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In this AIIM13 Q&A, we talk about how “Road Warriors” use technology that works for them (like capture tools), but that there’s no reason for them to be “rogue warriors.” A look at why the next evolution of capture will be to penetrate vertical markets. And a few thoughts on how semantic technology works with capture.

If you want to know more about these topics and trends; you need to register for AIIM 2013 NOW!

Joe Budelli is Senior Vice President of Sales for ABBYY USA, an industry-leading technology company providing document conversion, data capture and linguistic software. In this role, he is responsible for customer development in North America, Latin America, Japan, and Taiwan.

Duhon:What’s the killer app for mobile capture?

Budelli: For personal use, I would consider Game Changeras one of the killer applications as it allows me to keep score and track player stats at my daughter’s softball games! However, for OCR and data capture, the killer apps today are tools that can benefit “road warriors” in their business life. Apps that streamline business processes like receipt and invoice tracking, and business card reading apps for contact management, are critical for people constantly away from the office network. To this end, I expect to see apps that enable easier note annotation for more streamlined communications be the next big thing.  

Duhon: Why are “road warriors” the target for adopting capture technology?

Budelli: “Road warriors” face an interesting challenge because they have to find new ways to be productive and communicate with the home office with minimal hardware, software, and network support. With enterprises adopting BYOD (bring your own device) and now BYOA (bring your own application), many “road warriors” find their mobile devices to be the easiest to do business on, and carry. Because of this, there is a need for mobile applications that will increase employee responsiveness, productivity, and decision-making. This is what makes “road warriors” so appealing as a target audience for mobile capture technologies.

Duhon: What’s next for capture in 2013?

Budelli: The remote workforce is only growing – in fact, Gartner projects that nearly half of the workforce will be remote by 2016 – so the push in 2013 will be to outfit “road warriors” with the tools they need. At the same time, enterprise organizations will realize the benefits enterprises can receive by integrating these mobile applications into their internal processes, and will begin developing or strengthening the communication between mobile applications in use by “road warriors” and back-end systems. Capture technology will be critical to this effort, and will set the foundation for a whole new level of communication between all areas of the business.

Duhon: Document capture is a mature technology. It works. It has proven ROI. Yet AIIM research indicates that it still hasn’t heavily penetrated all markets. Why not?

Budelli: You are correct. Capture is a mature technology that has a demonstrated level of ROI, however that doesn’t always drive mass adoption. Vendors in the capture space have been very focused on demonstrating this ROI, and proving the technology in general, which has led many of us to remain broad in our sales and marketing, and really only converting early adopters. While we have done a fantastic job in this phase, the next step, and where adoption will really ramp-up, is targeting specific verticals including legal, healthcare, and government, and going really deep into the specific benefits for them. This is where the fun starts!

Duhon: Where’s the biggest growth area for companies like ABBYY?

Budelli: While ABBYY and the rest of the industry have thrived on traditional OCR and data capture solutions to date, I feel the biggest growth area we have collectively is in the vertical markets, specifically in the legal and healthcare industries. The markets have only just begun to be tapped, and the Big Data problem and changing regulatory landscape present some great opportunities there. Additionally, I feel the industry has a significant growth opportunity with mobile applications as “road warriors” and organizations discover and embrace them, and in semantic technologies as they come to market.

Duhon: What role do semantic technologies have on document management? How do semantic tools relate to search and indexing?

Budelli: Semantic technologies play a role in text classification for document processing and management. The technology is comprised of a set of text understanding algorithms that go beyond statistical classification, which makes it significantly easier to manage vast pools of documents. With regard to search and indexing, semantic tools simplify the process and experience immensely. Indexing becomes an automated process rather than a tedious task of assigning and managing meta tags, and search becomes far easier because you can establish a frame of context for the word you are seeking, ensuring you are presented with results that are in line with what your query was looking for. I see semantic technologies as one of the biggest developments our industry has seen in quite some time, and it is one area I think we are only beginning to scratch the surface on with regard to benefits.

Anyone within AIIM looking to better understand or learn more about semantic technologies should definitely attend the roundtable being held at the upcoming AIIM conference. My colleague, Dr. Alexander Goerke, a true expert on the topic, will be providing an overview of technology, and discussing some initial use cases, so it should be well worth the time.