Blogs

In this AIIM 2013 Q&A, Pamela Doyle discusses how mobile adoption is altering capture. Plus, how the twin trends of cloud and mobile extend capture capabilities to the edge of the enterprise and what that means for improving and speeding up business processes.

If you haven't registered for AIIM 2013 yet, the time is now -- a second consecutive sell-out is fast approaching. Register now!

Pamela Doyle, Director, Education for Fuitsu Computer Products of America, is responsible for forming and driving key imaging industry relationships as the worldwide spokesperson for Fujitsu.In her capacity as Fujitsu’s industry luminary, she frequently shares her imaging experience at numerous events, including global conferences such as AIIM, JIIMA, and ARMA. AIIM has awarded Doyle with its “Education” and “Distinguished Service” awards and she was recently inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows.These awards recognize Doyle’s vision and commitment to the advancement of the ECM industry. Find her on LinkedIn.

Duhon: How do you see mobile adoption altering the capture landscape?

Doyle: Given the fact that smart phone shipments outpaced PCs for the first time in 2011 and that major analysts firms are predicting that iPads (and tablets in general) will be the primary computing device by 2016 we are seeing not only a desire but an expectation that ECM, like other enterprise applications, will support content capture and access from the mobile world.

We see capturing from mobile devices as complimentary versus competitive. The mobile workforce is currently using tablets as paper alternatives, they’re using smartphones, iPads, and like devices to capture receipts, smaller documents and even 1 or 2 page documents, but they are also deploying rugged, portable scanners to capture more traditional documents at the point of mobile origin.

Mobile capture is further extending the benefits customers have realized with distributed capture as they are able to capture more critical content early in the business process. The result: faster access to critical data and significant cost savings by reducing or eliminating reliance on courier services.

Duhon: How can cloud help with the capture value proposition?

Doyle: As you are well aware, there have been two major paradigm shifts in the evolution of capture – the first was from centralized to decentralized and the second from scan to image to scan to process. The combination of both mobile and cloud will likely be the next paradigm shift with profound impacts for our industry. The mobile and cloud combination is a new phase in the ECM market as it represents real-time creation, real-time delivery, and real-time access to content.

For mobile applications, the mobile device and the cloud platform become mutually inclusive. The capture device used is dependent on the application. Applications such field service, home healthcare, onboarding, and depositing checks may be handled with smartphones and tablets while other applications such as scan to cloud, transportation, and mortgage processing are better served with portable document scanners due to the need to process multiple pages and the need for image clarity.

The value proposition with the mobile and cloud paradigm shift is first broadening the use cases for capture and ECM, it is extending what has been more of an enterprise application to the small business, and it is bridging the generation gap as for as the usability and relevance of ECM technology. Additionally, for many applications it is increasing the need for higher-volume production scanners to handle the residual or supporting documents.

Duhon:Is there any role for capture in big data?

Doyle: According to IDC data is growing at a rate of 50 percent per year; or more than doubling every 2 years. Big data is about managing that data, analyzing it, and transforming it into valuable insight. For some applications total insight can only be achieved by analyzing all content including emails, video, and legacy information stored on paper. Capturing legacy information stored on paper and leveraging the advances in the recognition technologies can unlock and apply new insights to information. Combining the legacy information with digital data provides a broader knowledge base. Capturing legacy information in the areas of intelligence, security, law enforcement, medical research, customer service, and market analysis can support better decision-making and better predictive insights.

Duhon: Have you seen any decline in the need to drive paper out of business processes?

Doyle: No. Our partners consistently report that process automation is the top business driver furthering the adoption of capture. More and more of our customers are capture-enabling their business processes to expedite these processes, to do more with less resources, to improve customer service, and to achieve significant cost savings. What we are seeing, however, is a shift downstream in the scanners that are used to capture-enable these processes. As a result we have focused our scanner design criteria on making the scanners easier to user, with a smaller footprint, more intelligent, and to capture the highest quality image the first time.