Turn Document Management Luncheons Into $60,000-Plus Sales

Document management VAR Cutting Edge Solutions (CES) knows one of the biggest obstacles it has to overcome is a lack of education on the part of its customers about the benefits of document management. Within the past 10 years, there have been dramatic improvements in document management technology and a significant decline in the cost of implementing the technology. One example of a company that is capitalizing on this trend is $4.4 billion Hallmark Cards, which has a presence in more than 42,000 U.S. retail stores.

In 1989, Hallmark Cards invested more than $250,000 in a document management solution designed to help automate the card manufacturer's paper ticket reorder process. In addition to being expensive and cumbersome, the system would only allow the reorder tickets to be scanned face-up and oriented the correct way. Plus, when an error occurred, a Hallmark employee had to retrieve the reorder ticket, review the information, and manually process the request. Since its implementation, Hallmark's scanning equipment became outdated and expensive to maintain.

Recognizing the need to update the system, Hallmark set out to revamp its content management process. "We invited Hallmark to a two-hour technology ‘lunchinar' that included scanning, data capture, and workflow presentations and case studies citing how other companies successfully deployed these technologies," says Jack Roberts, co-owner of CES. "The presentation led to Hallmark including us on its RFP list for a new document management solution."

Customized Templates Give Document Management Solution An Edge
CES had to beat out a couple of competitors to win Hallmark's business. The VAR recommended a solution that included Fujitsu fi-4860C scanners, Kofax VRS (virtual rescan), and Datacap Task Master automation software. The scanners feature 500-page automatic document feeders, duplex scanning, and ultrasonic double-feed detection. Additionally, they can scan 63 pages per minute and 125 images per minute at 200 dots per inch in color, grayscale, or monochrome. "We felt this was ideal for addressing Hallmark's scanning needs, which include processing 5,000 to 15,000 reorder tickets per day. The tickets include cards of varying thickness, paper types, and various levels of shading and brightness," says Roberts. Kofax VRS software provides automatic cropping, deskewing, and brightness. "The auto brightness feature was especially helpful at handling the various shading problems Hallmark experienced with its previous scanning solution," says Roberts. The third component of the scanning solution was Datacap's Task Master Software Suite, which enables documents to be automatically oriented on the scanner. The software identifies which side of the reorder ticket is being presented, automatically deletes the back side of the ticket, and properly orients the front side of the document. "Overall, our solution provided Hallmark with a higher read rate and less human intervention than our competitors' solutions," Roberts adds. "Plus, our solution cost less than our competitors' solutions."

After winning the installation contract, CES began the document management switch over, which took one month, plus an additional month of testing. The rollout was not without a couple of snags, however. One problem was that incoming tickets were intermittently covered in glitter and dust. "Scanners have no problems dealing with paper dust, but glitter adds a whole new level of complexity," says Roberts. The glitter buildup caused occasional white streaks. After trying with no avail to remove the glitter with lint-free cloths and alcohol-based cleaning agents, the VAR used Fujitsu's F1 cleaning solution to successfully remove the glitter.

Another issue was inconsistent spacing on the reorder tickets, which sometimes caused misreads that required manual processing. CES overcame this challenge by creating customized templates using Visual Basic scripts.

After installing, testing, and correcting all the scanning problems, CES trained Hallmark's scanner operators during two 2-hour sessions. "In the first session, we discussed how to operate and clean the scanners," recalls Roberts. "In the final session, we showed the operators how to use the software."

The overall solution cost less than $70,000. "We were able to replace their $250,000 scanner with two $17,000 scanners and help them reduce their four-person scanning staff to one full-time person and one part-time person," says Roberts. The new scanning solution will pay for itself within the first year of operation.