New Year's Resolutions

As Christmas time comes to an end, so begins that wonderful time of creating new year's resolutions - many, if not all of which will die off come February. Well, if one of your new year's resolutions involves cutting out paper and creating more efficient business processes, we'd like to help make sure it sticks. We've got you covered in all things document imaging, so for those who have made it a priority to get the train moving, select any of the following options to find out how we can assist (and for those still searching for their business new year's resolutions - here are some great ideas):


BACKFILE CONVERSION

So you know that old storage closet - the one with all those files that you're required to keep but hardly ever use? And remember when you first thought of getting all those files transferred to digital storage? Let us finally take care of those for you - we can get it done fast and securely using the latest and greatest technology, all while providing you with the most competitive pricing available. Disaster recovery, missing/damaged files, compliance issues, etc. - all of those headaches, which can seriously hamper the efficiency of your business, are eliminated once those files are converted. This is a new year's resolution that should be priority number one.

SCANNER UPGRADES

Whether you're hearing it from your employees who do the scanning or it is showing in the images - old scanners can be a big road bump in any business process involving the digital conversion of paper documents. Maintaining the latest and greatest hardware can provide a serious leg up - and with our trade-in program the investment will let you keep both that arm and leg. Regardless of whether you're scanning 50 documents a day or 50,000, we've got the scanner that best suits your business needs. Being a nation leader when it comes to hardware sales, we are able to provide the absolute lowest price you're going to find so don't miss out on completing this easy and important new year's resolution.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Is this the year you take things to the next level and implement a document management system? Cloud based vs. On Site, seated licensing vs. data volumes, workflow or not - so many aspects are involved in choosing the right system for your business. We work with several different companies, each of which differ somewhat in philosophy when it comes to document management. We do this so that you have options. We understand that every business is different, and that's why we spend so much time making sure we can provide you with a solution tailored to fit yours. An effective document management system will start saving your company time and money from the moment it is implemented which is why we feel this is a great new year's resolution to help your business hit the ground running in 2013.

DATA STORAGE

While document management systems allow for easy storage and retrieval of your important files, there are also times when you need to store documents simply for compliance issues. When document retrieval becomes a non-factor, document management systems become cost-prohibitive. This is where our friends at Imation come into play. Their integrated solutions give you easy access to your information and provides you with both the performance of online storage and the economics of offline storage. Their complete line of scalable storage solutions is second to none and they are constantly striving to improve upon their products - we love working with them and you will too.

BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING

Let's face it - sometimes there are business requirements that are best left handled by outside sources as opposed to doing it internally. When it comes to building workflows, claims processing, invoice processing, or custom capture, we've got the necessary tools to create automated processes for your business. Let us help provide you with that extra flexibility provided to those with less of the busy work on their hands - consultations are free and we are quite confident that once you look into our BPO services, this new year's resolution will be a no-brainer.


All in all it has been a great year here at Image Express both for us and for our customers. We are excited for what 2013 has to bring, and we look forward to helping our customers both new and old find the solution that will take their business to that next level. As always, please give us a call if you have any questions or are interested in any product demos. Have a safe and happy new year!

www.imageexpressinc.com

952-906-3022

Kodak Trade-Ins

Now is a great time to start looking at trading in your old scanners and upgrade to the latest and greatest. For those who didn't know, Kodak runs a trade-in program whereby trading in your old equipment you can earn credit towards a newer model. This program has been very successful in helping our customers keep their equipment up to date while saving as much money as possible.


In particular, those companies still working with the i600 series from Kodak have been getting great trade in value when moving up to either The Ngenuity or i5000 series.

Just a few of the benefits:

• Scanners are fully supported in your indows 7 OS environment
• Increased Productivity
• Faster Processing speeds - up to 170 ppm
• LED Illumination = faster scanning and greater color stability
• 300 dpi at 200 dpi speeds with imaging features on
• Enhanced Image Quality
• Up to 600 DPI optical capture and output
• Multi-feed "ignore zones" for broader coverage plus "pause/correct/go" streamlining to cut interaction time
• Programmable function keys

To learn more about either our Trade-In Program or the latest and greatest in scanning hardware, give us a call or shoot us an email - we're happy to provide product demonstrations that will help you decide what solution is the best fit for your company moving ahead.

952-906-3022

info@imageexpressinc.com

www.imageexpressinc.com

EMR's Made Easy For the Smaller Health Care Providers

As Electronic Medical Records (EMR) become more and more standard practice for hospitals and physicians offices, the cost of the solutions which produce EMR's have begun to drop. As a result, these solutions no longer pertain simply to large health care providers, but also to the smaller organizations as well. One solution that has caught our eye, especially when dealing with the smaller helth care provider, is a bundled package between Inofile's ChartMD and Fujitsu's Networked scanners.

We've addressed Networked Scanners in previous posts as they have been a great addition when it comes to document imaging. For how connected these machines are to your network, they are very easy to use which makes many of our friends with Ph.D's happy. Especially when it comes to smaller practices which don't have the luxery of an IT department, it is important when transitioning to EMR's that the process be quick, efficient, and - obviously - compliant. Scanning is often the most labor intensive phase of converting to EMR's, which is why Networked Scanners provide such a great it for the smaller guys.

Despite the fact that scanning requires most of the work, the solution dictating where these files are stored must be compliant and easy to use for EMR's to be effective. Enter Inofile's ChartMD - the batch scanning feature allows pactices to scan and index an entire chart room on demand. Because the networked scanners have built in keyboards and touch screens, the files can be scanned, indexed, and stored in a very efficient manner. www.imageexpressinc.com

To learn more about this bundled package, or to explore further options regarding your organization's imaging solutions, give us a call and we'd be happy to provide you with a free consultation and product demo.

952-906-3022

www.imageexpressinc.com



Kodak Seeking Buyer for Document Imaging Division

On Thursday, August 23rd (or yesterday, for those of us still stuck in the office on this beautiful Friday afternoon) Kodak announced that the company is in search of a buyer for its Document Imaging division. Naturally, this move caused quite a stir which led to many questions surrounding the future of those who have partnered with - and purchased from - Kodak Document Imaging. Although we certainly had some questions of our own, in all honesty we feel it couldn't be a better move.

For years Kodak's Document Imaging division has been one of the most (if not THE most) profitable divisions thoughout all of Eastman Kodak. In fact, many of Kodak's other areas of business have been kept afloat over those years by borrowing from the division's profits - and still the Document Imaging department continues to develop and release new products both in hardware and software. With those funds now remaining within Document Imaging, their will be even more resources put towards research and development aimed at maintaining the high level of quality products and services our customers have come to expect.

Additionally, regarding the existing service contracts, we have more good news. When Kodak filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year, the Court stipulated that all service contracts would be honored. It is expected that the buyer of Kodak's Document Imaging division will be held to those same stipulations (cue the giant sigh of relief *WHEW*) and all service contracts will be maintained.

We will obviously be watching this sale closley, though for now we are looking forward to this step in the right direction. Kodak has had its fair share of struggles the past few years, and we are happy that its most successful (and our personal favorite) division will be receiving the attention it deserves. As always, we are here for any questions or concerns you may have. Stay tuned for updates!

info@imageexpressinc.com

952-906-3022

Wanting Office Automation Vs. Achieving Office Automation

The NEED for office automation in today's competitive markets is driving business leaders to implement new processes and search for more efficient ways of conducting their day to day operations. In this search for efficiency, many are finding that they want to implement solutions aimed at reducing paper volume and creating workflow solutions that automate manual processes allowing you to do things faster. The problem is, WANTING is not enough when it comes to solution implementation.

Businesses, especially successful businesses, can be quite stubborn when it comes to change - especially when that change is affecting their core operations. Implementing document management and workflow solutions is a big one and while many businesses are striving for office automation stemming from these solutions, the actual implementation and use of them can fall through. We hear it time and time again - business owners go out and purchase document management software, yet find that their employees not only are ignoring the solution's most efficient functions, but that they are also continuing with their old habits of printing copies, attaching large files in emails, and largely ignoring even the most basic functions.

With larger businesses and fortune 500 companies, these solutions have been standard practice for some time now. New employees are trained to use the software on day 1 and thus these organizations retain a high ROI. When viewed from the perspective of a small to medium sized business, it appears as if document management software and workflow solutions should be effective right from the bat. However, don't be fooled into thinking that its as simple as just getting the software and telling people to use it - that's certainly not how it went for those big companies.

When changes of this nature take place, their will be a natural tendency in the office to fight it. Paper is a touchy subject in many organizations - people like to feel the document in their hand and see it physically sitting in front of them or else it is compromised, lacks security, or flat out doesn't exist. We get it - this is how business has been done for years and its how you've been successful. However, the helpful hand of technology is allowing organizations to speed up processes to help grow their business and others must keep pace if they are to remain competitive.

Document management and workflow solutions can only provide the quick and high ROI to help your business grow if they are used properly. This means strict enforcement throughout the entire organization until employees become accustomed to the change. It doesn't take long for employees and organizations as a whole to recognize the benefits, they just need that initial commitment - and that's something we here at Image Express can help with. When we work with our customers in developing these solutions, the education and training on the software is just as important as developing the right solution in the first place. We make sure that everyone who will be utilizing the software is trained and competent with everything the solution has to offer. By keeping a close relationship throughout the training process as well as on going support, we are able to bridge the gap between those who WANT office automation and those who ACHIEVE office automation.

GIVE US A CALL OR DROP US AN EMAIL

info@ImageExpressInc.com

952-906-3022

Webinar: Data Archiving - Meeting State Regulatory Requirements

We are excited to be co-sponsoring this webinar with our friends at Imation about the storage challenges IT professionals like yourself are facing in the state, county and local governments as they try to meet new state regulations and the increases in demand. The webinar features Mike Kubik from Chambers County Government in Texas discussing his challenges and how we solved them. Knowing some of the issues you are facing, we thought this might be a worthwhile webinar for you to attend.

For more details and to register, follow the link below. It's free, informative, and will help clear up some of the common misconceptions regarding data storage and compliance issues -- in other words, absolutely worth your time!

https://imationcorp.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=imationcorp&service=6&rnd=0.671564943561067&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimationcorp.webex.com%2Fec0606l%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26confViewID%3D1002718030%26%26%26%26siteurl%3Dimationcorp

Update: All Things Image Express

Busy few weeks here at the office have had us slacking in the social media department - so for this weeks post we thought we'd share with you what it is we've been up to!

First of all, the service bureau side of things is really going strong - now is a great time for companies to either start, or continue, scanning their files and getting those documents stored electronically. Letting us take care of your coversion needs helps free up time on your side of things so you can spend less time searching for documents, or scanning them yourself, and more time focusing on immediate needs for your business. Contact Us for more info on how we can help.

Our Chatfield offices down near Rochester, MN are all set up now which has us both really excited and extremely relieved (As you know, moving can be quite a stressful process). For those of you out there who didn't hear the news at the beginning of the year, we've merged with Relion which has given us a big boost technical capabilities as well as some new customers to take care of - something we're obviously looking forward to.

Had a chance meet with our guys at Imation who had some awesome updates for us. We are really excited with what they have to offer and how it is incorporated into the solutions we work with to make your business information easy to access and completely secure - all while maintaining a cost level which produces a high ROI to your business. More details to come with them...

Finally, we had the chance to catch up with our friends at Cranel Imaging at our annual get-together last week. We have a great relationship with those guys and really appreciate the work they do for us making these meetings more of a family reunion than a business meeting. It is with their help that we are able to provide our customers with the best service and lowest prices, so for that we are very thankful.

All in all things have been going great and we look forward to continuing to provide our customers with all their needs concerning document imaging. Whether it is a simple scanning job or a total ECM solution, we look forward to working with you. As always, if you have any quesitons or need any information just give us a shout - the contact info is below.

952-906-3022

http://www.imageexpressinc.com/index.html

NASA Saving Millions -- You Can Too

A recent article from ZDNet.com provides us with some free advertising regarding the value and ROI brought about from our cloud based solutions. According to the CIO of NASA - Linda Cureton - the agency is saving roughly $1 million per year since switching their IT infrastructure to the cloud.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/nasas-move-to-the-cloud-saves-1-million-a-year/79773

Working in the industry and providing our customers with similar cloud based solutions has given us a front row seat in watching what the cloud can do for businesses and organizations looking to up the efficiency in their information management. While many businesses out there still remain skeptical and refuse to take advantage of these solutions, it is without question that they are falling behind. With the increase in evaluations coming out like this one from NASA, it becomes more and more obvious that in order to keep up with the competition your organization must first keep up with technology.



KODAK Capture Pro Software Overview

This is a great video that provides an excellent overview of our favorite capture software.




We use Kodak Capture Pro as our primary document capture solution in both our own office environment as well as in our service bureau when scanning for our customers. If you are serious about implementing a fully-automated imaging solution, Capture Pro provides the best platform for capturing your data and getting you on the right path towards Paper Freedom.

If you are interested in learning more about how Kodak Capture Pro can help take your office to the next level of automation, either check us out online or give us a call and we'd be happy to help.

http://www.imageexpressinc.com/pages/document_capture.html

952-906-3022

Get To Know Them: Networked Scanners

Networked Scanners are becoming more and more popular within organizations that have been putting a heavy emphasis on collaboration and office virtualization. Especially when considering those with workflow solutions, networked scanners allow organizations to get their documents into their systems faster and more efficiently. Email, fax, printer, cloud -- all of these functions are tied into networked scanning allowing you to scan to any destination within your virtual office environment. Partnering with Kodak, Fujitsu, and Canon allows us to provide our customers with the most reliable and cost-effective solutions when it comes to these types of scanners and below are some of the specifications on what we consider to be the best in the industry.



KODAK SCAN STATION 500



Scanning Speed: Black & White - 45 ppm/90 ipm; Color - 30 ppm/60 ipm

Document Feeder: Holds up to 75 sheets

Output Resolution: 75, 100, 150, 200, 240, 300, 400, 600 dpi

Imaging Features: Ultrasonic multi-feed detection, Perfect Page Scanning, deskew, autocrop, content-based blank page removal, automatic orientation

Dimensions: 13.8 in. x 15 in. x 8.2 in.

Weight: 23 pounds




FUJITSU SCANSNAP fi-6010N



Scanning Speed: 25 ppm/50 ipm - Color and Black & White

Document Feeder: Holds up to 50 Sheets

Output Resolution: 150, 200, 300, 600 dpi

Imaging Features: Auto deskew, auto orientation, automatic page size detection, ultrasonic multi-feed detection, blank page deletion, color detection, hard and embossed card scanning capabilities, long document scanning, searchable and password protected PDF

Dimensions: 12.4 in. x 16.3 in. x 11.1 in.

Weight: 28.7 pounds




CANON imageFORMULA SCANFRONT 300


Scanning Speed: Black & White - 30 ppm/60 ipm; Color - 25ppm/50 ipm

Document Feeder: Holds up to 50 sheets

Output Resolution: 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 600 dpi

Imaging Features: Auto color detection, automatic page size detection, bleed-through reduction, color dropout/enhance color, deskew, folio mode, long document mode, blank page removal, text orientation recognition

Dimensions: 6.2 in. x 12.2 in. x 8.7 in.

Weight: 7.9 pounds




Just imagine walking up to the office scanner and sending your documents and critical business information right to where they need to go, all with the simple click of a button -- sounds great right? Well, that's because it is. Interested in a demo unit to see how these machines can interact in your environment? Give us a call and we'd be happy to provide you with what we consider to be an office-game changer. Take collaboration to the next level today!

952-906-3022

www.imageexpressinc.com

Technology Upgrade: i700 Series Scanners vs. the new i5000 Series

Nowadays it can be tough to keep up with the newest technology – and even more difficult when it comes to deciding when your current equipment has become too old or when the new equipment is a must-have. Here at Image Express we strive to keep our customers well-informed when it comes to  SCANNER HARDWARE, which is why we like to provide product comparisons between past scanners and the latest and greatest. Furthermore, once we see a product in action for a while and recognize that it far exceeds its predecessor, we make sure our customers know that it is well worth upgrading given the new advantages brought about through the newer technology.

When Kodak’s i700 series was released, they were fantastic products that took document imaging to another level. However, as with all technology, they have been surpassed by machines that make you even wonder why they were so highly valued at the time. The i5000 series from Kodak was first released last year and after working extensively with these machines, we are confident that they will meet every one of your needs and then some. If your office is still running a i700 series, we strongly recommend making the jump to the i5000 series, and here’s why:

Speed

From 90/115/130 ppm with the Kodak i700 Series Scanners to 140/170/210 ppm with Kodak i5000 Series Scanners – a 24-35% productivity improvement.

Feeder Capacity

The i5000 series has a 750-sheet stackers, compared to a 500-sheet stackers with the i700 series, providing greater operator efficiency.

Optical Resolution

True 600 dpi optical resolution with i5000 Scanners, compared to 300 dpi with i700 Series Scanners means great image accuracy and quality, using the full capability of a 600 dpi camera. Excellent OCR read rates.

Multifeed Detection Zones

i700 Series Scanners have three sensors, i5000 Series feature five. This provides broader sensor coverage with greater functionality to pause & stop/go options at scanner instead of the host.

Illumination

LEDs are used with i5000 Scanners, not Xenon lamps means Green compliance advantages plus less power use.

Long Document Support

The i700 Series Scanners support longer document sizes of 12 x 49 inches while the i5000 Series Scanners support document sizes of 12 x 180 inches.

New functionality available with i5000 Series Scanners (NOT available on i700 Series Scanners)

-       Dynamic Flow technology—delivers optimized memory allocation, processing paths and customization capabilities which lead to speed and image accuracy benefits for the customer

-       Full Color OCP touch screen—simplifies repeated or complex functions with programmable function keys

o   Improves accuracy and processing speeds by minimizing human intervention and interaction with the host.

o   Wide-angle viewing with two ergonomically correct positions.

-       Controlled stacking—greatly reduces document handling at the end of a batch and allows checks to be mixed in with multi-sized documents

-       Multi-feed advantages—enable two additional outer sensors for smooth processing of envelopes while catching any landscape/ A4-size document multi-feeds

o   Broader coverage with ignore zones, beyond individual sensor control.

o   Pause/correct/go at the scanner to eliminate interaction with host.

-       Technology improvements in LEDs and sensors—for greater color stability and image input to enable better OCR/data extraction and use

-       Streak filtering—for cleaner images and enhanced data recognition; removes artifacts and provides clean forms for enhanced recognition accuracy

-       USB 2.0 – high-speed certified interface. Stacker jog capability – for straight and offset stacking

-       Advanced color dropout—to capture only the information you need and reduce file sizes

-       Background color smoothing—for greater color consistency and smaller files

And believe it or not, we haven’t even told you the best part about upgrading! We understand the frustration of maintaining new technology when it comes to costs, which is why we have a TRADE-IN PROGRAM that allows you to get some value out of that old scanner. OK, so there you go – no more reasons for waiting! Give us a call or EMAIL and upgrade to a scanner that is fit to handle anything and everything your business requires.

952-906-3022

5 Reasons for Kodak Capture Pro Software

It's no secret that we here at Image Express have a strong relationship and loyal partnership with Kodak Document Imaging Products. When it comes to consistency and quality of Kodak products, our customers are always happy with the solutions we provide - which in turn makes us happy as well. Kodak Capture Pro Software is one of these solutions - it continues to impress with our customers, as well as within our own service bureau. If you are unsure as to whether or not this product can help your organization, here are 5 compelling reasons Kodak has come up with: 

1. Productivity
• Intelligent Quality Control (QC) optimizes images from any source, even when original documents are unavailable, reduces cost of error correction, and cuts image review time
• Auto Import Edition offers complete control over how and when you capture and process documents

– Use existing files from MFPs, databases and more and gain the same imaging, indexing and output capabilities as from scanned images

– Automatically and continuously import and process files from designated folders to cut manual entry and file search time

• Capture Pro Software indexing workstation lets you improve productivity and gain faster access and retrieval
• Find and View application for easy image retrieval
• Automatically index using 1-D and 2-D barcodes, zonal OCR and MICR
• Automated document and batch separation
• Auto populate index fields with data from ODBC sources to cut manual data entry time and costs
• Output to file, system, e-mail and print simultaneously
• View and change multiple index fields
• Dual-stream scanning gives you bitonal and color, or bitonal and grayscale images from one scan

– PDF, PDF/A, searchable PDF, TIFF, RTF and TXT for B&W

– JPEG, JPEG 2000, PDF, PDF/A, searchable PDF, TIFF and more for color/grayscale

• Background output processing for continuous productivity
• Network Edition to centrally deploy licenses and manage workstations to resolve bottlenecks quickly, and achieve greater process consistency, speed and data integrity


2. Value
• Reduce costs with no per click or additional volume based charges
• Easily scaleable from desktop to production scanners
• One interface for all scanners from Kodak and other manufacturers
• Output unlimited searchable PDFs at no added cost
• Maximize all the features of your Kodak Scanners
• Enhanced productivity delivers faster ROI


3. Ease of Use
• Scan out of the box with ready-to-scan setups
• Single-touch customization for automating complex tasks
• Instantly familiar, intuitive interface
• Immediate visual feedback with multi-image viewer
• Share job settings via your secure network


4. Broad market application/coverage
• Full-featured, completely scaleable application supports Kodak Scanners and many other popular models
• Comprehensive integration with Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and 2010 to import index configurations and a wide array of column types; and gain faster information access

– Leverage current investments through easy integration/configuration with existing applications and databases, including EMC Documentum and others

• Define as many jobs as you need, each with customizable capture, index and output options
• Support for Microsoft Windows 7, XP and Vista Operating Systems


5. Support
• Interactive operator tutorials in multiple languages
• Real-time online help plus printable User’s and Getting Started Guides

If you are still unsure if Kodak Capture Pro is right for you, Contact Us for a free consultation and product demonstration. We are confident that Capture Pro is an essential tool in taking your business to the next level.

FileBound Case Study: Griffiths Corporation

This is a helpful Case Study provided by our friends at FileBound on how an effective Document Management Solution can provide organizations with a major boost in efficiency when it comes to issues concerning customer and vendor invoicing.

Griffiths Corporation

An industry leader in metal fabrication for 40 years, Griffiths Corporation is a privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The corporation’s 1,500 employees operate eight metal stamping and fabrication plants in six states. Customers are located around the world, but are heavily concentrated in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

 

The Problem

Despite its size and multiple locations, Griffiths Corporation operated on a paper-based invoicing system with no electronic backup. The system was extremely slow and cumbersome to use, especially since employees in eight different locations would regularly need to access invoices and the only way to find them was to search through reams of paper by referencing check numbers. Customers and vendors couldn’t get quick answers to their invoicing questions and that was frustrating to employees, vendors and customers alike.

The Solution

FileBound® ExpressTM combined with Importer Lite to update indices once invoices were paid proved to be the perfect method for bringing Griffiths Corporation into the computer age. All invoices are now scanned into the system, which has become a complete repository for all customer financial activity across the entire corporation. FileBound® ExpressTM allows everything to be stored electronically and backed up, so even if the paper records are destroyed, the invoicing is secure within the FileBound® ExpressTM Document Management Solution.

FileBound Results

Griffiths Corporation enjoys the convenience of being able to call up a customer’s or vendor’s invoicing on FileBound® ExpressTM while the caller is on the phone. What once required a time-consuming search through paper records can now be accomplished in a matter of seconds through FileBound® ExpressTM.


Image Express is a top partner and reseller for FileBound Document Management Solutions and we look forward to providing your organization with the necessary tools to take your business processes TO THE NEXT LEVEL. Give us a call today - we are happy to provide free product demos so you can see how these solutions fit in specifically with your unique office environment. There are no obligations from your end as we are positive that you will see an immediate boost in office efficiency and data protection.

No matter where you are on The Road to Paper Freedom, Image Express is here to help

952-906-3022

Info@ImageExpressInc.com

Webinar Review -- The Paper Free Office: Dream or Reality?

The people over at AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) do some really great work in developing case studies, reviewing solutions and products, collecting data, and just about anything else that ultimately leads to educating individuals on our industry. Their webinars are a great way to keep up with current trends and issues surrounding document imaging, so we thought we'd highlight some findings from their latest webinar which you can find on their website http://www.aiim.org/.

One thing they found that shouldn't be too surprising is that the largest organizations are the one's experiencing the most dramatic reduction in paper use. The cost of paper based processes is always higher, though the figures tend to be more dramatic when facing thousands of employees as opposed only a few. However, this should not deter small and medium sized businesses from developing an imaging solution as they are very scalable, and the ROI will be there regardless of the size of your business.

Office space is not cheap at all. AIIM found that on average, paper storage takes up 15% of office spaces. You mean to tell us that this is money well spent? Let us help you GET RID OF THOSE FILES and put that office space to better use.

When it comes to incoming mail, AIIM found that it costs an average of $3.63 to collect, distribute, and process each document when in a paper-based environment. Furthermore 29% of organizations scan at least half of these files POST-PROCESS! If anyone can explain how that makes sense we'd love to hear it. With OUR SOLUTIONS we can capture that incoming mail, distribute it immediately to the proper individuals, and archive the document all in one step. We effectively eliminate that $3.63 and archive those documents much more effectively. Time and money people... Time and money.

Perhaps the most troubling statistic AIIM provided was regarding invoices and purchase orders. They found that 77% of organizations print invoices that are received ALREADY IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT! Even ignoring those that make multiple copies, this is still a completely wasteful process. Now that WE'VE MERGED WITH RELION our technical capabilities have tremendously improved. We can COMPLETELY AUTOMATE YOUR AP PROCESS which means regardless if they come in via electronic or paper format - your data gets to where it needs to go as fast, easy, and cost-effectively as possible.


Give us a call today and let us help your business cut out the wasteful spending and enter into the next level of efficiency. MAKE THE PAPERLESS OFFICE A REALITY! 952-906-3022

Image Express Merges with Relion

Eden Prairie, MN, February 23, 2012—Rochester-based Relion Corporation, an experienced integrator of advanced document capture, workflow and business process outsourcing solutions, has merged with Image Express, a leading provider of scanning solutions and document conversion services.

Both Relion and Image Express provide enterprise content management (ECM) solutions and outsourcing services to help their clients go paperless, cut costs and increase efficiency. Relion's expertise in these areas stems from their ability to integrate advanced document capture and accounts payable workflow solutions with ERP systems like SAP, Oracle and JD Edwards. Relion also provides business process outsourcing solutions, including virtual mailroom. These capabilities compliment the experience of Image Express, which includes implementing document scanner and Kodak Capture Pro solutions, in addition to a wide range of document conversion services.

Get the full press release here ---- http://www.imageexpressinc.com/pages/relion-merger-press-release.html

GET TO THE CLOUD!

An article published yesterday by InformationWeek stresses the importance of cloud computing in business not just as an additional tool to "tweak existing operations", but as a central asset that is fundamental in achieving maximum efficiency. The article addresses a survey that will be released later this week which finds that only 13% of businesses have "substantially implemented" cloud computing throughout their organization. This is an interesting statistic that likely stems from a lack of trust and misconception of security when moving to the cloud.

When it comes to running a business - especially one that has a consistent record of success - it can be a difficult decision to implement any significant changes towards processes. When it comes to the technology being used, it seems this issue only becomes more sensitive. What we are observing when it comes to cloud computing is the old dip your toe in the pool to test the water temperature - businesses are adding elements of cloud computing to their exisiting business process (i.e. dipping the toe), though failing to embrace the technology and alter their processes accordingly (jumping in). If you are looking into cloud computing, remember that it can only produce the desired ROI if it is being properly utilized.

Cloud-based technology is a major game changer. The trial period is over and it's official, this technology is going to become an absolutely necessary tool for any business looking to remain competitive in their industry. The time for testing the waters in your business is over as well, it's time to jump in and swim! As always you can check us out online to learn more about how we can help, or do the really smart thing -- give us a call and GET TO THE CLOUD!

952-906-3022

You're business will never get sued right?

Just in case, here's an article worth reading:

http://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/201111/small-business-ediscovery-tips-.html

It's easy to pretend that your business is not likely to run into any lawsuits. However, as the business world evolves, we are seeing more and more government intervention. Government intervention = more rules, more audits, more lawsuits. If you're not prepared, these situations can have a catostrophic effect on your business. It is especially important for small business owners that you take the necessary precautions to protect your organization when it comes to legal issues. Without a big legal department to help defend you in these cases, you'll get caught dealing with the problem which takes away from your day to day operations. Even if you make it through the legal battle in one piece, without proper data management you will have wasted significant time and resources defending yourself. 

When you're ready to get serious about protecting and effectively managing your data give us a call - 952-906-3022

Excuses, Excuses - 5 Reasons Not To Invest In Document Management

This helpful bit information is courtesy of our friends over at FileBound. There are many excuses out there, we find that these tend to be the most prominent. As the old saying goes, excuses are like bellybuttons - everyone's got one. These reasons are often based on critical misconceptions that can jeopardize your business process and put your information at risk -- all the while costing you and your co-workers time and money.


Excuse #1: If we need to, we can usually find it

"We usually can find the information we need when a customer calls. Sometimes it takes a while, but once we send out an email to all staff asking for the information, it usually shows up after a bit."

Reality:

It’s true; given enough time, people usually can come up with the information they need. But sometimes time is a luxury they just don’t have ... like when a lawsuit reaches the discovery stage! Trying to find a particular document in an organization has been likened to everything from locating a needle in a haystack to retrieving Indiana Jones’Lost Ark from the government warehouse into which it is loaded at the end of the movie. Most of the time, it isn’t a legal imperative that triggers the search, but rather a business reason. Either way, there is a cost associated with having to do it, and that cost tends to be exorbitant in an unmanaged environment.
Consider that the typical office worker spends 40% of his or her time looking for information, and then do the math. If he had only known, don’t you think Indy would have labeled that crate before it disappeared into the maw of the repository? In this way, you, too, should take steps to index your content for ready retrieval – before it’s too late. (There ain’t no sequel in real-life information management)


Excuse #2: Nobody is going to sue us 

"Who would ever want to sue us? I’m sure if push comes to shove, we can find whatever we need to defend ourselves. Let’s not go looking for problems."

Reality:

No need; the problems certainly will come looking for you! The sad truth is that you don’t have to have done something wrong to have a suit brought against you. But if you can demonstrate to opposing counsel that you can readily produce documentation that counters the claim, the whole matter may simply go away before it ever gets started.
Consider, for instance, a dispute over a beneficiary change made to a life insurance policy, which dictates who is supposed to receive possibly significant sums of money following an accident or death. Being able to prove in a preliminary meeting that the change was properly authorized likely would keep the problem out of court – but this can’t happen without a system for tracking and auditing such forms.
Even if the case does go forward, you still must be able to produce court-ordered documents in a timely manner or face fairly significant penalties. Morgan Stanley, for instance, once was fined $1.6 billion in part for lying about its ability to produce email evidence. No one I know wants to risk that kind of punishment! So if nothing else, consider information management as a sort of litigation insurance policy – if you ever need it, you’ll sure be glad it’s there.


Excuse #3: Cost - We've got to pick our battles

"Even if it’s true that organizations typically spend $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to find a misfiled document, and $220 in labor to reproduce a lost document, it’s chump change to us."

Reality:

Chump change? Chump change? There’s no such thing, especially in this economy. Forget the tens of thousands of dollars in wasted labor these figures represent. How about the time wasted waiting for those documents to reappear? The lost productivity of the individuals doing the waiting and/or searching through the files? The customer dissatisfaction that accumulates while the organization chases its tail? These are costs too, and they will quickly doom to failure any effort you make to “do more with less”– and there isn’t an organization today that’s so rich it’s not interested in improving its bottom line.


Excuse #4: Our business isn't located on a flood plane or anything

"Sure, when we see all those paper documents floating around after a flood on the news, we feel bad for those people. But we’re not located in a place where disasters happen."

Reality:

Well, that’s a relief! Imagine being in a place where rivers never rise, winds never blow, fires never start, and coffee never spills ... must be a real paradise, where nothing ever happens that can destroy your paper files!
Disaster recovery encompasses much more than floods, tornadoes, and wildfires, as leaky roofs, malfunctioning sprinkler systems, and yes, careless coffee drinkers can cause the kind of data loss usually ascribed to “acts of God”. So be empathetic to those caught in a maelstrom, but take steps to protect yourself as well. You’d be surprised how fast even a small problem can become catastrophic!
Make backups of your electronic files. Move older and/or inactive paper records off-site – preferably far off-site lest the same storm that wrecks your building take out the backup as well. Set established policies to govern which documents move where, according to what timetable, and for how long before they are destroyed. Then maybe you can afford to ignore the perils that threaten your documents – at least until the coffee wagon shows up.


Excuse #5: Information security just isn't at the top of our list

"Yes, we lock the doors at night. And yes, we keep the HR files locked. And yes, we use passwords on our computers. But we need to be flexible. If people want to take information home and work on it on their home computers, that’s a good thing. We trust our employees."

Reality:

Trust is good, but in document circles, it should be practiced the way President Ronald Reagan did when he negotiated with the old Soviet Union. “Trust but verify,” he said, and the advice is as solid for securing information as it was for arms control.
Knowing who accessed what, and when, is a big deal in compliance circles. Further, good practice, if not always the law, requires that you maintain and review logs of all system and user activities. Sure, your employees may be long proven dependable. But what about the hacker who tries to break in over your VPN? What about the drug addict who steals a company laptop from a worker’s living room – and what about the fence who buys that laptop and all the information on it? At that point, no amount of physical security at your office is going to help, as the cat’s already out of the bag.
And by the way – there are other security breaches that have nothing at all to do with people. Consider the tornado, hurricane, or earthquake that breaks your outer office windows and scatters the contents of your files all over the neighborhood. How secure is that information then? For sure, your customers, your legal counsel, and your local, state, and federal regulators will want to know.





ENOUGH WITH THE EXCUSES, CALL US TODAY

952-906-3022