The AIIM Expo, aka info360 — It's Not Just Window Shopping Anymore
By Vicki Amendola, ECM Connection Web editor
As I planned for this year's AIIM Expo – now dubbed with the catchy "info360" moniker, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. With everyone succumbing to the economic train wreck propaganda, I anticipated that attendance would be down in terms of both exhibitors and attendees. However, on Wednesday morning, the second day of the show, I found myself trying to migrate my way (the wrong way, of course) through a stampede of attendees rushing into the show when the doors opened at 10 am.
Although the show was seemingly down in actual attendance, you couldn't tell by the action going on at some of the exhibitor booths. In fact, the beeping of lead scanners capturing information from attendee badges was like the constant chirping of the spring crickets. Nearly everyone I spoke to came to info360 looking for something specific — a content management solution that would enable streamlined operations and ultimately cut costs. Hello? Isn't that exactly what ECM gurus have been preaching for years? And I'm sure, even with a few of the big vendors (i.e. Kodak and Fujitsu) not actually exhibiting on the show floor, attendees had no shortage of solutions from which to choose.
Check Out Some New Products From The Show Floor
Datacap's exhibit made it impossible to miss the vendor's introduction of FastDoc Capture, a new software release that combines indexing automation with character recognition and user-friendliness, all at a comparatively low price point. According to David Jenness, marketing director for Datacap, FastDoc Capture is due to release soon, and offers an entry-level solution offering rules-based validations and out-of-the-box SharePoint integration. In addition to FastDoc Capture, Datacap also announced the integration of ABBYY FineReader as a standard recognition engine in Datacap's Taskmaster 7.5, giving customers the option of using ABBYY technology for applications such as full-page recognition and PDF conversion.
Speaking of ABBYY, a visit with Carmella Wong, VP of marketing at ABBYY, led to a demonstration of TouchTo™ Technology, a data capture that leverages LCD-based touchscreen technology. Like your iPod, iPhone, or BlackBerry Storm? Then you need to check out TouchTo. This was by far my favorite demonstration at this year's show in terms of user experience. Integrated with the Fujitsu fi-6010N scanner, TouchTo enables the user to enter basic information from the scanners touch screen by simply touching the desired information. A thumbnail image (which is also present on the screen) enables the user to navigate to any area of the document by simply touching and dragging a viewer box to the desired area on the thumbnail. The product was very easy to use, and made entering index and metadata values quicker than keyboard or even click-entry.
In hardware releases, Panasonic was spotlighting the KV-SS080, a flatbed companion to its KV-S1025/20Cscanners as well as the new KV-S7075C high-speed, dual mode color scanner. With a relatively small footprint, the KV-SS080 flatbed scanner enables users to harness the high-speed, full-color scanning capabilities of the ADF (automatic document feeder) KV-S1025C or KV-S1020C models for use with documents in formats unsuitable to single-sheet processing, such as books and magazines. The KV-S7075C, however, combines the best of both worlds by including twin document feeders, both ADF and flatbed. "By raising the flatbed-scanner speed bar, the Panasonic KV-S7075C helps fast-track data input, digitalization and storage and increases operator productivity, an important consideration at a time when many businesses have downsized their office workforce," says Panasonic's product manager, Bob Curci.
ACE Award winner IBML was demonstrating the newest addition to its ultra-high volume 3e Series scanners. The ImageTrac3exp is touted to increase throughput as much as 66% over earlier ImageTrac models, up to 425 pages per hour. Still surprisingly quiet in overall operation, the 3exp continues to focus on the ergonomics and efficiency introduced with the 3e line. The ImageTrac 3exp is fully integrated with the new SoftTrac® Capture Suite. Although not due to be released until sometime during the 2nd quarter of 2009, I was able to get a sneak peek of IBML's new software suite while visiting with the IBML team. The SoftTrac Capture Suite is evidence of IBML's commitment to providing complete document scanning and capture solutions. The software suite goes beyond image capture to encompass a wide range of business process management from the receipt of a document through data and image export into workflow and ECM systems. "The introduction of SoftTrac Capture Suite, coupled with our hardware investments in the ImageTrac 3e Series, represents a philosophical change in how we have traditionally developed, marketed and sold our products in the past," says Derrick Murphy, president & CEO.
BancTec turned its focus at this year's show to its recently released CenterVision™ global transactional content management platform. Highlights in CenterVision 2.0 include enhancements to document tracking and stronger SLAs, keeping BancTec in tune with market demands for solutions that address a wide variety of concerns from cost-containment to compliance. BancTec also highlighted its IntelliScan line of high-volume scanners, in conjunction with updates to Image Sentry™, the vendor's image quality analysis solution.
By no means is this a comprehensive list of all the great products and solutions showcased at info360, just the handful I was able to experience firsthand over a fast-paced few days. But you know what they say — if you wanted to see them all, you should've been there! Stay tuned to ECM Connection over the coming weeks for more insight into the hot topics and discussions from my days in Philadelphia.