Bridging the Gap The Challenges of the Paper-to-Digital Divide
The technology for scanning paper documents and using computer networks for paperless workflows has been around for almost 20 years now. The paperless office concept has been around even longer. Companies that sell imaging solutions and an army of consultants have long sponsored a variety of end-user educational programs through AIIM, the ECM association, and ARMA, the records manager association, to teach the "how and why" of eliminating paper from business processes.
There is no lack of knowledge on the key benefits of going paperless:
- Speeds up completion times;
- Adds accountability and visibility to the process;
- Enforces your organization's rules and processes to assist with compliance;
- Reduces human errors in data entry and processing; and
- Empowers your people to do knowledge work, not menial paper shuffling tasks.
A simple, basic assumption by casual observers is that by now just about every paper-based business process has been replaced by an automated, online system with documents at our fingertips, and that the amount of paper moving within the enterprise has diminished significantly. Nothing can be further from the truth. According to recent market research, there is still a vast "paper-to-digital" divide that must be bridged in order to get all documents under the control of the computer applications.
One recent study of the invoicing operations at US and European businesses found that more than 85% of all invoices are still exchanged in paper form, despite massive efforts to implement Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The root of the problem is the continued diversity of and disparity between the accounting systems used by vendors, suppliers and customers. An earlier study put the average cost of processing paper invoices at $50 apiece, when the labor cost component is fully considered.
AIIM International revealed in its 2006 "ECM Trends Report" that the top two ECM projects planned this year by corporations are document control and records management/archiving—topics that involve copious amounts of paper documents. In a research project conducted with 18,000 IT and business managers across the world, 85% of respondents cited "paper processes still slow us down" as their number-one business problem.
Add to this the persistent and widespread myths about the paperless office:
Myth #1: Going paperless can cost us more than the old way of doing things.
Myth #2: Our people will not use it because the software is not "people-ready."
Myth #3: Setting up a document imaging and workflow system is too complex for our overburdened IT people.
What makes a paper document so resistant to computer automation? The problem starts with people—for several thousand years we have been conditioned to use paper! The tactile comfort of a paper document is firmly embedded in our collective consciousness. Next consider the large body of law that requires a paper document, and the existing business processes that have been fine-tuned around paper. We may well know the benefits of paperless processes—but it is not easy to transcend the institutions and behaviors that have served us well in the past.
Clearly, organizations must be able to bridge the "paper-to-digital" divide to take control of all their information, and that requires highly specialized software tools.
The Captaris Approach to Bridging the Divide
Captaris, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAPA) is a leading provider of software products that automate paper and other document-centric business processes. We believe that paper should not manage people, as is so often the case. Our vision is to bridge that paper- to-digital divide for information management systems—and we have been doing it almost 20 years. We are a trusted supplier with products in use by tens of thousands of customers in every industry and on every continent.
What makes Captaris different?
We develop all of the following key imaging technologies in-house, creating a seamless system for managing documents:
- Capture documents from fax, MFP, document scanners, email servers and computer reports (COLD);
- High-end workflow and BPM tools;
- Image viewers and image indexing;
- Image archiving and retrieval; and
- Security, electronic discovery and auditing tools. Captaris provides software products in the following categories: u Document capture;
- Imaging and archiving;
- Fax servers;
- High-end workflow; and
- High-volume document delivery.
The table (also on Page 3 {Focus on Capataris Supplement, February 2007} or download PDF) highlights the Captaris product offering within each category. Organizations that remove paper from document-intensive processes are best equipped to address the demands of their customers, suppliers and regulators. Today, cost-effective and rapidly deployable software solutions are available that enable companies to automatically capture, process, manage and deliver documents. These solutions can greatly improve business performance and eliminate risk by helping organizations optimize their people, workflow processes and business information.
Category:Centralized and distributed document capture
What Captaris Offers
- Captaris helps organizations to digitally capture paper documents.
- Captaris RightFax is the industry-standard fax server and it is tightly integrated with numerous fax devices and multifunction printers (MFPs). Fax is a major source for distributed document capture in many industries.
- Captaris Alchemy provides document scanning and capture capabilities to digitize paper documents in centralized capture operations; it tracks and records all activities for audit and compliance purposes.
Category:Imaging and Archiving
What Captaris Offers:
- Alchemy provides image-processing capabilities, enabling organizations to convert paper to standard formats (TIFF, PDF, JPEG etc.).
- Alchemy assigns metadata to documents, via manual indexing, database lookup tables or automated extraction methods like OCR and barcodes.
- Alchemy captures computer-generated output (COLD) such as reports or invoices.
- Alchemy provides long-term archiving and retrieval with security and accountability.
Category: High-end workflow
What Captaris Offers:
- Captaris Workflow provides a powerful process management system that is built on the Microsoft .NET framework.
- Captaris Workflow's straightforward design tools, simulation module and business analyst programs enable organizations to build sophisticated workflows.
Category: High-volume document delivery
What Captaris Offers
- RightFax provides a certified and secure mass-delivery method via fax and email for documents stored in databases or line-of-business applications such as accounting or ERP systems.
- Alchemy exports and delivers large document collections on fully searchable, self-contained and highly secure CDs or DVDs, or through Web portals.
In conclusion, organizations must be able to bridge the "paper-to-digital" divide to take control of all their information, and Captaris is providing the software products to help them gain control.
Dan Lucarini brought Alchemy imaging and archiving software to market in 1993, and has remained an active member of the knowledge management community. A long-time member of AIIM and ARMA, he holds the ECM Practitioner certification from AIIM. You can contact him at
danlucarini@captaris.com.
Captaris, Inc
10885 NE 4th Street, Suite 400
Bellevue, WA 98004
PH: 425.455.6000
FAX: 425.638.1500
Web: www.captaris.com
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