Extending Your SharePoint Environment

Today, EMC announced the latest round of solutions that enable customers to further leverage and extend their Microsoft SharePoint environments. The latest solutions bridge the gap between Documentum and SharePoint for content control and an integrated user experience, EMC SourceOne eDiscovery for direct management of SharePoint repositories to conduct legal discovery searches and execute legal holds within the repository, and finally EMC Captiva for capturing and delivering information into SharePoint. With this latest round up of solutions, EMC provides customers several ways to extend their SharePoint environments to meet their content management requirements. For the latest release, you can go here:

www.emc.com/about/news/press/2009/20091019-01.htm.

Intelligent Capture, More Than Just Scanning

Document capture is not a new concept, but using capture with SharePoint might not be something all organizations have considered. SharePoint has typically been more around collaboration and not seen so much as a document management system. The key to know is scanning software and intelligent capture, are not one of the same. Yes, it is all about turning paper into digital information but that is just the basics.

Simple scanning applications are designed to turn a piece of paper into digital content and allow users to manually index a couple fields so that it can be properly indexed in a SharePoint repository. Now that may be good enough for some, but what the EMC Captiva for SharePoint solution can provide is real automation. By that I mean automatically identifying document (no pre-sorting), recognizing the data, validations like database lookups and pre-fill of fields, and finally delivering the captured information into a SharePoint Server. This is important in the case where capture volumes warrant ways to automate manual task like indexing, or the variety of documents being captured need to be intelligently identified and logically grouped before exporting into SharePoint.

Doing more with Information Captured

Information captured from a document is certainly used to index a document in SharePoint, but there is more you can do with EMC Captiva and SharePoint.  For example, Captiva is often used for line of business applications where the data and documents drive a particular process. Accounts payable, claims, and loan processing are just a few examples. In that type of application the data being captured can be exported as XML and integrated with Microsoft InfoPath forms that are part of a review and approval process. Once in SharePoint, users can open an InfoPath form that contains the data captured and exported from Captiva, along with the image. Simple routing and approval of these forms can take place from within SharePoint.

Controlling and Accessing Content

 For those companies who would like to use Documentum and SharePoint together getting the benefits of both worlds, EMC Documentum Repository Services for SharePoint can automatically redirect content normally destined for SharePoint Server’s Microsoft SQL Server repository and send it to a Documentum repository for content aggregation and compliance with zero impact on end-users. What this means is that it addresses operational issues by reducing the amount of content destined for SQL Server, addresses compliance issues by storing SharePoint content in a single repository of record allowing for common policy enforcement across systems, and lastly supports the re-purposing and re-use of content stored in the Documentum repository.

Now you’re likely wondering, do my users have different user experiences now that I’m using Documentum and SharePoint together? The answer is the user experience is absolutely seamless.  EMC My Documentum for Microsoft SharePoint provides direct access to the Documentum Content Server natively through the SharePoint user interface. That means content that is stored in Documentum can be accessed via a SharePoint Web Part and can include Documentum functionality like document lifecycles and renditions, as well as Documentum advanced search capabilities. Companies who want to use SharePoint and need it to integrate with their corporate Documentum ECM backbone will find this latest set of solutions the right fit.

A Need to Discover

One final solution EMC announced is EMC SourceOne eDiscovery for SharePoint. This solution comes from EMC’s acquisition of Kazeon, and provides direct management of SharePoint repositories to conduct legal discovery searches, execute legal holds within the repository and deliver robust repository analysis and review capabilities.

With SharePoint server deployments being used across an enterprise, you probably see where utilizing this type of index and collection of content could be a powerful tool when there is a need to analyze and review specific content pertinent to a specific case or investigation.

What Next?

If you plan to attend the Microsoft SharePoint conference this week, I encourage you to stop by the EMC booth and take a look at the latest set of solutions. See for yourself the commitment EMC and Microsoft are making to deepen product interoperability in the area of enterprise content management (ECM).

 

 

 

Recorded Webcast: Assess the Real Value of Document Capture

I wrapped up Webcast a few days ago that is now available online for playback. Here’s a link to the recorded event.

Assess the Real Value of Document Capture

I talked about how organizations can assess the real value in document capture, highlighting several key areas where advanced document capture capabilities can help organizations drive down costs and improve process efficiencies.  I was joined by one of our customers, Baker Hughes, who talked about their global capture environment in which they use EMC Captiva across 20 countries capturing invoices that feed into their accounts payable process which utilizes Documentum and SAP.  The capture environment is maintained centrally with remote employees scanning invoices and submitting back to the central server for processing.

-Bill-

 

Latest Results from the Kofax Partner Satisfaction Poll

I recently checked back on the Kofax Partner Satisfaction poll that has been running on LinkedIn for the past few weeks. The latest results show 37%  “somewhat dissatisfied with Kofax” and 39% “extremely dissatisfied with Kofax”.   I went ahead and took a screenshot of the latest poll which is shown below. If you are interested in reading the comments posted, go to http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/52913/kpfrc.

 

Upcoming EMC Live Webcast: Assess the Real Value of Document Capture

In keeping with the “value of capture” theme that some of my recent postings have talked about, I’ll be presenting on an upcoming Webcast on September 30th, in which I will talk about the ROI of document capture, where the cost savings and efficiency gains can be achieved, and how organizations can build the business case.  To register for the event click here.

During the Webcast, I’ll also share the recent results of a document capture survey conducted by AIIM.  The survey polled 677 information and records management professionals, IT staff and line of business executives, and the research study found that document scanning and capture is a very risk-free investment compared to other types of IT projects and payback time.

I’ll also be joined by a customer who will be talking about the benefits they have achieved in using the EMC Captiva and Documentum products for automating their global accounts payable process.

Look forward to everyone joining.

 

Upcoming AIIM Webcast on Capture – 3 Big Things You Should Be Doing

Here’s a link to an upcoming AIIM webcast this month that I thought might interest some. Organizations for years have used all kinds of scanning applications to digitize content, but many are running on legacy applications that fail to give companies the capabilities needed to really achieve all the benefits possible with document capture.

Capture: 3 Big Things You Should Be Doing (And Probably Aren’t) for Maximum ROI

So what are those three big things? Come listen to Harvey Spencer, from Harvey Spencer and Associates, to hear what you should be doing with document capture for maximum ROI.

 

EMC Acquires Kazeon

Well, EMC has been busy this week buying up two companies with Kazeon Systems being the latest. You can read about the latest news in the press release.  Kazeon’s end-to-end discovery should fit nicely EMC SourceOne family of eDiscover, archiving and compliance products, where there is a growing use case for eDiscovery in the enterprise.

For several years, EMC has been building out a stack of products that come together to support managing information. Everything from capture, managing and processing content, output, and archive.

The Kazeon purchase is a logical progression for EMC, another chapter in helping enterprises manage the abundance of electronically stored information.

 

Interesting Kofax Partner Satisfaction Poll

Check out the Kofax partner satisfaction poll that is currently running on LinkedIn. 

http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/52913/kpfrc

 So far sixty-six have responded to the poll with 41% responding as being “somewhat dissatisfied with Kofax” and 37% responding as being “extremely dissatisfied with Kofax”.   

Obviously this is a small subset of Kofax partners, but it highlights not all is well within the Kofax partner community.   Good thing there are other vendor options for Kofax partners. EMC being one of them.

 -Bill-

 

Automating the Capture Medical Claims Process – Not a New Concept, but Delivers Benefits

So what do you get when you take intelligent capture and medical claims mix them together? Simple…tangible benefits in the form of cost reduction and process efficiency.

For those who are not familiar with what a medical claim is and how it gets processed, think of  the last time you visited your physician or hospital. Following that visit a paper document (claim) gets generated which contains the medical billing information (e.g. procedure performed and amount being billed). The claim then gets submitted to an insurance company so that the physician or hospital can get paid.

CMS 1500 Medical Claim Form

Why Not transmit electronically?

In many cases, the information does get transmitted electronically but not all medical billing is done that way today and it will be some time before 100% of all medical billing is electronic.  So that still leaves insurance carries like a BCBS or third party payors with the problem on how to best capture and process the thousands of claims they receive each day.

Intelligent Capture is King with Medical Claims

There are many line of business processes you can automate with a document capture solution, but medical claims is one where the benefits standout.  The amount of data that needs to be extracted encompasses over a hundred fields (name, address, SSN, doctor ID, line item procedure and diagnosis codes, and so on).  By using OCR (optical character recognition) and applying business rules, a key part of the claims process can be automated, thereby eliminating most of the data entry that would occur otherwise.

Partners are Key

I like to think of this solution as a speciality that requires a software vendor and partner that know the medical claims process.  This is not your simple run-of-the-mill capture deployment, rather it takes a solution that has been proven over the years and a partner who has the skill set to deliver.

EMC partners like PaperFree, Paragon Solutions, and other EMC partners demonstrate that skill set. You can read about a recent win PaperFree just announced:

New West Health Services Chooses PaperFree Corporation to Implement Claims Processing Solution

Intelligent Data Capture Delivers

Intelligent capture for medical claims is key to solving what is often the bottleneck in the process where lots of data needs to be transformed into electronic informaiton.

The benefits can be significant, in fact cost and efficiency savings like 60% increase in overall productivity, 75% reduction in error rates, and 30% reduction in average claims processing cost are benefits that can be achieved.

So give it some thought.  Starting with the obvious challenges around automating the capture of medical claims data may be the way to go.

-Bill-

 

EMC Sponsored Research – New AIIM Study Reveals Investments in Document Capture Produces Rapid and Considerable Cost Savings in Less Than 12 Months

AIIM just released a new study on document capture, that was sponsored by EMC. The research study shows that document scanning and capture is a very risk-free investment compared to other types of IT projects and payback time of the initial investment frequently occurs in less than one year.

 

 

Key findings from the study include:

• 42 percent of organizations have increased productivity by 50 percent from their scanning and capture investment.
• 43 percent have achieved payback within 12 months and two-thirds within 18 months.
• Nearly half have achieved savings of 40 percent or more in paper storage costs.

A free copy of the study, “Extending Capture Capabilities – Measuring the ROI” is available at www.emc.com/captureroi

What do you think?

• Are you achieving the benefits from document capture that you expected?
• Do you see opportunities to further expand the use of capture?
• Is there  a need to replace a legacy scanning/imaging application in order to achieve greater benefits?

Feel free to comment back.

- Bill -

 

EMC Partner Wins State of Louisiana Contract – Complete Solution for Tax Processing

PaperFree Corporation is one of EMC’s top partners who delivers information capture and management solutions for business and government, which includes the Captiva Intelligent Capture products and solutions.

PaperFree recently announced that they won the State of Louisiana Contract to provide a complete solution for tax processing. Here’s a excerpt from the press release:

“PaperFree Corporation, the leader in information capture and management solutions for business and government, today announced that the State of Louisiana has officially awarded them a contract to provide the products and services for the design, development, implementation, testing, and training needed to provide a complete solution that improves remittance, return, data capture and imaging capture processes that support all functions within the Revenue Processing Center of the Department of Revenue (LDR).” You can check out the full press release on PaperFree’s web site.

This win demonstrates how government agencies and businesses continue to reinvest in their capture technologies (or replace old legacy imaging apps) to further drive down costs and improve process efficiencies. PaperFree has been doing business with LDR for quite some time now and LDR was looking to expand their capture operations. Specifically LDR was looking to expand their capture operations that would give them the ability to collect information closer to the source of origin, specifically from their remote field offices.

Through the use of EMC’s Captiva and Imagescan’s RemitTrac ™ (another EMC Partner), PaperFree presented a solution that met specified requirements created by LDR and also clearly demonstrated a path for future growth and expansion.  What PaperFree will be implementing is a  new processing solution that  will involve every aspect of the current operation from mail handling, remote capture (field offices), scanning, data capture, remittance processing, Check-21/ARC payment handling, integration to the GenTax™ System and complete operational reporting. 

The solution being implemented at LDR demonstrates how partners and EMC are able to bring technologies together to meet the needs of the customer. Partners like PaperFree and ImageScan help customers fulfill their requirements, while creating repeatable solutions that can be delivered to other government agencies and businesses.  Tax processing is one those repeatable solutions that EMC Captiva and its partners have been very successful in delivering for years.

-Bill-