This morning's Wall Street Journal, in its front page story describing the harsh 6.2% contraction in the U.S. economy, spoke of a business owner named Bradley Aldrich, president of an engineering firm that usually spends $40,000 per year on new equipment.
No surprise, that yearly investment in new equipment is not happening this year, as of yet. But that doesn't mean Mr. Aldrich doesn't have his eyes on his company's next purchase:
A $30,000 software ystem that would allow the firm to store and share a vast database of blueprints and other documents. The Journal writes:
"Aldrich guesses it would save up to $5,000 a year in paper costs."
We wonder how many other business decision-makers have a document imaging solution on their wish list, and are only waiting for the economy to improve so the capital is available to make such a purchase.
We'd guess Mr. Aldrich is not the only one interested in saving up to $5,000 per year in paper costs. Not every document imaging solution costs $30,000 up front, either.
Get a quote for your size job here.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Piece by Piece Implementation of Document Imaging
Business owners are, necessarily, decision-makers who frequently, once a decison is made, go "all in." This is the nature of the entrepreneur.
Document imaging solutions often perplex such people, because the issue is so not black and white. Shades of gray abound, for instance when deciding how much to spend on implementing document imaging technology.
The result, sometimes, is that either no document imaging solution is adopted, or else a too-expensive document imaging solution is adopted and there is regret.
This doesn't need to be this way, and in fact shouldn't, because document imaging technology implementation works great as a piece by piece process, rather than an "all at once" commitment.
Start with the simple stuff, such as making bulky paper records electronic.
From there, build on that foundation, thinking of new ways to use and connect those records.
Always, keep an eye towards the future, and don't commit to working with one vendor only. Keep your options open, go slow as needed, but don't do nothing for fear of doing too much.
Document imaging solutions often perplex such people, because the issue is so not black and white. Shades of gray abound, for instance when deciding how much to spend on implementing document imaging technology.
The result, sometimes, is that either no document imaging solution is adopted, or else a too-expensive document imaging solution is adopted and there is regret.
This doesn't need to be this way, and in fact shouldn't, because document imaging technology implementation works great as a piece by piece process, rather than an "all at once" commitment.
Start with the simple stuff, such as making bulky paper records electronic.
From there, build on that foundation, thinking of new ways to use and connect those records.
Always, keep an eye towards the future, and don't commit to working with one vendor only. Keep your options open, go slow as needed, but don't do nothing for fear of doing too much.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Document Imaging Is Government Work: Part II
It seems faintly un-American to rely on the U.S. government as the main source of revenue for private businesses, but such is the state of the economy in early 2009. Government spending is filling the void left by crushingly slow private enterprise spending.
The Wall Street Journal this morning outlined some details of President Obama's healthcare plan, and these details favor the notion of tremendous government spending flowing towards document imaging service companies.
According to the WSJ, President Obama plans to pay for his total overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in two main ways: one, tax increases on wealthy people; and two, cost savings in the health care industry itself.
Document imaging can help provide the second (and, for many folks, more palatable) part of that equation. In fact, document imaging technology may actually form the foundation from which many other cost saving systems are created.
Document imaging, after all, is the means by which the millions upon millions of pages of important paperwork can join the digital world.
Once medical records have joined the digital world, they should be able to move, share, and give much more to the health care system and its patients, at a lower cost.
That's what the digital world has done for every other part of the world, at least.
The Wall Street Journal this morning outlined some details of President Obama's healthcare plan, and these details favor the notion of tremendous government spending flowing towards document imaging service companies.
According to the WSJ, President Obama plans to pay for his total overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in two main ways: one, tax increases on wealthy people; and two, cost savings in the health care industry itself.
Document imaging can help provide the second (and, for many folks, more palatable) part of that equation. In fact, document imaging technology may actually form the foundation from which many other cost saving systems are created.
Document imaging, after all, is the means by which the millions upon millions of pages of important paperwork can join the digital world.
Once medical records have joined the digital world, they should be able to move, share, and give much more to the health care system and its patients, at a lower cost.
That's what the digital world has done for every other part of the world, at least.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Document Imaging Potential Not Always Immediately Apparent
Business decision-makers, especially during recessionary economic times, to want concrete answers about a product's use before purchasing said product. Throwing money down the toilet on imaginary products with imaginary benefits went out of style a while ago, and isn't making a comeback.
Luckily, document imaging services can offer concrete answers to the ever-present question, "What is your product and what can I do with it?"
Concrete answers include:
-- Reduce paperwork
-- Share documents with users from multiple locations
-- Easy and permanent backup of important paperwork
-- Make documents searchable
-- Save money on printing costs
But concrete answers can sometimes obscure the grander promise of an integrated document imaging solution. Sometimes you don't know what's possible until it's happening.
This is not an argument for not seeing definite uses for your chosen document imaging solution, but it is an argument for not limiting one's thinking as to what document imaging might mean to your organization as a whole, now and in the future.
Well put together systems can feed upon themselves, and become useful in ways never originally imagined.
Luckily, document imaging services can offer concrete answers to the ever-present question, "What is your product and what can I do with it?"
Concrete answers include:
-- Reduce paperwork
-- Share documents with users from multiple locations
-- Easy and permanent backup of important paperwork
-- Make documents searchable
-- Save money on printing costs
But concrete answers can sometimes obscure the grander promise of an integrated document imaging solution. Sometimes you don't know what's possible until it's happening.
This is not an argument for not seeing definite uses for your chosen document imaging solution, but it is an argument for not limiting one's thinking as to what document imaging might mean to your organization as a whole, now and in the future.
Well put together systems can feed upon themselves, and become useful in ways never originally imagined.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Document Imaging Bright Spot in a Winter of Economic Discontent?
Our document imaging blogging cohort Ralph Gammons noted recently that there are going to be a couple high profile attendees missing from the AIIM Conference in March.
Most notable among these absentees is Kodak, the giant that endured a steep decline in the fourth quarter of 2008, in terms of revenue and profits.
The AIIM conference has been an industry standard event for many years, the biggest of its kind. What does it say about this year if major players are skipping out?
It says, in short, that we're enduring a difficult time in our economy, and companies are cutting costs any way they can. It says, too, that document imaging products that are selling during the first half of 2009 would sell on Mars.
One document imaging-related product that seems to be holding up well is Microsoft SharePoint.
The product hit the $1 billion sales benchmark during 2008, and more and more affiliated products are being developed to work with SharePoint as a focal point.
Smart companies are using SharePoint, and using this slow time in the economy, to build content management systems that are going to be extremely useful when the economy recovers.
Most notable among these absentees is Kodak, the giant that endured a steep decline in the fourth quarter of 2008, in terms of revenue and profits.
The AIIM conference has been an industry standard event for many years, the biggest of its kind. What does it say about this year if major players are skipping out?
It says, in short, that we're enduring a difficult time in our economy, and companies are cutting costs any way they can. It says, too, that document imaging products that are selling during the first half of 2009 would sell on Mars.
One document imaging-related product that seems to be holding up well is Microsoft SharePoint.
The product hit the $1 billion sales benchmark during 2008, and more and more affiliated products are being developed to work with SharePoint as a focal point.
Smart companies are using SharePoint, and using this slow time in the economy, to build content management systems that are going to be extremely useful when the economy recovers.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Document Imaging Industry Getting Seriously Stimulated
So, it looks like a large stimulus bill is going to pass Congress and be signed into law by President Obama within the next week. The stated price tag is $789 billion.
It will take a while to see what the bill says and, more importantly, what effect the bill will have in the real world, but unquestionable as of now is that the bill is a big boon to the document imaging industry.
Electronic medical records, long considered a "no brainer" but still not widely implemented, are among the top priorities of this bill. Individual doctors are set to receive $44,000 to $64,000 bonuses for using electronic records instead of paper ones.
Doctors that refuse to use electronic records by 2014 may even be subject to fines from Medicare.
Paperless medical paperwork, a dream, just got a huge boost towards becoming a reality.
Document imaging service companies are going to jump all over this--as they should.
The hope for other businesses is that the advances made in document scanning as all those millions of pages of medical paperwork are rendered electronic will translate well to other business processes.
Under that scenario, everyone wins.
It will take a while to see what the bill says and, more importantly, what effect the bill will have in the real world, but unquestionable as of now is that the bill is a big boon to the document imaging industry.
Electronic medical records, long considered a "no brainer" but still not widely implemented, are among the top priorities of this bill. Individual doctors are set to receive $44,000 to $64,000 bonuses for using electronic records instead of paper ones.
Doctors that refuse to use electronic records by 2014 may even be subject to fines from Medicare.
Paperless medical paperwork, a dream, just got a huge boost towards becoming a reality.
Document imaging service companies are going to jump all over this--as they should.
The hope for other businesses is that the advances made in document scanning as all those millions of pages of medical paperwork are rendered electronic will translate well to other business processes.
Under that scenario, everyone wins.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Records Management: What's That?
Document imaging is not an end in and of itself. Rather, it's a means to an end. One of the most popular ends, and an emerging industry, is records management.
Records management capitalizes on the prodigious amounts of information that organizations struggle to manage and are often required to keep "on file." Over the course of years, these files, when kept in paper form, can quite literally drown an organization in dead trees.
Things can't be found or get lost, one person has a file that another person needs, and it's generally a pain to find anything. According to one study, 80 percent of employees spend 30 minutes or more per day searching for files.
Companies experiencing this dreadful dynamic are prime candidates for a records management makeover. At the risk of mastering the obvious, employees are more productive when they can find things.
But records management cannot begin, nor proceed, without effective document imaging. Document imaging brings those paper files into the digital world.
Once there, the mission of records management can be undertaken.
Records management capitalizes on the prodigious amounts of information that organizations struggle to manage and are often required to keep "on file." Over the course of years, these files, when kept in paper form, can quite literally drown an organization in dead trees.
Things can't be found or get lost, one person has a file that another person needs, and it's generally a pain to find anything. According to one study, 80 percent of employees spend 30 minutes or more per day searching for files.
Companies experiencing this dreadful dynamic are prime candidates for a records management makeover. At the risk of mastering the obvious, employees are more productive when they can find things.
But records management cannot begin, nor proceed, without effective document imaging. Document imaging brings those paper files into the digital world.
Once there, the mission of records management can be undertaken.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Lawsuits Render Document Imaging Recession-Proof
Kodak recently announced earnings off 24 percent, with sales of document imaging systems contributing to that shortfall. The larger economy continues to struggle.
However, as noted repeatedly, it's during slow times that great businesses and great business ideas are born. John Mancini hit on this hopeful point in a superb post over at the AIIM blog, Digital Landfill.
Mancini sees six silver linings for document imaging among the IT spending freeze. One in particular is probably more reliable than any of the other ones.
Mancini writes: "Given the mess of the last few months, there is a new wave coming: A surge of litigation—as the blame game goes ‘round and ‘round—and a tsunami of regulatory mandates, as members of Congress find people to point fingers at other than themselves."
With lawsuits come piles of paper. With paper comes the need to reduce paper without losing the information on it. It's called "eDiscovery," and document imaging is a big part of it.
Some industries may in fact go away. Document imaging isn't one of them and neither is records management.
Unless people stop suing each other, which they won't.
However, as noted repeatedly, it's during slow times that great businesses and great business ideas are born. John Mancini hit on this hopeful point in a superb post over at the AIIM blog, Digital Landfill.
Mancini sees six silver linings for document imaging among the IT spending freeze. One in particular is probably more reliable than any of the other ones.
Mancini writes: "Given the mess of the last few months, there is a new wave coming: A surge of litigation—as the blame game goes ‘round and ‘round—and a tsunami of regulatory mandates, as members of Congress find people to point fingers at other than themselves."
With lawsuits come piles of paper. With paper comes the need to reduce paper without losing the information on it. It's called "eDiscovery," and document imaging is a big part of it.
Some industries may in fact go away. Document imaging isn't one of them and neither is records management.
Unless people stop suing each other, which they won't.
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