cannot be underestimated. The entire process of "discovery"--when lawyers are searching for evidence--has grown to include more and more sources of information, rather than just physical files. Scanned files, for instance, are much a part of the modern courtroom.

That has happened--and will continue to happen--because scanning documents makes good business sense in so many ways: cost savings, efficiency improvements, records backup.

Some law firms specifically focus on ferreting out evidence found in non-paper formats.

Unfortunately, some companies don't discover how much the process of discovery has changed until they're being sued and a pack of lawyers is combing not only through their filing cabinets, but through their hard drives, and their online storage capabilities, and their emails.

More information means more evidence. Obviously, whether that helps or hurts your company depends on what's contained in those scanned documents. If you're a doctor being sued for malpractice, for example, keeping good records can save your career.

What is sure to potentially hurt your company is not thinking about how retaining scanned documents could play into any lawsuits that may come in the future.

Thinking ahead in this area is a part of doing business in this Information Age. Some third-party document imaging services are quite savvy at coming up with solutions to this concern.

Microsoft SharePoint: Easier to Set Up Than to Redo

Document imaging guru John Mancini has been running an interesting recurring feature over at the AIIM blog called "8 Things About..." The idea is that contributors would fill in the blank about a certain topic related to Enterprise Content Management.

The "8 Things" entry on June 17 came from Doug Schultz of Access Sciences, and was especially informative. Mr. Schultz chose Microsoft SharePoint as his topic.

Read the whole post here, but what we found particularly compelling was Mr. Shultz's vehement recommendation that organizations establish clear guidelines for SharePoint installation and government before actually installing and governing SharePoint.

The temptation is to simply stuff all imaged documents into folders and let the sharing begin. But over time, this attitude is likely to turn SharePoint into a shared mess.

Mr. Schultz summarizes the argument like this:

"Resist the urge of the IT department to just install it like any other Microsoft application – insert the CD and install with the default settings."

For a small business looking to do SharePoint right the first time around, a third-party records management firm may offer important insights into how to organize scanned documents.

The Everlasting Un-Death of the Paperless Office

Paper will never die. The paperless office is a myth.

There is no substitute for holding that piece of tree in your hand. Tactile, satisfying, even beautiful, paper is a part of our world that we like.

Such an admission may seem strange coming from a blog dedicated to document imaging, but truth is truth. Besides, document imaging and paper go together great, once trendy preconceptions are dismissed.

In fact, integrating paper with document imaging systems is a major part of creating a workplace that hums with productivity, at minimal waste and with maximum convenience.

What does that mean, "integrating paper with document imaging systems"?

It means realizing that some documents don't need to be scanned and brought into the digital world. Or, if that does happen, they must be secured like Fort Knox.

It means realizing, by the same token, that some documents don't need to be retained in paper form, and especially don't need to be printed and re-printed and then copied and re-copied. (Tax deduction receipts from five years ago qualify for pure digitization.)

Integrating means, too, going beyond the Paper vs. E-Doc debate to create a true records management system. One with room enough for both paper and scanned documents.

Document Imaging File Naming Conventions: Consistency Is Key

The new versions of Adobe PDF are consciously search-friendly, allowing a real possibility of large-scale document imaging projects that do not entail permanently losing track of all that paper that just went into that little black box.

However, searchable PDF is only, or at least mainly, useful when the object being searched for has been "tagged" in an appropriate way. If a document is called "Jones Letter" and there are 27 letters from 18 different Joneses, searching scanned documents can become a headache.

One of the main things to think about, then, before beginning a paper-intensive document scanning project, is how you are going to name the files. Or, if you are using a third-party docuent imaging service, how they are going to name the files.

Although different projects require different document imaging file naming styles, there are general principles. Well-named files conducive to easy search and retrieval:

-- Contain the "keyword" that would be used by a searcher.
-- Don't ONLY contain the keyword.
-- Contain information about time (month, day, year).

Above all, though, document imaging file naming conventions must be planned and standardized if a truly searchable database of scanned documents is to be created. Everyone should be on the same page as those pages enter that black box, hopefully to return again as needed.

Well-named files can be found again.

Google vs. Authors Lawsuit Part of Larger Document Imaging Quandary

In theory, the Google Books project is a benefit to all mankind. Like the Library at Alexandria in the olden days, except way better, is how Google portrays its effort to scan all paper books into digital format so that, eventually, all information is available (via Google).

Some people don't like the project much, though. Among the dislikers is a certain contingent of authors, who have brought a lawsuit against Google to stop the imaging of their precious pages.

Google and the angry authors have reached a tentative settlement, with emphasis on the word tentative. The conflict asks a larger question, directly relevant to document imaging:

Does the digitizing of a document make it yours?

Textbook piracy, by way of document imaging, is another example of this question.

That larger question is part of the even larger issue of content ownership. In a world where documents and pictures and video can enter the Internet from so many millions of unconventional "input points" (the guy videotaping a movie for pirated distribution, for instance), how can ownership of content be maintained? Should it be maintained?

Or would all mankind benefit from a more liberal policy towards the very notion of owning words or pictures?

Mobile Document Imaging Dependent on Cell Phone Camera Improvement

Mobile document imaging is not far away from being a real tool used by professionals who do a lot of work on the road or in the field. Some professions that may especially benefit from an increased number of mobile document imaging applications might be:

-- Lawyers who travel to client locations
-- Doctors who work at multiple locations
-- Real estate pros who get all around town

All three of these professions, and many more, could make great use of the ability to capture document images on their mobile devices. However, in order for mobile document imaging to really catch on, camera quality in mobile devices will have to be improved.

In order to create readable, usable images of important documents, cameras must be high quality. Up to now, camera quality has been an afterthought for many cell phone-makers.

Blogger Ralph Gammon noted that the 3G iPhone has addressed this camera concern. Look for business-focused phone makers like RIM to make the next BlackBerry iterations more friendly to document imaging possiblities as well.

Microsoft Office Document Imaging: There, Waiting for Mass Adoption

Obviously, Microsoft is a gigantic company that has tentacles into nearly every area of the tech world, from Internet search to database software to small business consulting. One area where Microsoft is clearly excelling is in the burgeoning document imaging industry.

On the corporate scale, Microsoft's SharePoint server software is, as of now, the leading widely-used document imaging collaboration environment in the corporate market.

But Microsoft is not ignoring the consumer market. In fact, Microsoft is slowly but surely implementing more document imaging capabilities into Microsoft Office.

By including the Microsoft Office Document Imaging module in new version of office, Microsoft appears to be poised to capitalize on the growing familiarity of the common office worker with document imaging technology.

The opportunity is huge if only for compatibility issues. The ability to bring scanned documents directly into other Microsoft applications, such as Word and Excel, and then bring the document out again, presents an excellent convenience factor for the frequent user.

As of now, the Microsoft Office Document Imaging module is not included on all versions of Microsoft Office. To see if it's on your machine, go to "All Programs," then "Microsoft Office," then "Microsoft Office Tools."

It should be in that folder, if you have it.

If not, do you want it?

Brick-by-Brick Document Scanning Projects Building Solid Foundation for Future of Electronic Medical Records

Stories about the push towards electronic medical records usually note two primary facts: one, the Obama Administration's stimulus plan includes money to induce doctors and hospitals to implement electronic medical records; and two, the vast majority of doctors and hospitals do not currently use electronic medical records systems in any meaningful way.

But reports such as this one that focus on the paucity of fully developed electronic medical records systems may be missing the larger point, which is that such systems could never exist or thrive long-term without a solid foundation.

Therefore, it is perhaps better not to rush the process, but to let it build piece by piece. Fortunately, that's exactly what appears to be happening, thanks to document scanning technology that allows doctors and hospitals to cheaply scan huge reams of paper.

Document imaging services can scan pages at an extremely low cost.

Once all that paper has been digitized, more elaborate electronic medical records systems should spring up naturally, as databases are connected and rendered searchable.

Document Imaging: Online Training Available, Free

As document imaging continues to become an ever-larger part of the business landscape, we can expect that such topics as creating searchable databases of PDF files and how to meta-tag imaged documents for easy retrieval will start to be seen in the curriculum at colleges.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in learning more about document imaging and what it can do for your organization, don't neglect the online training resources that are out there.

Many document imaging online training materials can be had free of charge. You may have to listen to a sales pitch from a document imaging services provider, but you may get something out of that sales pitch, too.

Here are three document imaging training resources we see as especially helpful. Not all of them are free but all are worth looking into:

The EMC June 2 conference call.

CDIA Certification classes.

AIIM training headquarters.

Document Imaging Has Utterly Revolutionized the Home Loan Process

The word "revolutionized" is used far too often to describe technological improvements, of course, but that shouldn't preclude us from pointing out the obvious fact: document imaging has revolutionized the process of getting a mortgage.

If you have never taken out a mortgage, or it's been a while, this fact may not be so obvious. But to the borrower who's going through the process now, document imaging is a godsend.

Document imaging saves every player in this process money and time. Loan officers can receive scanned loan applications and lock interest rates faster. Lenders can request documents via email, and borrowers can scan documents and email them to the lender within minutes.

All this without the use of a fax or, much less, a messenger service.

Many lenders will even accept scanned documents to finalize and fund a mortgage. Some lenders, though, like mine, still require hard copies...which means that my wife and I have to wait three more days, and pay $345.67 extra, while the snail mail creeps along.

Next time around, I'll ask about that ahead of time.

Document Imaging Necessity: PDF to Word, and Back Again

Adobe's PDF file format is a huge contributor to the document imaging industry. By creating a standard software format that enables document sharing across organizations and around the world, Adobe has inserted itself into the center of the document imaging world.

While other file formats may gain traction for specific file types, it seems likely that the PDF will continue to be the scanned document file format of choice. Therefore, it's vitally important for companies to be able to create and manipulate PDF documents with ease.

Thus the rise of software tools that let users change Microsoft Word documents to PDF documents, and vice versa. If you're looking to make PDFs work better within the overall structure of your company, these document imaging PDF tools can prove very helpful.

Many of these tools are also cheap or, better yet, free.

Document imaging services, in particular, are using tools like these to seamlessly integrate multiple different file formats into one interrelated document imaging ecosystem.

No Document Imaging = Minimal Mobility

For employees working at companies that do not possess good document imaging systems, it can be difficult to see why document imaging is such a big deal.

One terrific measuring stick of the impact an excellent document imaging system can make on the functioning of a company--and the worklife of its employees--is in the area of mobility.

Without a solid document imaging solution, employees are constantly facing struggles when they need to move documents from place to place. Either that or the scanner's broken again, and not worth messing with. So what are going to do with this signed document then?

Thus, loan officers do hire couriers, and tax preparers do messenger physical files. Meanwhile, document imaging proponents are continuously improving their work processes.

Yes, implementing an excellent document system costs some money, but so do the paper-based alternatives. Paper just doesn't move fast enough to keep up with the fevered pace of the modern business world.

Document imaging, done right, is fast like that.

Document Imaging Education: Test Drive AIIM's New Certificate Program

The skyrocketing cost of college tuition, coupled with the uncertain job market, has made many people wonder if a college degree is worth it, or even does anything for you. All those literature courses you'll never use...

However, statistics show that the jobless rate for college graduates remains much lower than the general unemployment rate, 4.3 percent versus 8.5 percent.

Meanwhile, online colleges and trade schools are thriving. Clearly, education is still a key distinguishing factor for people wishing to up their productivity and marketability.

Document imaging is not quite required reading in mainstream colleges (yet), but that doesn't mean that document imaging education is not available.

AIIM is a major player in this area, and recently began offering a test run of its new document imaging certificate program for free.

There are other document imaging education options, too, but if you or someone within your organization is thinking about learning more about document imaging specifically or, more generally, Enterprise Content Management, you can't go wrong with a free AIIM test run.

AIIM is a wonderful resource for anyone seeking to know more about document imaging, Enterprise Content Management, and related topics.

Document Imaging Storage Considerations

When considering implementing a document imaging solution, or a change to an existing document imaging system, it's important for business decision-makers to think about where the imaged documents are going to be stored, and how much space they'll take up.

Even if there will no longer be physical filing cabinets, there will be digital ones, and those take up space, too.

Avoid the need to upgrade hardware by calculating your storage needs ahead of time. One way to do this is to assign a certain kilobyte amount to each of your documents. This will obviously vary depending on the type of document you're working with.

Then multiply the assigned kilobyte amount by the number of documents you're planning on imaging, and then do the math to get a rough idea of how much digital space you need.

Thanks to Moore's Law (technology gets smaller and cheaper all the time), the purchase price for digital storage is constantly dropping. Some thinkers suggest that the cost to store the entire contents of the Library of Congress will fall to $1,000 by the year 2018.

You may also want to consider hiring a records management company to store the documents for you. No need to reinvent the wheel, after all...

Document Imaging Stat of the Year: 74% of Respondents Looking to Outsource

Over the years, there has been a lot of hype surrounding the mythical "paperless office," and that has turned a lot of people off.

Thus, it's always nice to see a well-done study on trends in the document management industry. Numbers and statistics inject reality into the conversation.

Oce Business Services recently released just such a study, titled "Meeting the Challenge: How Organizations are Implementing Document Management Strategies to Help Drive Business in a Tough Economy." The press release is here and the full report here.

One statistic that really caught our eye? A full 74% of business decision-makers surveyed anticipated outsourcing part or all of their document management needs. Document imaging headed the list of outsource-able tasks.

Such a high percentage may seem strange at first, but if you've ever tried to do a big scanning job with a standard office scanner, it makes perfect sense that outsourcing is the way to go.

Heavy duty scanners used by document imaging service providers can scan and index documents ten times as fast as regular scanners, and with far fewer errors.

Document Scanners Vary Widely In Quality. What If Yours Isn't Up to the Task at Hand?

You've got your document scanner with basic capability, and then you've got your pro level document scanning machine that comes with a service contract if there are any issues. And in between those two levels, you've got a variety of other document scanners.

When seeking to implement or improve a document imaging solution, the first question to ask, for many people, is, "Do I have the technology?"

Not asking that question before starting can lead to huge frustration. Just try stuffing a large stack of papers in a small-bore, weak document scanner and you'll see what we mean here.

Document scanners with Automatic Document Feed technology are necessary for large volume jobs. For jobs that entail scanning handwritten documents that must then be included in a searchable database, Optical Character Recognition is a must.

Document scanning machines such as these can cost thousands of dollars and be well worth the cost. For smaller companies, though, this high-grade technology can seem cost-prohibitive.

Such small businesses often then choose one of two options: either forget about that lingering document imaging project entirely, or attempt to do the job with an insufficient scanner and endure constant headache.

In cases such as these, third party document scanning services can offer tremendous value. By outsourcing particularly tricky aspects of document imaging jobs--such as large format scanning or handwritten documents--small companies can build solutions just like the big guys.

Document Imaging: The Kids Are Into It

Bill Brikiatis over at the eCopy blog offered an insightful post today about how a generational shift in the workplace may cause document scanning and imaging technology to snowball into mass adoption as Baby Boomers get older and "Gen Yers" get promoted.

Mr. Brikiatis cites a study by industry researcher IDC that younger office workers feel that their organizations have not yet made their operations as electronic as they could and should be.

Part of this is environmental concern, as young people seek to stop the needless killing of countless trees, and part of this is concern for efficiency, as young people see the need for speed around the office.

Environmental and speed needs that document imaging fulfills.

One thing that Mr. Brikiatis addresses only indirectly in his thought is the time frame for when the desire of the younger generation will actually have enough say around the office to start doing things its way, and have everyone else follow suit.

Customarily, the older generation of managers are not exactly chomping at the bit to take input and instruction from a pack of Twitter-heads.

Younger office workers, then, should be prepared to show measurable ROI and point out hard-headed business uses for "cool" document imaging applications such as Optical Character Recognition.

E-Books Document Imaging's "Sexiest" Offering Yet

Technology is sometimes referred to as "sexy." Often, it is this so-called sex appeal that brings massive numbers of people to want to use and buy a certain technology.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this, from history, is the Macintosh computer. Apple made something beautiful, and people other than computer nerds began to want computers.

Something similar may be happening with the e-book, as it pertains to document imaging technology in general. As the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader are enabling people to read e-books in a convenient and pleasurable way, more and more people are seeing document imaging as a major technology of the present, and of the future, too.

This Wall Street Journal story waxes poetic about some of the cultural changes this change in perception may cause. From a business perspective, the rise in e-books should cause more managers to incorporate document imaging into their office environment.

Now that Danny in cubicle seven has that cool Amazon Kindle thing...

Banks See (And Save) Big Money By Document Imaging

Along with the government, financial institutions are at the forefront of document imaging usage. The fact that banks are so heavily using document imaging is a strong statement: namely, you know document imaging technology is good when it's being used to handle money.

Bank of America, for instance, has fitted out many of its ATM machines with special check reading imaging software, erasing the need for deposit envelopes.

Wells Fargo, meanwhile, a longtime document imaging adherent, is offering records management as a service to its customers. Hoping to scan and store documents such as W-2s and loan documents, Wells Fargo wants to be more involved with customer paperwork, and. thus, customer money.

Other organizations are using document scanning to instantly deposit paper checks, without having to physically run them in to the bank. This is not only convenient, but when the amounts involved are large, instant deposit can enable an organization to gain more interest on its money.

In short, banks are at the center of the continuing mainstreaming of document imaging technology. The future is here, and it's showing you the money.

Document Imaging Industry on the Spot, Under the Gun As Government Begins E-Health Records Push

A famous man once said, "He to whom much is given, much is expected."

The sentiment well sums up the privilege and the predicament of the document imaging industry as the biggest document scanning project in the history of the world gets underway: the government push for electronic health records.

Billions of dollars will be spent on the billions of paper documents waiting to be scanned and brought into the digital realm. The project is huge, and totally dependent on successful implementation and use of cutting edge document imaging technology.

Opportunity, yes, but also danger.

On the one hand, document imaging services are going to see a lot of dollars. On the other hand, document imaging companies are going to face immense pressure if not everything goes as smoothly as planned (which, of course, it won't).

Populists will no doubt rail against "pork barrel spending," if certain projects or parts of projects turn out to provide less benefit than anticipated. More perilous yet, document imaging providers must take extreme care not to put sensitive medical data at risk of theft or misuse.

Suffice it to say the document imaging industry has its work cut out for it over the next few years, as electronic health records go from an ideal to a real thing.

The good news for business users of document imaging technology is that, faced with such a daunting task, document imaging companies will have to work hard to improve and perfect these technologies--which should benefit everyone, in the long run.

Document Imaging: Envision the Ideal, Then Get to Building

Building a company-wide Enterprise Content Management system is a little like building a mansion: it's important to know what you want before you get started.

One of the most valuable "wants" inherent in most digital imaging systems is collaboration. Document imaging and scanning makes collaboration possible by bringing hard copy documents into the digital realm, where they can be viewed and manipulated by multiple users in multiple locations.

This ability is obviously necessary for large corporations that operate globally, but it can also be a huge benefit to smaller companies. When people can work together without being together, more work can be done with less expense.

Cut out airfare, FedEx, and hotel costs, and you have a leaner, meaner company. But the key is to cut out those costs without losing any benefit, in terms of effective work getting done.

By naming out exactly what you want to accomplish with a document imaging initiative before committing to any large purchases, you can know what type of mansion you want to build.

Here is a white paper from AIIM that may help you to envision the final vision of your ideal document imaging solution.

Make Earth Day Count With a Full Day of No Paper

April 22 is Earth Day, and a whole lot of people are doing a whole lot of things to commemorate it. Disney is releasing a new movie called, appropriately, "Earth." In New York City's Central Park, adults are teaching children how to plant and water seeds. Something called a "bike-powered blender" is being introduced at an event called "Miami Goin' Green."

Meanwhile, President Obama and Congress are working on climate change legislation that will hopefully help companies create less pollution, and surely keep lawyers and accountants busy trying to navigate the bill's inevitably mind-boggling complexity.

For the office manager who doesn't get Earth Day off and isn't one for gimmicks, think about doing something simpler, more concrete, to make the Earth a better place:

A full day with no paper.

Use document imaging and scanning technology that's already in your office to create, at least for today, that mythical "paperless office." Enjoin coworkers to join in, and evaluate how close your office is to that mythical one.

Look for document imaging strong points in your system. Perhaps your multi-function printer is working like a dream.

Look for document imaging weak points in your system. Perhaps your ability to scan large format documents isn't up to par, and it's time to consider outsourcing some document imaging needs.

Instead of hugging a tree, save a tree.

In a decidedly business-like fashion.

Document Scanning That Respects People's Privacy

A major obstacle standing in the way of widespread adoption of document imaging technology is concern for people's privacy, with respect to certain documents that contain sensitive information.

Tax records, for instance, have social security numbers and financial information that no one wants to see show up in Google search results. Companies that possess such sensitive documents are hesitant to digitize these records for fear of lawsuits.

Fortunately, document imaging companies, and the industry as a whole, have taken measures to address these valid concerns for privacy protection. Specifically, major advancements have been made in a process called "automated redaction."

As explained in this article by industry expert Chris Riley of technology consulting firm Living Analytics, automated reduction can be a very simple process.

In the example of tax returns, for instance, social security numbers usually appear in the same areas of the page, tax return after tax return after tax return.

Other jobs are more complex, of course, and document imaging companies may be consulted to help handle that complexity.

But for standard forms, automated reduction can help companies gain control over sensitive information, even while making use of advanced document imaging solutions that can revolutionize record management. Solutions are out there.

Government Agencies Lead the Pack on Document Imaging Solutions

Once upon a time, the Internet was just a figment of the U.S. government's imagination. The Defense Advanced Research Project, or DARPA, developed the initial technologies that eventually turned into the Internet we now know.

Today, something similar may be happening with nascent document imaging technologies. Because while corporate America and even small businesses are increasingly using document scanning and imaging solutions, government agencies are making huge strides as well.

With so many vital files in need of reliable backup, it's no wonder that government needs document imaging like nobody's business.

The biggest example of this is the push for electronic medical records. But government entities are also using document imaging to improve police department procedures, as well as the procedures used by the IRS and even some welfare agencies.

Contrary to the government's reputation as a stodgy has-been lagging far behind the private sector in adopting dynamic new technologies, the guys in the gray suits are creating some of the most advanced document imaging systems around today.

Document Imaging Going Mobile, and Quick

Jarad Carleton of research firm Frost & Sullivan recently released a substantial and insightful white paper on the topic of "distributed capture," one of the most important aspects of document imaging now, and only growing more important by the year.

Carleton starts his paper, promisingly, with the hard-headed business realization that simply buying new stuff is not what smart businesses do. Rather, they harness their existing technology and then integrate the new stuff into a system that includes old stuff.

Distributed capture, though, is about much more than making old machines work with new machines. It's about people being able to work remotely as effectively as if they were working in the office.

Currently, working remotely is popular and entirely possible--unless you work with paper-based processes, such as those that require signatures. In real estate, for example, couriers are still common, transporting documents from the office to the client and back again.

The same goes for insurance, and the same goes for accounting.

But this reliance on paper is slowly changing. Carleton does a brilliant job of describing how and why, and how and why you may want to consider taking document imaging with you everwhere you go.

Think About Security Before and During the Document Imaging Process

Although the process of scanning paper documents may seem like the epitome of an innocuous activity, it's actually an area of the business world that is fraught with legal concerns.

The medical profession is the most famous example of this dynamic, in the form of the HIPPA laws, which regulate the retention and movement of electronic health records. Compliance with this set of regulations can be bafflingly complex. People have to take classes on how to comply.

It's no wonder that digital health records are not a reality in the great majority of American hospitals and doctor's offices.

The medical industry, while it may be the most famous example, is not the only example of the legal concerns inherent in the act and process of document imaging and management. Law offices, real estate firms, and tax preparation companies all face similar concerns.

Once that paper goes into that black box, it can end up anywhere if you're not careful.

For this reason, it's absolutely essential that a document imaging solution contain a strong security component. Document imaging service providers specialize in making sure that moving paper into the digital world doesn't mean losing all control of where that information goes.

Document Imaging Solution: Have Any Plans?

Yesterday's blog post concerned the issue of leadership within an organization, which is extremely necessary when implementing a document imaging solution that can change the way a company does business, but only if people within the company actually use the solution.

No doubt it's vital that managers be personally and professionally committed to the document imaging solution they are asking employees to use, but perhaps more important is the notion that specific uses for a document imaging solution must be in place ahead of time.

In other words, have a plan.

The best plans are specific to the organizations for which they are made.

General goals of a document imaging or records management initiative may include:

-- Reduce unneccessary printing and copying
-- Share documents across locations without physically traveling to deliver papers
-- Maintain a searchable database of paper files, without all the filing cabinets

Within those general (and good) goals, though, it's essential to relate the larger whole to the specific individual.

Jenny should go from printing her expense reports to emaling them as PDFs. Tom should be reminded that the Jones File can be accessed online, instead of ordering a courier. And Barry should know that he doesn't have to leave his desk in order to look up a file.

The more people use document imaging, the more they like it, and the more they like it, the more they use it. It's a virtuous circle.

Document Imaging Initiatives Demand Leadership From Managers

All too often, a company implements a document imaging solution that could change (for the better) the way the company does business, but few or no people in the office take full advantage of it. Things stay the same, simply from force of habit.

People still print unneccessarily, and other people print the same document at the same time, also unneccessarily. Costs aren't cut and old, bad habits are not broken.

The document imaging technology is new, potentially revolutionary, but human systems remain the same. It's a challenge with any new technology, document imaging included.

There is a better way. People can learn document imaging systems quite quickly, and use them quite extensively and quite effectively within a short period of time.

However, new solutions likely won't take hold if the boss of the office isn't familiar with and "bought into" the new document imaging solution being implemented.

People follow leaders, and leaders must therefore lead, if new frontiers are to be conquered.

Document Imaging Industry Set for Massive Expansion

Certain industries are in decline--the auto industry comes to mind--while certain other industries are on the definite upswing. The document imaging field appears to be in the latter category.

More and more dollars are likely to flow towards document imaging companies that provide strong solutions, especially in the medical profession.

Electronic health care records, for one, are a thing of the future. President Obama talks about the idea frequently, and Congress has allotted some $20 billion towards the cause. Doctors who meet an as-yet-to-be-determined "compliance level" with the electronic health record requirement are slated to receive up to $40,000 payments from the U.S. government.

Beginning in 2015, in fact, doctors and hospitals who do not cooperate may be fined.

All this is very good for document imaging companies who are tasked with the humongous job of transporting all the information contained on those millions of pieces of paper into digital files.

This massive undertaking may also benefit the business world in general, in the sense that practice makes perfect, and document imaging technologies are sure to improve during such a long-term and intense journey.

Now if only there could be devised a computer that could read a doctor's chicken scratch handwriting...

Old Books Joining the Digital World...By the Thousands

Google is leading the charge towards a world where every piece of information ever put down on paper can be stored and accessed digitally. Other companies are contributing, too--Adobe the most notable--but Google is at the forefront of this stuff.

And may stand to reap the most benefit (i.e. profit) when all is said and done.

So far, Google Books has scanned and rendered digital many thousands of pre-1923 books, and many hundreds printed after that (1923 is the copyright expiration area).

Once that content is in digital form, interesting sales and advertising possibilities arise. Indeed, a visit to Google Books shows this notion in action already: if you're reading a book about business, you're going to see ads for books about business on either side of that page.

Google's efforts in the Optical Character Recognition field are a key part of this strategy. Document imaging technology makes the first step possible: books are being scanned into digital format, and from there they become, almost, other things.

That transformation begins with document imaging, but certainly doesn't end with it. Now, all books, even the forgotten ones, appear destined to live forever...

Document Imaging Helps Loan Offices Cut Costs

Back in the heady days of perpetually skyrocketing home prices and ridiculously loose credit, loan brokers were those guys driving around in the fancy cars, wearing the fancy sunglasses, going to the fancy restaurants, and buying the fancy home.

Now, loan brokers are those guys who can't get unemployment checks because they were considered self-employed, but nonetheless haven't worked in more than a year. Many such individuals have seen their own homes, as well as their cars, repossessed.

Some loan brokers, though, are still in business--and looking to keep costs low.

Document imaging technology can help loan offices, and loan officers, do exactly that. By reducing the amount of paperwork flowing through printers and copiers, and making it less costly to store records, document imaging helps loan brokers who are in business stay in business.

Consistent and effective use of document imaging technology can save a real estate office a couple thousand dollars per year. Maybe that didn't mean much in 2003, but it means a lot now.

After the Sale, What About Support?

Document imaging services offer a variety of products, from simple scanning jobs to complex issues of information architecture and Enterprise Content Management. But no matter the size of the job, tech support may come into the picture.

Indeed, it's often after the sale that a document imaging vendor proves its worth. Companies that provide solid tech support quickly make a name for themselves, and usually gain repeat business when the client decides to take the next step or implement something new.

One important element of support is training. In fact, if adequate instruction is not given to the client as to what documents have been scanned and where they are now, how to access them, who can access them, and issues such as those--if that is not done, then neither is the job done.

By the same token, clients who want document imaging and/or records management done on the cheap sometimes get what they pay for. Be aware that excellent document imaging service companies may charge more than the competition, but provide more as well.

Document Imaging Backup: The Comfort of Multiple Copies

As we've blogged about before, document imaging technology is too often portrayed as a series of mysterious acronyms--ECM this, BPO that, and MFP the other.

This can unfortunately defer some busy small business owners from realizing the real and immediate benefits a document imaging solution can bring to their operations.

One of the most convincing of these real and immediate benefits is the ability to easily and cheaply create and maintain back up copies of important documents, without the wasted paper and office space of making and storing actual copies.

At first, such a job may seem daunting to take on. Years upon years of paper files are sitting in those filing cabinets, and you don't want any piece of that right now. This is when hiring a document scanning service makes a lot of sense.

A document scanning service can bring all that stuff into the digital world, and advise you about how to organize digital files for effective retrieval. Prices are by no means prohibitive and good value is available in this field.

Make sure to be involved, though, in the document imaging process, even if someone else is doing the actual scanning. Nobody knows how to organize your files like you do.

Not that you've done a perfect job of it, but you're still in charge.

Does the Internet Produce More Printing?

Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox, made an interesting observation today in the Wall Street Journal's special pull out section on ECO-nomics (ecofriendly economics--get it?).

The observation, which came up in the de riguer questioning as to why, after all these years of talking about a paperless world, the world still has so much paper, was this:

"The reality is that paper has grown consistently over the past three decades. Once of the biggest sources of apper growth really is the Internet. It's the printing of email."

We are accustomed to thinking that the Internet is a boon to the environmental movement. But Mulcahy's observation, along with some knowledge of how much energy Google's server farms eat up per day, puts this belief into serious doubt.

It puts into doubt, too, the average office worker's desire to print out that important email. However, without adequate other options to isolate and keep important digitized information, printing out that email and throwing it in a manilla folder is the default, dead trees be damned.

Document imaging technology can help solve such problems--but not without solving the problem of how the average office worker's needs can be balanced with environmental concerns.