Magazine Article | May 9, 2006

Kodak Outlines A Sea Of

Business Solutions, May 2006
Written by: Ken Congdon

(Orlando, FL) —Kodak’s 8th Annual Breakaway Conference was held Feb. 1-3 at the Renaissance Orlando Resort at SeaWorld. I was one of seven document imaging journalists and analysts invited to cover the event and participate in a panel discussion on industry opportunities and trends.

The overriding message Kodak delivered to the nearly 500 VARs in attendance was that there is a sea of opportunity for maging business and Kodak is developing the products and programs that will help its VARs capitalize on these opportunities. Kodak announced plans to release 10 new imaging products in 2006 and showcased two of these new solutions at Breakaway — the Scan Station 100 and Kodak’s check maging solution. The Scan Station 100 is a dedicated scanning solution that seems to be taking direct aim at the MFP (multifunction peripheral) market. The Scan Station 100 combines the image quality and paper handling of a dedicated scanner with the familiar LCD interface of an MFP device. The Scan Station does not require a dedicated computer or additional software to operate, making it quickly deployable for distributed capture applications. More information on the Scan Station 100 can be found in my Channel News and Analysis column on page 10.

Kodak estimates the check imaging market opportunity to be approximately $3 billion, and the company has developed a separate partner program to target this specific market. Kodak is identifying VARs in its network with experience selling sophisticated content management solutions with technical integrations to the payment marketplace to be part of its check imaging program.

Kodak also announced its intentions to improve its overall VAR program at the conference. Kodak increased VAR scanner revenue by 12% last year and expects to grow this figure by more than 20% this year. Kodak plans to accomplish this goal by creating higher margin enhancement programs for its partners, providing dedicated VAR support on large scale national sales, and expanding into new and different partner channels.