TAWPI Keeps Capture At The Heart Of Process Improvement
At the recent TAWPI 2008 Forums & Expo in Walt Disney World, attendees had access to a wide variety of educational tracks structured into three distinct forums, while industry vendors had the opportunity to showcase their latest solutions. Amidst it all, technologies related to information capture still took center stage.
On August 24, 2008, TAWPI (The Association for Work Process Improvement) kicked off its annual Forum and Expo at Walt Disney's Contemporary Resort. For four days, exhibitors had the opportunity to showcase their latest solutions, while attendees had access to a wide variety of educational tracks that were broken into three distinct forums: payment automation, document and forms automation, and distributed capture. Regardless of which track was selected, technologies related to information capture still took center stage.
On Tuesday morning, a keynote by Reynolds Bish, CEO of Kofax, reaffirmed the trend of capture technology becoming more widely distributed. According to Bish, the introduction of the MFP (multifunction peripheral) likely had a lot to do with this trend. As more 'everyday users' gain familiarity with scanning and realize the efficiency that can be gained in the process, dedicated workgroup and departmental scanning initiatives will continue to increase. The great news for is that this trend is expected to remain on the rise for several more years, and vendors are more in sync with the needs of an end user than ever.
Further, although some may scoff at the mention of using mobile devices such as PDAs and phones as capture devices, chances are that we may see this come to fruition within the next decade, as Bish states this is already becoming popular in Japan.
Network scanning is also gaining momentum, and at the show, vendors were quick to show off the latest releases and hardware upgrades. During the event, Kodak invited a small group of press contacts for a sneak peek at its newest network scanner — the Scan Station 100 Plus. The new model addresses common security concerns encountered in network scanning implementations, including secure login using LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol), scan to encrypted PDF, the ability to enable/disable scanning to USB drive, and more. Other upgrades address improvements in system administration and ease of use. In addition, the Scan Station 100 Plus incorporates fax functionality. The new scanner will replace the Scan Station 100 going forward, keeping the same catalog number, and even the same price.
Of course, centralized scanning technology is as viable as ever. IBML, a manufacturer of high-capacity, high-speed document scanners, unveiled its new logo, Web site, and the new ImageTrac 3e scanner series. I sat in on a demonstration of the new ImageTrac 3ex and found the biggest enhancements were geared toward ease of use. The new operator interface features a color touch screen offering a 180 degree range of motion. Also, the 3e series appears sleeker overall, with more mechanical components concealed and a small work surface added along the front edge of the scanner.
From document and check scanners to software applications that range from payment processing to automated workflow, the common theme at the show was improving organizational efficiency and enhancing ease of use. As end users, you are the driving force behind these improvements, and vendors at the show seemed eager to meet a wide-variety of needs. If you are looking for tools that enable process improvement, the future of technology solutions looks very promising indeed.