ECM Capture Specialists
In our recent update of our Enterprise Content Management research, we decided to devote an entire category to products that we call "Capture Specialists." Capture Specialist vendors play in a very specific part of the ECM spectrum, by providing targeted industry solutions for image capture and process throughput.
I often get the question (mostly from Web Content Management-focused folks), "isn't ECM just checking documents in and out with some workflow?" At its simplest, sometimes this can be true. But consider such a scenario:
A global logistics and shipping service operates hundreds of bureaus around the world; in addition they support a very large network of agents. For every piece of freight shipped, be it an envelope, parcel, or pallet of supplies, employees and customers need to complete paperwork locally. The paperwork consists of a shipping form, invoicing/account information, and relevant customs/legal documentation. These documents — commonly completed by hand on paper — are scanned to a centralized system. Throughput of documentation into the document management system can run as high as 300,000 documents per hour at peak. Security is essential, as much of the documentation contains names and addresses along with credit card information. The documentation is then processed in a distributed fashion around the clock, and is made available to authorized company staff and customs officials across the globe in real time.
The vendors who cater to this type of scenario are specialized, focused, and may well understand your particular needs and requirements better than larger, less-focused vendors. The Capture Specialists that we evaluate include:
You will find that these vendors on the surface seem very similar, but a deeper dive reveals distinct differences. Some are suitable for simple form volume capture situations such as in general health care, some have pre-built industry-specific applications, and others can scale to very high levels for distributed highly complex multi-lingual environments.
High-volume imaging is just one of 10 fairly common scenarios that we evaluate each ECM product against. Identifying which scenarios you are trying to satisfy with your ECM solution is an essential step in determining which technology will be best suited for your needs.
