Canon Australia has announced the availability of Therefore 2016, the newest version of the information management and workflow solution to help Australian businesses streamline business processes, identify bottlenecks and improve how information is handled and retained.

Adel Szklenarik Product Manager - Solutions at Canon Australia said with the enhancements made to the existing Web Forms feature, integrations with premier electronic signature providers and Microsoft Power BI and PDF/A-3 advancements, Therefore 2016 will help businesses work smarter by connecting people and processes to information in a simple, more secure and productive manner.

“At Canon we understand the importance of managing information in a secure manner – whether printed on paper, digitally stored, or even as metadata.

“Businesses of today are concerned about the ways their users transmit, receive, maintain and protect their company information or their customers' information. Not only do MFDs process paper information, but employees also transmit, receive, and maintain information digitally.

“Therefore 2016 can help manage this information, set retention policies, collaborate and control versioning, enable internal or external access to information based on user rights, and automate processes just by saving a document into a specific folder.

Web Forms

Allowing for more efficient, simple and mobile data entry, the newly enhanced Web Forms features allow for the input of validated data into Therefore. When used in conjunction with workflow and analytics tools, Web Forms can automate the collection of data from external parties and provide for more efficient, simple and mobile data entry

Web Forms also allow administrators to design highly customisable forms directly in the Solution Designer, permitting authenticated users to submit forms from the Navigator or Viewer, and enabling external parties to submit forms hosted on a public website for applications, such as customer satisfaction surveys.

Data collected from external sources is protected, traceable and centrally archived, allowing businesses to sustain a clear summary of the key performance indicators they are achieving and areas in need of improvement.

E-Signatures

With an increasing number of companies including e-signatures into their business practices, electronic signatures are an increasing trend. Through integration with Digital Transaction Management providers, such as DocuSign, Therefore 2016 extends the solution's e-signing capabilities, allowing users to manage complete signing processes online. Whether a signature is required to seal a final document version, or to certify the legal signing process of a contract between parties, the newly added E-Signature feature has the power to assist businesses in improving customer satisfaction, employee productivity, as well as helping to save time and reduce costs.

“We know Australian businesses are struggling to manage their disjointed content strategies, resulting in a lack of assurance in the reliability of their content. By employing a strong information management and workflow solution, businesses can harness the power of their content, regain control and improve workflows, compliance, information security and customer satisfaction,” - Adel Szklenarik Product Manager - Solutions at Canon Australia

Microsoft Power BI

The new Microsoft Power BI integration enhances the analytic capabilities of Therefore by providing a real-time, interactive dashboard of the company's data that is simple to configure and use.

Once a Power BI user account is created, a Therefore administrator can simply create a Power BI dataset by selecting a category and parameters which will be automatically uploaded to Power BI at regular intervals. Users can generate an analytic dashboard and intuitively fine-tune reports right at their fingertips with the help of robust, user-friendly design tools.

Whether viewing on a desktop or mobile device, Microsoft Power BI allows executives to view business performance data live, whether in the office or on-the-go.

PDF/A-3

Capable of unlocking various possibilities in document processing and digital customer-vendor communication, PDF/A-3 with XML can help streamline accounting processes and reduce errors caused by manual data entry.

Therefore 2016 will include support for the PDF/A-3 format, allowing users to extract index data from embedded file types as attachments within a PDF/A document, allowing for automatic document processing while retaining the user-friendly appearance of a PDF document.

This new capability grants businesses the potential to increase productivity and operational effectiveness by improving key performance indicators such as 'first time match rate' and 'percentage of invoices in query'.

Availability Using Canon's MEAP solution platform, Therefore can be integrated with Canon's imageRUNNER ADVANCE series which is now available across the Australia through Canon and its authorised business partners/resellers.

www.canon.com.au/business