Document Management Goes "e-Crazy"

The prefix "e" may be the most significant addition to the English language this century. Everywhere you look, businesses are adding "e" to the beginning of their company names or products. They all want to appear Internet-oriented. And, the document management and imaging industry is no exception.

I just returned from a David Wood Associates seminar in Washington, D.C., appropriately titled "Vision 2000: Solutions Integrating e-Business, Document Management, and Capture." This is designed for end users and VARs/integrators who want to learn more about new developments and cost justifications for document management technologies. As you can well imagine, "e" was found at almost every seminar and exhibit.

Integrating Document Management Into e-Business
The seminar kicked off with a keynote speech by John Mancini, president of AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) International. Mancini relayed how document technologies are at the core of every e-business solution. AIIM has adopted a new e-business vision to implement over the next three to five years. AIIM will help members make the transition from document management to e-business.

Mancini predicts that terms such as document management, image management, workflow, records management, print distribution, and storage/retrieval will evolve. Watch for terms like Web process management, Web content and knowledge management, Web-based records management, data warehousing/mining, and enterprise storage. I'd add to Mancini's list business intelligence, portals, and customer relationship management. These three technologies will also play a big role in the integration of document management and e-business.

Not surprisingly AIIM will rename its magazine from Inform to e-doc this month. The announcement will be made at the AIIM 2000 Expo and Conference, April 9-12, in New York.

VARs, Integrators Designing e-Based Document Management Solutions
Examples of how document management is becoming increasingly e-based can be found in this issue. In this issue, readers learn how document management VAR MicroMedia delivers its service bureau jobs to customers via the Web. Also in this issue, there is a story about how VAR Hershey Technologies designed an e-based document management solution for the Automobile Club of Southern California. This solution allows users access to the club's documents via the Web.

Many of the vendors at the David Wood Associates seminar provided similar document management/e-business case studies. One comment from a seminar presenter summed up the e-business trend. Pamela Doyle, director of Internet Market Development, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, said, "The role of the Internet in today's enterprise is forcing all document imaging technologies to become Web-centric."

Questions about this article? E-mail the author at ShannonL@corrypub.com.