Monday, February 7, 2011

Synovate Captures Success with IDT!

Synovate leverages Integrated Document Technologies expertise to stay ahead of the competition and increase their efficiencies for document capture.

Check out the link below on how Synovate, a leader in Market Research, utilized the services and solutions provided by IDT to stay ahead of their competiton in Market Research!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhEAGkjkj4

Monday, October 25, 2010

CAPSYS CAPTURE and Kodak !!

New Relationship with Kodak for Remote Deposit and Distributed Capture.

CAPSYS And Kodak Announce Integration With Kodak's Remote Deposit Capture Application Suite
October 6, 2010

New Solution Allows Users to Scan, Index and Deposit Business Checks Using CAPSYS CAPTURE with KODAK t6000 Client and Server Transaction Software

CAPSYS and Kodak announce a new Independent Software Vendor ISV agreement that integrates CAPSYS CAPTURE (on-premise and Software-as-a-Service editions) with KODAK t6000 Client and Server Transaction Software. The ISV agreement establishes a new solution for customers looking to scan, extract, index and deposit checks into the customer's respective merchant bank accounts.

The integrated solution accelerates business processes. Customers can batch scan business documents and checks together from anywhere using CAPSYS CAPTURE Software via MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER Browser a TWAIN compliant document scanner, such as the KODAK i1200 Plus Series Scanners. The solution eliminates the need for business to ship business documents and checks to a central office for processing and deposit.


Read more at: http://www.bsminfo.com/article.mvc/CAPSYS-And-Kodak-Announce-Integration-With-0001?user=2212297&source=nl:28996&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Have you heard of Paperless Office Day?

Come Join Us for Paperless Office Day!!

October 27th

Training event at the City of Chicago's Center for Green Technology located at 445 N.Sacramento Blvd. in Chicago from 9 am to 3pm

Demonstrations on the advantages of Scanning vs. Printing will be provided throughout the day. Please register for this event so we know how many to expect. It will be on going and repeated several times during the day from 9am to 3pm.

Please indicate what time you are expecting to come. www.aiimchicago.org

We will also be awarding the prizes for our Paperless Office Contest at a luncheon for the contest participants at the Center for Green Technology

Fujitsu Scanner and Kofax Express capture software will be awarded to the organization that saves the most money by utilizing Green Technologies in their organization.

Less Printing, Less Copying = Less Cost, More Green!

Take advantage of this contest to reduce your operating expenses utilizing Paperless/Green techniques. For more information as to how to participate call or email either Paul Winiecki Paul.Winiecki@idt-inc.com phone 630-875-1100x327 or Pete Feehan Pete.Feehan7@gmail.com phone 312-218-4857

Shred Fest – Iron Mountain to provide shredding trucks for your convenience – bring up to 5 boxes of documents for FREE shredding. 9am to 3pm at the following locations:

Site #1 - October 27th Chicago Location - Center for Green Technology 445 N. Sacramento, Chicago

Site #2 - October 28th ONLY Dupage County Location - DuPage County Fairgrounds


We have a Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and Twitter(#WPFD) set up for this event and just launched
www.aiim.org/paperfreeday and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtfYfrbJPsw&ampampampampampfeature=email -- check them out!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

9 Questions for Vendors About Cloud Computing


Cloud Computing: Look Before You Leap!
A Great article from the IDT Integration Insider

http://www.idtconsulting.com/

When it comes to paradigm shifts, cloud computing is one of the biggest to hit business in decades. In a nutshell: cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources as a service over the Internet. Say “good-bye mainframe” and “hello utility computing,” as vendors serve up computation and storage on a metered basis, similar to public utilities like the electric company. The advantages of cloud computing would make any red-blooded business executive’s heart beat faster: no capital investments, reduced operating costs, billing on a “pay as you use” basis, zero IT maintenance and 24/7 system access from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Plus, there is unlimited flexibility to scale up or down based on demand.

But before making the leap to Software as a Service (SaaS), one of three cloud delivery models, the smart executive wants to know about the risks – and how to mitigate them. With SaaS applications, user data is stored on third party servers in third party data centers, raising understandable concerns about security and privacy. In fact, the protections offered by major SaaS vendors often exceed what the vast majority of businesses can afford to provide themselves. Still, “look before you leap” is wise advice, so ask vendors these nine questions:

1. Does your application fit my business requirements and workflows?
Any application being evaluated should fit your existing workflows without major disruption, not just currently but as needs change and grow.

2. Will you be around for the long haul?
Nothing is more disruptive than a critical vendor going out of business. While there’s no silver bullet for determining long-term viability, check out: management bios, client references, customer base, financial standing, media coverage, blog postings.

3. How will you keep my data secure?
Don’t settle for a general policy overview, drill down into procedures at data centers, vetting for technicians, authentication protocols, encryption levels. Check on ability to meetcompliance requirements specific to your industry.

4. Can you guarantee the privacy of user information and user data?
Beyond general privacy policies, ask about data-related laws in countries where infrastructure is located. Find out if customer data is used in promotion and advertising or sold to third parties for marketing purposes.

5. What are your terms and policies about ownership of data?
Your data should be your data, period. Find out what happens to it when you delete it from the application, or if you discontinue their service.

6. What is your uptime performance, and do you offer Service Level Agreements?
No matter how great the SaaS application, if it isn’t available, your business can take a hit. There should be multiple copies of data stored in geographically diverse data centers. Check that a disaster recovery strategy is in place.

7. How often do you upgrade and perform maintenance on your application?
Downtimes due to maintenance should be minimal.

8. How easy is it to integrate with other applications?
Some vendors offer integration services internally, others use third-party providers. If it’s important that you easily integrate with existing SaaS applications, ask how that’s handled.

9. What level of customization do you offer?
It varies by vendor. Custom domain options, branding, customized transaction definitions and workflows, and data field customization are a few examples. Ask if the application can be extended, or if permissioning – who has access to what – can be customized. Cloud computing is an exciting innovation with a potentially dramatic impact on business technology as we know it. The next time someone asks, “Is your head in the clouds?” you can reply, “Yes, but I knowwhich questions will keep my business on solid ground.”

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Maybe it's time to revisit your Optical Storage?

Starbucks Corp. v. ADT Security Services, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120941 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 30, 2009)

The controversy involved ESI stored on a Plasmon archiving system which producer argued was so cumbersome that the data contained within it was not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost under Rule 26(b)(2)(B). The system was described as similar to an optical jukebox, containing 500 double-sided DVDs accessed by a robotic arm. The limitations of the system caused producer to replace the Plasmon system with a new system, but data on the Plasmon system had not been migrated.

Producer’s expert testified that production of the requested emails could potentially involve the access of all of the 500 DVDs in the system. Only one custodian’s email could be recovered at a time, preventing access by producer’s employees of archived emails while the searches were in progress. Attempts to access more than one user’s emails at a time caused the system to freeze, requiring a cumbersome reboot. As only 8 emails per hour could be restored, the total restoration of 25,000 emails (assuming 11 hours per day) would take 284 days. Restoration for 5 custodians could therefore take up to 5 years. Outside vendors could not perform the restoration as many of the DVDs could be only be read by proprietary equipment owned by producer, and producer would be without access to the information during the restoration process. The expert estimated the cost of retrieval at about $834,000, significantly higher than producer’s original $88,000 estimate.

At a later discovery conference, the court was informed that it would be possible to produce email stubs containing to, from, subject, and the first 80 characters of the email. In addition, the court was advised that more than half of the disks were not formatted using a Plasmon proprietary method. These disks utilized a universal data format (UDF). Producer’s expert testified that if the disks were high volume, they could contain up to 2 terabytes of data. It would take over 500 hours to copy the disks and producer would be required to purchase a hardware system with sufficient capacity to hold all of the data. The expert consulted an external vendor, which estimated that the copies would cost several hundred thousands of dollars, with thousands more required to purchase the hardware.

Requestor’s expert disputed the UDF testimony. She noted that the proposal of producer’s vendor was not attached, and provided an alternative estimate that all of the UDF DVDs could be copied in 3-5 business days at $35 per DVD, or $17,850, assuming that the vendor could copy more than one DVD at a time. A second estimate from another vendor of $25,500 was also obtained. This vendor would charge $2,550 to store the 2 TB of data. The approximate 93,000 emails would produce about 11 GB of searchable data, based upon an industry standard of 7 pages per email. Search costs were estimated at $95 per GB of data, resulting in a total search cost of about $1,100.

The court noted that requestor had submitted the proposals with the expert’s declaration, and also observed that the costs were aligned with producer’s original $88,000 estimate. The court rejected producer’s expert as “not credible.” In addition, it was difficult to conclude that the Plasmon data was not reasonably accessible in light of the fact that it continued to be used by producer’s personnel. “The fact that a company as sophisticated as ADT (which is wholly-owned by Tyco, International, Ltd…., a Fortune 500 company) chooses to continue to utilize the Plasmon System instead of migrating its data to its now-functional archival system should not work to plaintiff’s disadvantage.” Id. at *17-*18.

The court also found that good cause required production of the information even if the data were not reasonably accessible. “Simply deposing ADT personnel without benefit of ADT’s ESI does not allow Starbucks to discover what a witness knew, to challenge the testimony that he or she provides, or to provide the accurate contemporaneous thoughts of ADT decision-makers.” Id. at *19.

A Rule 26(b)(2)(C)(iii) cost-benefit analysis militated in favor of production:
[I]t is significant that the ESI critical to this case was created during a time period which means that it is housed on the Plasmon System. Moreover, ADT concedes that Starbucks is seeking at least one million dollars in damages, ADT has a counterclaim seeking at least $ 400,000, and there is no question that both parties in this case have the substantial resources necessary to conduct this litigation. Finally, it is important to note that Starbucks has attempted to limit the burden on ADT by narrowly limiting the number of ADT employees or former employees involved and further providing search term filters for those persons. There is no evidence that it is attempting to leverage ADT’s ESI problems.

Id. at *19-*20. The court ordered that the parties make copies of the UDF disks and to save them to an appropriate storage medium. Producer ADT was ordered to produce email stubs for the custodians, appropriately filtered using search terms for the Plasmon formatted disks. Requestor could then designate which emails would be produced from the Plasmon system.

Please contact Integrated Document Technologies to discuss replacement solutions for your optical storage applications. www.idt-inc.com , (630) 875-1100 ext, sales@idt-inc.com

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What is SaaS?

Great Viewpoint on what is Software as a Service!

What is SaaS for ECM?
by Rai Wasner/Kollabria

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a technology mainstream phenomenon that is revolutionizing the Enterprise Content Management (document management, workflow etc.) software industry like it has revolutionized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and other mainstream software applications. SaaS is different from conventional software in four principle ways:

  • There is nothing to install on your computer. The software resides on the world wide web and you access its functionality through your web browser.

  • SaaS is, for lack of better words, a "pay as you go" solution. In other words it requires little to no capital investment in order to begin reaping the benefits of the product. You simply pay as you use it.

  • SaaS solutions are ready to go immediately, requiring little to no set up, lengthy implementation cycles, or exhaustive customization, and require no-stop for upgrades, they are continually updated and improved.

  • The software application is accessible over the world wide web by the authorized user from anywhere in the world, at any time. Thus work teams can collaborate across the planet.
    SaaS ECM solutions are optimized for many common document management, forms processing and workflow intensive business processes. Depending on solution and vendor, many also come with pre-configured templates that make customization for particular applications such as accounting and finance, or vertical industry applications in Healthcare, Transportation or numerous other industries simple and straight forward.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A New Concept on Capture

A must read for anyone selling, using or researching Document Capture:


ECM Buyer Beware:
Real Insights & Answers for Decision Makers
Understanding Distributed, Web-Based Document Capture -- Realizing Greater Value at Lower Cost




“Businesses are seeking to gain efficiencies in extracting critical information from seas of documents handled daily. Instituting a competent and easy-to-use document imaging system provides a competitive edge, adds to the bottom line, and results in quick return on investment. Which business wouldn't want to reap those benefits in today's economic environment?In Paul's just published book, ‘ECM Buyer Beware: Real Insights & Answers for Decision Makers’ he shares a wealth of industry knowledge in helping readers discern choices in document capture systems and presents an innovative distributed, web-based document capture model that offers efficiency and cost effectiveness."

Dolores Kruchten
General Manager, Business Solutions and ServicesGroup
Vice PresidentEastman Kodak Company

“Paul has nailed it! Much of computing's future is in the "clouds," and some of the largest computer companies in the world are moving full speed in that direction. What has kept document management from being one of the these "killer" applications goes directly to Paul's point about the need for truly distributed capture. Kudos to him for making distributed capture a reality.”

Raimund Wasner
Managing Director
Kollabria Inc.


“I couldn’t agree more with Paul’s assessment. Document Capture is the ‘On-Ramp to any ECM System’ and one of the most crucial aspects of any ECM project.”

Joyce Osborne
President DMSAIIM Professional Advisory Council

“‘ECM Buyer Beware: Real Insights & Answers for Decision Makers’ is extremely timely in its publication. Today, more than ever, corporate America needs cost effective solutions that save money while providing additional business efficiencies. A “tip-of-the-hat” to Paul and his staff at CAPSYS for delivering innovation and a superior product offering to the Electronic Content Management marketplace. Paul Szemplinski is a solid professional that is dedicated to furthering the success and growth of the ECM industry via education and common sense solutions.”

Mark Creglow
Chief Operations OfficerMarex Group, Inc. Makers of FileBound.com

“We decided to move from our on-premise solution to CAPSYS CAPTURE ONLINE. Since that move we have been able to roll out document scanning throughout the enterprise with minimal effort. In addition, it has reduced the workload on our IT staff by eliminating the need to support a capture solution in our datacenter.”

Jim Gio
MIS Project SupervisorTy, Inc


“‘ECM Buyer Beware: Real Insights & Answers for Decision Makers’ is an idea begging to spring forth for years. Paul's elegantly written treatise on the subject proves that the waiting is over and its promise has been delivered. Case made!"

Robert LathamPresident/FounderPrevalent Software, Inc.

"Paul’s ECM industry knowledge and expertise have served him well in building a national presence in the ECM market place. His commentary on the SaaS model is ringing truer by the day, as companies face ever increasing costs associated with on-premise systems. The SaaS model removes all the headaches while retaining all the benefit. CAPSYS CAPTURE SaaS truly is a win-win solution."

Jan Letchman
PresidentAdvanced Data Systems, Inc.

“Paul Szemplinski’s discussion of the current state of the capture market and the value proposition presented by the deployment of SAAS capture solutions such as CAPSYS is relevant to anyone interested in the future of the capture market. ‘ECM Buyer Beware: Real Insights & Answers for Decision Makers’ provides a well organized, insightful guide into the capture process and innovative alternatives currently available with the advent of SAAS. Fine job Paul!’”

Bill Cordell
President
NewWave Technologies, Inc


"In tough economic times, finding a business model like CAPSYS CAPTURE that is ahead of the curve and a win/win for customers and business partners is truly a treasure! Paul has written a easy to understand, fact-based, helpful guide for why distributed, web-based document capture is the right choice for the future."

Ed Breclaw
President/OwnerExecutive Forums - Chicago West