Our industry for over 20 years now - even to this date, continues to over complicate (needlessly) the ECM buying process for the business consumer. There is a plethora of choices, compounded by the fact beyond the usual providers in the market, there is a huge indirect channel of solution providers in the marketplace. You also have the Regional, National, and Multi-National Systems Integrators who are looking for their piece of the ECM pie. Adding to the already complicated buying process, you have the MFP vendors and their respective channel partners all who make various claims as to their offerings and value add in the overall ECM marketplace.
Let's zero in on the Document Capture component of the market for a moment. Question: after 20 years in the industry, has any software vendor made the buying process or implementation process any simpler? It is nearing the end of 2010 and you still take software out of a box - granted on a DVD now - pop the DVD into your DVD drive and run a Setup.exe. Or, perhaps you go to a secure FTP site and download, then run a Setup.exe. Well, you don't run the Setup.exe, you have your authorized business partner providing the solution do that for you, or have the software vendor fly their Professional Services team out to run a Setup.exe. Yep, that is what 20 years worth of software engineering efforts in the Document Capture market has brought to you the Business Consumer. Innovation? Aren't you ready for an experience that is radically different, more importantly an alternative that saves time, money and is more efficient for everyone involved?
You the Business Consumer - the ones with the business problems you are trying to solve with limited dollars and resources - shouldn't be plagued with chasing down your IT staff to spec out servers, operating systems, databases, etc. Only to then move on to having your purchasing departments bid out server hardware to save a few pennies on the dollar. Maybe, after all this passage of time, 90 days later - after you cut all your PO's, equipment and software begin to finally roll in. Schedules of your IT staff become available, your integrator or PS team from the software vendor begin to arrive, and your installation & configuration begins.
Meanwhile, you spent all that cash for products -software and hardware - but you have nothing to show for it other than pieces and parts that need to be assembled by those "in the know." Your business process is still lacking the efficiencies, lacking the organizational compliance mandates, and your department is bleeding cash. You basically bought a very expensive "erector set" and patiently will need to continue to wait until your expensive erector set is finally all assembled, tested and put into production.
And, from a Channel perspective, the value add of our Channel Partners should not be bogged down in software installation processes and hardware provisioning. Our Channel Partners should be focused on delivering cost effective Document Capture solutions that solve problems and offer the lowest cost of ownership in the industry. Their focus should be on the customer's business challenges and they should be focused on problem solving.
So, it got us all here at CAPSYS thinking. Can we significantly simplify the buying and implementation experience for both our Channel Partners and our Business Consumers when it comes to On-Premise based Document Capture solutions? We have already successfully tackled the option of Software as a Service - CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE...but what about simplifying the On-Premise option?
The Birth of CAPSYS AXIOM
Going back to the tail end of 2009, we had on the drawing board the concept of developing a Single and Multi-user document capture network appliance. A solution that we could pre-install and largely pre-configure for our Channel Partners and the Business Consumer -90% complete if you will. That means the operating systems, SQL, CAPSYS software application, transactional content management workflow, etc. are all pre-installed, provisioned, pre-tuned - "matched" if you will - to server hardware that will meet the performance demands placed upon it. All the same features and functionality that you would get with a traditional on-premise solution, but designed in such a way that we remove all the headaches previously described for both our Channel Partners and the Business Consumer. The end goal: design a solution that could be made available in a "small form factor, superbly packed with features, functionality, and simplicity."
On 9/27, my InformationWeek arrived in the US mail. Low and behold, the headline on the front page of the magazine was, "Rise of the Appliance." In that article they cited how all the major IT suppliers - interestingly enough - OUTSIDE of the ECM industry - are quickly rushing to bring out an "appliance based solution." Companies like: HP, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Teradata, EMC...you get the point. Full article available here.
We temporarily shelved the idea because of other pressing development priorities and mixed responses from our channel partners whether or not the concept of a "network appliance" would make logical and practical sense in the marketplace. In hind site, perhaps we should have released of CAPSYS AXIOM earlier in the year. Hey, like any other company, we were faced with limited resources and only so many hours in the day, so you have to face "reality" when it strikes you square between the eyes.
So, while my industry has failed for the last 20 years to simplify the Document Capture buying experience and implementation process, at least we did our small part and have stepped up to the plate to address an obvious, major void in the market. I am CERTAIN others will follow shortly. Word on the street is a major publicly traded company in the industry is soon to announce their appliance based solution...shhh, don't tell anybody though ;-)
One caveat to my generalizations about our industry....FileBound from MarexGroup has significantly simplified the ECM experience with FileBound Express. Hats off to their innovation, creativity and recognizing the weaknesses in our industry. As for the rest of ECM software publishers, take your lumps and listen up.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Integrating Remote Deposit Capture with Distributed Document Capture
We've been involved with a CAPSYS and Eastman Kodak partner who identified a rather interesting, really money savings application opportunity. Who isn't interested in money savings ideas these days? The project goes like this:
The Problem
This particular end user organization has a facility where they have been doing centralized document capture for years using a competitive thick client document capture solution integrated with a Content Management System for the content repository. The organization has large departmental document scanners to handle the voluminous amounts of documents that are rec'd on a daily basis from its network of independent agents. Contained in the batch of documents are business checks that are paying for the services rendered. The checks are separated by the mail room personnel who subsequently hands the checks off to accounting through an interoffice mail process. The mail room continues with prepping, sorting and scanning the remaining business documents.
Some of the independent agents are very good about turning the documents and checks around daily or weekly via their favorite courier (FedEx or UPS), others are not so expeditious about turning the information back to corporate in a timely and predictable manner. The current process is shall we say, inconsistent, has plenty of room for errors due to potential missing checks or missing supporting documents.
Further, the checks may take a week or two to process due to their "in flight status." Because the current process is "centralized" - beginning with a mail room operation who has to sort/prep/classify/distinguish the checks from the business documents - using interoffice mail, the checks eventually make their way from the mail room to the accounting department who then follow through with generating the typical AR receipt matching process, and eventually deposit the funds with their respective banking institution.
Whew, I left out a lot of minutia, but you are beginning to get the idea. Frankly, not all that uncommon of a business process.
A Partner with Vision
After our partner carefully examined this client's situation, they proposed the better mouse trap. Capture the checks and business documents at point of origin with CAPSYS Capture - where the problem begins. Enable and empower the independent agents to capture the check and supporting documentation using inexpensive, TWAIN compliant document scanners - in this case, Eastman Kodak i1220's.
Now, the customer's independent agents immediately capture the check and the supporting documents at point of origin using CAPSYS via - you guessed it, a web browser. Everybody knows how to use a web-browser, so training is a snap. The documents immediately follow the structured Transactional Content Management Workflow that is embedded inside of CAPSYS Capture. Yes, that is what where the business process begins, thus a rules based workflow inside of a document capture makes all the sense in the world!
CAPSYS' workflow engine automatically detects and differentiates the check from the remaining business documents, routes the check to the Eastman Kodak t6000 Remote Deposit Capture solution which produces the X937 Cash Letter and Check Image(s) for presentment and deposit to the customer's banking institution. Since we captured the check and the supporting business documents together as a "batch" we are able to carry forward all of that data and post to the customer's ERP system, noting that the funds were received and the deposit was made, including a check number, a link back to the Content Management System for image retrieval. All of the supporting documents that tie the check back to the transaction are also linked and archived to the Content Management System for future retrieval.
Of course "stuff happens" and in a non-perfect world, imperfections are likely to occur. With CAPSYS' built in rules based workflow engine, you have the ability to deal with the exceptions that might occur...we deal with those in CAPSYS using Exception Queues. Exception Queues provide the ability for the customer to view exceptions and deal with them accordingly (rescans, add additional pages, delete pages, etc.).
The End Results
Now, think about all the applications that exist out in the market place where you can apply this exact same winning formula: Individual Health Insurers who take applications and checks on the spot, contractors who complete a job and accept payment via check, transportation firms who are inundated with paper work and accept checks upon delivery, the list goes on. And, because it is entirely web based app, any where you have access to the internet, you can scan the business documents and the checks right there on the spot. If you have a browser on your desktop, you are already have way there. No more need to incur the costs and time delays with Federal Express/UPS/USPS mailing documents.
Are your wheels spinning? A Closed Loop Business Process that minimizes risk, maximizes profitability.
The Problem
This particular end user organization has a facility where they have been doing centralized document capture for years using a competitive thick client document capture solution integrated with a Content Management System for the content repository. The organization has large departmental document scanners to handle the voluminous amounts of documents that are rec'd on a daily basis from its network of independent agents. Contained in the batch of documents are business checks that are paying for the services rendered. The checks are separated by the mail room personnel who subsequently hands the checks off to accounting through an interoffice mail process. The mail room continues with prepping, sorting and scanning the remaining business documents.
Some of the independent agents are very good about turning the documents and checks around daily or weekly via their favorite courier (FedEx or UPS), others are not so expeditious about turning the information back to corporate in a timely and predictable manner. The current process is shall we say, inconsistent, has plenty of room for errors due to potential missing checks or missing supporting documents.
Further, the checks may take a week or two to process due to their "in flight status." Because the current process is "centralized" - beginning with a mail room operation who has to sort/prep/classify/distinguish the checks from the business documents - using interoffice mail, the checks eventually make their way from the mail room to the accounting department who then follow through with generating the typical AR receipt matching process, and eventually deposit the funds with their respective banking institution.
Whew, I left out a lot of minutia, but you are beginning to get the idea. Frankly, not all that uncommon of a business process.
A Partner with Vision
After our partner carefully examined this client's situation, they proposed the better mouse trap. Capture the checks and business documents at point of origin with CAPSYS Capture - where the problem begins. Enable and empower the independent agents to capture the check and supporting documentation using inexpensive, TWAIN compliant document scanners - in this case, Eastman Kodak i1220's.
Now, the customer's independent agents immediately capture the check and the supporting documents at point of origin using CAPSYS via - you guessed it, a web browser. Everybody knows how to use a web-browser, so training is a snap. The documents immediately follow the structured Transactional Content Management Workflow that is embedded inside of CAPSYS Capture. Yes, that is what where the business process begins, thus a rules based workflow inside of a document capture makes all the sense in the world!
CAPSYS' workflow engine automatically detects and differentiates the check from the remaining business documents, routes the check to the Eastman Kodak t6000 Remote Deposit Capture solution which produces the X937 Cash Letter and Check Image(s) for presentment and deposit to the customer's banking institution. Since we captured the check and the supporting business documents together as a "batch" we are able to carry forward all of that data and post to the customer's ERP system, noting that the funds were received and the deposit was made, including a check number, a link back to the Content Management System for image retrieval. All of the supporting documents that tie the check back to the transaction are also linked and archived to the Content Management System for future retrieval.
Of course "stuff happens" and in a non-perfect world, imperfections are likely to occur. With CAPSYS' built in rules based workflow engine, you have the ability to deal with the exceptions that might occur...we deal with those in CAPSYS using Exception Queues. Exception Queues provide the ability for the customer to view exceptions and deal with them accordingly (rescans, add additional pages, delete pages, etc.).
The End Results
- Checks and Supporting Documents are Capture at Point of Origin, where the problem begins;
- Centralized Scanning and all of the associated headaches and costs with centralized scanning are eliminated (CAPEX expensive hardware, software, reoccurring maintenance contracts, etc.);
- Eliminates the expense required to Federal Express/UPS/US Mail checks and documents to the central office for processing;
- Funds are deposited the same day they are collected (remember, Cash is King);
- The CAPSYS/Kodak t6000 Solution allow the customer to be completely independent of any proprietary check imaging bank solution. The solution is completely portable from one bank to the next, in today's banking climate, that is absolutely essential;
- The client's business partners are all in compliance with customer's standardized operating procedures;
- If the Transactional Content Management Workflow Process needs to be changed, it all done using a graphical user interface, no programming required;
- On premise or SaaS...the deployment choice doesn't matter, take your pick.
Now, think about all the applications that exist out in the market place where you can apply this exact same winning formula: Individual Health Insurers who take applications and checks on the spot, contractors who complete a job and accept payment via check, transportation firms who are inundated with paper work and accept checks upon delivery, the list goes on. And, because it is entirely web based app, any where you have access to the internet, you can scan the business documents and the checks right there on the spot. If you have a browser on your desktop, you are already have way there. No more need to incur the costs and time delays with Federal Express/UPS/USPS mailing documents.
Are your wheels spinning? A Closed Loop Business Process that minimizes risk, maximizes profitability.
Friday, September 24, 2010
SaaS based Document Capture - No Brainer decision
It makes all the sense in the world: scan, index, QA, rules-based batch and document workflow processing, all conducted over the web via a browser. Take it a step further and have all this functionality w/o having to buy and install any client or server software, SQL databases - regardless of how simple or complicated your document capture process may be. No server hardware needs to be purchased either...regardless if your content management systems is located on-premise or is SaaS based.
From a partner perspective, your sales cycle is accelerated and measured in days or weeks. Your focus is on the matters of addressing the business needs of your client via your professional services organization. Their focus is on provisioning the service: configuration & integration. No need to fight the battles with IT anymore about who is buying the servers, where are they buying them from, when they will be delivered, how much is the business user being charged by IT to manage the application servers, or if by chance you get the rare opportunity to sell the iron, OS, DB, etc...the need to wrestle over doing business in single digit margins - the turf wars are finally over.
From an end user perspective, you get immediate value, return on investment, and lowest TCO compared to any other on-premise alternative. The SaaS based transaction is likely to be SALES TAX exempt - so it saves your organization some precious cash as well(check with your CPA or CFO). From a time to market perspective, on-premise based rollouts are simply no match for SaaS based capture solutions. From a time to market perspective, the age old on-premise delivery option is no match for SaaS!
It really is a "no brainer" decision.
From a partner perspective, your sales cycle is accelerated and measured in days or weeks. Your focus is on the matters of addressing the business needs of your client via your professional services organization. Their focus is on provisioning the service: configuration & integration. No need to fight the battles with IT anymore about who is buying the servers, where are they buying them from, when they will be delivered, how much is the business user being charged by IT to manage the application servers, or if by chance you get the rare opportunity to sell the iron, OS, DB, etc...the need to wrestle over doing business in single digit margins - the turf wars are finally over.
From an end user perspective, you get immediate value, return on investment, and lowest TCO compared to any other on-premise alternative. The SaaS based transaction is likely to be SALES TAX exempt - so it saves your organization some precious cash as well(check with your CPA or CFO). From a time to market perspective, on-premise based rollouts are simply no match for SaaS based capture solutions. From a time to market perspective, the age old on-premise delivery option is no match for SaaS!
It really is a "no brainer" decision.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Is your ECM project "a go or no go?"
The economic data continues to look rather bleak, GDP forecasters for Q3 are predicting somewhere around 1.0-1.5% GDP. That is extremely weak and expectations are unemployment rates will continue to grow higher in the near-term. The month of August from a stock market perspective delivered the worst performance in 9 years. Growth predictions for the 4th quarter are almost non-existent from the reports I have been reading.
So, how does all this very alarming economic statistics affect the data and document capture world?
Well, if customers in either the commercial sector or public sector continue to look for the means to pay for ECM projects - via the traditional capital expenditure process (software, software assurance, hardware, hardware maintenance, professional services) they are simply going to run into significant road blocks, delays and perhaps entire project cancellations. This is especially true in the public sector with declining tax revenue being the norm - which are the primary source of funds used to finance public IT projects.
Let's face it, the Executive Teams throughout Corporate America take into account the economic climate when making informed business investment spending decisions. One would reasonably expect the Public Sector would wake up to the stark reality of budget crunches and maintain some semblance of fiscal responsibility with our tax dollars.
Corporate spending on IT related CAPEX projects certainly are not immune from economic data and certainly will affect those business decisions - whether the projects are "a go or no go." Today or within the last hour, the economic data might be ok, and the Executive Team may be in support of your ECM project, but come tomorrow that may quickly change and without notice, the Executive Team may have decided to immediately shut down your ECM project. As I write this, fuel costs shot up .25 per gallon overnight...the trucking and transportation industry no doubt are all talking about the dramatic, unexpected increase in costs of doing business that didn't exist last Friday, but now exist come Monday morning!
However, there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel - Software as a Service (SaaS). For CAPSYS customers and CAPSYS partners, CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE provides a viable alternative to stalled, dead, or no-decision ECM projects because CAPEX budgets are either frozen, non-existent or have been completely vaporized. The Software as a Service option takes the mystery and uncertainly out of whether or not your ECM project will be funded because you aren't seeking six figures of CAPEX budget dollars to support your project.
Interestingly enough, we are finding that our partner's Global 2000 customers are tracking with the SaaS trend more quickly than the mid-market. I suspect this is because the mid-market organizations still are emotionally attached to maintaining physical possession of their equipment, software and data. Mid market companies are eventually going to get the message...save your cash, embrace SaaS and get business done today...if you don't, your competition will.
So, how does all this very alarming economic statistics affect the data and document capture world?
Well, if customers in either the commercial sector or public sector continue to look for the means to pay for ECM projects - via the traditional capital expenditure process (software, software assurance, hardware, hardware maintenance, professional services) they are simply going to run into significant road blocks, delays and perhaps entire project cancellations. This is especially true in the public sector with declining tax revenue being the norm - which are the primary source of funds used to finance public IT projects.
Let's face it, the Executive Teams throughout Corporate America take into account the economic climate when making informed business investment spending decisions. One would reasonably expect the Public Sector would wake up to the stark reality of budget crunches and maintain some semblance of fiscal responsibility with our tax dollars.
Corporate spending on IT related CAPEX projects certainly are not immune from economic data and certainly will affect those business decisions - whether the projects are "a go or no go." Today or within the last hour, the economic data might be ok, and the Executive Team may be in support of your ECM project, but come tomorrow that may quickly change and without notice, the Executive Team may have decided to immediately shut down your ECM project. As I write this, fuel costs shot up .25 per gallon overnight...the trucking and transportation industry no doubt are all talking about the dramatic, unexpected increase in costs of doing business that didn't exist last Friday, but now exist come Monday morning!
However, there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel - Software as a Service (SaaS). For CAPSYS customers and CAPSYS partners, CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE provides a viable alternative to stalled, dead, or no-decision ECM projects because CAPEX budgets are either frozen, non-existent or have been completely vaporized. The Software as a Service option takes the mystery and uncertainly out of whether or not your ECM project will be funded because you aren't seeking six figures of CAPEX budget dollars to support your project.
Interestingly enough, we are finding that our partner's Global 2000 customers are tracking with the SaaS trend more quickly than the mid-market. I suspect this is because the mid-market organizations still are emotionally attached to maintaining physical possession of their equipment, software and data. Mid market companies are eventually going to get the message...save your cash, embrace SaaS and get business done today...if you don't, your competition will.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
CAPSYS Tech Tip
Did you know that you can release documents and associated metadata to multiple repositories from CAPSYS CAPTURE? For example, you are working with a customer that has deployed SharePoint in their Human Resources department and FileBound in their Finance/Accounting department. For each document type, you select which repository (i.e., Document Management System) you want to release to by simply placing the Release Module QSX on the Document Type process map (Standard licensing policies apply).
CAPSYS CAPTURE can release to a unique repository for each document type. Additionally, you can even release the same document type to multiple repositories simply by placing each release module QSX in sequence on the Document Type process map. CAPSYS CAPTURE can be used to perform all of the document and data capture needs for a client regardless of the number of document management systems are installed - they don't need a different document capture product for each system! Very cool, huh?
CAPSYS CAPTURE can release to a unique repository for each document type. Additionally, you can even release the same document type to multiple repositories simply by placing each release module QSX in sequence on the Document Type process map. CAPSYS CAPTURE can be used to perform all of the document and data capture needs for a client regardless of the number of document management systems are installed - they don't need a different document capture product for each system! Very cool, huh?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Customer Satisfaction Surveys - A sound business practice and you can learn much by simply listening!
A CAPSYS business partner located in the Midwest recently shared with me the results from their Customer Satisfaction Survey he received for a very recent implementation of CAPSYS Capture Online - the Software as a Service (SaaS) alternative to the traditional on-premise document capture option.
Before I go any further, how many of you make it common practice to conduct formal "Customer Satisfaction Surveys? Before you answer that question, continue reading on.
Second, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our CAPSYS partner takes a very unique approach towards managing their customer relationships: Conducting customer satisfaction surveys after each engagement, not just once or twice a year. Kudos to the partner's management team for designing and executing upon a disciplined customer relationship management process!
The overall objective of the project was to provide the customer with a budget savings opportunity- more specifically, for the line of business owner - achieved by replacing the existing capture solution with the lower cost CAPSYS alternative. The cost savings would not only be measured in savings by eliminating annual software assurance dollars but by also eliminating the internal charges that were being assessed by the IT department - in excess of $10,000 per year!
The total projected annual cost savings shared by the customer to the CAPSYS partner indicated the annual savings was expected to be in excess of over $30,000.00. Not bad.
Ok, its one thing to "claim" the savings during the sales cycle, but what were the actual savings? From the customer's mouth, "a whopping $39,753.00!" Now that is a rather remarkable story in an of itself. However, the real story only begins with the money savings. I was rather jazzed to see the results of the customer survey:
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 - poor, 3 - average and 5 excellent), please rate the performance of our organization as it related to the "XXXXXXXX Document Capture Project":
A) Met Original Business Objectives - 5
[The End User] is now very happy with the CAPSYS software functionality and stated that it is meeting her expectations as presented in the sales cycle. [The End User] did go back and examine the cost savings and confirmed that CAPSYS has in-fact reduced her costs by about 40%, as predicted in the sales cycle. The CAPSYS features & functions also met their objectives so they are very happy overall in this area.
B) Delivery of Expected Features/Functionality - 5
The CAPSYS software functions as expected. [The end user] likes the CAPSYS interface and likes the software much better than [their previous Enterprise] capture software package.
C) Met Delivery Time-line - 3
This rating had to do with the time-line delays due to [customer's] rigid security & Firewall issues. [the end user] was very clear that she understood these issues were outside of [the CAPSYS Partner's] control. [Customer's] IT staff & resources were problematic for her but it still ended up delaying the project and causing issues for the business.
D) Overall Project Cost - 5
E) Professional Services Cost - 5
[The Partner] did a great job! [The end user] said the engineer assigned on the project was very knowledgeable on the CAPSYS software and very responsive. Also happy with technical support department and the support she has received so far.
G) Please rate your willingness to recommend [the partner] for future Capture/ECM projects at your company. - 5
Before I go any further, how many of you make it common practice to conduct formal "Customer Satisfaction Surveys? Before you answer that question, continue reading on.
Second, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our CAPSYS partner takes a very unique approach towards managing their customer relationships: Conducting customer satisfaction surveys after each engagement, not just once or twice a year. Kudos to the partner's management team for designing and executing upon a disciplined customer relationship management process!
The overall objective of the project was to provide the customer with a budget savings opportunity- more specifically, for the line of business owner - achieved by replacing the existing capture solution with the lower cost CAPSYS alternative. The cost savings would not only be measured in savings by eliminating annual software assurance dollars but by also eliminating the internal charges that were being assessed by the IT department - in excess of $10,000 per year!
The total projected annual cost savings shared by the customer to the CAPSYS partner indicated the annual savings was expected to be in excess of over $30,000.00. Not bad.
Ok, its one thing to "claim" the savings during the sales cycle, but what were the actual savings? From the customer's mouth, "a whopping $39,753.00!" Now that is a rather remarkable story in an of itself. However, the real story only begins with the money savings. I was rather jazzed to see the results of the customer survey:
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 - poor, 3 - average and 5 excellent), please rate the performance of our organization as it related to the "XXXXXXXX Document Capture Project":
A) Met Original Business Objectives - 5
[The End User] is now very happy with the CAPSYS software functionality and stated that it is meeting her expectations as presented in the sales cycle. [The End User] did go back and examine the cost savings and confirmed that CAPSYS has in-fact reduced her costs by about 40%, as predicted in the sales cycle. The CAPSYS features & functions also met their objectives so they are very happy overall in this area.
B) Delivery of Expected Features/Functionality - 5
The CAPSYS software functions as expected. [The end user] likes the CAPSYS interface and likes the software much better than [their previous Enterprise] capture software package.
C) Met Delivery Time-line - 3
This rating had to do with the time-line delays due to [customer's] rigid security & Firewall issues. [the end user] was very clear that she understood these issues were outside of [the CAPSYS Partner's] control. [Customer's] IT staff & resources were problematic for her but it still ended up delaying the project and causing issues for the business.
D) Overall Project Cost - 5
[The end user] was very happy at the overall cost. She appreciated that [the CAPSYS partner] honored the fixed bid commitment and did not bill her above the [agreed] contract amount for services. She is very pleased with how [the CAPSYS partner] handled the issues and will let other [Enterprise End User] business units know that [the CAPSYS Partner] and the CAPSYS organization are great companies to work with and that CAPSYS is a great product.
See above. Very happy, felt fees were very fair.
F) How would you rate [the partner's] technical expertise related to the services delivered for this project? -5
[The Partner] did a great job! [The end user] said the engineer assigned on the project was very knowledgeable on the CAPSYS software and very responsive. Also happy with technical support department and the support she has received so far.
G) Please rate your willingness to recommend [the partner] for future Capture/ECM projects at your company. - 5
[the end user] is very willing to recommend [the partner] & CAPSYS to other [end user] divisions as they inquire about the CAPSYS solution. Given my conversation with her today I believe [the end user] will be a tremendous advocate for us at [the end user]. She also expressed, she liked the sales process, SOW, documentation & our support is great. Very happy with the software, much better than [previous Capture software vendor]. It’s easier and less complex to use.
Overall, a very satisfied customer and a very satisfied CAPSYS business partner. Congratulations and job well done!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Document Boss says ECM industry is going to get pounced upon!
I love these kinds of articles: edgy, thoughtful and in this particular case, Document Boss furthers along (indirectly) the value proposition of CAPSYS. Our partners over the last 15 months rapidly have embraced the SaaS Capture opportunity and this article further confirms our thought process - that our cherished partners have made the correct decision. The author says, "SaaS does have some strong economic arguments in its favour, as follows:
To the CAPSYS Channel, congratulations on making the correct decision to embrace the SaaS revolution. You are poised to propel your businesses to the next level and leave the competition behind in the smog of ancient thinking. You have an abundance of opportunity before each of you and your customers are ready and willing to hear your unique value propositions. Good selling!
Full article from Document Boss here.
- Reduction of customer's IT requirements
- Consequential lower operating costs
- Speed and ease of deployment
- Departmental flexibility where management can circumnavigate their own IT “gatekeeper”
To the CAPSYS Channel, congratulations on making the correct decision to embrace the SaaS revolution. You are poised to propel your businesses to the next level and leave the competition behind in the smog of ancient thinking. You have an abundance of opportunity before each of you and your customers are ready and willing to hear your unique value propositions. Good selling!
Full article from Document Boss here.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Compliance Alert! Are Copy Machines and MFP's a security risk?
The ECM industry has been rather strangely silent on the issue of inherent security risks of the copy machine industry, namely the Multi-Function Peripherals (MFP)s. Recently, CBS did a rather revealing story on the subject of copy machines that include a hard disk drive used to store the documents that you copy, scan, email, etc. What is rather alarming here is the images on the hard drives are not automatically erased after the user completes their work. Imagine that?
That means all that sensitive data that you have been copying, perhaps containing personal identity information, health history, financial data, employment and payroll data etc. is on that copy machine's internal hard drive - unless someone takes the extra precaution of deleting it from the copy machine. Would you even know how to delete the images from the hard drive? Were you made aware such a security risk exists in your organization? Worse yet, when your Facilities and/or Finance department says the equipment has reached end of life and it is time to swap out the dinasour with the latest and greatest copy machine, who is taking the responsibility of erasing the hard drive and verifying all that senstive data on the copy machine has been eradicated?
The silence is rather deafening, isn't it?
Hey, the good news is at least one of the MFP manufacturers discussed in this story sells an OPTIONAL utility to wipe that hard drive clean. Question? Why isn't such a utility considered a STANDARD no cost feature on all copy machines given the fact that the copy machine/MFP vendors know the security risk exists by design with every copy machine/MFP that ships out the door? Perplexing.
Tip of the hat to the innovative team at Digital Copier Security in Sacramento for addressing this major industry GAFFE!!! Nice job CBS picking this story up and running with it.
Before you roll out or refresh all those MFP's, consider the organizational security and liability risks and make sure they are adequately addressed. Or, consider using document scanners for the job as the only ones to contain hard drives are usually the large mainframe, production document scanners. And, if those document scanners happen to have a hard drive, be sure you zap them before you retire them from your operation.
Full story can be found on YouTube or by clicking here
That means all that sensitive data that you have been copying, perhaps containing personal identity information, health history, financial data, employment and payroll data etc. is on that copy machine's internal hard drive - unless someone takes the extra precaution of deleting it from the copy machine. Would you even know how to delete the images from the hard drive? Were you made aware such a security risk exists in your organization? Worse yet, when your Facilities and/or Finance department says the equipment has reached end of life and it is time to swap out the dinasour with the latest and greatest copy machine, who is taking the responsibility of erasing the hard drive and verifying all that senstive data on the copy machine has been eradicated?
The silence is rather deafening, isn't it?
Hey, the good news is at least one of the MFP manufacturers discussed in this story sells an OPTIONAL utility to wipe that hard drive clean. Question? Why isn't such a utility considered a STANDARD no cost feature on all copy machines given the fact that the copy machine/MFP vendors know the security risk exists by design with every copy machine/MFP that ships out the door? Perplexing.
Tip of the hat to the innovative team at Digital Copier Security in Sacramento for addressing this major industry GAFFE!!! Nice job CBS picking this story up and running with it.
Before you roll out or refresh all those MFP's, consider the organizational security and liability risks and make sure they are adequately addressed. Or, consider using document scanners for the job as the only ones to contain hard drives are usually the large mainframe, production document scanners. And, if those document scanners happen to have a hard drive, be sure you zap them before you retire them from your operation.
Full story can be found on YouTube or by clicking here
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Larry Ellison clears up Cloud Computing for all of us!
A colleague of mine sent this YouTube audio sound byte of Larry Ellison from Oracle speaking on the subject of Cloud Computing....he sums it up as follows: "What the hell is cloud computing?" Put aside all his rambling on about the subject, I think he is largely on target.
Yes, the industry is attempting to repackage and redress itself like it did years ago when "Time Sharing" on a mainframe was the trend until the Micro-VAX from Digital Equipment Corporation emerged, then the mini to the PC, back towards the the adoption of a PC server (thanks to Novell) and Citrix terminal servers, ASP's in the 90's, co-location to virtualization and now SaaS/Cloud Computing in the 21st Century. The pendulum has swung!
Interesting perspective...I will leave it that. View the audio playback http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FacYAI6DY0 and you be the judge.
Yes, the industry is attempting to repackage and redress itself like it did years ago when "Time Sharing" on a mainframe was the trend until the Micro-VAX from Digital Equipment Corporation emerged, then the mini to the PC, back towards the the adoption of a PC server (thanks to Novell) and Citrix terminal servers, ASP's in the 90's, co-location to virtualization and now SaaS/Cloud Computing in the 21st Century. The pendulum has swung!
Interesting perspective...I will leave it that. View the audio playback http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FacYAI6DY0 and you be the judge.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
CAPSYS Partners Get SaaS-Y - End of the Paralysis Sales Stage.
Let's face it, with the economic conditions that have been thrust upon each of us and seemingly with no end to the challenges any time soon, the general business climate has been rather frustrating at times.. However, there is some good news to cheer about!
It is amazing to me to see the creative and innovative approach our channel partners are taking to bring CAPSYS web-based capture solutions to their prospect and customers. One angle that is of particular interest to me I would like to share is the Software as a Service or Cloud alternative to traditional on-premised based offerings.
Our channel partners are beginning to clearly see the CAPSYS cloud as a viable alternative to traditional on-premised based capture solutions. Why you may ask?
Having heard about the CAPSYS CAPTURE Software as a Service offering, the partner reached out to us, laid out each of the frustrations and obstacles they were facing with the customer. In a short period of time, the partner worked out a program to switch out the legacy capture software vendor with CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE. There were added bonuses the customer would receive when the partner proposed the making the switch to CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE:
Whats the moral of the story?
If you run into a situation where your sales process and sales person has reached a stage of "paralysis", then take a serious look at the SaaS alternative:
It is amazing to me to see the creative and innovative approach our channel partners are taking to bring CAPSYS web-based capture solutions to their prospect and customers. One angle that is of particular interest to me I would like to share is the Software as a Service or Cloud alternative to traditional on-premised based offerings.
Our channel partners are beginning to clearly see the CAPSYS cloud as a viable alternative to traditional on-premised based capture solutions. Why you may ask?
- Predictable, Reoccurring Revenue Stream
- Lower Costs, Better Margins
- Rapid Deployment Time
- Elimination of CAPEX budgeting process
- No Annual Software Maintenance
Having heard about the CAPSYS CAPTURE Software as a Service offering, the partner reached out to us, laid out each of the frustrations and obstacles they were facing with the customer. In a short period of time, the partner worked out a program to switch out the legacy capture software vendor with CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE. There were added bonuses the customer would receive when the partner proposed the making the switch to CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE:
- Elimination of a thick client based capture solution to a web-based capture solution;
- Inclusive of a rules-base capture workflow engine - something the other vendor lacked;
- Concurrent user licensing model, which allowed the customer to expand across the enterprise without breaking the bank.
Whats the moral of the story?
If you run into a situation where your sales process and sales person has reached a stage of "paralysis", then take a serious look at the SaaS alternative:
- Predictable, reoccurring monthly expenses for the partner and your customers;
- No upfront software charges for you the partner or your customers;
- No annual maintenance charges with annual CPI increases;
- Elimination of the hardware and OS and annual SWA expenses;
- No Internal IT costs being billed back to the line of business owner;
Friday, May 21, 2010
DEX Imaging joins international channel network of partners
DEX Imaging joins international channel network of partners
May 18, 2010 – Today CAPSYS announces it has added another quality reseller to its partner program. INDEX DataFiles, Inc. d/b/a DEX Imaging out of Tampa, FL has executed an agreement to resell the full family of CAPSYS CAPTURE products and subscription services.
DEX, founded in 2002, is the largest and fastest growing independent dealer of Konica Minolta and Kyocera document imaging equipment in the United States. Though they sell & service award-winning printers, copiers, fax units, multifunctional systems, mailing equipment, large format devices, and a full line of document management solutions, they also offer a depth of experience and expertise that separates us from our competitors.
DEX Imaging is a FileBound reseller. For more information, please see their website: http://www.deximaging.com/
May 18, 2010 – Today CAPSYS announces it has added another quality reseller to its partner program. INDEX DataFiles, Inc. d/b/a DEX Imaging out of Tampa, FL has executed an agreement to resell the full family of CAPSYS CAPTURE products and subscription services.
DEX, founded in 2002, is the largest and fastest growing independent dealer of Konica Minolta and Kyocera document imaging equipment in the United States. Though they sell & service award-winning printers, copiers, fax units, multifunctional systems, mailing equipment, large format devices, and a full line of document management solutions, they also offer a depth of experience and expertise that separates us from our competitors.
DEX Imaging is a FileBound reseller. For more information, please see their website: http://www.deximaging.com/
Monday, April 26, 2010
tieBridge joins CAPSYS International channel network of partners
April 26, 2010 – Today CAPSYS announces it has added another quality reseller to its partner program. tieBridge, Inc. out of Falls Chuch, VA has executed an agreement to resell the full family of CAPSYS CAPTURE products and subscription services.
For over ten years our business focus has remained on the delivery of technology driven business solutions that are aligned with the strategic objectives of public sector agencies. We are committed to delivering reliable and high-quality solutions as a trusted advisor and a strategic partner to federal agencies. Our management team is led by former public sector CIOs recognized for their innovative, strategic approach to government technology implementation - including winning a Hammer Award. We match our top notch consulting expertise with a highly focused customer orientation - something that many larger firms are unable to offer.
tieBridge’s founder and management have served in senior executive roles in government, utility, and private sector organizations. They understand the need to comply with government objectives while ensuring quality, cost, and performance goals are met. tieBridge professionals work with the latest tools, technology and techniques to measure and meet performance-based objectives. We partner with our clients to select and apply the best approach to ensuring mutual success.
tieBridge is a KnowledgeTree reseller.
For more information, please see their website: http://www.tiebridge.com
For over ten years our business focus has remained on the delivery of technology driven business solutions that are aligned with the strategic objectives of public sector agencies. We are committed to delivering reliable and high-quality solutions as a trusted advisor and a strategic partner to federal agencies. Our management team is led by former public sector CIOs recognized for their innovative, strategic approach to government technology implementation - including winning a Hammer Award. We match our top notch consulting expertise with a highly focused customer orientation - something that many larger firms are unable to offer.
tieBridge’s founder and management have served in senior executive roles in government, utility, and private sector organizations. They understand the need to comply with government objectives while ensuring quality, cost, and performance goals are met. tieBridge professionals work with the latest tools, technology and techniques to measure and meet performance-based objectives. We partner with our clients to select and apply the best approach to ensuring mutual success.
tieBridge is a KnowledgeTree reseller.
For more information, please see their website: http://www.tiebridge.com
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
CAPSYS Announces New Reseller, OptCorp Consultores of Santa Cruz in Bolivia
CAPSYS ANNOUNCES NEW RESELLER TO ITS PARTNER PROGRAM
Odyssey S.R.L. joins national channel network of partners
April 15, 2010 – Today CAPSYS announces it has added another quality reseller to its partner program. Odyssey S.R.L. (d/b/a OptCorp) out of Santa Cruz in the Plurinational State of Bolivia has executed an agreement to resell the full family of CAPSYS CAPTURE products and subscription services.
Odyssey/OptCorp is a company dedicated to the management and process optimization, based on the development and implementation of high-tech computer systems in home businesses financial, commercial, and industrial services. OptCorp SRL has established itself as a team capable of developing information systems and management control that meet the requirements and methods of operation of companies that hire our services.
Our goal is to provide practical and creative solutions for quality, reliability and according to customer requirements, creating tools to assist planning and decision making.
Odyssey/OptCorp is a KnowledgeTree reseller.
For more information, please see their website: http://www.optcorp.com.bo/ or http://www.odyssey.com.bo
Friday, April 16, 2010
What is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and what benefits does BPO offer my firm?
BPO essentially allows your firm and your firm’s key personnel to focus on its core competency and relieve itself of burdensome, but necessary repetitive tasks by outsourcing those tasks to a third party business partner for fee – usually based on a per item or transaction fee. A common functional area to consider outsourcing to a trusted business partner and that we will discuss here is the Accounts Payable function.
Accounts Payable is generally considered a highly repetitive process, is common across all organizations regardless of size or industry and largely is known to become highly inefficient when the job functions and systems have been internally developed and modified over an extended period of time without the benefit of outside review.
To address the problem - and not surprisingly - more accounts payable clerks are added to the department, the influx of paper builds, payable cycles begin to get extended, discounts are missed, and the inefficient and poorly designed business processes naturally begins to spiral out of control without giving much thought to the actual costs that have been placed upon the organization to support the AP function.
When an organization is experience growth either through the addition of people and paper intensive processes, outsourcing the AP function to a BPO firm will allow the organization to focus on its core competencies. The organization can leverage the BPO's workflow process automation methodologies, its compliance/ERP expertise and efficient business practices, and allows the organization to directly benefit from a technology stack specifically optimized to address the challenges associated with Accounts Payable departments of small to mid-market organizations.
Time to market is the yet another significant advantage of engaging with a BPO firm. Consider how long it will take you firm to seek board approval, budget, purchase, implement and support a Accounts Payable automation solution integrated with your ERP solution such as SAP, Oracle Financial, etc. vs. engaging with a BPO who already has such an infrastructure that can be spun up and fully operational in days or weeks.
Lastly, the concepts of BPO can be extended beyond Accounts Payable example to other functional areas such as: mortgage processing, new applicant processing, claims processing, lock boxes, Human Resources, back file or paper to digital conversion processes, and many more functional areas.
Accounts Payable is generally considered a highly repetitive process, is common across all organizations regardless of size or industry and largely is known to become highly inefficient when the job functions and systems have been internally developed and modified over an extended period of time without the benefit of outside review.
To address the problem - and not surprisingly - more accounts payable clerks are added to the department, the influx of paper builds, payable cycles begin to get extended, discounts are missed, and the inefficient and poorly designed business processes naturally begins to spiral out of control without giving much thought to the actual costs that have been placed upon the organization to support the AP function.
When an organization is experience growth either through the addition of people and paper intensive processes, outsourcing the AP function to a BPO firm will allow the organization to focus on its core competencies. The organization can leverage the BPO's workflow process automation methodologies, its compliance/ERP expertise and efficient business practices, and allows the organization to directly benefit from a technology stack specifically optimized to address the challenges associated with Accounts Payable departments of small to mid-market organizations.
Time to market is the yet another significant advantage of engaging with a BPO firm. Consider how long it will take you firm to seek board approval, budget, purchase, implement and support a Accounts Payable automation solution integrated with your ERP solution such as SAP, Oracle Financial, etc. vs. engaging with a BPO who already has such an infrastructure that can be spun up and fully operational in days or weeks.
Lastly, the concepts of BPO can be extended beyond Accounts Payable example to other functional areas such as: mortgage processing, new applicant processing, claims processing, lock boxes, Human Resources, back file or paper to digital conversion processes, and many more functional areas.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Come See Us at our Booth at the FileBound 2010 Partner Conference in Las Vegas April 11-14!
We are looking forward to seeing you at the FileBound 2010 Partner Conference! Come by our booth and say "Hello"! We would like to see you again (or meet you for the first time) and discuss how we can meet your document capture needs for either FileBound On-Site or FileBound On-Demand solutions.
CAPSYS CAPTURE is a Web-based, document capture solution that helps global enterprises to automate document driven business processes resulting in a reduction in operational costs, increased productivity and a rapid ROI.
CAPSYS CAPTURE can improve your ability to effectively and efficiently capture documents electronically with a fully Web-based, distributed document capture solution tightly integrated with the leading ECM solutions, like FileBound, or other document repositories, either as a SaaS or on-premise deployment.
Learn more about our new 4.0 release and how we can:
CAPSYS CAPTURE is a Web-based, document capture solution that helps global enterprises to automate document driven business processes resulting in a reduction in operational costs, increased productivity and a rapid ROI.
CAPSYS CAPTURE can improve your ability to effectively and efficiently capture documents electronically with a fully Web-based, distributed document capture solution tightly integrated with the leading ECM solutions, like FileBound, or other document repositories, either as a SaaS or on-premise deployment.
Learn more about our new 4.0 release and how we can:
- Increase your profits and broaden market opportunities for your document capture solution offerings
- Address the document capture needs of your clients with a fully functional, thin client document capture solution tightly integrated with FileBound for either FileBound On-Site or FileBound On-Demand
- Help you quickly deploy solutions by "pre-building" project information from FileBound into CAPSYS CAPTURE using the CAPSYS FileBound InBound Wizard making it a snap to setup the document capture application
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Priton Group (TPG) of Madison, Wisconsin becomes authorized CAPSYS Partner
CAPSYS welcomes The Priton Group, an authorized reseller of both on-premise and SaaS based CAPSYS Capture Solutions. The Priton Group, LLC. is an Enterprise Content Management Consulting and Value Added Integration Firm. TPG was formed in 2006 as a venture between two partners that have over 35 years of experience in the ECM/ Document Management space.
Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, The Priton Group is dedicated to helping its clients leverage Enterprise Content Management practices, scanning hardware and software to lift the quality, reliability and usability of their corporate content and data.
This experience, combined with a keen awareness of the current technologies, industry direction and trends make for a combination that will be sure to drive significant efficiencies and greater bottom line ROI to your business.
From paper in boxes on shelves…to Business Process Management and Workflow solutions that leverage your current, core infrastructure and systems, The Priton Group, LLC is your best choice to deliver state of the art enterprise content management solutions.
More information on TPG can be obtained by visiting their website: http://www.pritongroup.com/
Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, The Priton Group is dedicated to helping its clients leverage Enterprise Content Management practices, scanning hardware and software to lift the quality, reliability and usability of their corporate content and data.
This experience, combined with a keen awareness of the current technologies, industry direction and trends make for a combination that will be sure to drive significant efficiencies and greater bottom line ROI to your business.
From paper in boxes on shelves…to Business Process Management and Workflow solutions that leverage your current, core infrastructure and systems, The Priton Group, LLC is your best choice to deliver state of the art enterprise content management solutions.
More information on TPG can be obtained by visiting their website: http://www.pritongroup.com/
CAPSYS Capture for KnowledgeTree Webcast!
Register for CAPSYS Capture for KnowledgeTree Webcast on March 30th, 11:00am Central
You only have a week left to register for the free partner webinar on web-based document capture for KnowledgeTree!
During this webinar you will discover:
Register by clicking here!
KnowledgeTree Inc.
1130 Situs Ct.
Suite 234
Raleigh, NC 27606
You only have a week left to register for the free partner webinar on web-based document capture for KnowledgeTree!
Publish Post
During this webinar you will discover:
- How you can easily and quickly migrate paper and electronic documents into a KnowledgeTree business process
- How you can address the document capture needs of your clients with a fully functional, thin client document capture solution tightly integrated with KnowledgeTree for either KnowledgeTree on-premise or KnowledgeTree SaaS products
- How you can easily and quickly design and implement your client’s document capture processes with the CAPSYS CAPTURE™ workflow
- How you can take advantage of powerful, server based capture processing (Like DB Lookups, OCR/ICR/OMR and Document Classification/Recognition) to automate tasks and increase user productivity
- How easy it is to release documents and index information from CAPSYS CAPTURE into KnowledgeTree, for either KnowledgeTree on premise or KnowledgeTree SaaS products
- How you can become an authorized reseller and begin offering these solutions to your clients to generate new sales and profits
Register by clicking here!
KnowledgeTree Inc.
1130 Situs Ct.
Suite 234
Raleigh, NC 27606
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
CAPSYS PARTNER WEBINAR - CAPSYS CAPTURE 4.0 - New Features and Capabilities Overview
CAPSYS PARTNER WEBINAR
CAPSYS CAPTURE 4.0 - New Features and Capabilities Overview
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
10:00AM Mountain
(9:00AM Pacific, 11:00AM Central, 12:00PM Eastern)
CAPSYS is hosting an informative Webinar for all CAPSYS authorized resellers today to provide a complete overview of all of the exciting, new features found in our latest release, CAPSYS CAPTURE 4.0. All CAPSYS partners are invited to attend. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about the latest and greatest capabilities now offered by CAPSYS.
The Webinar will be held on Wednesday, March 17th at 10AM Mountain. To register, and for additional details about this Webinar, see below:
CAPSYS CAPTURE 4.0 - New Features and Capabilities Overview
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
10:00AM Mountain
(9:00AM Pacific, 11:00AM Central, 12:00PM Eastern)
CAPSYS is hosting an informative Webinar for all CAPSYS authorized resellers today to provide a complete overview of all of the exciting, new features found in our latest release, CAPSYS CAPTURE 4.0. All CAPSYS partners are invited to attend. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about the latest and greatest capabilities now offered by CAPSYS.
The Webinar will be held on Wednesday, March 17th at 10AM Mountain. To register, and for additional details about this Webinar, see below:
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