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March 27, 2012
Kodak’s desktop scanners outpace competition
Kodak’s line of desktop scanners have received two accolades for their quality and performance.
Kodak’s i2600 document scanner
“As a heavy-duty scanner in a small office or workgroup, Kodak’s i2600 is fast, has a whopping 75-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF), and a rated duty cycle of 4,000 sheets per day,” said Tony Hoffman, Analyst, PCMag.
You can learn more about the scanner on our product page: i2600 document scaner
Kodak’s i920 document scanner
Better Buys for Business (BBB), the leading independent buyer’s guide to office equipment, selected the KODAK SCANMATE i920 Scanner as the “2011 Innovative Product of the Year.” BBB describes the i920 as an affordable, entry-level scanner with robust features, including Kodak’s Perfect Page Imaging Processing.
Source: http://graphics.kodak.com/US/en/About_GCG/News/2012/120319a.htm
September 13, 2011
Tire Shop Puts New Tread on Document Management
Clayton Van Kleeck
Clayton Van Kleeck is the owner of Van Kleeck’s Tire, Inc. based in Lake Katrine, NY. A major supplier of tires for area buses, fire trucks, cranes, loaders and other major commercial and industrial equipment, Van Kleeck’s also has a full-service tire shop at their Lake Katrine home office.
Introduced to Kodak reseller E-BizDocs through the Ulster Chamber of Commerce, Van Kleeck happened upon a product that would significantly improve on current business processes.
From fax to email
Transferring documents over data lines used to be an action owned by fax machines. Van Kleeck often sent business documentation to suppliers and vendors through fax, but demand for emailed documents began to grow among recipients.
Contributing to the waning popularity of faxes is the lack of integration with current office software. Transferring a document via fax essentially takes it out of the daily business workflow, making it another item to track down or locate.
The first step was purchasing a flatbed scanner for around $100, but speed, performance, and functional reliability proved to be recurring problems.
Lunch and Learn
Soon after the introduction was made at the Chamber’s Monthly Mixer, Van Kleeck attended an E-BizDocs Lunch and Learn at Frank Guido’s Little Italy in Kingston. Attendees saw demonstrations of several models of Kodak document scanners, including the i2000 and the Kodak i5200 document scanner, which easily handles production-level document imaging.
Van Kleeck thought the demonstration was beyond the scope of his requirements. Discussions of scanning hundreds of pages a day made him question if any of our products were suitable for his business. Certainly, the upper-tier scanners can be intimidating at first.
Then he saw the Scan Mate, taking up less space on the display table than the flatbed did on his desk. With a throughput speed of 20 pages per minute, the i920 looked like a perfect fit.
The tread mounted to the guard rail as part of the decor is an indication of their passion for tires.
Evaluation document scanner
Having had his basic questions answered, an evaluation scanner was sent to the tire shop. It was a painless procedure, requiring only a few pieces of contact information to be submitted. E-BizDocs filed the requisition and the scanner was soon en route to Lake Katrine.
Setup and installation was easy, and the Smart Touch buttons proved useful—the pre-configured “Scan to email (#7)” quickly became the most-used job setting. Using it, black and white PDFs are attached directly to an Outlook email draft as soon as they’re scanned. Other customizations are available through the software.
The evaluation scanner was at the shop for a couple of weeks when Van Kleeck called to make the purchase. When he asked if he’d be able to keep the evaluation scanner until the new one arrived, we were eager to make sure it happened that way. The purchased scanner arrived at Van Kleeck’s and the evaluation unit was sent back in the original packaging with the shipping label that was included in the first shipment.
It’s 3-year warranty helped seal the deal over any competing hardware, giving it a lower cost-of-ownership than most multifunction devices that attempt to provide photocopying, scanning, and faxing in one solution.
A larger picture going forward?
At the moment, scanning documents into electronic format serves the purpose for Van Kleeck, but what about advanced document management?
“It’s definitely something we have to think about,” says Van Kleeck. “It’s an expense to us. We have to save our invoices for six years. So I got to thinking, ‘What if I scanned every invoice?’ Name it invoice, and put the date.”
For light document management, certainly this protocol would work. After scanning an invoice, the document could be named according to the vendor, amount, and date, making it easy to search for in any desktop environment.
However, more robust solutions offer the option of forcing naming templates when filing documents, ensuring that an invoice will have the data it needs to have to be retrieved, while an HR document will have its own particular information that it requires. And with a retread shop in Hudson, a cloud-based solution to share documents between offices could be the next step.
“We have a whole room dedicated to file cabinets,” says Van Kleek, which may change in the future. “I think all this document management is phenomenal. I’m going to benefit from it, and continue to use it.”
E-BizDocs outfitted Hoffman Car Wash, a business that is distributed similar to Van Kleeck’s, with CNG, a document management solution that allows easy sharing of documents between office locations.
Conclusion
The document workflow at Van Kleeck’s Tire has gained new footing with the Scan Mate. Having better traction on your business documents goes a long way to improving the efficiency within the office, and that’s something a veteran in the tire industry can identify with.
You can visit Van Kleeck’s Tire, Inc. online or learn about their retread shop in this video.
August 02, 2011
Kodak Capture Pro goes wide
KODAK Capture Pro Software Adds Compatibility for CONTEX Wide-Format Scanners to Integrate Large and Small Document Workflows
ROCHESTER, N.Y. and HERNDON, Va. , July 26 – An agreement between Kodak and Contex will allow enterprise organizations to unify information from large-format and standard sized documents into KODAK Capture Pro Software. The new compatibility between Contex’s wide format scanners and Capture Pro Software will provide users with a single interface to integrate information from these sources and deliver into databases and EDM/ECM applications.
“Contex and Kodak working together provides users a major step forward to help bridge the divide of managing large and small documents in a single workflow,” said Phil Magenheim, President, Contex Americas. “Channel partners selling scanners along with EDM/ECM services and solutions can now provide a common interface and common support for diverse sources of document-based information.”
Contex’s large format scanners are used to reproduce large format drawings, charts, maps, or other over-sized documents directly into EDM/ECM workflows. KODAK Capture Pro Software provides users with a single interface to efficiently capture and manage images and critical index data from small and large format scanners within an office setting. KODAK Service and Support will also be available for users of all CONTEX XD and SD Scanners, and for new CONTEX Scanner installations including the CONTEX XD2490, SD4450 and SD4490 Scanners.
“This compatibility enables an essential link for streamlining content from diverse sources into a single, unified database,” said Brian Bagan, Director of Business Development, United States and Canada, Document Imaging, Kodak’s Business Solutions and Services Group. “This solution demonstrates the broad capabilities of KODAK Capture Pro Software.”
Projects that include both wide format and standard sized documents can pose challenges for enterprise workflows managed by service bureaus and medium- to large-sized businesses. E-BizDocs, an electronic document management service provider based in Albany, N.Y., sources information from a variety of documents including larger surveyors’ records, to letter-sized building code regulation papers. The new compatibility between CONTEX Scanners and Capture Pro Software eliminates steps in the process to improve overall user productivity.
“Prior to this solution, the scanning of large format documents was detached and separate from our workflow. The integration between Kodak and Contex makes it easy to combine documents into a single file, and route them to specific locations,” said Howard Gross, President of E-BizDocs. “Since implementing the technologies, we have vastly improved our workflow efficiency.”
Kodak is a global advisor and provider of integrated services to help companies transform and optimize their businesses. Through a network of service professionals in 120+ countries, Kodak provides technical, professional, consulting and managed services to enable customers to focus on growing their businesses, maximize productivity, and more effectively manage risks. All KODAK products and software are backed by KODAK Service and Support. To learn more, visit http://graphics.kodak.com/
About Contex
As the world’s largest developer and producer of large format imaging solutions, Contex leads the market with innovative technology and advanced scan and copy software applications. Over the years, CONTEX Scanners have received numerous awards from leading trade publications and analyst firms including Cadalyst, Wide-Format Imaging, and BERTL. Sold worldwide in more than 80 countries, Contex solutions are recognized in a wide range of industries for reliability, value, high performance, and superb image quality. For more information, please visit http://www.contex.com.
About Kodak
Kodak’s Document Imaging business enables customers to capture and use valuable information from electronic and paper documents. Our document imaging solutions include award-winning scanners and capture software, and industry-leading service and support. From small offices to global operations, Kodak has the right solution to feed your business the information it needs.
August 01, 2011
Blazing the paperless trail
While we love to talk about new installations of CNG, it may lead you to wonder what it means for a company a bit farther down the path. Let’s look at an implementation after six years. What are they saying of the product now?
“I’m probably not too far off by saying that’s the reason we’re still in business.”
John Newlin
Quality Sprinkling System Services
As in many other cases, the main challenge is just being convinced that it’s the way to go. You can read the entire article at Lawn & Landscape, but the key points are clear: even in a business with hands-on installers who don’t have a lot of time to write detailed notes and indicate who had what document and for how long, the system provides lasting and measurable benefits.
The article goes on to discuss the problem of the backfile documents, but proposes a realistic and practical solution: make it a gradual process. They held on to documents for five years, and anything that wasn’t scanned was later reviewed and shredded.
July 21, 2011
Lunch and Learn at Little Italy, 2011
Frank Guido's Little Italy at 14 Thomas St., Kingston.
We had a great time, and managed to talk about document scanning and electronic records management amidst the food and great company that attended. At events like this, it’s often easy to forget what you’re there to talk about because of the engaging personalities involved. But we managed.
We reviewed applications of document management in multi-user, and multi-location environments. Many businesses or offices are distributed, and access to the organization’s documents needs to be fluid for all involved. The demonstration included several such solutions, ranging from having Kodak scanners at multiple sites and scanning paper documents to a hosted installation of CNG-Online, which is one great option for just such a business.
The staff at Frank Guido’s was amazing. They provided everything we needed, and even had a server focus directly on us so that everyone was comfortable and well-taken care of. Even bringing in our large equipment, including the Kodak i4200 document scanner, was a breeze with their level of accommodation.
Overall, it was a great afternoon, and a huge success for our first event in Kingston as we introduce ourselves to business owners in Ulster County.
Director of Technology at E-BizDocs, Jason Abare, shows the features of Kodak document scanners.
Steve Crabb of CNG demonstrates their document management software.
June 15, 2011
Getting started with document management
As Todd Johnson of CDW/NetworkWorld states:
Time is money, and time spent searching for lost paperwork is money down the drain, as is money spent making unnecessary copies.
Todd Johnson
Getting started with document management
The Primary Benefits of Document Management
Continuing, Johnson covers the benefits of implementing a document management system, which fall right in line with our four pillars of document management: reduce cost, improve efficiency, ensure compliance, and mitigate risk. You can see how even though he expands into a little more detail, the concepts are the same:
Document management systems also offer businesses rapid return on investment (ROI) due to benefits such as:
- Reduced costs associated with storing and retrieving paper documents and electronic content.
- Reduced storage space, both physical and digital.
- Improved operational efficiencies throughout the organization.
- Improved security of electronic content and paper documents.
- Enhanced business continuity (BC) capabilities in the case of a disaster.
- Improved regulatory compliance.
In the article, Johnson covers all of the components necessary in a good electronic document management process, one that will bring all of the above benefits to your company.
- Document capture equipment – the document scanner that gets your paper into electronic format
- Capture software – the software that ensures that the images are high-quality, usable images
- Electronic document management software – the software that allows you to file, view, manage, and retrieve your documents
- Data storage devices – the infrastructure that ensures your data will never be lost or destroyed
If you don’t have time to read the whole article, make sure to bookmark it and return to it later when you have a chance to really absorb it. It’s good information.
Of the four primary benefits of an electronic document management system, which is most important to you? Efficiency, cost, compliance, or risk?
June 06, 2011
Little Italy and E-BizDocs
We’ll be hosting a Lunch and Learn at Frank Guido’s Little Italy on July 19th. Come for an informative demonstration of document scanners and electronic records management software and enjoy a great Italian lunch at the same time.
If you can’t say your documents are immediately accessible when you need them, sign up here.
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June 03, 2011
KODAK Capture Pro Software v3.1 Brings Additional Efficiencies to Enterprise Scanning Customers
Centrally administer Capture Pro Software across your network and enterprise.
Kodak recently released the latest version of Capture Pro Software, version 3.1. This release gives Network Edition users access to all of the features of the 3.0 release while adding new capabilities:
- Arabic language support that increases the number of languages to 16, enabling better service to a worldwide customer base.
- Support for an increased number of KODAK Scanners and third-party scanners
- The ability to better streamline post-scan editing processes by offering new hot keys to Batch Explorer and a new option to close the active batch.
- More control over manual redaction by making the Image Blanking color to black or white, enabling customers to have a choice in displaying redacted areas in output images.
- Support for Kofax VRS Elite, while maintaining the superb image processing options provided by KODAK Capture Pro Software’s Perfect Page Technology.
“KODAK Capture Pro Software v3.1 enables new and existing users of our recently released Network Edition to take advantage of all the powerful new features from the previous generation, including Microsoft® SharePoint Setup Wizard and Intelligent QC,” said Tim Mortenson, Worldwide Business Director, Software, Document Imaging, Kodak’s Business Solutions and Services Group. “With this release, Capture Pro Software brings added benefits in efficiency and applicability—to provide users cost effective and quick return on investment in operating across an enterprise—where there is a need to centrally manage and monitor multiple capture and indexing stations.” [hr] Source: Kodak.com
January 04, 2011
Document Scanning with a Cell Phone
Check out Best document scanning apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7, posted on the Australian Business Traveller website.
These applications address issues we encounter with general discussions regarding document scanning. Oftentimes, people may think of document scanning as just taking a picture. There’s quite a bit more to it, as a simple picture doesn’t allow for correction of edges or orientation, and the variation in image quality is greatly influenced by natural light, position of the document, and other things.
When a page is run through a document scanner, all that’s left is the content of the paper, with no border. The contrast and brightness is automatically modified to produce the best image possible to convey the data. These apps seem to be really moving in the direction of true document imaging rather than just capturing an image.
Source:
AUSBT.com.au