Fujitsu and Kofax Demo

I saw some really cool technology this week at a demo our scanning distributor arranged. It was a joint demonstration with Fujitsu and Kofax. The capture side was the soon to be released Kofax Express. Kofax has built a really powerful capture and imaging application for the consumer on a limited budget. But note, this application has many of the features of a full-blown capture application. Separation, barcode index field population, and release to several formats, inlcudig Microsoft Sharepoint. Along with that, it will include all the image processing features of Kofax VRS 4.2. All this for a price between $495 and $2000, depending on the speed of your scanning device.

Along with the software, demonstrations of the Fujitsu fi-5900C, fi-6140 and fi-6770A were performed. The new Fujitsu line is pretty incredible. The fi-6670 and 6770 are replacements for the previous workhorses, the fi-5650C and fi-5750C. The scanners can also be bundled with built in hardware VRS, as denoted by the "A" in fi-6670A and fi-6770A. So what is new in this product? First of all, the speeds are at 90 ppm now, which places these scanners in a whole new class. Secondly, they have implemented a new multifeed technology that allows the scanner to learn from scanned documents, and ignore sticky notes, or other items like checks which are pasted/taped onto a sheet of paper. This can be a huge time saver.

For more info check out the links at ScanGuru Capture and Scanner Links.

Network Scanners for the Paperless Office

There is a new weapon in the quest for the paperless office: the network scanner. It the old days (a year ago) the only way to get network scanning was to buy a scanning multi-function device (fax, copier, etc). The major scanner manufacturers were behind the power curve with the exception of Canon. Now Kodak, Fujitsu and Canon have all released network scanners. Below are some descriptions and key features:

Fujitsu fi-6000NS

This product retails for $2,995 and is built on the popular fi-5120C platform. It scans at 25 pages per minute, and allows scanning to network folders, email and even network fax systems. All of this is accomplished through an 8 inch programmable touch panel, and integrates with Windows Active Directory. The only drawback here is the basic warranty is only 90 days onsite (you have to buy service contracts for anything beyond). Review of the Fujitsu fi-6000NS

Kodak ScanStation 100

The ScanStaion 100 also retails for $2,995, and scans at 25 pages per minute. The system allows you to scan to network share, email, printer or USB drive. The system also has a touch panel and integrates with Windows Active Directory. The USB feature on this model is really cool and lets you "scan and carry" documents. The unit comes with a 1 year warranty.
Review of the Kodak ScanStation 100

Canon ScanFront 220

The Canon ScanFront is the cheapest of the models at $1,995 and offers many of the same features, but at 26 pages per minute (note: if you do scan 2 sides it slows to 35 ipm). The Canon scans to email, Network folder and FTP. It also has a fingerprint reader option. It inlcudes a 1 year warranty. Review of the Canon ScanFront 220

These scanners are a great compliment to any office, and allow shared usage. More info at ScanGuru Document Management

Key Features- Scanning/Capture Applications for Law Firms

What should a Law Firm look for in a scanning application? Here are some suggestions:

Barcode Separator Functionality - Separator pages allow the user to insert a specially coded page between documents in a stack. Once scanned, the software uses these pages to determine when a document begins and ends. This allows the scanning of many documents at once, rather than scanning one at a time. There is also the notion of "intelligent separators" which allow you to encode data on the separator page, such as case, matter, attorney, etc.

Image Enhancement - These tools, such as Kofax's Virtual Rescan, will automatically adjust contrast and brightness, remove problematic colors, remove speckles, and thicken fonts. If you want the highest quality image, with the least amount of scanning operator intervention, this is a key component to any scanning system.

Indexing - The application should allow for the entry of case and matter information, and this should allow you to automatically rename the files based on these values, and create folders. Rapid indexing features should allow quick entry of these fields for multiple documents.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - OCR takes the scanned image, and converts it to a text-based format. When looking at this feature, it should allow conversion to the following 3 formats: Adobe Image + Hidden Text, Word/WordPerfect and plain text. If you can test the software, see what type of results it provides with several sample firm documents.

Export - Depending on how you are managing your cases, the application should offer maximum flexibility on where you can direct the end product. I have several firms that use multiple case/document management systems, depending on the case type and size. Folder Export, Summation, Alchemy, SharePoint, etc should all be supported.

Bates Numbering - Get rid of that old stamp!! Most Advanced Capture Applications provide the ability to digitally Bates Stamp your documents. Huge time saver.

Obviously this is just a starting point, but these are some necessary features that will make processing documents easier, and much more efficient.

For more info, go to www.scanguru.com