DM Jul-Aug 2021

DOCUMENT 

M A N A G E R 

Dm 

www.document-manager.com 

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT 

IMAGING & CAPTURE 

WORKFLOW/BPM 

CONTENT MANAGEMENT 

Moving images: 

Capture in the logistics sector 

Artificial Intelligence: 

Automating - not replacing - work 

Flexible working: 

Preparing for seismic change 

Healthcare focus: 

Protecting patient data 

NEWS • PRODUCT FOCUS • USER PROFILE • INTERVIEWS 

ISSN 1351-3222 Vol 29 No 4 Jul/August 2021

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Dm 

COMMENT 

Editor: 

Dave Tyler 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 

Sub Editor: 

Mark Lyward 

mark.lyward@btc.co.uk 

Welcome to our July/August Document 

Publishing Director: 

John Jageurs 

Manager where - as we'd touched on 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

Sales Manager: 

in our last issue - the big news is that 

Abby Penn 

the DM Awards is back with a vengeance for 

abby.penn@btc.co.uk 

Lead Designer 

2021, after our enforced absence last year and 

Ian Collis 

the slightly more subdued (but still very well 

ian.collis@btc.co.uk 

Circulation/Subscriptions: 

received) virtual awards. 

Christina Willis 

We're delighted to be able to say that our big 

christina.willis@btc.co.uk 

Managing Director: 

night is back in London in November as an inperson 

event, and we very much hope that you will be able to help us to 

John Jageurs 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

make it a good one as we look to celebrate the light at the end of the 

Published by: Barrow & 

Covid-19 tunnel. 

Thompkins Connexion Ltd 

35 Station Square, 

As ever, the intention is to reward the technologies, tools and solutions 

Petts Wood 

that showcase the very best in the document and content management 

Kent BR5 1LZ 

Tel: 01689 616000 

industries. We are determined to make this year's awards an event to 

Fax: 01689 826622 

remember and hopefully put some smiles on faces after some very 

Subscriptions: 

challenging times on both business and personal levels for all of us. 

UK: £35/year, £60/two years, 

£80/three years 

The DM Awards is always an opportunity to think anew about the 

Europe: £48/year, £85 two 

players in the industry who you think have supported or assisted you 

years, £127 three years. 

ROW:£62/year, £115/two 

most and who have upheld the traditions of the industry, and after the 

years, £168/three years 

last couple of years we think this is more important than ever before. 

Published 6 times a year. 

Single copies can be bought 

Building on the success of previous years, we will again be inviting 

for £8.50 (includes postage & 

project applications to be considered by our panel of independent 

packaging). No part of this 

magazine may be reproduced 

judges. Most categories of course will still be decided by the most 

without prior consent, in writing, 

from the publisher. 

important people of all: you, the readers of Document Manager 

©Copyright 2021 Barrow & 

Magazine and the clients of the companies competing for the top 

Thompkins 

honours. Featuring 29 categories including a few brand new ones, this 

Connexion Ltd 

year's DM Awards allow companies from every sector of the industry to 

seek recognition for their efforts over the past 12 months. See page 14 

of this issue for the full list of categories and details of how to nominate. 

Articles published reflect the 

opinions of the authors and are 

not necessarily those of the 

publisher or his employees. While 

every reasonable effort is made 

to ensure that the contents of 

articles, editorial and advertising 

are accurate no responsibility can 

be accepted by the publisher for 

errors, misrepresentations or any 

resulting effects 

The DM Awards 2021 updated timeline: 

Nominations close: 3rd September 

Finalists announced/voting opens: 16th September 

Voting closes: 3rd November 

Winners announced: 18th November 

NB: If you wish to submit an entry for the Project of the Year categories, 

we have extended the deadline - for those entries only - to September 

10th. Please send them direct to Abby Penn at the below email address. 

And as always, if your organisation would like to be involved in 

sponsoring or otherwise supporting the Awards then please contact 

Abby at the office on 07861 682 066 or abby.penn@btc.co.uk. 

Dave Tyler 

Editor 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 


July/August 2021 

@DMMagAndAwards 

3

Dm CONTENTS 

C O N T E N T S 

JULY/AUGUST 

8 

16 

18 

20 

26 

..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

INTERVIEW: HYLAND……………...................................................................…….6 

DM Magazine editor David Tyler spoke to Tim Hood, VP EMEA and APAC, Hyland about 

the company's recent acquisitions of Nuxeo and Alfresco and how market shifts are 

affecting customers 

MANAGEMENT: DIGITAL MAILROOM…..…......................................................…..8 

Grace Schneider of Storetec shares a detailed breakdown of exactly what happens when 

mailroom processing goes digital 

TECHNOLOGY: STORAGE…………...................................................................….10 

Aron Brand, CTO of CTERA, explains the key differences between distributed file systems 

and object storage for organisations looking for the optimum solution for their 

unstructured data requirements 

OPINION: AI…………...................................................................................…….12 

Stéphan Donzé, Founder and CEO of AODocs, looks at the role of AI in today's digital 

workplace 

EVENT: DM AWARDS 2021............................................................................……14 

The DM Awards returns to London in November as an 'actual real-life in-person event', and 

we want to make it a big one to celebrate the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel 

MARKET FOCUS: HEALTHCARE......................................................................……16 

Gabriela Garner, Product Marketing Director at Kofax, argues that controlling and 

protecting copiers and printers is increasingly necessary to secure patient information 

INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS .......................................................................…….18 

Mark Wharton of ibml looks at how firms in the transport and logistics industry can 

apply data capture solutions to streamline information sharing in the supply chain 

COMPANY UPDATE: DOCUWARE....................................................................…..20 

Eugene Young, Country Director, UK/Ireland, DocuWare, examines the need to embrace a 

new hybrid workforce, and what organisations need to succeed 

CASE STUDY: CAMDEN CENTRE FOR LEARNING……………….....................…….22 

A London special school is able to manage sensitive documents across different school 

sites while respecting GDPR and retention schedules 

TECHNOLOGY: FAX………...............................................................................…..24 

Scott Wilson of eFax explores how increased workforce access to documents during 

lockdown has created new security risks - and why vital business materials are still being 

stored, sent and signed using outdated, insecure and expensive legacy technology 

CASE STUDY: NORSE GROUP……….................................................................….26 

A smart audit service from Konica Minolta allowed Norse Group to analyse in depth exactly 

what was happening with their print/scan systems and highlight numerous issues and 

potential improvements 

EVENT: IRMS CONFERENCE 2021……………...............................................…….27 

DM Magazine previews this year's IRMS Conference, taking place in Birmingham in November 

OPINION: FLEXIBLE WORKING…………........................................................……28 

The flexible work future is here to stay, argues Herbert Lörch of M-Files - but how should 

organisations respond to the shift? 

PRODUCT REVIEW: OMNIDOX 5……................................................................…30 

CASE STUDY: WEAVER & BOMFORDS………........................................................32 

Office supplies company Weaver & Bomfords is future-proofing print for its clients thanks 

to MPS Monitor 2.0 

RESEARCH: PRINT TRENDS……………..................................................................34 

The latest Quocirca survey suggests market consolidation, ecosystem building and 

innovation on the horizon as businesses recognise the need for rapid change 

4 @DMMagAndAwards July/August 2021 www.document-manager.com

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Dm INTERVIEW: HYLAND 

Finding the best fit for 

the customer 

DM Magazine editor David Tyler spoke to Tim Hood, 

VP EMEA and APAC, Hyland about the company's 

recent acquisitions of Nuxeo and Alfresco and how 

market shifts are affecting customers 

David Tyler: Recent years have 

seen a raft of takeovers and 

divestments involving Hyland, 

the most recent of which were the 

acquisitions of Alfresco in 2020 and 

then Nuxeo just this year. Tell us what 

the thinking is behind those market 

moves, and how it relates to the sector 

in general. 

Tim Hood: The acquisitions over recent 

years have made a huge impact, 

undoubtedly, but it is worth 

remembering that Hyland commercial 

sales were already growing organically 

at 20%-plus annually in EMEA, without 

those acquisitions - and we were 

growing in the right areas in line with 

our corporate strategy. We are now 

working with customers that we 

wouldn't have had access to prior to the 

acquisitions as we have more presence 

in certain regions, particularly in the 

German-speaking region and France 

where we're seeing great growth. 

The Alfresco acquisition actually 

happened surprisingly quickly: one of 

the things I'm seeing since Covid-19 hit 

is that there seems to be a lot of rapid 

movement in the market. I'm seeing 

more M&A activity and Venture Capital 

investment than I have in a long time. I 

think perhaps the market is getting a 

little overheated: not just in the 

ECM/Content Services space but also in 

the BPM arena and obviously the 

remote working space. 

DT: The Alfresco acquisition only 

happened in October last year but with 

Nuxeo coming so soon afterwards it 

almost seems like 'old news'. Is that 

business now more integrated into 

Hyland? 

TH: I was really excited about the 

Alfresco acquisition: the usual reasons 

for any acquisition are people, 

customers and/or technology, so let's 

discuss all of those. I'd been aware of 

Alfresco previously of course, but to be 

honest we hadn't seen a lot of the 

company in terms of competition - they 

had tended to sell into different market 

segments. A lot of the OnBase sales 

were line-of-business and applicationcentric: 

integrating with healthcare 

solutions, Accounts Payable, or HR, for 

instance. Alfresco was more focused on 

the approach of selling a Content 

Services platform to suit multiple 

applications, with multiple integration 

points. In terms of the buyer then, for 

Hyland it would tend to be departmentcentric 

while for Alfresco it was more 

likely to be IT-driven. This meant we 

could see some real synergies between 

the two. 

The technologies then were clearly a 

really good fit for us, addressing 

different parts of the market. We also 

got some great people - when I got to 

know the Alfresco organisation I could 

immediately see how it would add value 

throughout different parts of our 

business: different levels of experience, 

different market knowledge, and 

different approaches. And lastly we got 

this great customer set. If you look at 

the numbers of OnBase and Alfresco 

customers in EMEA, they're broadly 

comparable, but the size of the 

organisations was a bit different: 

Alfresco was weighted toward the 

larger customer, and also had a much 

larger footprint in the public sector 

space. That was due in part to the their 

Open Source heritage: there had been a 

big push in France, Spain and Italy onto 

Open Source in the public sector, and 

we've seen the same happening in 

Benelux, Germany and the UK. 

With any acquisition there are always 

some things you can see immediately 

and some that only come clear over 


INTERVIEW: HYLAND Dm 

time. As we got to know the Alfresco 

technology in more depth, we realised 

that it was even more developed than 

we'd anticipated: it's truly cloud-native, 

designed to exist as a cloud platform. 

The more we understood it, the more 

excited we became about what we have 

on our hands. 

Integration was handled slightly 

differently in EMEA than in the USA: in 

EMEA the market pretty much doubled 

overnight, while in the US much more 

revenue is still coming from OnBase. It 

made sense then for me to integrate the 

sales, pre-sales and services teams here 

much earlier - it didn't make sense for 

us to have different salespeople with 

different platforms effectively 

competing with each other. 

DT: And then, with the dust barely 

settled on Alfresco, Hyland announced 

it was to buy Nuxeo as well - what was 

the thinking there? 

TH: When I first had the call to let me 

know of the intention to purchase 

Nuxeo, I initially thought someone was 

kidding me because integrating Alfresco 

had meant so much upheaval. I think 

there were questions when it was first 

announced around our intent in buying 

the company - was it pure investment, 

was it about the technology, was it 

perhaps opportunistic? But in fact it is a 

good fit. Certainly Alfresco and Nuxeo 

did compete in more areas than 

Alfresco and Hyland - and you'd expect 

that, as the two predominant Open 

Source Content Services platforms in the 

space - but again, there are some really 

strong synergies. The Digital Asset 

Management technology in Nuxeo has 

added something to our portfolio that 

we didn't have in either Alfresco or 

OnBase. They have some great 

customers including some big High 

Street names, utilising that DAM 

technology. Again it is cloud native so is 

a good fit from that angle, as well as 

obviously again bringing us great 

customers and great people. 

As we continue to develop and look at 

the long term future of the company, 

it's good that we have people from 

Alfresco and Nuxeo with experience and 

knowledge of parts of the market that 

we simply never had before. My focus 

from now on is how we integrate Nuxeo 

into the business. We have publicly 

stated quite unequivocally that our 

intention is to fully support all the 

platforms into the future: OnBase, 

Nuxeo, Alfresco and Perceptive Content. 

We want to continue our commitment 

to all of those customers. Even with our 

Saperion customers, which was 

acquired (by Lexmark) way back in 

2013, we still have over 750 customers 

still operating happily on that platform. 

DT: Integration is obviously a key aspect 

of your plans for Hyland going forward, 

but how do you intend to manage these 

widely varying - albeit highly 

complementary - product offerings in 

the future? 

TH: As we move forward, we're looking 

at which areas of the market are the 

best fit for which of our platforms - 

what is the application, what is best for 

the customer? When we go out to 

speak to customers, we can't turn up 

and say "We've got four products, pick 

the one you want…" We have to 

understand the customer requirement 

and decide which of our offerings is the 

best fit to make the customer as 

successful as possible. 

Particularly with the move to recurring 

revenue and subscriptions in the cloud, 

having happy customers with successful 

projects is more important than ever. 

Understanding what's best for the 

customer is therefore absolutely key: we 

need to make the technology choices 

along with the customer to ensure that 

we know where that best fit is. 

Longer term the strategic direction for 

Hyland is this: the intention is to take 

the strongest components from all of 

the technologies that we now have 

available to us, and look at how to 

integrate those in order to offer a true 

best-of-breed technology platform. 

Then we have to ensure that as many of 

our customers as possible are able to 

benefit from that platform. 

More info: www.hyland.com 




7

Dm MANAGEMENT: DIGITAL MAILROOM 

Digital mailroom: How does it actually work? 

Grace Schneider of Storetec shares a detailed breakdown of exactly what happens 

when mailroom processing goes digital 

An inbound digital mailroom sees 

all inbound mail digitised upon 

arrival at your or your supplier's 

premises. Digital mailroom eliminates 

the need for your company to handle 

incoming physical mail to focus time 

and resources on essential activities. This 

is especially important during the 

current Covid-19 situation: mail can be 

accessed from any location, 24/7, 

allowing full remote working and saving 

employees from visiting the office daily 

to receive mail. 

It is crucial for the supplier and the 

client to fully understand all aspects of 

the ongoing digital mailroom project, 

from setting up a redirect or PO box to 

hosting your scanned mail on a secure 

document management system or 

returning it to you electronically. 

Every clients' needs are unique, and you 

must ensure that your potential supplier 

is aware of the many diverse document 

types you receive for your digital 

mailroom to meet your needs and goals. 

PRE-SORT OF THE INCOMING MAIL 

You can decide whether you redirect mail 

short or long term, set up a dedicated 

PO box or receive email attachments to a 

central inbox for capture. For physical 

mail, a pre-open sort will take place: 

Spam 

Cheques 

Departmental/Named 

White mail e.g. unstructured letters 

or completed forms, usually in a preprinted 

return envelope. 

It is vital to agree on SLAs for the return 

8 



www.document-manager.com

MANAGEMENT: DIGITAL MAILROOM Dm 

"NOT EVERY DOCUMENT CAN BE CLASSIFIED BY ITS VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS. OCR CAN BE APPLIED TO LOOK 

FOR KEYWORDS IN THE MAIL TO PUSH IT THROUGH A SPECIFIC WORKFLOW, E.G. CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR 

COMPLAINTS. ANY EXCEPTIONS CAN BE PUSHED INTO A WORKFLOW FOR MANUAL INTERVENTION. ARTIFICIAL 

INTELLIGENCE CAN BE USED TO MAKE SOFTWARE LEARN FROM EACH EXCEPTION, REDUCING THE NEED FOR 

FUTURE MANUAL INTERVENTION." 

and handling of all scanned documents. 

This can be particularly important when 

handling legal/personal or payment 

documents. 

PREPARATION AND SCANNING 

Following the pre-sort of all physical mail 

items, the documents are prepared for 

scanning by removing staples and paperclips 

and checking for Post-It Notes that 

will need moving to a separate blank 

page to be scanned. 

Each mail item is usually scanned as a 

separate document, and your supplier 

can, if required, have the envelope that 

the document arrived in scanned as well. 

At this stage, any cherished or original 

documents can be scanned and 

separated for return to you. Client 

cheques will also be scanned and 

separated for return, or your supplier can 

bank the money on your behalf. 

Departmental documents can be 

forwarded electronically to your relevant 

department. In the case of some 

documents such as invoices, your supplier 

may offer to capture and extract the data 

to feed your accounts/back-office 

software systems. 

CLASSIFICATION 

Your supplier may be able to provide 

automatic document classification. 

This is where software will look at the 

mail structure and decide what it is to 

be classified as, and how. Some 

examples are: 

Invoices 

Contracts 

Forms 

Letters 

Not every document can be classified by 

its visual characteristics. OCR can be 

applied to look for keywords in the mail 

to push it through a specific workflow, 

e.g. change of address or complaints. 

Any exceptions can be pushed into a 

workflow for manual intervention. 

Artificial Intelligence can be used to make 

software learn from each exception, 

reducing the need for future manual 

intervention. 

DATA EXTRACTION 

Some people may think that digital 

mailroom is just the scanning and 

sending of mail, but it can be much more 

than that. Your supplier may be able to 

capture key data from documents if 

required using OCR, ICR, or OMR. 

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 

is the conversion of typed, 

handwritten or printed text into 

machine-encoded text. 

Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) 

is a handwriting recognition system 

that allows fonts and different styles 

of writing to be learnt. 

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is 

the process of capturing humanmarked 

data from document forms 

such as surveys. 

Information such as client name, invoice 

number, PO number, etc. can be 

extracted from the mail and used to 

update your systems. This saves your 

team time which can be used more 

efficiently to work on more businessessential 

activities. 

WORKFLOW AND AUTOMATION 

Scanned mail can be returned to your 

internal system or a document 

management system such as Storetec's 

FreeDocs. Your supplier may be able to 

offer automatic routing or workflows 

which can ensure the correct documents 

are delivered to the right member of 

your team. 

THREE BENEFITS OF A DIGITAL 

MAILROOM 

Save time: Documents are opened and 

sorted by your supplier. Once digitised, 

data can be automatically extracted and 

added to databases or workflows. 

Reduced operational costs: With quick, 

efficient access to incoming mail, your 

business can drastically reduce 

operational costs whilst allowing 

employees to focus their time on more 

critical tasks. 

Quick access to incoming mail: With 

flexible, remote access to your post, you 

can respond to customers quicker and 

accelerate essential business transactions. 

If you would like further information or 

advice on digital mailroom and how this 

could benefit your business, please get in 

touch with the Storetec team today. We'd 

be more than happy to arrange a 

conference call on Microsoft Teams, 

Zoom or any other preferred platform to 

discuss a potential project. 

More info: www.storetec.net 




9

Dm TECHNOLOGY: STORAGE 

Unstructured data: 

where to store it next 

Aron Brand, CTO of CTERA, explains the key 

differences between distributed file systems and 

object storage for organisations looking for the 

optimum solution for their unstructured data 

requirements 

Unstructured data is growing 

rapidly: Gartner estimates that 

over the next four years, 

enterprises will triple the volume of 

unstructured data they hold. Many 

organisations are therefore adopting 

Distributed File Systems (DFS) and 

object storage solutions to scale linearly 

in an economical manner whilst 

meeting their performance and capacity 

requirements. 

This article aims to explore the 

differences between object storage and 

DFS, including the two flavours of DFS 

solutions. 

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE 

Both DFS and object storage distribute 

data over multiple nodes in order to 

provide self-healing and linear scaling 

in capacity and throughput. This, 

however, is where the similarities end. 

There are three main differences 

between the two unstructured data 

storage solutions: 

1. In a file system, files are arranged in 

a hierarchy of folders, while in object 

storage systems, objects are arranged in 

flat buckets in a similar way to a "key 

value store". 

2. File systems are designed to allow for 

random writes anywhere in the file. 

Object storage systems only allow 

atomic replacement of entire objects. 

3. Object storage systems provide 

eventual consistency. Depending on the 

vendor, DFS can support strong 

consistency or eventual consistency, 

which will be discussed further below. 

THEORETICAL TURNS PRACTICAL 

While both object storage and DFS are 

well-suited for storing substantial 

volumes of unstructured data, they suit 

different use cases. As object storage 

exposes a Representational State 

Transfer (REST) API, it is only suitable 

for applications that are specifically 

intended to interact with this type of 

storage. In contrast, DFS expose a 

traditional filesystem API which is 

suitable for any application, including 

legacy applications that work over a 

hierarchical filesystem. 

DFS provide a deeper and more 

general-purpose interface to 

applications, allowing them to perform 

certain activities that are not suitable 

for object storage. Examples of these 

operations include acting as the backend 

for a database, or handling 

workloads that are heavy on random 

reads/writes. In contrast, object storage 

is more suited to serving as a repository 

or archive for enormous volumes of 


TECHNOLOGY: STORAGE Dm 

"WHILE BOTH OBJECT STORAGE AND DFS ARE WELL-SUITED FOR STORING SUBSTANTIAL VOLUMES OF 

UNSTRUCTURED DATA, THEY SUIT DIFFERENT USE CASES. AS OBJECT STORAGE EXPOSES A REST API, IT IS ONLY 

SUITABLE FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY INTENDED TO INTERACT WITH THIS TYPE OF STORAGE. IN 

CONTRAST, DFS EXPOSE A TRADITIONAL FILESYSTEM API WHICH IS SUITABLE FOR ANY APPLICATION, INCLUDING 

LEGACY APPLICATIONS THAT WORK OVER A HIERARCHICAL FILESYSTEM. DFS PROVIDE A DEEPER AND MORE 

GENERAL-PURPOSE INTERFACE TO APPLICATIONS, ALLOWING THEM TO PERFORM CERTAIN ACTIVITIES THAT ARE 

NOT SUITABLE FOR OBJECT STORAGE." 

huge files and is less expensive per 

gigabyte than DFS. 

IT teams considering implementing a 

DFS for their unstructured data must 

decide between two different types: 

clustered or federated. 

CAP THEOREM 

As mentioned above, DFS might 

support strong or eventual consistency. 

This is where computer science theory 

comes in, as a distributed data store 

can have no more than two out of 

three properties according to CAP 

theorem. These three properties are: 

Consistency: Every read receives the 

most recent write or an error 

Availability: Every request receives a 

(non-error) response - without the 

guarantee that it contains the most 

recent write 

Partition tolerance: The system 

continues to operate despite an 

arbitrary number of messages being 

dropped (or delayed) by the 

network between nodes 

As a result, there are two types of DFS 

currently available: 

CLUSTERED DFS 

Clustered DFS are made up of a closely 

connected cluster of nodes. They focus 

strictly on data consistency and are 

especially suitable for large-scale 

computing use cases at the enterprise 

core, such as big data analytics, highperformance 

computing, or databases. 

The consistency and availability 

aspects of CAP theorem are the subject 

of clustered DFS. But strong 

consistency assurances do not come 

cheap. They impose significant 

constraints on system operation and 

performance, especially when nodes 

are separated by high latency or 

unreliable connections. 

FEDERATED DFS 

The goal of federated DFS is to make 

data available over long distances 

while maintaining partition tolerance. 

Federated DFS are well-suited for 

weakly linked edge-to-cloud use cases, 

including unstructured data storage 

and management for remote and 

branch offices. Federated DFS focus on 

the availability and partition tolerance 

properties of the CAP theorem, rather 

than the strict consistency guarantee. 

In federated DFS, read and write 

operations on an open file are routed 

to a locally cached copy. When a 

modified file is closed, the modified 

sections are copied back to a central 

file server from the edge. Update 

conflicts may arise, and are resolved 

automatically. It could be claimed that 

federated DFS combines the semantics 

of a file system with the eventual 

consistency model of object storage. In 

this way federated DFS are optimised 

for use cases including archiving, 

backup, media libraries, mobile data 

access, content distribution to edge 

locations, content ingestion from edge 

to cloud, remote and branch office 

storage, and hybrid cloud storage. 

Both clustered and federated DFS 

have applications in the enterprise. To 

reap the full benefits of a DFS, IT 

teams must be familiar with how 

clustered and federated DFS differ in 

order to choose the option most 

suited to their application 

requirements. 

The market is undergoing a 

significant shift towards DFS and 

object storage, at the same time as 

organisations are looking for more 

efficient methods to not only cope 

with but thrive from the explosion of 

unstructured data. The optimal 

decision, whether object storage, 

clustered or federated DFS, or a 

combination, lies in careful 

consideration of the organisations' 

requirements and use cases. 

More info: www.ctera.com 




11

Dm OPINION: AI 

Taking on the mundane 

Stéphan Donzé, Founder and CEO of AODocs, looks at the role of AI in today's 

digital workplace 

Artificial intelligence has become an 

essential, multifaceted and flexible 

technology that has accelerated the 

evolution of the digital workplace - playing 

an integral role in automating manual and 

monotonous tasks. Specifically, AI is being 

leveraged to substantially reduce data entry 

where humans previously entered database 

information from invoices, contracts, forms 

and more. 

As we enter the next phase of work - one 

increasingly digital and dispersed - AI 

adoption will only accelerate. Businesses 

must deeply understand how technology 

can increase efficiency, improve accuracy 

and enable their workforce to focus on 

more strategic and value-driven activities. 

AUTOMATING, NOT REPLACING, 

WORK 

There is a general misconception around 

technology 'coming for jobs', when in 

reality, AI enables automation designed to 

alleviate workloads and reduce the risk of 

human errors. At its core, automation uses 

machine processes to complete tasks with 

little to no human control, allowing 

human users to take time back in their 

busy day to focus on valuable tasks that 

require human intelligence, making better 

use of workers' time. 

Implementing automation removes the 

need to waste human resources on 

manual, repetitive tasks. And this is a good 

thing: humans are flawed and mistakes 

happen for a multitude of reasons, resulting 

in data entry errors, productivity losses and 

costly mistakes needing to be reversed. With 

automation, businesses can improve the 

speed and accuracy of manual processes. 

Automation has also played a significant 

role in accelerating processes for streamlined 

workflows across nearly all lines of business, 

which often leads to faster innovation. But, 

it's vital to emphasise that AI is automating 

work, not replacing it. From customer 

service representatives interacting with 

customers daily to strategic management 

focused on planning and company growth, 

humans are essential to businesses. 

To create a more streamlined, digital 

workforce, automation will be a critical 

ingredient across the entire business 

ecosystem. And, if you don't, your 

competition will. 

STREAMLINING DM 

Document management systems are 

designed to ensure company documents 

are adequately controlled for compliance 

and process efficiency. However, these 

systems are limited by manually tagging 

documents, which can be tedious and 

frustrating for end-users. AI-based 

document management systems remove 

the burden of a disjointed and 

disconnected work experience, helping 

companies better manage all documents 

and streamline employee workflows. 

Over the past few years, AI has allowed 

organisations to solve three critical business 

needs. First, AI helps quickly identify 

business-critical documents - like those with 

contractual obligations, confidential 

agreements or industry-regulated 

information - which dramatically improves 

file organisation while meeting compliance 

and regulatory standards automatically. 

Secondly, AI helps extract the information 

you need thanks to the unstructured data 

they are inherently made up of. Data 

extraction for contracts, letters and 

agreements are time-consuming and errorprone. 

Lastly, AI helps find and manage 

documents, alleviating difficulties that 

cause 21.3% productivity loss amongst 

businesses, according to IDC. 

AODocs recently conducted a survey to 

explore Google Workspace users (past and 

present) to see what document 

management challenges they experienced. 

42% said the most common reason they 

couldn't find a document was because it 

was saved in the wrong folder or location 

and 36% said they couldn't remember the 

document's name. 

JUST THE BEGINNING 

Organisations must do a better job 

ensuring their workforce understands how 

technology is being used to run more 

productive and efficient operations, 

especially as our constructs of work rapidly 

evolve. With an increasing number of 

companies letting go of pre-pandemic 

workplace expectations and welcoming 

hybrid work models, this is just the 

beginning. 

What we know is just how critical AI is to 

the digital workspaces success and 

streamlining document management. But it 

is only as successful as the processes in 

place. By welcoming AI into the workflow 

and digital workspace, organisations can 

significantly improve how their employees 

interact with one another, far and near. 

More info: www.aodocs.com 

12 




Dm EVENT: DM AWARDS 2021 

Back where we belong 

The DM Awards returns to London in November as an 'actual real-life in-person 

event', and we want to make it a big one to celebrate the light at the end of the 

Covid-19 tunnel 

The DM Awards ceremony is back 

with a vengeance for 2021 after 

our enforced absence last year and 

the slightly more subdued - but still very 

well received - virtual awards. As ever, 

the intention is to reward the 

technology, tools and solutions that 

showcase the very best in the document 

and content management industries. 

We are determined to make this year's 

awards an event to re-member and 

hopefully put some smiles on faces after 

a very challenging year. 

The DM Awards is always an 

opportunity to think anew about the 

players in the industry who you think 

have supported or assisted you most 

and who have upheld the traditions of 

the industry, and after the last couple of 

years we think this is more important 

than ever before. 

Building on the success of previous 

years, we will again be inviting project 

applications to be con-sidered by our 

panel of independent judges. Most 

categories of course will still be decided 

by the most important people of all: 

you, the readers of Document Manager 

Magazine and the clients of the 

companies competing for the top 

honours. Featuring 29 categories 

including a few brand new ones, this 

year's DM Awards allow companies 

from every sector of the industry to seek 

recognition for their efforts over the 

past 12 months. See the next page for 

the full list of categories. 

The DM Awards 2021 updated timeline: 

Nominations close: 3rd September 

Finalists announced/voting opens: 

16th September 

Voting closes: 3rd November 

Winners announced: 18th 

November 

NB: If you wish to submit an entry for 

the Project of the Year categories, we 

have extended the deadline - for those 

entries only - to September 10th. Please 

send them direct to Abby at the below 

email address. 

If your organisation would like to be 

involved in sponsoring or otherwise 

supporting the leading industry event 

then please contact Abby Penn at the 

office on 07861 682 066 or 

abby.penn@btc.co.uk. 

More info: www.dmawards.com 

14 




EVENT: DM AWARDS 2021 Dm 

DM AWARDS 2021 CATEGORIES 

One to Watch - Company of the Year 

One to Watch - Product of the Year 

Accounts Payable/Invoicing Product of the Year 

Workflow/BPM Product of the Year 

Enterprise CMS Product of the Year 

Open Source Document Management Software of the Year 

Low-Code Document Management Software of the Year 

Print Fleet Management Solution of the Year 

BPO/Outsourcing/Bureau Business of the Year 

Data Capture/Recognition Product of the Year 

Records Management Product of the Year 

AI Product of the Year 

RPA Product of the Year 

Service/Support Company of the Year 

Storage Product of the Year 

Compliance Product of the Year 

Channel Partner of the Year 

Imaging Product of the Year: High Volume 

Imaging Product of the Year: Desktop/Portable/Other 

Imaging Product of the Year: Workgroup/Departmental 

Mobile Capture Product of the Year 

Software Product of the Year 

Hardware Product of the Year 

Editor's Choice 

Marketing Team of the Year 

Project of the Year - Private Sector 

Project of the Year - Public Sector 

Product of the Year 

Company of the Year 

MORE INFO: WWW.DMAWARDS.COM 




15

Dm MARKET FOCUS: HEALTHCARE 

Protecting healthcare data 

Gabriela Garner, Product Marketing Director at Kofax, argues that controlling and 

protecting copiers and printers is increasingly necessary to secure patient 

information 

The use of electronic health records has 

significantly improved the level of 

service patients receive today. At the 

same time, however, data breaches are also 

becoming common place. This isn't 

surprising - today's patient lifecycle has 

more touchpoints than ever before. 

Additionally, networked multi-function 

devices (MFDs) such as copiers and printers 

are now mainstream in healthcare. 

Each time a document or form is copied, 

scanned, printed, faxed or emailed - on 

either an analogue fax machine, digital 

MFD or mobile device - protected health 

information of patients can be accidentally 

exposed or intentionally compromised. 

Paper output can be particularly difficult to 

track and control and isn't eliminated by 

electronic processes. A significant 

proportion of healthcare information 

breaches are routinely caused by privilege 

misuse or inadvertent errors. 

Prevention is possible. Here are 6 ways 

healthcare organisations can secure their 

copiers and printers to protect the data of 

their patients: 

1. Restrict access based on user 

authorisation 

MFDs should support the restriction of 

features and capabilities of an 

authenticated user. They should also verify 

user credentials at the device, allow or deny 

access based on rules, restrict what each 

user can do at the devices, and meet 

regulatory requirements. 

2. Centrally audit all network activity for 

print, copy, scan and network fax 

Auditing allows MFDs to pass tracking 

information to a database. In the event of 

a data breach, this capability allows users 

to easily track down which device was the 

source of the breach; who the 

authenticated user was, as well as 

department and location; what was sent 

including file name, and file and document 

type; and where the data was sent, such as 

device, department, application and 

address. Auditing also enables users to 

analyse output and assign value for cost 

allocation, as well as implement rulesbased 

printing. 

3. Encrypt data to/from MFDs 

Communications between smart MFDs and 

mobile terminals, servers and 

destinations should be encrypted 

to ensure documents are 

only visible to 

authorised users. 

This will 

ensure 

that data is encrypted while in transit 

between MFDs, devices, servers and thirdparty 

applications; and there's end-to-end 

document security during the continuum 

of care. 

4. Secure print release and authentication 

with follow-you print workflow 

This will support the mobile workforce and 

lower the cost of printing by eliminating 

waste. It's important to ensure compliance 

by keeping sensitive information secure. 

5. Monitor and control information 

Simultaneously monitoring and auditing 

sensitive information in documents ensures 

protection of health information is 

controlled before it gets to its intended 

destination. This requires capabilities such 

as proactive warning system of potential 

security breach, content filtering and 

redaction, and document interpretation 

prior to compromise. 

6. Standardise and secure routing and 

destination workflows 

The scanning of a file to a network folder is 

the most common action, and, 

unfortunately, the type of workflow that's 

least secure. It's essential to standardise 

and integrate network scanning. 

Capabilities including optical character 

recognition (OCR) of all captured 

documents, and API-level integration with 

network fax servers, is necessary. 

Today digital copiers have much of the 

capabilities of computers. By controlling 

and protecting the physical and electronic 

access point on MFDs, damaging data 

breaches can be prevented. 

More info: www.kofax.com 

16 




Business happens 

everywhere. 

Simplify it with 

DocuWare. 

Real-time document management and 

workflow automation from DocuWare 

eliminates slow paper-based information 

streams and repetitive tasks. Because 

business happens everywhere. 

Start your digital transformation today! 

docuware.com

Dm INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS 

Keeping things on the move 

Mark Wharton, business development manager at ibml, 

looks at how firms in the transport and logistics 

industry can apply data capture solutions to streamline 

information sharing in the supply chain 

The transport and logistics industry 

currently faces some seemingly 

intractable problems. Customer 

demands have increased greatly. 

Individuals and businesses expect to receive 

goods faster, more flexibly and - in the case 

of consumers - either for free or at a low 

delivery cost. Online retailing has exploded, 

with volumes burgeoning especially since 

the start of the pandemic. 

On top of this, manufacturing is also 

becoming more and more customised with 

products like industrial equipment, planes, 

cars and consumer goods now being 

manufactured to the specifications of the 

end-customer - good for consumers 

obviously but harder work for the logistics 

industry to deliver. This particularly affects 

logistics service providers like 3PLs and 4PLs, 

with 'digital fitness' - as PwC described it in a 

recent report - becoming a must for them. 

One only needs to browse the press for a 

second to see how dependent everyone is 

on supply chains. The NHS 

struggled to get enough quantities 

of PPE at the start of Covid-19. Automotive 

chip shortages are now holding up car 

manufacturing and bringing into question 

the much vaunted benefits of Just In Time 

manufacturing designed to keep 

warehousing stocks low and costs down. 

And the Ever Given debacle shows what 

happens when things go wrong; the 

megaship carrying 18,300 containers 

blocked the Suez Canal for a week holding 

up an estimated $9.6 billion of goods per 

day. It illustrates the complexity, 

importance and dependence we all have 

on the frictionless, reliable and transparent 

flow of goods. 

EFFECTIVE DATA CAPTURE AND 

SHARING IS PARAMOUNT 

Business process efficiency in 

the supply chain is 

therefore 

key 

to keep things on track. Data capture and 

information sharing self-evidently plays a 

crucial and fundamental role in trade 

covering everyone from retailer, 

manufacturer, logistics provider to port 

operator and end-user buyer. 

The paperwork involved with this is 

immense: order forms, packing lists, 

shipper's letter of instruction, certificates of 

origin, bills of lading, dock receipts, proof 

of delivery notices, proforma and 

commercial invoices, dangerous 

goods forms, passports and 

IDs for crew - the list 

goes on and 

on. 

18 




INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS Dm 

"THE PRESSURE TO BE EFFICIENT IN THE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS INDUSTRY IS HIGH. CUTTING EDGE 

TECHNOLOGY HERE IS EVOLVING FAST, TOO: ROBOTICS AND WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION, 3D PRINTING, 

DRONES, HUMAN EXOSKELETONS TO BOOST STRENGTH AND ENSURE SAFETY, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND SO 

ON. BUT THE LOW HANGING FRUIT OF SCANNING, AUTOMATING AND STREAMLINING BUSINESS PROCESSES 

AND THE DOCUMENTATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUPPLY CHAIN SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN ESPECIALLY AS 

THE PRESSURE TO BE EFFICIENT, LEAN AND EFFECTIVE IS ON TO MAXIMISE MARGINS AND ULTIMATELY PROFIT." 

Managing this is complicated even 

more given the numerous different 

formats used by everyone in each step of 

the chain - everything from PDFs, Excel 

and Word documents, JPEGs, emails, 

attachments, online forms and even 

faxes, of which surprisingly, billions are 

still sent every day. Worryingly though, it 

is estimated that 80% of logistics firms 

still use paper forms and over half of the 

data contained is entered manually into 

IT systems. 

Furthermore, analyst firm Gartner say 

that while 72% of organisations in the 

supply chain see technology as a source 

of completive advantage, the majority - 

53% - continue to manage supply chain 

technology vertically around functional 

silos and not horizontally and holistically 

across functional domains. 

Working in a data silo is a recipe for 

major inefficiency and, in a world where 

'digital fitness' is paramount, a huge 

failing. Simply put, the documentation 

and the data which goes along with all 

goods needs to flow as smoothly as the 

physical items themselves. 

AVOIDING DATA SILOS NEEDN'T BE 

HARD 

It's not all doom and gloom however. 

Scanning paper, automating data capture 

and improving integration is a practical 

and proven way to solve this. It makes 

information flow faster, enhances 

accuracy and boosts reliability so that the 

chance for goods to be held up at the 

point of origin or delivery because of 

paperwork issues is removed. 

A variety of powerful tried and tested 

capture applications are available. 

Modern solutions - both on-premise, 

mobile or cloud native SaaS systems - can 

handle information from practically any 

source once digitised or cater for 

information 'born' electronic. In the 

jargon, this covers everything: structured, 

semi-structured and unstructured data. 

Capture applications automatically 'read' 

key fields in documents like customer 

name, address, account number, order 

number, quantity along with QR and 

barcodes and even normal handwriting. 

Data is ingested, classified and metadata 

intelligently extracted using machine 

learning and advanced tools like Artificial 

Intelligence to then workflow this 

information to any number of ERP, CRM, 

BPM, ECM or corporate systems. 

These capture applications can 'learn' 

based on content handled and historical 

tagging to make this a super-fast, 

accurate and reliable process, eliminating 

the need for human intervention. 

Other technologies such as Robotic 

Process Automation can be applied to the 

capture process to automate mundane, 

repetitive and error prone tasks involved 

with manual data entry. RPA also aids the 

integration of legacy business systems - 

and getting data into them - without the 

need for complex APIs to be written. 

CLEAR BENEFITS OF AUTOMATED 

DATA CAPTURE 

Automating the data capture process is a 

sure-fire way to gain efficiencies and 

return on investment: 

It enables more accurate 

communication between transport 

and logistics operators and their 

customers; 

There's less room for mistakes when 

capturing, ingesting and populating 

line of business systems as you remove 

the 'human' component. If you 

manually key in data, not only does 

this take time and is subject to errors, 

but because of the staff overhead, it's 

often badly done resulting in partners 

in the supply chain not getting the 

information they actually need. 

There's no need to employ staff to 

carry out dull data entry jobs, with 

existing employees able to be 

redeployed to focus on more useful 

and productive work; 

New SaaS cloud-native capture 

systems enable firms in the supply 

chain to be agile and scale up and 

down as demand and volumes dictate 

- say during the busy Christmas period 

- without enduring substantial capital 

expenditure or complex IT 

implementation challenges; 

It's greener and more eco-friendly as 

excess paper is removed from the sales 

cycle and delivery process; 

Digitising and managing content in all 

its forms facilitates downstream 

processes much better like analytics to 

aid better decision making in the 

future. 

The pressure to be efficient in the 

transport and logistics industry is high. 

Cutting edge technology here is evolving 

fast, too: robotics and warehouse 

automation, 3D printing, drones, human 

exoskeletons to boost strength and ensure 

safety, autonomous vehicles and so on. 

But the low hanging fruit of scanning, 

automating and streamlining business 

processes and the documentation 

associated with the supply chain should 

not be forgotten especially as the 

pressure to be efficient, lean and 

effective is on to maximise margins and 

ultimately profit. 

More info: www.ibml.com/aboutus/consult-an-expert/ 




19

Dm COMPANY UPDATE: DOCUWARE 

Collaborative tools to support the post-pandemic 

workforce 

Eugene Young, Country Director, UK/Ireland, DocuWare, examines the need to 

embrace a new hybrid workforce, and what organisations need to succeed 

The vast new remote workforce has 

completely reshaped global 

businesses. Within record time 

business leaders have had to create an 

environment within their organisation 

where employees can operate 'normally' 

from any device, any time, anywhere. 

The challenges presented by the 

pandemic have been a call to action for 

businesses to undertake a digital 

transformation immediately. Aspects of 

work life, such as onboarding employees, 

invoice processing and managing team 

collaboration, were far easier to do in a 

single physical space. However, the 

pandemic has forced businesses to quickly 

adapt to a new work environment and be 

much more flexible to employee needs. 

Developing an internal structure that 

allows employees to collaborate 

seamlessly and securely from anywhere is 

now essential. 

Because of this, tools that make it easier 

to work together when apart are proving 

to be worthwhile investments for 

businesses of all sizes and industries. 

Since the start of the pandemic, there has 

been a notable surge in cloud, 

cybersecurity, and digital investments to 

ensure business continuity and 

productivity of dispersed teams. 

Working together in a distributed 

environment requires new skills and tools, 

and so cloud-based management solutions 

and automation technologies have been a 

significant contributor to ensuring business 

continuity. These solutions can be deployed 

on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid 

environments. Intuitive tools and solutions 

such as these can free teams of 

administrative, manual tasks, such as 

managing long email chains, multiple 

versions of crucial documents, and 

constant status inquiries. 

The DocuWare platform is especially wellsuited 

to the needs of small and mid-sized 

businesses looking for enterprise-grade 

functionality in areas of automation, 

indexing, content capture, document 

management, and workflow intelligence. 

The latest offering from DocuWare, version 

7.4, presents several enhancements that 

will be invaluable in the post-COVID 

workplace, providing improved 

collaboration, faster document and data 

searches, shareable workflows, and 

security that every company needs. 

With business happening everywhere, 

let's take a look at how DocuWare could be 

the perfect fit for your organisation. 

EASIER COLLABORATION 

Remote teams can now collaborate in 

real-time on Microsoft Office documents 

(Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) located in 

DocuWare Cloud. This makes for a 

connected and highly effective remote 

workforce. 

DocuWare Cloud customers can edit their 

Microsoft Office documents - Word, Excel, 

and PowerPoint - in Microsoft Office for 

the web, even while working with 

colleagues. They can revise documents in 

real-time during a meeting, make changes 

from a mobile device, and update an 


COMPANY UPDATE: DOCUWARE Dm 

"THE CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE PANDEMIC HAVE BEEN A CALL TO ACTION FOR BUSINESSES TO 

UNDERTAKE A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IMMEDIATELY. ASPECTS OF WORK LIFE, SUCH AS ON-BOARDING 

EMPLOYEES, INVOICE PROCESSING AND MANAGING TEAM COLLABORATION, WERE FAR EASIER TO DO IN A 

SINGLE PHYSICAL SPACE. HOWEVER, THE PANDEMIC HAS FORCED BUSINESSES TO QUICKLY ADAPT TO A NEW 

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND BE MUCH MORE FLEXIBLE TO EMPLOYEE NEEDS." 

internal list at the same time as multiple 

other employees. 

IMPROVED WORKFLOWS 

Improving workflows and eliminating 

manual intervention are crucial to 

fostering a seamless productive workforce, 

be that in an office, home, or a hybrid 

setting. With DocuWare, you can export a 

workflow and import it into another 

DocuWare file cabinet. 

It's just a matter of taking a pre-existing 

workflow created for one department 

and copying and adapting it to fit the 

needs of another department. These 

digital workflows are the most effective 

way to ensure timely effective and secure 

collaboration. 

COMBINED USAGE OF 

PRECONFIGURED SOLUTIONS 

Even if business processes run differently 

in every organisation, they share key 

requirements and decision points. Cloudbased 

preconfigured solutions turn these 

common denominators into smooth 

digital workflows, enabling even faster 

ramp-up for new customers and easy 

expansion for existing ones. 

Now, for the first time, you can combine 

the usage of several preconfigured cloud 

solutions, including DocuWare for Invoice 

Processing and Smart Document Control. 

These ready-to-use packages are built with 

the expertise gained from 30 years of 

experience and are one of the quickest 

and easiest ways for a business to become 

digitally transformed. DocuWare is proud 

to have many customers up and running 

with these solutions in as little as 2 to 3 

days. DocuWare launched to market a 

preconfigured invoice processing solution 

for the UK following great success in the 

US. This ready-to-use solution removes 

huge amounts of work from your team by 

streamlining and automating core 

manual processes. 

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES LET 

BUSINESS HAPPEN EVERYWHERE 

In the modern office, electronic signatures 

are now a normal part of day-to-day 

business. Not only do they work 

excellently for the newly disbanded 

workforce, but also reduce paper usage 

and simplify secure document workflow. 

DocuWare Signature Service 

automatically transfers documents in a 

signing workflow to a signature provider, 

Validated ID or DocuSign, allowing for 

advanced and qualified electronic 

signatures, as well as legally binding 

documents that meet current security 

requirements. 

BOLSTERING SECURITY 

Businesses need to be prepared with the 

right investments and approaches, 

implementing security solutions before a 

problem arises. New working models 

introduce additional security risks, as a 

business must allow employees to import, 

share, approve and collaborate 

documents freely, but most importantly 

safely. With data at the core of every 

company, providing access to digital 

documents with single-sign-on for secure 

login offers better authentication 

processes for on-premises and cloudbased 

solutions. 

DocuWare version 7.4 includes a new 

identity service for DocuWare on-premises 

and a new identity provider for DocuWare 

Cloud. This allows users to enforce single 

sign-on for secure login providing more 

robust user authentication. It also works 

for mobile app and URL integrations. 

ADDRESSING THE DIGITAL SKILLS GAP 

Investing in new technologies and moving 

on-premises systems to the cloud have 

been part of a global digital 

transformation across all industries. 

Therefore, organisations have never been 

more reliant on new technologies for 

business continuity. This has exposed a 

digital skill gap in the workforce that 

business leaders cannot ignore. 

When selecting a document 

management solution, you must consider 

a technology that does not require IT 

resources, as well as one that can also be 

easily and quickly learned by users. 

DocuWare's easy-to-use solutions address 

this head-on, bridging this gap and 

DocuWare can be implemented with little 

or no input from the company's IT team. 

THE RIGHT TOOLS TO SUIT YOU 

When introducing new systems into a 

business, it's important to choose the 

right tools for your employees. This may 

not mean the latest and greatest 

available, but consider which will ensure a 

happier, productive, and more 

collaborative workforce. Having the tools 

in place that automate processes, reduce 

costs, and ensure security, means 

information can flow effortlessly - from 

anywhere, on any device, at any time. 

Additionally, by freeing staff time 

employees can focus on higher-value 

tasks, such as improving products and 

services and creating new ways to engage 

with customers, all of which will greatly 

enhance the customer experience. 

The new ways of working provide 

companies with boundless opportunities 

to transform outdated processes and 

make significant changes to shape the 

future of their business. Equipping teams 

with the right technologies to better 

manage workflows will be key for making 

positive changes to the way they work, be 

that at home, the physical office, or the 

hybrid alternative. 

More info: www.docuware.com 




21

Dm CASE STUDY: CAMDEN CENTRE FOR LEARNING 

Tailored, secure and compliant 

A London special school is able to manage sensitive documents across different 

school sites while respecting GDPR and retention schedules 

Camden Centre for Learning 

(CCfL), a special school based at 

two sites in Camden, is a Pupil 

Referral Unit (PRU) specifically 

organised to offer alternative 

education for children who aren't able 

to attend school and may not 

otherwise receive suitable education. 

When Pippa Higgins, Business 

Manager for CCfL, joined the school 

she inherited a lot of paperwork, often 

scattered across the two school sites. 

These were mainly HR-related 

documents, such as staff onboarding 

forms, overtime forms, disclosure and 

barring service (DBS) schedules, proof 

of ID, etc. 

Pippa explains the issues: "With over 

70 members of staff record-keeping 

was difficult. I started by scanning all 

our documents and saving them to our 

shared drive. Although this solved the 

immediate search and access problems, 

it wasn't ideal considering our need to 

comply with GDPR regulations and 

retention schedules for certain types of 

documents. It was also difficult to 

present a clear overview when we were 

audited by our local authority." 

During a business forum Pippa was 

introduced to Records Transformation, 

who were looking for a pilot school to 

implement its GilbyIM solution. This is 

a cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service 

(SaaS) solution based on Micro Focus 

Content Manager, providing best-ofbreed 

electronic document and records 

management (EDRM). Through a 

unique, multi-tenancy licensing 

agreement with Micro Focus, Records 

Transformation customers benefit from 

the economies of scale associated with 

using shared infrastructure 

components. 

Neal O'Kelly, CTO of Records 

Transformation explains: "We have 

developed templated configurations 

for specific industries, including 

education. Any school subscribing to 

GilbyIM will find their classification 

scheme, records types, retention and 

disposal schedule, and access control 

model already fully developed, 

dramatically reducing their onboarding 

process and staff training." 

Pippa saw the value immediately and 

with just a simple click and drop action 

more than 2,000 CCfL documents were 

handed over to Records 

Transformation. Although CCfL timed 

this for the school's Christmas break, 

onboarding new clients can be done 

within a day. Records Transformation 

fully replicated the existing folder and 

sub-folder structure for ease of use. 

They built relevant security groups, 

imported CCfL's data, tested it, and 

delivered it back within the GilbyIM 

framework. 

"When we returned in January all our 

documents could be accessed through 

the simple GilbyIM interface," said 

Pippa. "Such a difference from before 

where remote access to our shared 

drive relied on school-owned devices 

and secured VPN connections. I 

showed my colleagues how to log on 

and add a document. This took all of 

five minutes, and we were all 

impressed with how user-friendly the 

system was." 

CCfL is now so confident in its data 

privacy and retention compliance that 

it is looking to store pupil 

safeguarding documentation in the 

solution. These are hugely sensitive 

documents and this future direction is 

a testament to the robustness and 

security GilbyIM and Content Manager 

offers CCfL. 

Pippa concludes: "We have a great 

working relationship with Records 

Transformation. GilbyIM is tailored to 

schools and this enabled us to be up 

and running without any business 

disruption at all. We now have a 

resilient and highly available document 

repository that can be accessed 

remotely with ease and has opened the 

door for different use cases as we 

move forward." 

More info: 

www.recordstransformation.co.uk 

22 




Fujitsu 

Scanning 

Solutions 

Fujitsu scanners have a well deserved reputation 

for being the most reliable and hard-wearing 

devices on the market, offering transparency, 

compliance, efficiencies and cost savings 

iX1400 – Beautifully simple, 

effortlessly efficient 

iX1500/iX1600 – Intuitive 

scanning at your 

fingertips 

S1100i 

iX100 – Ideal for 

community workers 

S1300i 

FREE 

12 month 

Adobe Pro DC 

license* 

fi-65F – Great for 

customer facing 

ID capture 

fi Series 

N7100 – Information 

sharing made easy 

SP-1120N / SP-1125N/ 

SP-1130N 

SP Series 

Day to day budget 

conscious scanning 

SV600 – Perfect 

for the classroom 

fi-7260 / fi-7280 

fi-7140 – Document 

management at it’s best 

fi-7460 / fi-7480 

fi-7600 – A local 

government 

workhorse 

fi-7030 – Ideal 

for GP surgeries 

fi-800R 

fi-7160 – Best selling 

scanner in the NHS 

fi-7300NX – Web based document 

capture and network scanning 

fi-7800/ fi-7900 – Ideal 

for heavy duty scanning 

environments 

fi-7700 

*End-user offer, Terms and Conditions apply 

Fujitsu’s best-in-class scanner driver and document capturing software 

For more information please email us at 

scannersales@uk.fujitsu.com or visit emea.fujitsu.com/scanners

Dm TECHNOLOGY: FAX 

Why fax has a role in the world 

of hybrid work 

Scott Wilson of eFax explores how increased workforce 

access to documents and paperwork during lockdown 

has created new security risks, and why vital business 

materials are still being stored, sent and signed using 

outdated, insecure and expensive legacy technology 

We are entering a new phase in 

the evolution of work. It 

started with a sudden shift to 

home working; now it is becoming 

increasingly likely that many businesses 

are embracing a hybrid set up. This will 

mix on and offsite work with the aim of 

fusing the best of both models. 

For everybody it is a step into the 

unknown. From global technology 

leaders like Google and Salesforce, to 

multinational banks such as HSBC, 

organisations are tackling the challenge 

of moving to a completely new model in 

their own ways. 

CHALLENGES OF HYBRID WORKING 

That said, there are a number of issues 

that all will need to overcome. A shift to 

hybrid working has implications for 

corporate security, company culture, and 

the type of technology businesses 

currently have access to. 

One area in particular that needs to be 

addressed is the issue of sharing and 

storing vital business documentation. 

New data from eFax suggests this has 

become a concern for UK companies, 

with more than three quarters (76%) of 

UK IT directors saying that increased 

workforce access to documents and 

paperwork during the lockdown period 

has created an additional security risk. 

It's perhaps unsurprising therefore that 

only 28% are completely confident in 

how vital business documents and 

paperwork will be securely shared and 

stored in a move to hybrid working. 

That's in marked contrast to 

counterparts in France and Germany, 

where nearly half (49%) of French and 

44% of German respondents were 

confident in the security of sharing and 

storing vital documents. 

IMPROVING HOW DATA IS SHARED 

AND STORED 

In order to address this, it is first worth 

considering how businesses are sharing 

and storing documentation. While the 

likes of email and file sharing systems 

have long been subsumed into working 

culture, many organisations still rely on 

faxing. This is particularly true for 

24 




TECHNOLOGY: FAX Dm 

"WHEREAS LEGACY FAX SERVER TECHNOLOGY IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE, A DRAIN ON RESOURCES AND A WEAK 

LINK IN CORPORATE CYBER SECURITY, DIGITAL CLOUD FAX IS NONE OF THOSE THINGS. IT ALLOWS THE ENTIRE 

FAX PROCESS TO BE HANDLED DIGITALLY VIA THE WEB, USING A COMPANY'S EMAIL APPLICATION, WORKFLOW 

SOLUTION, MOBILE APPLICATION OR SECURE WEB-PORTAL. EMPLOYEES CAN SEND AND RECEIVE FAXES, 

MEETING REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS, WITH THE SAME DEVICE THEY USE FOR EMAIL." 

businesses in healthcare, real estate, 

financial services and many other 

highly regulated sectors, where data 

protection and privacy regulations 

have increased the need for documents 

containing personally identifiable 

information to be securely handled. 

But where does fax sit within a digital, 

flexible and hybrid model of working? 

Say faxing to most people and they will 

think of an underused machine in the 

middle of the office, occasionally 

whirring and emitting a dial tone, 

before spitting out reams of paper that 

someone may eventually collect. That 

hardware may be some form of multifunction 

printer, or it could be a 

standalone device, but either way it will 

rely upon an on-premise fax server. In 

other words, legacy technology unfit 

for the digital era. 

It is a setup that is outdated, insecure 

and expensive; exactly what UK IT 

decision-makers think in the results of 

our survey. When asked what their top 

challenges are when using on-premise 

fax servers, the majority (66%) say they 

are outdated legacy technology (e.g. 

with limited functionality). Nearly half 

(49%) say they are insecure, followed 

by 43% saying they are expensive, (to 

install, run, maintain and upgrade). In 

addition, a significant proportion (31%) 

felt they were unfit for the resilient and 

regulatory demands of today. 

No wonder then that, as 

organisations make that shift to hybrid 

working, a clear majority (89%) of 

respondents expect their employer to 

move away from a reliance on the 

technology. Ultimately, a new hybrid 

workforce needs to be enabled to send 

and sign vital documents and 

paperwork and do all this securely, 

regardless of when or where they are 

working. 

A SECURE, FLEXIBLE REPLACEMENT 

This is all very well, but if businesses 

are going to scrap fax servers, they 

need to make sure the alternative is fit 

for purpose - secure, flexible and easily 

integrated into current operating 

processes and workflows. 

It needs to be secure because a 

hybrid model is by its very nature 

digital, and that means increasing the 

potential for cyber-attacks. The 

solution needs to be fully encrypted 

and able to withstand a variety of 

threats, including those targeting the 

return to work and the ongoing 

confusion of the pandemic crisis. 

It needs to be flexible because 

employees are going to be much more 

location fluid. They need to be able to 

share documentation wherever they 

are, and not wait until they are in the 

office to fax something. 

Finally, it needs to adapt and 

integrate into workflows. This is often 

overlooked in the implementation of 

technology - traditional fax is itself 

notoriously bad for productivity, 

forcing employees to use a separate 

machine to send and receive 

documentation. Any replacement 

needs to fit seamlessly with the 

hundred and one other things workers 

need to accomplish, and not sit 

outside of their usual applications, 

services and processes. 

One option that covers all three areas 

is digital cloud faxing. It might be 

referred to as internet faxing, cloud 

faxing, faxing by email, or digital fax 

solutions, but ultimately it all means the 

same thing - faxing for the digital era. 

Whereas legacy fax server technology 

is not fit for purpose, a drain on 

resources and a weak link in corporate 

cyber security, digital cloud fax is none 

of those things. It allows the entire fax 

process to be handled digitally via the 

web, using a company's email 

application, workflow solution, mobile 

application or secure web-portal. 

Employees can send and receive faxes, 

meeting regulatory requirements, with 

the same device they use for email. 

DIGITALISING VITAL 

COMMUNICATIONS 

Despite the assumption that fax is a 

relic, it remains a vital part of the 

communications infrastructure for 

many organisations needing to quickly 

exchange and retrieve documents and 

authorisation. 

However, for fax to be a critical part 

of a hybrid workforce, companies need 

to scrap on-premise fax servers, and 

move to digital cloud fax. Businesses 

need communications that support, 

not hinder, new ways of working. The 

solution they choose must provide the 

flexibility, adaptability and security 

required to successfully implement 

hybrid working. 

More info: www.scraptheserver.com 




25

Dm CASE STUDY: NORSE GROUP 

The smarter way to see what people are printing 

A smart audit service from Konica Minolta allowed Norse Group to analyse in depth 

exactly what was happening with their print/scan systems and highlight numerous 

issues and potential improvements 

Konica Minolta Business Solutions 

(UK) Ltd has enabled Norse Group, 

the UK's largest commercial local 

authority trading company, to gain insight 

into printed document volumes and 

lifecycles, address print-related issues, and 

plan for process transformation, through 

its innovative Smart Workflow Services 

(SWS) audit service. 

Owned by Norfolk County Council, Norse 

Group works in partnership with councils 

all over the UK to deliver property 

consultancy, facilities management, and 

care services. Keen to reduce its reliance on 

printing and copying, and to advance its 

digital transformation agenda, Norse 

Group turned to its trusted supplier for 

over a decade, Konica Minolta. 

Chris Nichols, Infrastructure and Business 

Project Technician at Norse Group 

commented, "I felt sure that our print and 

copy volumes were higher than they 

needed to be, and that we could cut costs 

by reducing our colour output. But before I 

could start to implement change, I needed 

stats to show the business what it was 

printing, and why." 

Print management software provides 

useful information such as how many 

pages are being printed, copied, and 

scanned; how many prints and copies are 

in colour; and which devices are heavily 

used. But it doesn't reveal what documents 

are being processed or - perhaps more 

importantly - why. "SWS goes beyond the 

high-level information provided by a 

managed print service," added Chris. "It 

allows you to quantify your printing activity 

and scrutinise what's being printed in the 

context of workflows and processes." 

The bespoke SWS software was installed 

on a selection of Norse Group's devices 

used by the IT, Finance and HR teams. 

GDPR compliant and highly secure, it 

unobtrusively automatically captured and 

categorised images of all the documents 

that were printed, copied, and scanned on 

those devices during a defined period. In 

parallel, the team interviewed Norse Group 

users to understand the purpose and 

lifecycle of the documents in question. 

Once the analysis was complete, Konica 

Minolta delivered detailed, logical reports 

showing what documents were being 

processed at Norse Group, and the 

workflows around them. "The report data 

exposed issues I'd long suspected but had 

been unable to prove," stated Chris. 

The report flagged up issues such as 

unnecessary colour usage, inefficient 

processes (including over-reliance on 

printed archive copies instead of using the 

electronic document management 

system), document control issues 

(including out-of-date information 

templates and logos), and potential data 

security issues from printed documents. 

Konica Minolta presented 

recommendations for quick wins, 

including education to help behavioural 

change; as well as proposals for longerterm 

improvements based on process 

transformation. 

"To be able to drive real change, you need 

data, and that's what the SWS 

engagement has delivered," concluded 

Chris. "We now have information to help 

us resolve our immediate issues, and to 

plan the digitisation of print-centric 

processes to help us save money, increase 

efficiency, and support our 

transformation." 

More info: www.konicaminolta.co.uk 


EVENT: IRMS CONFERENCE 2021 Dm 

The heart of your organisation 

DM Magazine previews this year's IRMS Conference, taking place in Birmingham in 

November 

The Information and Records 

Management Society (IRMS) has 

announced that more than 50 

subject matter experts will join 350 

delegates at The Hilton Birmingham 

Metropole, for its Annual Conference 

2021. The premier event for the 

records management industry returns 

from 28th until 30th November 2021, 

with the theme: Information & Data: 

The Heart of Your Organisation. 

The IRMS Annual Conference 2021 

will open with a keynote from the Chief 

Information Security Officer at Pinsent 

Masons, Christian Toon, who will 

discuss 'Protecting the Heart of your 

Organisation'. He will be joined by Data 

Protection Officer at Bolt, Calum Liddle, 

the former Legal Research Lead at 

Facebook, where he managed the 

Office of the Data Protection Officer in 

the wake of the Cambridge Analytica 

scandal. He will share 'The Journey and 

Challenges, Structure and Strategies of 

a Data Protection Officer'. 

Providing insight into the challenges 

faced by the NHS in relation to 

'Information Sharing During a 

Pandemic' will be Data Sharing and 

Privacy Specialist, Martin Staples from 

NHSX, a unit that brings together 

teams from the Department of Health 

and Social Care, NHS England, and NHS 

Improvement, to drive the digital 

transformation of care. 

Other keynote addresses include 

Judith Ellis, Managing Director, 

Enterprise Knowledge and Chair of the 

ISO Committee for Records 

Management Standards who will ask 

the question: 'Are international 

standards relevant?' And Technical 

Director, Privacy, Deloitte, Ivana 

Bartoletti who will consider 'Privacy and 

Ethics in the Age of Big Data and 

Algorithms'. 

Chair of the IRMS, Reynold Leming, 

ABOUT THE IRMS 

The Information and Records Management Society (IRMS) is the foremost 

association for information professionals and students, supporting and bringing 

together all those working in information governance, records management, 

data protection, information security and more, across all industry sectors, in 

the UK and beyond. 

As well as its annual conference attracting more than 350 delegates, the 

IRMS offers professional accreditation available to all, produces a high-quality 

bimonthly industry magazine, and operates a network of geographic and 

special interest groups across the UK and Ireland. Visit www.irms.org.uk/join to 

find out more. 

states: "Information and data informs 

and evidences day-to-day operations, 

interactions with stakeholders and 

customers, as well as tactical and 

strategic decision-making at the 

highest level. It is at the heart of the 

organisation and as such it needs to be 

kept fit and healthy." Leming adds: "Our 

annual conference is the place for IRMS 

members and the wider industry to 

educate, collaborate and innovate. 

Each year they return to their respective 

organisations with new ideas, 

initiatives, protocols and procedures 

that will ultimately get that heart 

beating stronger than ever before." 

The IRMS Conference 2021 is 

sponsored by OASIS, Iron Mountain 

and many other key industry vendors. 

The two-day conference will be 

attended by more than 350 

information and records management 

professionals. It will include more than 

50 subject matter experts, representing 

public, private and academic sectors, 

hosting an extensive programme of 

seminars, workshops and panel 

sessions on topics such as 'Next 

Generation Content Management', 

'Essential Skills for DPOs', 'Freedom of 

Information Past Present and Future' 

and 'Data Quality is Behavioural, Data 

Quality Management is Organisational'. 

More info: www.irmsconference.org.uk 




27

Dm OPINION: FLEXIBLE WORKING 

Preparing for seismic change 

The flexible work future is here to stay, argues Herbert Lörch of M-Files - but how 

should organisations respond to the shift? 

The forced and immediate 

shift to remote working 

which happened almost 

overnight in March 2020 will 

be without doubt, one of the 

most significant and longlasting 

impacts of the Covid- 

19 pandemic. 

Any belief that this was to 

be a short-term necessity 

has over time, proven to be 

illusionary. Governments 

not just in the UK but 

across the world have 

responded to waves of the 

pandemic by opening, closing 

and reopening economies in 

repeated fashion. Even now with 

a large percentage of the UK 

population vaccinated, a large 

proportion of UK 

employees are still 

expected to 

work 

from home in what is now being 

termed a 'hybrid model'. 

Some of the best-known names in the 

UK have already announced plans for 

introducing more hybrid models of 

working. These include insurance giant 

Aviva, with 16,000 employees, and 

accountancy firms BDA and KPMG both 

reporting a move to more flexible, 

hybrid working methods. Investment 

firm JP Morgan and the recruiter 

Michael Page allowed workers back in 

the office in late March, but none have 

reopened at full capacity. In the case of 

WPP the BBC has reported that it has 

reopened its UK offices at 30% capacity, 

and that figure is expected to rise to 

50% as the summer progresses. 

As a result of this move to a new way 

of working, demand for office space is 

also declining and businesses are 

choosing to restructure the very way 

they work by focusing on their estates. 

Capita has closed 49 out of 294 of its 

offices since the start of the pandemic 

while one of the Big Four, Deloitte, 

has closed offices at Gatwick, 

Liverpool, Nottingham and 

Southampton. 

Permanent remote working is 

now being considered by both 

employers and employees 

who would not have even 

considered this back in 

2019. The World Economic 

Forum's latest Future of 

Jobs Report, published in 

October 2020, states that 

44 per cent of workers 

can conduct their work 

remotely, so this is a 

28 




OPINION: FLEXIBLE WORKING Dm 

"IF ORGANISATIONS ARE GOING TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW NORMAL OF FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENTS, THE 

SOLUTION IS TO DEVELOP A WELL-FORMED, INTELLIGENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGY - ONE THAT 

PROMOTES A COLLABORATIVE AND PRODUCTIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT WHILE ADHERING TO GOVERNANCE, 

COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY PROTOCOLS." 

very real dynamic taking place now. 

Further, here in the UK, in a 

September 2020 poll of more than 

2,000 office workers conducted by the 

British Council for Offices, found that 

nearly half of respondents said that 

they intended to work from home 

some of the time going well into 2021, 

and this was at a time when another 

national lockdown was viewed as a 

mere fantasy. 

These seismic changes - office space 

reductions combined with new flexible 

ways of working and employee 

expectation that this is the 'new 

normal' - are leading to firms having to 

re-evaluate not just where they work, 

but how they work. 

Central to this is a desire to ensure 

that this shift towards flexible working 

does not negatively impact 

productivity, collaboration or company 

culture. There is a body of research 

that has shown that people can be as 

productive, if not more so, when 

working from home. But for employers 

there is a very real issue. The practical 

and operational advantages of an 

entire workforce working from home 

could be diminished. 

If organisations are going to prepare 

for the new normal of flexible work 

environments, the solution is to 

develop a well-formed, intelligent 

information management strategy - 

one that promotes a collaborative and 

productive working environment while 

adhering to governance, compliance 

and security protocols. 

So, what can companies do now to 

prepare a strategy for the new normal 

of remote work? What should they be 

putting focus on in developing that 

strategy? Below are a few key 

considerations: 

INFORMATION ACCESS & 

WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 

Most businesses live and breathe 

documents, files, and information; it's 

the lifeblood of a streamlined, 

productive and efficient organisation. 

Arguably, the most important tenet of 

a flexible work strategy is that 

knowledge workers should be able to 

access and manage information from 

any device and any physical location, 

no matter where that information is 

stored - in a CRM, ERP, shared drives, 

network folders. 

Not only should staff be able to 

access information, but the same 

processes and workflows that govern 

their work should be in place in a 

flexible work environment. 

AVOIDING SHADOW IT 

Shadow IT is where individuals 

incorporate technology solutions on 

their own, away from the 'prying eyes' 

of the IT department. For example, one 

individual may decide they're going to 

use Dropbox for cloud storage, while 

others decide on Google Drive and yet 

others are using Box. This creates two 

types of sprawl - content sprawl and 

SaaS sprawl - both despised by IT 

departments, not just for the 

inconvenience, but for the risk it poses 

to established governance and security 

protocols. An umbrella strategy should 

account for a unified document 

management system. 

INFORMATION SECURITY 

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and rogue 

endpoint applications can put information 

security at risk. Many companies are using 

an array of technology to help allay those 

risks - company-sanctioned hardware, 

VPN connections, and a secure enterprise 

information management platform. 

The result of this shift to flexible working 

is that employers now need to be thinking 

now about how they are going to 

respond to employee expectations of new 

working patterns. 

Government guidance which requires 

people to work remotely will not be 

around forever. As so many employees 

have indicated a preference for remote 

working at least part of the time going 

forward, employers need to consider 

carefully how best to remain an employer 

of choice and stay competitive. 

The solution is an intelligent information 

management platform and the key 

principles that underpin a solid flexible 

work strategy are already there. All you 

have to do to work remotely is grab your 

laptop and go. 

All the information, files and documents 

they need are a couple clicks away, from 

any device. It's this concept of any time, 

anywhere access to company information 

- with a built-in information security 

framework - that truly sets the stage for 

remote working, giving staffers the same 

experience as they would at the office. 

And by doing that, companies can ensure 

continuity, productivity, and efficiency of 

their remote workforce. 

More info: www.m-files.com 




29

Dm PRODUCT FOCUS 

Omnidox 5 

Remarkably, Omnidox from OASIS has 

been around for almost 15 years, but 

the latest iteration of the product, 

version 5, represents something of a 

quantum leap in terms of user experience, 

ease of use and deployment. 

What OASIS describe as the 'fifth 

generation' offering is a true cloud platform 

which allows users at all levels to quickly 

and easily create the business workflows 

they need to automate their back-office 

processes. Traditional enterprise 'blue chip' 

clients - of which OASIS has many - are 

now being joined by increasing numbers of 

SME users attracted by the intuitive and 

user-friendly new cloud-based product. 

While deployments of version 4 of 

Omnidox required significant bespoke 

development for every customer, resulting 

in each implementation being different, 

Omnidox 5 sees the entire offering rebuilt 

almost from scratch, developed largely with 

those SME prospects in mind, to help users 

automate workflows themselves with little 

or no bespoke development required. 

Bypassing the need for extensive IT 

involvement means that the potential ROI 

from Omnidox is significantly increased, as 

well as allowing departments and 

organisations to move to digital processing 

in a much shorter time-frame. 

Omnidox can process any of the 'usual 

suspect' documents a user organisation 

might throw at it - HR, finance (Accounts 

Payable/Receivable), or digital mailroom, for 

instance - without breaking a sweat. OASIS 

also has clients as diverse as airlines, banks 

and hospitals using the system for 

structured forms such as logs, forms and 

personnel records. 

We tested various demonstration 

VERDICT 

scenarios using Omnidox 5, including HR 

onboarding and exit interview 

documentation, mailroom workflows and 

invoice processing, and it is very clear that, 

whatever the business requirement, the 

user experience is standardised and 

intuitive, with clear and simple design at 

the core. 

End users can easily devise their own 

workflows using graphical tools and 

pulldown menus at each step of the 

process. Folder management is also 

remarkably straightforward - adding new 

child folder levels or altering file structures is 

again a simple matter of selecting from a 

pulldown menu and naming the new 

folders. Even security can be managed by 

the users, as they can easily set up password 

policies, character requirements or expiry 

rules from within the system to suit the 

business requirements of their organisation. 

At the same time it is important to note 

that ease of use does not mean Omnidox 

sacrifices power: anything uploaded into 

the system is instantly OCR'd, for instance, 

which makes for a powerful and farreaching 

full-text search facility that can find 

any string of text in any document at the 

click of the mouse. 

OASIS has described its intentions with 

Omnidox 5 as 'bringing the consumer 

experience to enterprise users' and it is fair 

to say that they have succeeded 

impressively in that regard. At the same 

time Omnidox remains a very sophisticated, 

powerful and advanced information 

management solution. 

More info: www.oasisgroup.com 

It is clear to see that Omnidox 5 is a huge step forward from previous versions of the OASIS software: it offers 

everything a cloud-based EDRMS solution should do, within a vastly impressive 'consumer-style' user interface. 


Dm CASE STUDY: WEAVER & BOMFORDS 

A flexible solution for a rapidly changing world 

Office supplies company Weaver & Bomfords is future-proofing print for its clients 

thanks to MPS Monitor 2.0 

Companies that can trace their roots 

back to almost a century usually have 

a few characteristics in common that 

underpin their longevity; the business 

acumen to spot and respond to emerging 

opportunities, and a willingness to adopt 

the latest technology in order to operate 

more efficiently and provide their customers 

with an even better service. Those qualities 

have come to define Weaver & Bomfords, 

an office supplies business whose origins go 

back to 1922. 

Today, the Cheshire-based business 

continues to thrive, with its 15 staff offering 

its nationwide clients an array of services 

that a busy workplace needs, including 

photocopiers and network printers, 

Managed Print Services (MPS) and 

Document Solutions as well as office 

furniture and supplies. One solution helping 

the company's customers drive greater 

efficiencies from their print is from MPS 

Monitor, the company that develops and 

distributes the leading platform for the 

remote monitoring and management of 

printers and multifunctional devices. Its MPS 

Monitor 2.0 is a Cloud-based SaaS solution 

and, today, two thirds of Weaver & 

Bomfords customers are benefiting from the 

accessibility, flexibility and security it delivers. 

MEETING CUSTOMERS' PRINT NEEDS 

Convenience often lies at the heart of a 

great customer service experience, as Sue 

Lenton, managing director of Weaver & 

Bomfords explains: "We're always looking at 

how we can offer our clients value, and by 

providing an outsourced print management 

solution from MPS Monitor we can remove 

their print burden so they can get on with 

running their business. 

From a customer's point of view, they 

haven't got to maintain or manage toner 

supplies as it simply gets delivered and 

marked up for the right machine, so they 

know that it will be there as they need it. 

Typically, our customers have several print 

devices, so we looked at what was the best 

MPS for them, to make it easier for them to 

keep their fleets running efficiently and cost 

effectively. MPS Monitor takes away any 

administration or management of that 

process from the customer." 

It's a service that many customers have 

come to appreciate, given the diversity of 

their print needs, as Sue explained: "We 

have a really broad range of clients printing 

a really wide range of things; prescriptions, 

marketing materials, point of sale and even 

transfers used in china production. We deal 

with lots of local food producers, mills and 

bakeries, distribution companies and then 

there's the more usual professional and legal 

firms and local schools and academy trusts. 

All these companies have remained open 

over the last year and so have we - they've 

needed our local support and service more 

than ever." 

CLOUD-NATIVE VISION 

It became apparent to Sue and her team 

that MPS Monitor was a future proof 

32 




CASE STUDY: WEAVER & BOMFORDS Dm 

"WHEN WE FIRST STARTED TALKING TO MPS MONITOR, IT QUICKLY BECAME QUITE EVIDENT THAT THIS WAS A 

MUCH BETTER OFFERING THAN WE USED PREVIOUSLY. TO START WITH, ITS FRONT END IS VERY INTUITIVE AND 

THE USER INTERFACE IS GRAPHICALLY ORIENTATED. IT'S REALLY EASY TO FIND THE INFORMATION THAT YOU 

NEED." 

solution for her clients' needs, given that 

MPS Monitor was founded on the vision of 

being a scalable cloud-native platform. 

Sue noted: "Weaver is an early adopter of 

remote monitoring technology for 

managing fleets and ordering supplies, so 

we're familiar with the solutions available. 

When we first started talking to MPS 

Monitor, it quickly became quite evident 

that this was a much better offering than 

we used previously. To start with, its front 

end is very intuitive and the user interface is 

graphically orientated." Sue added that MPS 

Monitor makes data and information easily 

accessible, which is unlike other solutions 

that required a fair amount of technical 

knowledge in order to be able to access the 

information and reporting data. MPS 

Monitor makes it easy to get a proper 

snapshot of a fleet's status, so problems or 

issues can be identified straight away: "It's 

really easy to find the information that you 

need. Overall, MPS monitor offers much 

more by giving you a business 

management tool that can be used easily. 

The diversity of the Weaver client base 

called for a remote print monitoring 

solution that could adapt and scale easily to 

each customers' unique needs, not least 

when the pandemic struck and staff were 

forced to work from home. Here, MPS 

Monitor's flexibility helped. 

"During the pandemic, we were able to 

supply and monitor print devices for those 

that were working remotely, thanks to MPS 

Monitor," Sue explained. "We were able to 

provide an extension to the service we 

normally offer office-based staff; we can 

check remote devices and supply them with 

toner when needed and we provide remote 

support in the event that they have any 

print or scanning problems. The great 

benefit of MPS Monitor is that you've got 

the multi connector availability so you can 

have it running on more than one device. 

As long as the connector is installed, we 

can see devices and the network 

hierarchies. It's very straightforward." 

With its cloud-based architecture, vendoragnostic 

approach, security focus, and 

direct integration with HP's Smart Device 

Services (SDS) and Microsoft Universal Print 

(UP), MPS Monitor is ideally suited to meet 

the evolving needs of the hybrid workforce. 

INTEGRATION UNLOCKS POTENTIAL 

In fact, integration with third party 

applications - like CRM systems - is another 

MPS Monitor strength. "We were quite an 

early adopter of MPS Monitor and we were 

using it with Asolvi Vantage," Sue said. "At 

the time, there wasn't actually an official 

connector for us. But MPS Monitor listened 

to us and developed one pretty quickly and 

then helped us to get it set up. The 

integration with MPS Monitor made the 

complex process of changing from another 

provider straightforward. They also helped 

us to perform a bulk update to minimise 

the tasks involved. With the system in 

place, toner alerts are created directly into 

our system, ready for immediate 

processing while real time meter readings 

simplify billing. It's streamlined what can be 

very manual tasks, therefore freeing up 

staff time. The integration between the 

two is being developed further and we 

hope to be able to use even more of the 

MPS Monitor features from within Asolvi 

Vantage very soon." 

SOLUTIONS TO TRUST 

On a day to day basis, another benefit that 

Sue and her team have come to appreciate 

is MPS Monitor's stability. With Weaver's 

previous MPS solution, it had to endure 

many false alerts, some of which were 

triggered by print users taking the toner out 

and shaking it. It took the company a lot of 

time and effort to check every alert it 

received to validate it or dismiss it, which 

isn't a problem that they face with MPS 

Monitor, as Sue states: "We really trust MPS 

Monitor in a way that we didn't trust our 

other system. It helps us ensure that 

customer service levels are maintained." The 

alert's flexible configurability is key too, with 

Sue citing a client that runs a 24/7 

operation, and alerts can be set so that the 

customer never runs out of toner. 

To make a tangible difference to a 

business, an exceptional product needs to 

be supported by an exceptional team, and 

Sue's experiences with MPS Monitor has 

been highly positive: "I would say that the 

team are great. They very accessible and 

very helpful, which has not been my 

experience of other MPS providers. They are 

very happy to work with us whenever we 

need their support." 

More info: www.mpsmonitor.com 




33

Dm RESEARCH: PRINT TRENDS 

Post-pandemic opportunities for 

the print sector 

The latest Quocirca survey suggests market consolidation, 

ecosystem building and innovation on the horizon as 

businesses recognise the need for rapid change 

The majority of print industry 

organisations (81%) now see the 

COVID-19 pandemic as bringing 

opportunities to drive innovation within 

their business, despite the negative 

impact it had on the sector over the 

past year, according to the fourth 

edition of Quocirca's COVID-19 Business 

Impact Survey. 

The study, conducted among 157 

respondents from OEMs, channel 

organisations and ISVs, found that 71% 

expect to see OEM market consolidation in 

the next 12 months. 62% believe 

strengthening alliances will be critical to 

the future for OEMs, while 86% believe 

that a thriving digital ecosystem is 

important between now and 2025. 

Overall, positive sentiment is improving 

compared with the previous survey: 68% 

now report that the pandemic has had a 

negative impact on their business, a 

reduction from the 86% who said the 

same in May 2020. 

Other key findings from the study include: 

An urgent need for industry 

transformation: 61% say that the 

biggest challenge they face is moving 

from a product-centric to a services-led 

model, an obstacle that existed prior to 

the pandemic, but that has been 

brought into sharper focus. 

Revenue recovery is expected: 55% 

expect to see strong or very strong 

revenue growth in 2021/22, with a 

further 27% expecting revenue to 

remain flat. Organisations that view 

themselves as Market Leaders have 

stronger expectations for revenue 

growth than Fast Followers and Middle 

of the Pack businesses. 

Print volumes continue to decline, and 

full recovery is not anticipated: 85% say 

they have seen a decline in print 

volumes; 53% have no or not much 

confidence that print volumes will 

return to pre-COVID levels. 

Cloud-based services are expected to 

offer opportunities: 91% expect to see 

greater demand for cloud-based digital 

workflows; 81% expect to see demand 

for cloud-based print management. 

The threat of Amazon looms for the 

channel: 45% of channel respondents 

are worried about the move of 

customers to online purchasing. 

Commenting on the findings, Quocirca 

Director Louella Fernandes (pictured) said: 

"As the effects of COVID-19 begin to 

recede in many countries, the shape of the 

hybrid workplace is starting to emerge. 

There is a strong sense that now is a critical 

time for the print industry to position itself 

to recapture its relevance with customers. 

However, this will not be achieved through 

the historical model of product sales and 

print volumes. Our survey respondents 

accept that print volumes are unlikely to 

return to pre-pandemic levels and that 

future revenue growth must be linked to 

diversification and a change in operating 

model. Digital workflow solutions, cloudbased 

print management, and security 

assessment services that address the new 

challenges of home and hybrid workers are 

all major areas of opportunity." 

The importance of strategic alliances and 

the development of a digital ecosystem are 

also key features of the future market, as 

Fernandes continues: "We are already 

seeing some interesting partnerships and 

new businesses emerging focused on the 

needs of the new-style workplace 

ecosystem. This is a positive sign and will 

help businesses map their offerings onto 

the changing needs of customers." 

Asked which areas were likely to be of 

greater interest to customers as a result of 

changing working patterns, the top three 

responses - selected by more than 80% of 

respondents in each case - were cloudbased 

digital workflows, collaboration 

services and digitisation of paper-based 

processes. Managed Print Services (MPS) 

were least expected to be of greater 

interest, selected by only 36% of 

respondents. Louella Fernandes added: 

"This shows that MPS is viewed as a 

commodity offering, but it can be the basis 

for the higher value services that are of 

more interest to decision-makers. MPS 

providers must urgently reposition their 

offerings to take advantage of more 

software-centric solutions." 

More info: www.quocirca.com 


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