Category Archives: Technology

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Document Capture from the user’s perspective

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Sometimes it is not the technology itself that dictates either the success or failure of a particular technology.  I believe that the “user experience” helps drive adoption of a particular technology or ultimately will bring its demise.  Let me give you a few examples. Microsoft Windows:  Ask yourself this question; self: Was Windows the most robust and feature-rich operating system when Microsoft introduced Windows in the early 1990’s? Probably not, but what Microsoft clearly understood was that the Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) and ease of use from the user perspective was going to be a key to their success.  Microsoft Windows now dominates market share among operating system software available in the market today.  The next example is the iPhone and iPad.  Unquestionably two extremely successful products released by Apple in recent years.  Most people will agree that the elegant User Interface and ease of use is one of the driving factors for the success of the iPhone and iPad.  My point is Document Capture vendors, both hardware and software, as well as even system integrators, should carefully consider how the user themselves interact with scanning applications and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems.  True adoption of a technology only happens with users fully embrace the technology wholeheartedly. 


 

Businesses and organizations scan documents to capture information – not because it’s a fun activity like playing World’s of Warcraft on a Windows operating system; updating ones Facebook status on an iPhone or even watching a hi-def movie like Avatar on an iPad.  Document Capture is implemented for several reasons including reduced operating costs, improved efficiencies or adherence to compliance. However, “fun” is clearly not near the top of the list.  We must take this into account when presenting users with various methods of document capture. Therefore, I would like to share some of the common techniques that are used to scan documents into ECM/ERP/CRM/EMR systems.  These three general methods (manual indexing, automatic indexing and network scanning) of capture are intended to illustrate various ways to accomplish capturing scanned documents to these systems however; the specific techniques utilized will vary depending on individual organizations requirements.  


 

Three methods of document capture 

 

Manual Indexing offers a simple and cost effective way for scanned images and associated search words to be imported into document management systems or simply to make access to these scanned images easier.  In order to provide ECM users with relevant search results instead of vague results, metadata must be associated with documents.   Adding metadata to documents is a critical step in making an ECM system effective and not just simply an electronic replication of a previously paper-based system of disorganization.  The general concept of Manual Indexing allows a user to scan a document, choose a destination directly within the ECM Library then manually (as opposed to computer-processing) type metadata for that particular document type and then release into a back-end system.  This is drastically different than scanning to a folder, then importing.  Scanning to a folder is not an integrated approach.  This direct communication between an ECM back-end system (server) and scanning application software (workstation) allows for real-time changes within the ECM system to immediately be applied to the scanning application software.  Once the destination/document type has been selected by the user any associated metadata or search terms, are dynamically presented to the user for indexing purposes.  These index fields are specific to each document type and business rules to establish continuity in your document capture process can be transparently delivered to scanner users without any disruption whatsoever..  A manual indexing approach to document capture is best for ad-hoc use or low volume scanning requirements such as a knowledge worker scanning an occasional document where the amount of index fields is limited to under 50 total fields per day as a best practice.  Anything more than 50 total fields per day becomes quite tedious and should dictate consideration for some level of automation within a document capture strategy. 

Use scenario: 

  • Ad-hoc
  • Low volume
  • Desktop environments

  

Benefits of Manual Indexing: 

  • Easy to learn
  • Simple to deploy
  • Inexpensive

Scanner requirements: 

  • Paper handling
  • Image enhancement
  • Reliability

  

 

Automatic Indexing into ECM systems provides a way for organizations to gain additional productivity with the ability to scan large quantities of documents at a single time without interruption of the scanning process.  With this approach the scanning, indexing and release into the ECM system is more automated and highly efficient which is ideal. However, it typically requires some level of technical expertise to install, configure and use these software packages. 


 

In the case of automatic indexing, image quality is typically much more important than with the manual indexing approach.  This is because often times the system utilizes advanced technology such as Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), or Enhanced Bar Code (EBC) Recognition to allow a computer to make decisions based on the accuracy of a collection of dots, or pixels, on a scanned image.  If you truly break-down document capture to its core an image is nothing more than a collection of dots.  A collection of dots then compose characters and then characters formulate words.  And then, eventually, you have a document containing many of these elements.  The whole entire capture process is directly affected by the quality of the scanned image and, therefore, excellent image quality is essential to the success of an automatic indexing strategy for capturing scanned documents. 

Use scenario: 

  • Centralized capture
  • Moderate to high volumes of paper
  • Process control

Benefits of Automatic Indexing: 

  • Enhance productivity
  • Immediate access to information
  • Reduce labor costs

Scanner requirements: 

  • Excellent image quality
  • Rated speeds for OCR
  • Hardware-based image processing

  

 

A Network Scanning approach to capturing scanned documents into ECM systems can use either the Manual Indexing or Automatic Indexing so the method itself is not necessarily the main appeal of a network scanning capture strategy.  Some of the many appeal points of network scanning, in contrast to USB-attached scanners, includes the flexibility of integration options, effective device management and, of course, ease of use.  Integration options using communication standards such as HTTP, Web Services and possibly even utilizing Cloud Computing infrascture can greatly benefit organizations by limiting their reliance on a proprietary vendor application or platform.  With a well-constructed network scanning platform, organizations are presented with a nearly limitless list of integration options with complimentary or even drastically disjointed systems.  All presented to the user through an ease to use, consistent touch screen interface.  Does this sound too incredibly different than the iPhone interacting with different sorts of data???  As I mentioned earlier and would like to re-iterate, true adoption of technology happens when users have a comfortable and pleasant experience. 


 

The flexibility of using a network scanning solution as a platform for each company/organization scanning requirement is a key appeal point for this method.  Most network scanners offer many useful features including scan to e-mail, folder, ftp, network fax and network printers.  Additionally, some network scanner platforms offer Software Developer’s Kits (SDKs) which enable third-party integration software to operate directly on the device which offers another level of tight integration possibilities to other complimentary systems and/or additional functionality.   And probably one of the most appealing attributes of network scanners, are the large high resolution/color touch screen interfaces.   This is truly innovative for users to interact with data directly in the ECM system via the touch of the screen.  These devices offer users an easy to operate and highly functional scanning experience that allows workers to get their scanning done quickly and efficiently. 

Use scenario: 

  • Shared environments
  • Remote locations
  • Multifunctional purpose
  • Platform for emerging technology

Benefits of Network Scanning: 

  • Consistent process
  • Limited learning curve
  • Easy deployment
  • Effective device management

Scanner requirements: 

  • Intelligent scanning
  • Large touch screen
  • Central Administration
  • Third-Party integrations and connectivity

In summary, I hope that you can appreciate the value of carefully considering the importance of the user experience when developing your document capture strategy.  The behind-the-scenes technology can be the best in the industry but when resistance among users exists then true adoption suffers causing terrible inefficiencies.  Or, you might still be able to find a copy of the OS/2 operating system for those fancy cell phones… 

 

Sincerely, 

Kevin 

Capturing Opportunity, Technology = Positivity

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Kevin NealI am very fortunate and blessed to be where I am now with my career in the document capture and enterprise content management (ECM) industry. I would not probably have planned it this way but it has turned out to serve me and, more importantly I would hope, those whom I’ve work with well. I have had the honor of being asked to blog a few entries for AIIM’s new ‘document capture’ community and I would like to take this initial post to share a little bit about myself, Kevin Neal.

First, and as full disclosure, I work with Fujitsu as a Product Marketing Manager for our document scanners [Updated 12/5/13: I no longer work for Fujitsu]. That being said, I consider myself a well-rounded technologist based on my business experience rather than a “marketing guy”. You will find my writing and thoughts to be honest and sincere.

I have worked in the document image processing (DIP), errrr ummm, document imaging management (DIM), errrr ummm, I mean ECM industry for over 21 years now. I’ve seen the industry change (more than just industry acronyms) and evolve over these years into something that is now top-of-mind for organizations and even individuals alike instead of being an expensive, niche, hard-to-understand and difficult to deploy technology. I have a dry sense of humor and I can be quite sarcastic so I’m sure that you will sense these Kevin Neal-ism’s in my writing so I apologize in advance. I hope that I can contribute real value to this industry based on my work experience and perspective gathered over these years.

So, twenty-one years ago, in 1989, I started in this industry with “first-hand” experience (literally) observing document scanning technology and working with leading vendors such as ViewStar, Calera, Caere, Xionics, LaserMaster, TDC, Keyfile, Watermark, Cornerstone, Artist Graphics and others that have since been acquired and molded into new current leading ECM vendors. This “first-hand” experience was me working in the shipping and receiving department at Law Cypress Distributing Company so it doesn’t sound as glorious as I spun-it in the first sentence, but it was an introduction to the technology and vendors none-the-less. I was quickly promoted to Inside Sales at the Company where I helped support our sales team. I also worked with the marketing team to create our first print catalog (yes, print catalog – remember Al Gore was still inventing the Internet in those days). In retrospect I look back on that as an extremely valuable project because I became familiar with the different parts of a document capture solution and how they fit together and complement each other. In addition to the warehouse and inside sales positions I held at the Company I also managed the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) and evaluation departments and this experience enabled me to test and troubleshoot all sorts of imaging equipment which was another invaluable experience. I left Law Cypress in 1993 only to return in 1999 but in a completely different capacity, as their Network Administrator.

During this time period between stints at Law Cypress, I held various sales and marketing positions at Bell Microproducts and International Computer Graphics, both of which have since been acquired. I was very proud of the success at both companies and it gave me great perspective on how overwhelming understanding even the basics of document capture and imaging can be for someone who are unfamiliar with this technology. You see even though both Companies sold IT products, document imaging was such a departure for our people internally as well as our customers that it took a lot of patience to eventually realize this success. This patience and trying to explain very technical things in a easy to understand fashion is what I gained most from this experience and I try to share in a similar matter to this day.

Fast forward to around the 1996 -1999 timeframe. I found myself completely out of the document capture business, yet still involved intimately with technology. Quite honestly I was frustrated with our industry at the time. Why? While the industry was growing and the technology was becoming better the truth is it was too expensive, too complicated to implement, too sophisticated to learn and way too niche. There were no big name IT players helping drive adoption of our technology an most of the technology was cutting edge type products only being embraced by true early adopters http://www.apte…net/. I don’t think the likes of Microsoft, Google, IBM, Adobe and others truly appreciated the value of “enterprise content”. Of course nowadays, each of these vendors has woven their products and services tightly into the ECM landscape through a series of acquisitions or flurry of product development recently which are directly related to document capture and/or managing business content. During these few years out of the document capture industry I worked as a consultant for a small company doing network installations and troubleshooting. Unbeknownst to me at the time this would turn out to be extremely valuable in my current position due to the fact that network-attach peripherals such a network scanners and multifunction devices seem to be all the rage. In conjunction to working as a consultant I also started my own web development company where I learned, mostly the hard way, many technical things not specific to document capture but are closely related.

As I mentioned earlier in this post I returned to Law Cypress in 1999 as their Network Administrator managing both the computer network and telephone system. I managed the network for the corporate location as well as several remote offices. Again, I could not appreciate how valuable this experience was at the time but, in retrospect, isn’t cloud computing somewhat similar to managing infrastructure, applications and communications over a network (internet)? Yes, I think the concept is somewhat similar and fortunately I can fall back on this experience for a basic understanding of concepts although the underlining technology might be different. It’s helped me to have a solid foundation of technical understanding. This experience has also given me great respect for the challenges of managing IT infrastructure. This is one of the reasons that I preach ease-of-use as a priority for vendors and one of the reasons we must strive as an industry to develop products that are highly functional, yet easy to use. IT departments know that they want to, and should, deploy document capture technology for the obvious benefits but most simply do not have the time or resources to add complication to their already difficult jobs.

I didn’t intend for this blog to be an summary of my entire business career but I did want to provide insight and background on myself. I think it’s important that readers of my posts understand I am speaking from experience and I can respect how document capture technology can affect, either positively or negatively, organizations. If an organization is attempting to change their whole way of doing business from paper-based process to electronic process this is not something to be taken lightly. A successful document capture and ECM strategy can drastically help organizations be more efficient, cut costs and improve process. While an unsuccessful implementation could become a burden with terrible consequences.

I hope you enjoy reading my, as well as my fellow bloggers, posts. I am always open to constructive criticism. I’m not always right – believe it or not – and I’m always willing to have a healthy debate about any topics. I look forward to your feedback and comments.

In summary, I hope you can appreciate my perspective and this is why I remain extremely positive in these challenging economic times. Because technology that improves efficiency, cuts costs and helps improve process can only be a good thing (when well understood) and that’s what we hope to deliver at http://www.aiim.org/Community/Blogs.

 

Sincerely,

Kevin

Why a network scanner?

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I often get asked this question so I decided to consolidate some of the compelling reasons organizations should consider dedicated network scanners:

Dedicated use device for scanning documents
• No need to wait for the copy machine to become free for use
• Versatile functionality without compromise of added complexity
• Advanced scanning functions performed transparent to user
• Ability to preview images before sending to destinations
• Simple operation easy to understand

General Office - Ease of Use

General Office Functionality

A dedicated scanning device that seamlessly integrates within an organizations existing network infrastructure can be of tremendous value to enhance work processes. Network scanners benefit organizations by decreasing the complex nature, yet not comprising access to important functionality. From users of these devices to network administrators and business managers to basically an entire organization, businesses in a wide variety of markets are benefiting from network scanning.

Uptime/Reliability
• Access to scanning functionality is not hampered by other possible failures of a multifunction device
• Limited physical moving parts decreases likelihood of hardware malfunction
• Straight thru paper path design helps decrease possibility of document jams
• Network scanners inherit attributes designed for mission-critical document scanners

Organizations can only realize the true productivity enhancement of their IT investment when their systems are performing at peak performance. Disruption in the work process wastes time, costs money and causes frustration among employees and customers alike. Dedicated network scanners have been designed with the sole purpose of document scanning and, therefore contain the hardware and software attributes organizations expect which make them desirable in mission-critical business applications. Organizations of all sizes have sought the quality and reliability of single-function document scanners for years. For example, one of these intangible qualities which are sometimes hard to measure is lost productivity caused by a mechanical malfunction of a multifunction copier. Downtime for maintenance is simply not an option.

Ease of Use
• Eliminate complexity and provide simply operation with large touch screen
• Simple touch screen driven scanning operation eliminates specialized training
• In the unlikely event of a document jam, easy jam recovery without damaging documents
• Multiple language support
• Programmable job function buttons can perform repetitive tasks with the touch of one button

Customization and Control

Customization and familiar user experience

Large touch screen displays and integrated keyboards are two physical attributes which make digitizing documents with a network scanner simple. Similar to your on computer desktop at home which you may have customized with a particular look and feel, business users get the most value out of technology when they are familiar with the presentation of interfaces and have the versatility to customize screens. Network scanners adhere to this principal as well. For example, user state migration among devices presents the user with the same, consistent user experience based on their logon information no matter which device they decide to use.

Quality
• Image quality built on experience focused on document capture technology
• Paper path designs are careful engineered to excel at document handling including some with the capability of scanning plastic cards
• Document scanning technology hardware and software integration with specialize content management application providers

The quality of IT products typically is not appreciated until there are operational disruptions caused by failure such as a paper jammed in the device. Experience in developing feeding technology to efficiently handle documents of different shapes, sizes and weights have helped set dedicated document scanner vendors apart from other technology. Network scanners have inherited many of the qualities of traditional document scanners used in mission-critical applications and are bringing the opportunities of network scanning to organizations of all sizes. This focus on the importance of mission-critical scanning is evident in network scanners with specifically design features such as a straight paper path to reduce potential document jams and the ability to scan plastic cards through the document feeder. Additionally, the ability to preview images after scanning and before committing them to a destination is an example of a quality found in some network scanners.

Secure
• Restrict access to only authorized users with secure authentication
• User data such as username/password or image data does not reside on the scanner
• Data is encrypted on device to provide additional level of security
• No external USB port to hijack sensitive information
• Highly secure login authentication and transmission protocols (SSL)
• Lock-down job profiles to adhere to organization established policies

Whether it is for regulation, compliance or other reasons, data security plays a major role for network scanners. As a device that is ‘always on’ and connected to corporate networks, the risk of a data compromise of information has to be careful considered. From access to the devices themselves, or the manner in which information is electronically communicated to which level of functionality should be provided to particular users or groups is all functionality that organizations need to be thought through thoroughly. Network scanners provide these security features to assist organizations utilize devices in a manner which adheres to their specific established policies. The threat of data compromise comes in many fashions; not only externally but maybe internally and sometimes inadvertently, not maliciously.

Total cost of ownership
• Decrease deployment costs with remote administration tools
• Reduce ongoing maintenance costs with ability to push updates to devices from a centralized location
• Utilize existing network resources and systems to conserve budget
• Inexpensive and user replaceable consumables

Stretch your budget further using a dedicated network scanner through simple initial deployment of devices. Simply connect the scanner to the network then IT departments or network administrators can remotely configure and manage devices. No longer do organizations have to incur the expense or time consumed by having to send technicians on-site to setup devices. Additionally, on-going maintenance costs are drastically reduced by not having to replace expensive toner or fuser parts. Easily accessible user replaceable consumables provide a convenient way to keep the network scanner performing at optimal performance, yet decreasing the need for IT involvement.

Simple Deployment and Effective Device Management

Central Administration Server software

Integrated for Business Process Improvement
• Direct connectivity to back-end systems
• Index values and metadata sent directly into Content Management repositories
• Database lookups for validation
• Image enable your Line of Business application with Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) development

Some network scanner vendors offer optional Software Developer Kit’s (SDK) where developers can create unique integration screens to be displayed on the touch panel. These integrations offer tight interoperability with business systems such as Enterprise Content Management (ECM) repositories, Line of Business (LOB) applications, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other third-party solutions. In addition, user interface screens can be created with a custom look and feel to fit corporate branding. An integrated approach to network scanning enables organizations of all sizes to image-enable their current software applications and offers the assurance of delivering images directly into back-end servers without the traditional high costs, aggravation and loss of productivity involved with other approaches.

Integrated Software Applications to Improve Business Efficiency

Third-Party Software Solutions - Integrated

 

Trends Towards Higher Resolution Scanning

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Napster, MP3, YouTube, iPhone and MySpace. You may be asking yourself “what does this have to do with document scanning?” In reality, not much, other than large file sizes, however when we draw an analogy between large audio files like those found on Napster such as wav files or mp3’s, video files like those found on YouTube and MySpace which you can utilize on a mobile device like the new iPhone then we can get an appreciate of the challenges of sharing large files. And because viewing document images has become just as important, if not more important from a business perspective, we need to have a clear understanding of the general technological trends of information sharing and the Trends Towards Higher Resolution Scanning.

In the perfect world of scanning technology someone would drop a document into the scanners automatic document feeder, scan the page and “voila”, all the vital business data has been automatically extracted for immediate use by an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system or for general retrieval via a keyword search. This is similar to using a search engine to find the information we are looking for. Sounds like magic? It nearly is but there are many underlining technologies that create this magic. Technically speaking advanced forms processing, or the ability to perform these sophisticated tasks automatically, is a reality that is available today and this ‘magic’ starts with high quality scanned images which most closely resemble the original document. In Automated Forms Processing applications there is a lot going on behind the scenes where a poor or good quality image dictates the success, or failure, among other related processes in the grand scheme of the document imaging system. These features need to be highly functional, extremely accurate and transparent to the users themselves.

In a recent study of scanner users Susan Moyse of Moyse Technology Consulting summed up the current trend quite well, “Scanner users need applications that do more automatically. This requires vendors to deliver sophisticated functionality almost invisibly. The less these users know of the underlying technologies the better. Business users just want their scanning solutions to solve their problems.”

 

Traditional Obstacles Addressed By Advanced Technology

Advanced features are great from the standpoint that custom systems can be designed by systems integrators, value-added resellers or a professional services organization to fit individual business needs. An effective document capture system is a system that operator’s don’t have to think about. Capturing more dots per inch at scan time gives your scanning solution the greatest chance of automation success. Most likely no solution will be absolutely perfect, nevertheless, giving your capture solution the greatest chance at success through good image quality, more dots per inch and great paper handling can dramatically increase your level of automatic document capture.

There are advanced techniques such as automatic document classification, document separation and free-form processing, all of which greatly depend on the computer being able to read the dots on scanned pages to make intelligent, and critical decisions about these images. After all, garbage-in is garbage-out and your document capture solution is the on-ramp to transform paper to usable electronic data. Most often you get one chance to capture these images before they are filed in a permanent archive or the physical paper is destroyed forever.

To understand these trends and to develop our hypothesis for the future of document scanning we must evaluate what inhibited the sharing of large files in the early days of file sharing. While the ability to share audio, video and document images has been around a long time, this sharing was limited due to some rather common factors. The cohesion between all file formats is they have historically been large file sizes and difficult, if not impossible, to use over computer networks. Let’s take a look back into the not-so-distant past and get a glimpse at what ultimately made the likes of YouTube, MySpace and Napster, successful and what will drive the trend of scanning higher resolutions for automation. One of the most obvious drawbacks to sharing large files was the lack of bandwidth. Whether it was a remote user on a dial-up connection or corporate networks that had not the foresight to plan ahead for the sharing of large files, customer dissatisfaction was high and people were reluctant to use these services due the impending frustration of waiting for large downloads to complete. Likewise, video sharing had been, until recently, slow to adopt for many of us, however times are changing on the increased bandwidth forefront and we need to refer to history understand what limited the adoption rate of these technologies.

 

Contributing Factors to the Trends Towards Higher Resolution Scanning

Most leading Automated Forms Processing software companies recommend scanning at a minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch for effective data extraction. In other words, for every square inch of paper the scanner is capturing 300 dots horizontally and 300 dots vertically or 90,000 total dots (300 x 300 = 90,000 dots per square inch). This automation reduces manual intervention tasks such as ‘key index values from images’ which in turn decreases costs and improves efficiency. Some techniques, which you might be familiar with, include Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) or Optical Mark Recognition (OMR).

Presume we settled for scanning at 200 dpi resolution. We would have captured only 40,000 total dots per inch versus 90,000. Why is this important? Below is an illustration which demonstrates how incrementally larger file sizes due to scanning higher resolutions or utilizing color. Higher Resolution Scanning equals Improved Automated Accuracy.

Trends Towards Higher Resolution Scanning

 

“The accuracy of the OCR systems declined dramatically when the resolution of the images was reduced from 300 to 200 dpi…”

Source: The Fourth Annual Test of OCR Accuracy

“Scan resolution: The number of dots per inch can affect the clarity of the image and accuracy of OCR. Recent tests found that reducing from 300 dpi to 200 dpi increased the OCR error rate for a complex document by 75%…”

Source:  http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/301/netnotes/netnotes-h/notes37.htm

So the question is “why wouldn’t everyone simply scan documents at 300 dots per inch?” Traditionally there have been several legitimate concerns that made higher resolution scanning unattractive to users and systems operators. This includes limited bandwidth, (as in the audio and video file size scenarios), lossy image compression technology or the physical scanners themselves might slow to two-thirds or less of their rated speed at 200 dpi scan resolutions. Lastly, the larger file sizes created by scanning at higher resolutions. Now, through advanced technologies and innovation, the document capture industry is addressing all of these obstacles, which should truly enhance the adoption rate of higher resolution scanning. Let me be specific about each:

• Increased Bandwidth for Remote Users and Corporate Networks –

For those of you that have tried sending a large file via your e-mail client, you can certainly relate to the ‘pain’ involved with sending even one file using a low bandwidth connection. Now, just imagine a customer service operator who has to retrieve hundreds of images per day during the normal course of their work day. Decreased costs and better availability to higher bandwidth networking components affords network administrators, or even remote users, to upgrade to high speed networks such as T1 internet lines, DSL, Cable Modem, Gigabit routers/cabling or even fiber optic networks. All of which bodes well for the future of sharing large size files types including audio, video and scanned images.

• Improved Image Compression Techniques of Scanned Images –

Many new image compression techniques have been introduced recently which drastically decrease file sizes of both color and black & white images while still retaining great image quality. Previously some compression techniques caused poor image quality that would drastically decrease automatic forms processing accuracy. In addition to better images and highly compressed images, technology such as Automatic Color Detection can determine whether to save the scanned images in a black & white or a color format at scan-time, thus eliminating the need to separate documents into stacks of bi-tonal and color pages. It’s much more desirable to compress a bi-tonal image than color which is an ideal example of combining emerging technologies for the benefits of users and systems administrators.

• Scanning Higher Resolutions at Rated Speed –

Just as your car’s engine is designed to perform at a maximum speed based on the combination of aggregate parts, your document scanner is only as good as its weakest link. Certain document scanners these days have been highly engineered specifically to perform at rated speeds while scanning in higher resolution modes, thus excelling at Automated Forms Processing tasks eliminating the need to sacrifice accuracy for throughput.

• Decreased Storage Costs –

When the expense per megabyte of storage cost dollars, or several dollars, per megabyte, businesses had to make a serious decision about their choice of a data storage medium. At the time, it could have been in the form of low-capacity/high-availability hard disk drives, which were expensive, optical disks for moderate-capacity/moderate-availability at a mid-range price, or tape drives which were typically high-capacity/slow-availability although the most affordable. Times have changed quickly with the evolution of CD-ROMs, DVDs and extremely high-capacity hard disk drives. The storage industry has reached the ‘critical mass’ stage where vendors are creating great technology but competing for market share which drives costs to users down. Businesses and individuals are consuming data storage devices at a greater rate and the end of this trend seems to be nowhere in sight. Increased storage capacities, smaller forms factors and decreased costs are a clear trend and portend well for storage of large file sizes.

 

Benefits of Higher Resolution Scanning to Automation

Consider that Automated Forms Processing involves computer-based intelligence to make crucial decisions concerning your scanned images. For example: Classification- What type of document? Separation- How many pages is the form? Anchor Points or Free-Form- Where is the information on the page? Quality Control- Are these characters meeting my defined accuracy criteria? Essentially, scanning hardware and software technologies have progressed to a level of automation that allows for sophisticated document capture, advanced forms processing and mission critical data extraction, all of which could be completely transparent or invisible to the user. However, this high level of automation beings with high resolution scanning. The ability to drop a document into the scanners automatic document feeder and perform these advanced tasks has become a reality without the traditional sacrifices inherent to Higher Resolution Scanning.

The trend towards more and more distributed scanning is obvious. As more document scanners find their way into the workplace, the demand for more invisible sophistication to the user must continue. Appreciate the technology; yet allow the user to be experts in their respective professions instead of having to become scanning experts as well. Capture more dots per inch with higher scanning resolutions and give your document capture system the greatest chance for success.