Running to stand still
Running to stand still
With IDM's focus in this issue primarily on imaging, it seems an appropriate time to chat to some of the leading imaging bureaus to get their thoughts on an industry where technological advances are occurring at such a rate that bureaus often have a real job on their hands to keep up.
IDM-How has the role of the imaging bureau evolved in recent times?
Scan Conversion Services (SCS)-There is a greater requirement to capture information from documents and format the data to suit a variety of requirements. Knowledge of the latest image formats and the consequence of choosing each format needs to be explained in detail.
Intercept Information Solutions (IIS)-I think the market is better educated today. They see technologies/solutions merging and understand the impact this will have on their business.
I believe progressive imaging bureaus have had to evolve and become solutions providers. As many of the industry's major hardware/software manufacturers changed their distribution strategies from direct sales teams to dealer distribution, it created a vacuum for the provision of imaging solutions and the bureaus were slow to fill it.
Microview-The role of the bureau has changed with the introduction of new and cheaper services and technologies that are available in today's marketplace. Whilst we provide the traditional outsourced services of scanning, indexing, data processing, etc, which we envisage will continue for a few years to come, we work in partnership with our customers to determine the most suitable solution or solutions to best meet their immediate and longer term archival and/or document management requirements. Sometimes this is a fully outsourced solution, at other times an in-house solution, or it may even be a combination. Overall, it is important that we remain flexible and can adapt as the market and our clients demand and expect.
Speedscan-Offshore data entry and the resurgence of the ASP (web hosted document solutions) have re-ignited the opportunities for the imaging bureau.
AMS-The imaging bureau has needed to become better informed on what is available as far as imaging/archiving hardware and software as well as not take the short term view of just pushing through pieces of paper. More time is spent in understanding the customer requirements and educating them on what is available and at what cost.
The bureau has also had to become an integral part of the document process rather than a backlog or one step process separate to the customer's requirements.
Preview Services-More accessible technology has forced the modern scanning bureau to focus on customer service and value-add. As the most modern scanning bureau in Australia, we have been free to adapt to the changes in the market. So much so, that in the UK we have been busily acquiring old-style bureaus and modernising them. We are seeking to do the same here in Australia.
Datamail-Document capture has increasingly become part of a more holistic document lifecycle with the imaging bureau, with greater intelligence and value being added to the process. With organisations now embracing and understanding the value of integrated document management, organisations such as Datamail have evolved to provide total solutions. We have continually invested in faster, more accurate technology - and, importantly, the technical support it requires. We also now provide a greater degree of business analysis and consultancy than in the past.
IDM-How much of an impact has the introduction of low cost, high performance scanning and document processing technology had on your business and how have you coped with the increase in companies carrying out their work in-house?
Microview-Whilst there has been some initial impact, we are seeing some organisations reconsider an outsourced solution. They no longer want to put time, resources, space and money into scanning their own documents.
We have seen an uptake of multifunction devices, but some organisations are now realising that these devices are not the most suitable for "day in, day out" scanning.
Decipha-Decipha was formed in response to the changing processing environment, and consequently we are not an imaging bureau per se. Decipha focuses on providing pre-process imaging, i.e. imaging and data capture of daily incoming documents prior to the customer processing the documents, as opposed to backlog. In regards to low cost, high performance document scanning and processing technology, this is our core business. We are finding we can provide faster and more efficient image and data capture of documents when compared to companies performing work in-house. In addition, it is easier for us to be up to date with the latest developments in technology and processes, and share the high cost of capital across a range of clients.
SCS-We have found a large number of companies who have purchased their own equipment are now coming back to the bureau. This is due to the realisation that the cost of the scanner is a very small part of the equation. The critical areas are finding a staff member that will be happy operating a scanner for long periods of time and produce consistent high quality. Then there are the indirect costs of equipment maintenance, software, upgrades, and staff management. This also gets further complicated when companies have only one and it breaks down. The cost of equipment redundancy often throws the cost equation in favour of using a bureau.
IIS-To be honest we haven't seen that much of an impact yet. What you might find interesting is that we developed in-house scanning solutions 18 months ago as part of our solutions package because we forecast this change and wanted to take advantage of a shift in the market.
Part of this solution was the use of scanners and image capture software in various locations, with images being FTP'd to Intercept where we add value to the scan capture process and using specialist software to finish the work for our customer.
In some instances, this work is written to our Image Silo and in others, we write the finished job to media for uploading to the customer's central data warehouse. We believe this approach future proofs Intercept given the market is changing and will continue to change.
Speedscan-There has always been a balance between insourced and outsourced services. The new lower cost technologies simply make the need for a bureau to offer value added offerings more critical to their success.
AMS-The low cost scanning work is being taken up by customers whose requirements may not have suited a bureau service anyway. For example, customers with privacy issues or turnarounds that mean onsite processing would need to be done. Some customers have found that the imaging business is harder than buying a new scanner and some software. The real costs of any scanning application are in delivery and integration of the data, not just pushing through 1,000 docs per hour. This is why we are now seeing some in-house functions being done by bureaux.
Datamail-As vendors step up the sales push on increasingly complex hardware and software for in-house use, we receive more requests for consultancy services. Our experience in the outsourcing cycle has typically been with organisations that are at the early adopter stage of scanning. These customers have a preference to performing the task in-house and consequently need to understand and control the complexities of the process.
Frequently, having gone through the process themselves and seen just how labour intensive and complex it is, they will recognise the advantages of outsourcing to experts.
IDM-How has digital technology transformed your work, and in what areas has it had most impact?
AMS-Larger and faster service mean we can provide better access to online storage of data via broadband connections. New analogue to digital conversion equipment has seen the life of traditional imaging methods-such as microfilm-extended.
Preview Services-Preview Services embraced digital technology years ago. The point of difference is how we find new applications of that technology to solve our customers' business problems. It's interesting to watch old-style bureaus busily 'rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic'.
IIS-Six years ago, Intercept's product mix was 90 percent film and 10 percent digital. Today it is 97 percent digital and 3 percent film.
Last month we retired our last microfilm camera. As from that day, 100 percent of our volume is scanned, and for those customers who still require microfilm, we acquired a Kodak Digital Film Archive Writer so we could output digital images to film.60 percent of our total revenue comes from our ASP (Application Service Provider) solution called Image Silo. This solution allows our customers to use the Internet to gain a secure connection to our server farm where they use portal software to launch and run image retrieval solutions on Intercept servers.
Microview-As a bureau, we are always looking at technology to improve our processes, which ultimately affects the work we can offer or perform for our clients.
Decipha-Since Decipha's inception, digital technology has been a critical component of our business model. It has not really transformed our work; rather it has enabled a critical component to be implemented.
Datamail-Whereas scanning was once offered as a disparate element, we now view it as an integral part of the document management process. We are increasingly contracted to design and produce documents that will be sent to our clients' customers and then returned to Datamail for scanning and capture. A complex process to enable the viewing, tracking, auditing, verifying and overall control is built in to the solution.
IDM-How much of a threat does the move by organisations towards carrying out their imaging needs in-house pose to the future viability of the imaging bureau?
SCS-Imaging bureaus are still alive and well. It does force an imaging bureau to be very efficient in their production techniques though to remain cost competitive.
IIS-Traditional bureaus will find this a challenge. For Intercept, our solutions focused philosophy allows us to position ourselves as business partner moving in the same direction and at the pace our customer wants to advance.
Microview-We don't see it as a threat, just a different way of working with our customers. We have, however, already experienced one customer who used to outsource their imaging work, then took their imaging in-house, and are now looking to outsource again so that they can concentrate on their core business and not on back office-type processes. Like any business we will continue to change as the market and our customers dictate.
Decipha-The BPO industry's largest competitor is companies performing services in-house. However, there are still numerous opportunities to provide outsourced imaging services, as we can demonstrate increased efficiencies and cost benefits to organisations who deal with large volumes of incoming information, and who need those images and data delivered to their business systems that day.
AMS-The new areas of interest are the conversion of analogue data from microforms back to digital format and the supply of microfilm as a redundancy proof part of an imaging solution. In other words we make more microfilm now than when we were a pure microfilm bureau, but the source of the data is digital rather than paper.
Thanks to: Richard Bates, managing director, Scan Conversion Services; Bob McAnderson, general manager, Intercept Information Solutions; Michelle Gibson, sales manager, EDMS, Microview; Tim Adamson, national sales and marketing manager, Decipha; Mark Josman, managing director, Speedscan; Ben Tosetto, AMS; Calvin Rowley, Preview Services; David Allen, general manager Document Solutions Group, Datamail.
Related Article: