DM Jul-Aug 2023

DOCUMENT 

M A N A G E R 

Dm 

www.document-manager.com 

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT 

IMAGING & CAPTURE 

WORKFLOW/BPM 

CONTENT MANAGEMENT 

Bridging the gaps: 

The right RPA framework 

Five years on: 

The legacy of GDPR 

Management: 

Unstructured data 

Research: 

80% of companies have 

compliance concerns 

NEWS • PRODUCT FOCUS • USER PROFILE • INTERVIEWS 

ISSN 1351-3222 Vol 31 No 4 July/August 2023

Turn your paper 

documents into a 

digital archive 

Our expert services include: 

Document Scanning 

Document Storage 

Microfilm & Microfiche Scanning 

FreeDocs Document Management System 

Records Management Consultancy Services 

Discover the easy, hassle-free way to 

go paperless and protect your documents. 

Call 0800 612 4065 

or email sales@storetec.net 

www.storetec.net 

BPO/Outsourcing/Bureau Business of the Year 2022, 2021, 

2020, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014 & 2013 

Compliance Product of the Year – FreeDocs Document 

Management 2020 

Records Management Product of the Year 2019 

London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Hull.

Dm 

COMMENT 

Editor: 

Dave Tyler 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 

Sub Editor: 

Mark Lyward 

mark.lyward@btc.co.uk 

Welcome to the July/August issue of 

Publishing Director: 

John Jageurs 

Document Manager magazine, 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

Sales Manager: 

which includes an industry 

Abby Penn 

roundtable discussion that revisits one of the 

abby.penn@btc.co.uk 

Lead Designer 

hot topics of recent years: GDPR. In the buildup 

to the introduction of the EU GDPR 

Ian Collis 

ian.collis@btc.co.uk 

Circulation/Subscriptions: 

legislation, there was seldom an issue of DM 

Christina Willis 

that didn't include some bylined opinion 

christina.willis@btc.co.uk 

Managing Director: 

content about what the new data protection 

John Jageurs 

rules might mean for the industry, whether from a technological or a 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

management/strategic perspective. 

Published by: Barrow & 

Over time we saw the tone of those articles shift slightly: having 

Thompkins Connexion Ltd 

35 Station Square, 

started off from a position of fear (failure to comply could cost an 

Petts Wood 

organisation dearly in fines and reputational damage), there was a 

Kent BR5 1LZ 

Tel: 01689 616000 

gradual realisation that in fact there were business benefits to 

Fax: 01689 826622 

showing compliance. As users became more and more aware of just 

Subscriptions: 

how much data was being gathered on them by - especially - tech 

UK: £35/year, £60/two years, 

£80/three years 

firms, those firms realised that they had a reponsibility to show they 

Europe: £48/year, £85 two 

were taking good care of that data. 

years, £127 three years. 

ROW:£62/year, £115/two 

Now, five years after it came into force, we've talked to a panel of 

years, £168/three years 

experts about the impact of GDPR, whether it can be considered a 

Published 6 times a year. 

Single copies can be bought 

success, and what is next in the world of compliance, and it makes for 

for £8.50 (includes postage & 

a fascinating read. 

packaging). No part of this 

magazine may be reproduced 

For one thing, when it comes to purchasing and deploying new 

without prior consent, in writing, 

from the publisher. 

technology in the data centre, the introduction of GDPR has 

©Copyright 2023 Barrow & 

unquestionably moved compliance and security up the pecking order. 

Thompkins 

As Scality's Paul Speciale says in the article: "Businesses now more 

Connexion Ltd 

carefully evaluate the following capabilities when making purchase 

Articles published reflect the 

decisions: data encryption, data minimisation, strong access controls, 

opinions of the authors and are 

not necessarily those of the 

real time monitoring and alerting, and data retention policies." 

publisher or his employees. While 

every reasonable effort is made 

Our experts agree it is inevitable that data privacy regulations will 

to ensure that the contents of 

continue to become standardised across the globe. Mikkel Oxfeldt, 

articles, editorial and advertising 

are accurate no responsibility can 

general counsel, attorney-at-law at cloud data protection and 

be accepted by the publisher for 

errors, misrepresentations or any 

management provider Keepit says: "As the number of privacy 

resulting effects 

regulations will continue to grow across the globe, Gartner has 

predicted that by the end of 2024 the majority of the world's 

population will have its personal data covered by privacy regulations." 

Even 5 years in, then, GDPR cannot be thought of as 'done and 

dusted' - its effects are long-term and far-reaching. Compliance and 

data protection in general will continue to be at the forefront of any 

information strategy for some time to come. As we were saying 6 or 7 

years ago, ignore GDPR at your peril - and it is even more true now 

than it was then. 

Dave Tyler 

Editor 

david.tyler@btc.co.uk 


July/Augustt 2023 

@DMMagAndAwards 

3

Dm CONTENTS 

C O N T E N T S 

JULY/AUGUST 

10 

12 

16 

20 

28 

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

STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION…………….......................................…….6 

Storetec's Grace Schneider offers helpful hints to get you started with creating a digital 

transformation framework and strategy 

EVENT: DM AWARDS 2023……...................................................................………8 

Nominations are open now for this year's DM Awards: all the categories are listed here 

along with the key dates for your diary 

MANAGEMENT: UNSTRUCTURED DATA……...............................................……..10 

The right data capture process, simple centralisation and straightforward automation will 

immediately enable you to make all of your data interpretable, meaningful and actionable, 

explains Emilie Martin of Document Logistix 

TECHNOLOGY: LOW-CODE DEVELOPMENT ……….......................................……12 

Sara Zenner, Product Marketing Manager at Hyland, examines the potential benefits - 

and pitfalls - of a low-code approach to application development 

CASE STUDY: BURGES SALMON…….................................................................…14 

Easy access to valuable knowledge assets enables law firm's professionals to tap into the 

collective intelligence of the organisation wherever they work 

ROUNDTABLE: GDPR………..............................................................................…16 

DM magazine brings together a panel of industry experts for their insights into the state of 

play after five years of GDPR 

OPINION: PHYSICAL STORAGE………............................................................……20 

Nigel Dews, Managing Director at Restore Records Management, highlights six myths 

about physical data storage that he says deserve to be busted 

RESEARCH: COMPLIANCE………...................................................................……22 

New survey from Hornetsecurity suggests growing impact of compliance concerns amid a 

lack of automated solutions 

INTERVIEW: DATAWIN…………....................................................................……24 

DM magazine editor David Tyler spoke to DATAWIN CEO Johannes Boerboom about the 

company's newest scanner offering, the SCAMAX 3x1 

MANAGEMENT: RPA….....................................................................................….28 

Brian DeWyer, CTO and co-founder of Reveille Software, explains that RPA is rarely a simple 

plug-and-play solution; rather there are management, operational and governance 

concerns to address 

STRATEGY: SCANNING…….........................................................................……..30 

Scott Maurer, President of OPEX International, explains how the newest technologies can 

help to reduce document prep and labour costs, while improve the efficiency of your scan 

environment 

MANAGEMENT: DM SYSTEMS……….........................................................……..34 

With so many requirements and options to consider, choosing the right DMS can be a 

unique challenge. Pana Letsou, Head of Product at OASIS Group, addresses what 

businesses should be looking for 

4 @DMMagAndAwards July/August 2023 www.document-manager.com

RICOH 

Scanning 

Solutions 

S1100i 

iX100 – Ideal for 


community workers 


S1100i 

iX1300 – Premium 

personal desktop 

scanner 

S1300i 

iX1400 – Beautifully 

iX1500/iX1600 – Intuitive 

simple, effortlessly 

scanning at your 

efficient fingertips 

fi Series 

Network fi-65F Scanner – Great for 

customer facing 

ID capture 

fi Series 

N7100 – Information 

sharing made easy 

SP Series 

SP-1120N / SP-1125N/ 

SP-1130N 

S1100i 



SP Series 

Day to day budget 

conscious scanning 

S1300i 

SV600 – Perfect 

for the classroom 

fi-65F 

fi-8040 – Market-leading 

image quality, versatile 

connectivity and an 

intuitive user experience 

N7100E – Information 

sharing made easy 

fi-7030 – Ideal 

for GP surgeries 

fi-800R 

fi-7160 – Best selling 

scanner in the NHS 

fi-8150 – Redefines 

Business Scanning 

N7100 – Information 

fi-7260 / fi-7280 

fi-7140 – Document 

SP-1120N / SP-1125N/ 

SP-1120N/SP-1125N/ 

SV600 – Perfect sharing iX1600 – 

management at it’s best fi-7460 made / fi-7480 easy 

fi-7600 Intuitive SP-1130N – A local 

SP-1130N 

fi-65F – Great for for the classroom scanning at government your 


fingertips workhorse 

ID capture 

fi-7300NX – Web based document 

capture and network scanning 

fi-8170/fi-8190 – 

Reduced fi-7030 – power Ideal 

consumption 

for GP surgeries 

fi-800R 

fi Series 

fi-7800/ fi-7900 – Ideal 

for heavy duty scanning 

environments 

fi-8270/fi-8290 – 

Industry leading OCR 

accuracy rates 

fi-7160 – Best selling 

scanner in the NHS 

fi-7260 / fi-7280 

fi-7300NX – Web based document 

capture and network scanning 

fi-7700 

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

fi-7140 – Document 

management at it’s best 

fi-7460/fi-7480 

fi-7800/ fi-7900 – Ideal 

for heavy duty scanning 

environments 

SP Seri 

Day to day bu 

conscious sca 

fi-7460 

fi-800R– Great for 


ID capture 

fi-7300NX – Web based 

document capture and 

network scanning 

fi-7800/fi-7900 – Ideal for 

heavy duty scanning 

environments 

For more information please email us at 

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

fi-7700 

Streamlining processes, delivering Organisational Intelligence 

Fujitsu’s best-in-class scanner driver and document capturi 

• Automate capture routines; scan, extract and release all at the touch of a button 

• Streamline operations by integrating captured data into business workflows 

• Easily create searchable PDF‘s, or editable Word, Excel and PowerPoint files 

• Optimise scanning architecture - use any scanner from any PC 

www.pfu-emea.ricoh.com 

For more information please email us at 

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

PaperStream IP 

A scanner driver that cleans and 

optimises image files for faster, 

lower-cost access and storage. 

PaperStream Capture 

Streamlines and automates capture 

into workflows. 

PaperStream ClickScan 

Ad-hoc scanning with a single touch 

PaperStream NX Manager 

For centralised, server-based capture.

Dm STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

Building a digital transformation framework 

Storetec's Grace 

Schneider offers helpful 

hints to get you started 

with creating a digital 

transformation 

framework and strategy 

Digital transformation has become 

a buzzword in the business 

world and for good reason. It is 

the process of integrating digital 

technology into all aspects of a 

business. Digital transformation can 

help businesses improve efficiency, 

reduce costs, and increase revenue. But 

where do you start? 

Digital transformation refers to the 

process of leveraging digital technologies 

to essentially reshape and improve 

various aspects of a business. It involves 

adopting new digital tools, technologies, 

and strategies to enhance operational 

efficiency, customer experience, and 

overall competitiveness. 

Practical examples of digital 

transformation can vary depending on 

the nature of the business. For instance, 

it could involve transitioning from 

traditional paper-based processes to 

digital workflows, implementing data 

analytics to gain insights and make 

informed decisions, integrating 

e-commerce platforms to expand online 

sales channels, or utilising artificial 

intelligence and automation to streamline 

repetitive tasks. Ultimately, digital 

transformation aims to optimise business 

processes. drive innovation, and unlock 

new growth opportunities in an 

increasingly digital-centric world. 

KEY STEPS TOWARD 

TRANSFORMATION 

1. Identify your goals 

Before you can begin your digital 

transformation journey, it's important to 

identify your goals: what are the 

problems you want to solve, and what 

outcomes do you hope to achieve? Do 

you want to improve customer 

experience, reduce costs, increase 

revenue, or improve productivity? 

Once you have identified your goals, 

you can start to plan your digital 

transformation strategy. You can use the 

SMART goals guide to help with this. 

2. Evaluate current technologies 

Take stock of your current technology 

and evaluate how it aligns with your 

goals. Are there any gaps in your 

technology that are hindering your 

progress toward your goals? Do you need 

to invest in new technology to achieve 

your objectives? 

Make a list of your current technology 

and identify areas where you need to 

6 July/August 2023 www.document-manager.com 

@DMMagAndAwards

STRATEGY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Dm 

"PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CAN VARY DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE BUSINESS. 

FOR INSTANCE, IT COULD INVOLVE TRANSITIONING FROM TRADITIONAL PAPER-BASED PROCESSES TO DIGITAL 

WORKFLOWS, IMPLEMENTING DATA ANALYTICS TO GAIN INSIGHTS AND MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS, 

INTEGRATING E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS TO EXPAND ONLINE SALES CHANNELS, OR UTILISING ARTIFICIAL 

INTELLIGENCE AND AUTOMATION TO STREAMLINE REPETITIVE TASKS. ULTIMATELY, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

AIMS TO OPTIMISE BUSINESS PROCESSES. DRIVE INNOVATION, AND UNLOCK NEW GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES IN AN 

INCREASINGLY DIGITAL-CENTRIC WORLD." 

upgrade or invest in new technology. 

3. Develop a roadmap 

Once you have identified your goals and 

evaluated your current technology, it's 

time to develop a digital transformation 

roadmap as part of your strategy. A 

roadmap is a plan that outlines the 

steps you need to take to achieve your 

goals. It should include a timeline, 

budget, and milestones for each phase 

of your digital transformation project. 

4. Start small 

Digital transformation can be 

overwhelming, so it's important to start 

small. Identify a low-risk area of your 

business where you can pilot your digital 

transformation project. This will allow 

you to test your ideas, evaluate their 

effectiveness, and make adjustments 

before rolling out the changes to the 

rest of your business. 

5. Communicate 

Digital transformation is a team effort, 

so it's important to communicate your 

plans with your team. Explain the 

benefits of digital transformation and 

how it will impact their roles. Encourage 

feedback and participation from your 

team, as they will be the ones 

implementing the changes. 

6. Measure success 

As you implement your digital 

transformation strategy, it's important to 

measure your success. Define key 

performance indicators (KPIs) and track 

them regularly. This will help you 

identify areas where you need to make 

adjustments and demonstrate the value 

of your digital transformation project to 

stakeholders. 

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

EXAMPLES 

Storetec has successfully assisted 

numerous businesses across various 

industries in implementing their digital 

transformation frameworks. Whether it 

is digital transformation in healthcare, 

banking, retail, or other sectors, 

Storetec has the expertise to tailor 

solutions to meet specific industry 

requirements. In fact, Storetec has a 

collection of compelling case studies 

that showcase remarkable digital 

transformation examples, illustrating 

how businesses have leveraged 

technology to achieve significant 

improvements in efficiency, customer 

satisfaction, and overall performance. 

Storetec assisted West Lindsey District 

Council in their digital transformation 

journey by providing microfiche 

scanning services. The council's historic 

microfiche jackets containing planning 

application data were converted into 

electronic PDF files, freeing up office 

space and enabling easy remote access 

to documents. The council benefitted 

from reduced equipment maintenance 

costs, streamlined access to information, 

and the ability to consolidate planning 

files in a digital repository. Storetec's 

successful collaboration led to additional 

scanning projects, further enhancing 

operational efficiency for the council. 

Storetec also had the privilege of 

partnering with Rolls-Royce, the world's 

leading provider of power systems, to 

support their digital transformation 

goals. Rolls-Royce aimed to become a 

paper-free organisation and sought a 

faster way to access their documents. 

Storetec provided document scanning, 

online hosting, and document storage 

services to meet their requirements. 

With our monthly document collection, 

scanning, and cloud-based hosting 

system called FreeDocs, Rolls-Royce can 

conveniently search and access their 

payroll documentation 24/7 from 

anywhere in the world. 

Our adherence to industry standards 

ensures the legal admissibility and 

evidential weight of electronically stored 

information. By storing their documents 

for 30 days and responsibly shredding 

and recycling them, we ensure data 

security and environmental 

sustainability. Our collaboration with 

Rolls-Royce demonstrates the quality, 

reliability, and robustness of our 

systems. 

STARTING YOUR JOURNEY 

Digital transformation can help 

businesses improve efficiency, reduce 

costs, and increase revenue. By 

following these steps you can get 

started on your digital transformation 

journey and achieve your business 

objectives. 

Storetec is well-equipped to support 

your digital transformation journey by 

offering a comprehensive range of 

services and solutions. From 

consultation to implementation and 

support, Storetec can assist you at 

every stage of your digital 

transformation journey. To explore our 

digital transformation services, please 

get in touch. 

More info: www.storetec.net 


July/August 2023 


7

Dm EVENT: DM AWARDS 2023 

Pick a winner 

Nominations are open now for this year's DM Awards: all the categories are listed 

here along with the key dates for your diary 

We have already had lots of 

nominations come in for the 

2023 DM Awards since we 

opened the process up in late June - but 

there is still plenty of time if you haven't 

made yours yet. 

As we mentioned briefly in the last issue 

of Document Manager, we are keen to 

remind people this year of the 'Project of 

the Year' awards, as they are easily 

overlooked by companies who could well 

be contenders - entries in these 

categories are marked by our panel of 

independent judges (NB: If you wish to 

submit an entry for the Project of the 

Year categories, please send them direct 

to Abby at the below email address). 

Meanwhile, the majority of the Product 

and Company categories will still be 

decided by the votes of the most 

important people of all: you, the readers 

of DM magazine and the clients of those 

companies big and small who will be 

competing for the top honours. 

This year also sees an entirely new 

category that has been suggested by a 

number of industry contacts: the 

'Contribution to the Industry' award. DM 

editor David Tyler commented: "I'm 

excited to see the response to this new 

award, as for the first time we're looking 

to reward a named individual rather than 

a company. The DM/ECM sector has seen 

its fair share of hugely influential people 

over the years, and the idea of this new 

award is to give us all a chance to hold 

some of those people up to get some 

recognition and thanks from across the 

industry. I can't wait to see who will be 

the first person to win this award and be 

inducted into the DM hall of fame!" 

The DM Awards 2023 timeline is as 

follows: 

26th June, nominations opened 

8th September, nominations close 

25th September, finalists announced 

and voting opens 

2nd November, voting closes 

16th November, DM Awards ceremony 

If your organisation would like to be 

involved in sponsoring or otherwise 

supporting this leading industry event 

then please contact Abby Penn at the 

office on 07861 682 066 or 

abby.penn@btc.co.uk. Be sure to get in 

soon, as these sponsorship slots as always 

are going fast! 

More info: www.dmawards.com 

8 



www.document-manager.com

EVENT: DM AWARDS 2023 Dm 

DM AWARDS 2023 - 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/No-Code Product 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 

Marketing Team of the Year 

Contribution to the Industry Award 

Product of the Year 

Company of the Year 

Editor's Choice (not open to public vote - decided by DM editor) 

Public Sector Project of the Year (not open to public vote - decided by judging panel) 

Private Sector Project of the Year (not open to public vote - decided by judging panel) 

MORE INFO: WWW.DMAWARDS.COM 




9

Dm MANAGEMENT: UNSTRUCTURED DATA 

Boost business by harnessing unstructured data 

The right data capture 

process, simple 

centralisation and 

straightforward 

automation will 

immediately enable you 

to make all of your data 

interpretable, meaningful 

and actionable, explains 

Emilie Martin of 

Document Logistix 

Every year millions of pounds are 

spent unwittingly within 

businesses as a result of employees 

struggling to manage unstructured 

documents and processes. 

Too often, administrative processes are 

overlooked within businesses in favour of 

other objectives such as growth and 

sales. However, when we look at 

streamlining processes from an admin 

perspective, as a way of winning back 

wasted time and resources to increase 

productivity and profits, the business 

wins on two fronts! 

THE UNSTRUCTURED DATA PROBLEM 

It is estimated that 80% of business data 

is unstructured in the form of 

spreadsheets, emails, Word documents, 

PDFs, log files, photographs, videos app 

responses and social media. 

The endless increase in email volumes 

makes it easier to share content but 

harder to locate up-to-date information. 

How often do you hear "Can you send 

me that?" or "You'll find it in Dropbox … 

on our Google Drive … in iCloud." Staff 

are trying their best, but the number of 

daily information requests and 

redirections highlight significant business 

process inefficiency. 

MAXIMISE THE UTILITY OF DATA 

In order to harness the use and value of 

unstructured data, it has to be accessible 

and searchable, to empower staff, make 

informed decisions, respond to client 

requests and ensure transparency. The 

right data capture process, simple 

centralisation and straightforward 



MANAGEMENT: UNSTRUCTURED DATA Dm 

"SCANNING SOLUTIONS ENABLE YOU TO CAPTURE AND ROUTE DATA, BUT THEY ONLY SOLVE ONE PIECE OF THE 

PUZZLE. THE ABILITY TO CAPTURE DATA FROM YOUR EMAIL CLIENT, OFFICE ENVIRONMENT, THE WEB, ERP, 

FINANCE, CRM AND CUSTOMER SERVICE APPS IS ESSENTIAL. A SYSTEM THAT CANNOT ACCEPT DOCUMENT DATA 

FROM ALL YOUR BUSINESS SOLUTIONS WILL NOT DELIVER THE EXPECTED BENEFITS TO THE BUSINESS. SYSTEMS 

INTEGRATION IS THEREFORE A MUST." 

automation will immediately enable you 

to make your data interpretable, 

meaningful and actionable. 

I have recently written about how the 

proliferation of admin systems is 

hindering organisations' digital push for 

better engagement and streamlined 

processes. Without a secure central data 

hub, staff - and especially knowledge 

workers - do not have real-time access 

to up-to-date information. In this article, 

we will look at how to collect all your 

data from all your storage locations and 

centralise it to extract its full value. 

THE NEED FOR CONTROL 

Having a controlled central structure 

for all documents means that 

information can serve individual 

knowledge workers, each department 

and the business as a whole. 

To achieve a central structure, 

intelligent data capture across multiple 

installed systems is essential, which can 

prove difficult owing to the amount of 

unstructured data. However, the latest 

AI and machine learning tools eliminate 

manual processes and achieve accurate 

indexing of all data formats discovered 

across any number of platforms. 

AI-powered document management 

systems automate tasks such as 

document classification, data extraction, 

and even translation. The result is that 

staff can focus on more important 

matters, rather than spending hours on 

manual tasks. 

CAPTURE IS KEY 

Scanning solutions enable you to 

capture and route data, but they only 

solve one piece of the puzzle. The ability 

to capture data from your email client, 

office environment, the web, ERP, 

finance, CRM and customer service apps 

is essential. A system that cannot accept 

document data from all your business 

solutions will not deliver the expected 

benefits to the business. 

Systems integration is therefore a 

must. Reducing the need for human 

touch points within any business system 

reduces error, speeds up data access, 

and improves efficiency. Isn't it strange 

that standardisation remains the most 

frequently overlooked aspect of any 

document structure process? 

ENSURE CONTENT IS ACCESSIBLE 

In order for unstructured data to be 

managed properly, it must be accessible 

from a central location. Document 

Logistix' Batch Capture document 

management module enables users to 

extract information automatically - 

instantly and accurately - from anywhere 

across the organisation, and transfer the 

information seamlessly and readyindexed 

to a secure hub. 

Batch Capture enables you to read 

printed text, barcodes, checkboxes using 

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) and 

constrained handwriting with Intelligent 

Character Recognition (ICR). You can 

perform lookups into all third-party 

systems to extract meaningful data and 

drive business processes. 

AI-powered document extraction 

automatically identifies and extracts key 

information from documents, such as 

names, addresses, and dates, which 

makes it a simple matter to organise 

and classify them. The technology also 

extracts data from any business 

document type: invoices, purchase 

orders, contracts, complaints, reports, 

minutes and agreements. 

Batch Capture has the flexibility to 

work with your preferred business 

structure. By using its web-based 

structure and by having direct 

integration with your information hub, 

tasks can be performed centrally, 

remotely or distributed among 

multiple users. 

INSTANTLY SEARCHABLE CONTENT 

It is hard to find information by 

browsing folders, especially when what 

you are looking for is hidden within a 

file or native application. Advanced 

document management systems make 

any unstructured data searchable once it 

enters the repository, so your searches 

include applications, files and, 

importantly, the content they contain. 

You can search content based on 

keywords or other strings, and 

automatic versioning ensures that staff 

are always looking at the most recent 

versions of a file. 

There are extended benefits to 

centralisation and search capabilities. 

Permission-based information can be 

shared across departments to enhance 

the roles of Sales, HR, Customer Service, 

Marketing, Analytics, Compliance and 

Executive teams. Plus, the business can 

manage the life-cycle of documents and 

data in accordance with industry and 

regulatory mandates, with automated 

data retention and data purge. 

In closing, it is important to point out 

a common mistake to be avoided: 

digital transformation is a process; it's 

not about short-term gains. I encourage 

customers to explore relevant digital 

solutions as they become available in 

order to enhance business processes 

continuously and exploit the full value of 

the data they hold. 

More info: www.document-logistix.com 




11

Dm TECHNOLOGY: LOW-CODE DEVELOPMENT 

Low-code drives innovation 

Sara Zenner, Product Marketing Manager at Hyland, 

examines the potential benefits - and pitfalls - of a lowcode 

approach to application development 

If your company is like the majority of 

enterprise organisations these days, 

you may be concerned about the size 

of your IT team and the challenges of 

filling any gaps that may arise. 

If you find yourself nodding in 

agreement, you're certainly not alone. 

According to a recent report by 

Pluralsight, 47% of IT workers have 

had to take on responsibilities outside 

of their regular roles, and 65% of tech 

managers surveyed reported increased 

burdens on their teams. 

A solution to these problems may lie 

in the promise of low-code app 

development to alleviate the burden 

on shrinking IT teams. As roles expand 

and your developers are tasked with 

taking on additional responsibilities, 

leveraging low-code and expanding 

development capabilities outside an IT 

team can potentially solve these issues. 

WHAT IS LOW-CODE? 

Low-code app development offers a 

streamlined approach to building 

applications and processes, utilising 

visual interfaces and logic instead of 

manual coding. 

By leveraging a 

low-code 

platform's 

12 




TECHNOLOGY: LOW-CODE DEVELOPMENT Dm 

visual development environment, 

individuals from various business 

functions can effortlessly configure 

and customise mission-critical 

applications. Through intuitive pointand-click 

interactions, line-of-business 

(LOB) users can actively participate in 

building and fine-tuning applications, 

providing an alternative to traditional 

software development that relies 

heavily on developers. 

Low-code presents numerous 

benefits for organisations seeking to 

optimise their developer 

commitments and assignments. These 

features are crucial in reducing the 

strain on development teams and 

enabling the involvement of other 

users in the process, thereby creating 

a more inclusive and collaborative 

development environment: 

 

 

 

Rapid application development: 

Speed matters, and line-ofbusiness 

users may not have the 

depth of coding experience 

required to build large, complex 

apps. With low-code, those nondevelopers 

can, for example, drag 

and drop to configure apps at the 

speed their end users expect, while 

also meeting regulatory demands. 

Those easy-to-use functionalities 

minimise costly, time-consuming 

and difficult-to-maintain coding, 

and also provide an easy 

mechanism to modify or improve 

the app. 

Security: If there's one topic that's 

hotter in the industry right now 

than developer shortages, it's this 

one - and the good news with lowcode 

app building platforms is that 

they're designed with security in 

mind, providing robust measures 

right from the start. Those security 

features include strict password 

policies with configurable 

requirements; granular rights 

management; keyword capabilities 

that can restrict access based on 

metadata; and more. 

Workflow automation: By 

implementing advanced process 

and workflow automation within 

 

low-code app building, you can 

better anticipate the needs of users 

and customers and eliminate some 

of the mundane, repetitive tasks 

that can often consume your 

teams' time, allowing them to 

redirect their focus to higher-value 

tasks. 

Reporting and analytics: Why strive 

for efficiency and optimised 

developer use if you can't measure 

and quantify the resulting 

benefits? Low-code platforms 

provide reporting and analytics 

solutions that provide transparency 

and data you need to act on 

processes, record completeness 

and overall system health. 

EFFICIENCY GAINS 

You might be asking, why empower 

line-of-business and other users with 

low-code apps in the first place? 

Aside from the technical and tactical 

advantages listed above, the impact 

on an organisation's efficiency and 

workforce can be equally significant, 

if not more so, when implemented 

effectively. As the talent shortfall 

statistic above illustrates, developer 

talent is hard to come by - limiting 

the ways organisations can leverage 

their developers, which often means 

those individuals will be asked to 

work on more strategic projects. 

With low-code applications, that 

shift is manageable and yields many 

benefits for an organisation's 

development team. LOB and citizen 

developers most often are building 

targeted, department-directed apps 

that solve on-the-ground pain points 

precisely - and they do so in an agile 

fashion. 

The need for digital agility has never 

been higher, and these technologies 

can unlock additional flexibility from 

existing or expanding tech stacks, 

bringing tremendous value to 

organisations looking to maintain 

their competitive advantage while at 

the same time providing an optimal 

customer or user experience. 

Furthermore, these low-code apps 

offer extensive opportunities for 

customisation and extensibility, 

allowing LOB users to easily expand, 

modify and enhance the app to meet 

complex process requirements. These 

customisation capabilities also enable 

collaboration between developers and 

business users, ultimately resulting in 

the rapid deployment of products 

that cater to user needs. 

In turn, and as LOB and non-IT 

developers leverage low-code 

environments to build applications, 

professional developers and IT staff 

are freed up to prioritise complex, 

custom coding projects that further 

business goals and customer 

relationships. In my perspective, the 

increasing adoption of low-code 

options and solutions does not 

negatively impact the career 

aspirations of professional developers. 

They continue to be highly skilled 

experts, particularly in environments 

where LOB app users cannot meet the 

demands of pro-code needs. 

WHAT ARE THE RISKS? 

One key area to evaluate with lowand 

no-code development is any 

integration needs you have - and if 

the low-code platform you implement 

does not meet your integration needs, 

it may not provide the efficiency for 

which you are looking. 

Your low-code platform needs the 

functionality to access and use all the 

latest data and content from your 

entire content universe, meaning a 

content-based configuration. Your 

best-fit low-code strategy will 

integrate your content repositories 

with all your critical applications and 

line-of-business systems, 

complementing those systems and 

equipping you to maximise your 

investments. 

With low-code applications, you 

gain access to the necessary 

capabilities, security and reporting 

you need to expand the roles that can 

play a part in your organisation's 

development environment. How do 

you plan to harness low-code to drive 

innovation within your organisation? 

More info: www.hyland.com 




13

Dm CASE STUDY: BURGES SALMON 

Knowledge on tap 

Easy access to valuable knowledge assets enables law firm's professionals to 

tap into the collective intelligence of the organisation wherever they work 

Independent UK law firm Burges 

Salmon has successfully deployed 

iManage Knowledge Unlocked, 

modernising knowledge management 

support for its legal teams. 

This was driven by the desire to 

strengthen support for the quality of its 

services by making collective knowledge 

and publications more easily accessible 

to its lawyers. In particular, the firm was 

looking to improve access to content 

created and curated by its legal and 

knowledge teams. 

"We already have a huge amount of 

knowledge and experience to make 

more accessible for legal teams The 

pandemic has led to us thinking about 

how we might also increase support 

for tacit knowledge going forward," 

said Carol Aldridge, Head of 

Knowledge Management at Burges 

Salmon. "This project has been driven 

by the needs of our users and 

knowledge teams and our focus on 

structuring and organising knowledge 

and information in a way that works 

more intuitively for them." 

Burges Salmon chose Knowledge 

Unlocked because of its capability to 

provide an end-to-end knowledge 

management that will truly facilitate a 

culture of knowledge sharing. 

"Burges Salmon has a fantastic 

knowledge team in place, that 

understands the organisational and 

cultural issues around knowledge 

management," commented Jack 

Shepherd, Principal Business 

Consultant at iManage. "We've worked 

hard with Carol and her team around 

metadata and content. Lots of people 

think these kinds of projects are just 

about the technology, and this project 

shows that quality of content and how 

well it is organised, have a huge 

impact - alongside all the other 

business processes that underpin a 

knowledge management system." 

The Knowledge Unlocked solution 

strengthens Burges Salmon's 

established iManage Work document 

and email management capabilities 

through iManage Insight knowledge 

search interface, and Lexsoft T3 - a 

taxonomy and curation workflow 

product from iManage partner, Lexsoft 

Systems. 

"It has been a pleasure to work with 

iManage, its partners and the Burges 

Salmon Project Team to deliver this 

comprehensive knowledge 

management solution," commented 

Carlos García-Egocheaga, CEO at 

Lexsoft Systems. "Their experts took a 

consultative approach to redesign the 

workflows with us across the lifecycle 

of the knowledge documents and to 

redefine the metadata models. This 

ensures that the Knowledge Unlocked 

solution provides the most efficient 

knowledge management capabilities to 

users at Burges Salmon." 

Overall, the project has taken just 

eight months to go live with 

Knowledge Unlocked. Including initial 

preparation by a Core PSL team 

working closely with the firm's IT lead, 

Burges Salmon was able to move nearly 

20,000 knowledge documents out of 

its old knowledge management system, 

within the first month of the project. A 

careful focus on business process 

design and change management, in 

conjunction with the deployment of 

the actual technology, was key to the 

firm's rapid time to launch. 

"Given our relatively small Project 

Team, we are thrilled to be introducing 

iManage Knowledge Unlocked to 

increase support for our legal teams 

and clients in such a short space of 

time," concluded Carol Aldridge. 

More info: www.imanage.com 


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Dm ROUNDTABLE: GDPR 

Five years on: the legacy of GDPR 

DM magazine brings 

together a panel of 

industry experts for their 

insights into the state of 

play after five years of 

GDPR 

Online banking. Netflix. Even car 

parking. Technology is an allencompassing, 

unavoidable 

part of everyday life. We share our 

personal data with innumerable 

organisations on a daily basis. In fact, 

a 2022 ESG study on the strategic and 

evolving role of data governance found 

that on average approximately 35% of 

an organisation's total data contains 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 

or other sensitive data, stored across 

all areas of an organisation's IT 

infrastructure. And with ransomware 

and data breaches skyrocketing, the 

need to protect that data, and the 

necessity for data privacy regulations 

are clear. 

Even so, the introduction of the 

European Union's General Data 

Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, 

with its strict rules and hefty fines, 

sent shockwaves through the business 

world. Five years after it came into 

force, we talked to a panel of experts 

about the impact of GDPR, whether it 

can be considered a success, and what 

is next in the world of compliance. 

THE BRUSSELS EFFECT 

GDPR has been referred to as a prime 

example of the Brussels effect, where 

EU laws influence regulation beyond 

European borders. Impacting any 

organisation in any part of the world 

that deals with European individuals, 

GDPR transformed the global data 

privacy landscape, as many of our 

experts point out. Sergei Serdyuk, VP 

of product management at backup and 

ransomware recovery software vendor 

NAKIVO, highlights that it has "spurred 

global discussions around data 

protection and privacy, leading to 

more robust data protection measures 

and increasing the focus on 

transparency and accountability." 

David Norfolk, practice leader for 

development and governance at 

market research firm Bloor, describes 

GDPR as a model for other global 

regulations, saying "EU GDPR has been 

a strong catalyst for data protection 

elsewhere in the world." 

Mikkel Oxfeldt, general counsel, 

attorney-at-law at cloud data 

protection and management provider 

Keepit, agrees that GDPR has pushed 

data privacy conversations to the 

forefront globally. Five years on, he 


ROUNDTABLE: GDPR Dm 

says, "The European regulation has 

inspired data protection around the 

world and many countries have put 

privacy standards in place. These 

include countries in South America 

such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, 

and in Asia, such as Japan and South 

Korea. In Australia, the Privacy Act 

has been in place since 1988, but was 

recently amended to mirror GDPR 

concepts. GDPR has also had a strong 

influence in the US where several 

states introduced data protection 

legislation, including California with 

the California Consumer Privacy Act, 

and Colorado with the Colorado 

Consumer Protection Act. On a 

federal level, the draft American Data 

Privacy and Protection Act is another 

example of where regulation is 

heading." 

So what impact has it had on how 

organisations are run and data is 

handled? Aditya Fotedar, CIO at 

Tintri, a provider of auto adaptive, 

workload intelligent platforms, 

explains that while GDPR has ushered 

in significant changes, they are built 

upon existing regulations: "GDPR was 

a progression on the existing EU 

privacy laws, main changes being the 

sub processor contractual clauses, 

right to forget, and size of the fines. 

That being said, we had to review 

internal procedures and ensure DPAs 

(Data Processing Agreements) were 

signed with all our vendors and 

service providers and ensure 

compliance. Most of the data centre 

products deployed already had the 

capability to handle the pieces 

required to get compliant. We had to 

ensure that adequate procedures 

were in place around these to ensure 

compliance." 

BASELINES TO TABLE STAKES 

When it comes to purchasing and 

deploying new technology in the data 

centre, the introduction of GDPR has 

moved compliance and security up 

the pecking order. Paul Speciale, CMO 

at software-defined storage and data 

management organisation Scality, 

points out that "GDPR has made some 

capabilities that were previously 

considered 'baselines' as mandatory 

'table stakes' now in data storage." In 

other words, they are seen as the 

minimum requirement. In particular, 

he explains "Businesses now more 

carefully evaluate the following 

capabilities when making purchase 

decisions: data encryption, data 

minimisation, strong access controls, 

real time monitoring and alerting, 

and data retention policies. We base 

this observation on empirical data, 

since the requirements for these 

capabilities have become much more 

prevalent in customer RFPs in the 

enterprise and in the public sector." 

Bruce Kornfeld, chief marketing and 

product officer at edge data company 

StorMagic agrees: "StorMagic has 

seen a significant uptick in end user 

customers choosing to encrypt all 

data at rest. This brings with it some 

other complications - like the need to 

manage all the encryption keys; 

there's been growth in enterprise key 

management software due to this." 

Finally, Oxfeldt suggests that GDPR 

has influenced the choice of third 

party providers. Under GDPR, 

companies are responsible for the 

data they share with third parties. He 

explains: "Businesses that collect 

personal data are liable for privacy 

violations by third parties and should 

ensure that the vendors processing 

that data are GDPR compliant. 

Therefore, companies may prefer to 

contract with large technology 

providers as they are better 

positioned to fulfil GDPR legal 

requirements, which could, 

potentially, give big tech companies 

an advantage over smaller 

businesses." 

THE COST OF COMPLIANCE 

Gartner has predicted that, on 

average, a large organisation's annual 

budget for privacy will exceed $2.5 

million by 2024. We asked our experts 

why and how data privacy 

requirements have impacted IT 

budgets. Serdyuk explains that the 

impact depends on the organisation's 

level of readiness for compliance, 

with GDPR creating new IT-related 

expenses, notably updating the data 

protection inventory: "On top of that, 

organisations are required to invest 

more in data management and 

protection solutions, privacy 

technologies, and compliance 

personnel." 

Tsvetomira Godinova, senior 

compliance specialist at cyber 

protection vendor Acronis, points to 

the demands on internal resources: 

"Quite often organisations don't have 

an internal capacity to align all 

business processes and should invest 

in external consultancy. Fast-paced 

regulatory developments necessitate 

constant monitoring." 

Kornfeld highlights that GDPR has 

negatively impacted service providers' 

ability to find new customers since 

many choose not to accept the use of 

cookies and/or privacy agreements 

that allow marketing targeting. 

Serdyuk adds that it "… can have 

undesirable effects on customer 

experience. One example is the GDPR 

consent form, which is meant to be 

advantageous for users but still feels 

annoying." 

However, the additional cost is 

balanced by improved security, 

improved processes, and data quality. 

Norfolk points out that "GDPR 

compliance is a cost, but it also 

encourages people to think about 

data, which encourages quality - a 

benefit." According to Oxfeldt, GDPR 

is undoubtedly worth the cost: "Aside 

from a fear of incurring fines, there 

are other reasons why GDPR 

compliance is a good investment, 

including mitigating the impact of 

data breaches and generating and 

maintaining customer trust. Saying 

that, there's no question that another 

important motivation to increase IT 

budgets is the fear that noncompliance 

with GDPR will lead to 

hefty fines, loss of customers, loss of 

revenue or reputational damage." 




17

Dm ROUNDTABLE: GDPR 

"STORMAGIC DOESN'T SEE THIS TREND SLOWING DOWN. THE CHANGE 

THAT WE'LL SEE IS THAT INNOVATION WILL KICK IN AND THERE WILL BE 

MORE AND MORE MARKETING COMPANIES FINDING NEW WAYS TO 

TARGET USERS, WHILE STILL COMPLYING WITH GDPR AND OTHER SIMILAR 

DATA PRIVACY REGULATIONS." - BRUCE KORNFELD, STORMAGIC 

THE VERDICT 

In 2020, two years after GDPR came 

into effect, an EU progress report 

described its implementation as a 

success. The regulation has been 

criticised by watchdogs, experts, and 

activists notably for its ability to tackle 

major Big Tech cases. This year, the 

European Commission will propose a 

new law to further specify procedural 

rules around GDPR enforcement in 

cross-border cases. Five years and 1,640 

fines totalling €2,781,943,873 later, we 

asked our experts to cast their votes: in 

their opinions, has GDPR been a 

success, a failure, or something in 

between? 

Did GDPR meet its established goals? 

Acronis' Godinova explains, "The GDPR 

preamble provides the main purposes 

for the adoption of the act, and it 

stresses the right to the protection of 

personal data as one of the 

fundamental human rights. Also, the 

regulation should contribute to the 

accomplishment of an area of freedom, 

security, and justice and of an economic 

union; to economic and social progress; 

to the strengthening and the 

convergence of the economies within 

the internal market, and to the wellbeing 

of natural persons." 

"We can say that GDPR did more or 

less manage to achieve its first goal," 

Godinova continues. "The introduction 

of the regulation led to increased 

awareness about privacy as a human 

right. GDPR's wide territorial 

applicability, as well as the fierce fines 

foreseen, toned up the public debate 

about data protection. The connection 

between the second main goal and 

GDPR is less visible. We can't necessarily 

say that the regulation had a significant 

impact on accomplishing an area of 

freedom, security, and justice and of an 

economic union." 

Bryan Betts, principal analyst at 

Freeform Dynamics, expands: "More 

success than failure but yes, in-between. 

Success because it's greatly raised the 

profile and awareness of data privacy, 

with few organisations unaware of the 

issues now. And its general moresuccess-than-failure 

status is shown by 

how many jurisdictions around the 

world have subsequently adopted 

similar regulations." 

Serdyuk states: "GDPR has tackled a 

long-standing problem. For that alone, 

GDPR can be considered a success. 

However, when you are a trailblazer, you 

should expect some stumbling blocks 

along the way." 

One of these stumbling blocks is 

complexity. Godinova describes the 

introduction of GDPR as a "painful 

process" for both the private and public 

sectors, explaining that "on the 

enforcement level, some local 

supervisory authorities needed time to 

develop the required expertise. Some 

are unfortunately still operating with 

few resources." 

According to ESG, "complexity of 

regulations to follow" was the second 

most frequently cited challenge that 

organisations face when implementing 

and managing data governance 

initiatives. Over a third (36%) of 

respondents cited this as a challenge. 

"Excessive amount of data to manage, 

limits data intelligence capabilities" was 

the most frequently cited challenge 

(37%). Other significant hurdles 

included "too many different data 

governance applications/technologies to 

manage" (35%), and the "lack of unified 

data governance solutions" (30%). The 

"number of regulations to follow" was a 

challenge for 27% of respondents. 

Scality's Speciale says "The biggest 

challenge is in truly understanding the 

rules about what PII can be retained and 

what cannot. In our own business we 

started out being overly conservative by 


ROUNDTABLE: GDPR Dm 

"GDPR HAS MADE SOME CAPABILITIES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED 

'BASELINES' AS MANDATORY 'TABLE STAKES' NOW IN DATA STORAGE. 

BUSINESSES NOW MORE CAREFULLY EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING 

CAPABILITIES WHEN MAKING PURCHASE DECISIONS: DATA ENCRYPTION, 

DATA MINIMISATION, STRONG ACCESS CONTROLS, REAL TIME MONITORING 

AND ALERTING, AND DATA RETENTION POLICIES."- PAUL SPECIALE, SCALITY 

actually purging lots of data about 

sales prospects that we were not sure 

were 'opt in'. Now, as we understand 

the rules better there is more clarity 

that we can store PII for prospective 

customers that are deemed to have a 

'legitimate interest' in our solutions." 

Betts adds that "There's quite a lot of 

misunderstanding and 

misinterpretation, with organisations 

using data privacy as their excuse for 

awkward and non-transparent 'security' 

and consent processes." 

There are bigger challenges however, 

as Randy Kerns, senior strategist and 

analyst at IT analyst firm Evaluator 

Group, points out: "From a regulation 

standpoint, yes this has forced a 

change but that turned out to be less 

impactful than first thought. From an 

individual standpoint, I don't think they 

see much difference. I believe 

individuals see that their data privacy is 

a bigger issue with exfiltration in cyberattacks." 

WHAT NEXT? 

Our experts agree it is inevitable that 

data privacy regulations will continue to 

become standardised across the globe. 

Oxfeldt says: "As the number of privacy 

regulations will continue to grow across 

the globe, Gartner has predicted that 

by the end of 2024 the majority of the 

world's population will have its personal 

data covered by privacy regulations." 

And this growth in regulation will lead 

to more innovation and creativity. 

According to Kornfeld, "StorMagic 

doesn't see this trend slowing down. 

The change that we'll see is that 

innovation will kick in and there will be 

more and more marketing companies 

finding new ways to target users, while 

still complying with GDPR and other 

similar data privacy regulations." 

Godinova agrees, saying that end 

users are expecting "more secure and 

privacy-friendly processing from the 

organisations. These elevated 

expectations are impelling the more 

mature companies to re-think GDPR 

and similar data protection obligations. 

The implementation of the 

requirements can be seen not just as a 

compliance burden but as a means for 

competitive business advantage based 

on building trust towards one's 

customers." 

ESG's senior analyst Christophe 

Bertrand points to the opportunities for 

data management companies: "I expect 

to see more intelligent data 

management capabilities across 

traditional data protection vendors, 

where they become a key component 

of the compliance apparatus." 

For Kerns, security must be today's 

priority: "GDPR has been dealt with and 

is not an ongoing concern for IT. Cyberattacks 

with protection of data is the 

more pressing issue." Speciale agrees: 

"Data security remains the top priority 

for our customers and on our own 

product roadmap for the foreseeable 

future (especially as the 

ransomware/malware threat persists)." 

Curtis Anderson, software architect at 

Panasas, a provider of data solutions 

for high-performance and AI 

applications, summarises: "In essence, 

GDPR sets consequences for bad 

behaviour by otherwise law-abiding 

online organisations, while for data 

theft and espionage we need ways to 

actually prevent bad behaviour by lawbreaking 

organisations." 

But, whether or not GDPR has been 

dealt with, it is clear that it has 

changed the conversation around data 

privacy and had a far-reaching and 

long-lasting impact. Let's leave the final 

word to Tintri's Fotedar: "The paradox 

of privacy continues - we want to 

share our data but do not want you to 

process it." DM 




19

Dm OPINION: PHYSICAL STORAGE 

Let's get physical 

Nigel Dews, Managing Director at Restore Records 

Management, highlights six myths about physical 

data storage that he says deserve to be busted 

In the fast-paced realm of data 

management, one topic continues to 

spark debates and misconceptions - 

physical data storage. But we've got a 

bone to pick. 

When ill-informed opinions surface, 

claiming that physical data is irrelevant 

and records management services 

belong to a bygone era, we can't help 

but feel the need to set the record 

straight. The reality is very different. 

Digital transformation can deliver 

fantastic benefits for businesses which 

have the time and finances to achieve 

it. Going digital is a credible aim. 

But it's not always as easy as it sounds. 

And in the real world, digital and 

physical often live side by side, 

complementing each other. 

That's why we've launched a new 

campaign to 'Show Physical Data Some 

Respect'. Our goal is simple yet 

powerful: to dismantle the 

misconceptions that shroud physical 

data and the modern records 

management industry. 

Through this enlightening journey, we 

aim to deliver answers, insight, and 

clarity, proving once and for all that 

physical data is anything but a relic of 

the past. 

MYTH 1: The physical storage industry is 

living in the past 

As soon as you talk about physical data 

there will be someone somewhere 

dismissing it as outdated and living in 

the past: the dinosaur of data. But that 

couldn't be further from the truth. 

Millions of businesses around the 

world still store their records on paper 

and it isn't going away any time soon. 

What many people have missed, is 

that physical records storage has grown 

up. Technology has allowed the industry 

to scan documents on demand, to 

assign secure destruction dates to data 

and to tag, index and label every single 

file so that customers know what they 

are keeping in every box they store. 

It has also allowed physical records to 

be managed online so they can be 

accessed 24/7 and provided safety 

controls to protect documents - from 

CCTV to humidity controls. 

In short, businesses which outsource 

records storage can become more 

compliant by understanding what 

information they are storing. And it's 

only once you understand what you 

have that it's possible consider what 

could or should be digitised. Finally 

ready to join the road to digital. 

Far from being 'digital deniers' 

standing against the tide of technology, 

records management experts 

understand the direction of travel - but 

also understand there are different ways 

to get there. 

MYTH 2: It's really easy for businesses to 

go digital 

A Deloitte report once revealed that 

70% of all digital transformation 

projects in organisations fail - and 

there's a long list of reasons why. 

One of the biggest is finance, because 

it requires a significant budget to 

achieve - and many businesses find 

that scanning every document simply 

isn't financially viable. Other reasons 

include: 



OPINION: PHYSICAL STORAGE Dm 

"NOBODY IS SUGGESTING THAT GOING DIGITAL ISN'T A GOOD THING. FOR THOSE WHO CAN ACHIEVE IT, THERE 

ARE SOME SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS FROM DOING SO. BUT IT'S NOW POSSIBLE TO HAVE MANY OF THOSE SAME 

BENEFITS WHEN DOCUMENTS ARE STORED PHYSICALLY… THE DEBATE SHOULD BE ABOUT ORGANISATIONS 

FINDING THE BALANCE AND WORKING OUT WHAT SUITS THEM BEST - AND MAKING SURE THAT THE SOLUTION 

MEETS THEIR REQUIREMENTS." 

There's a lack of digital skills in the 

business 

They have no strategy around how 

to do it 

Tech issues derail the project 

They aren't set up properly to 

handle the change 

Poor management 

A deep culture of using paper 

which proves hard to shift 

The board didn't succeed in getting 

the buy-in of employees to make 

the new system work 

All these reasons often lead 

businesses to make a completely viable 

decision not to go 'entirely' digital, 

and to keep physical storage as part of 

their records management mix. 

MYTH 3: There are no barriers to 

going fully digital 

Not true. There are still laws in some 

sectors - which require businesses to 

generate and keep documents on 

paper. 

And there are still some significant 

reasons - cultural, financial and legal - 

why many businesses have not yet 

gone digital. 

This is why physical and digital living 

side by side can be so effective, and 

we should acknowledge that for many 

businesses (perhaps even a majority of 

them) this is the system best suited to 

them right now. 

MYTH 4: Physical storage is always 

second best 

Nobody is suggesting that going 

digital isn't a good thing. For those 

who can achieve it, there are some 

significant benefits from doing so. 

But it's now possible to have many of 

those same benefits when documents 

are stored physically. 

These documents are still easily 

accessible, still safe and still secure. 

But this often gets lost in the narrative 

that digital is always king. 

The debate should be about 

organisations finding the balance and 

working out what suits them best - 

and making sure that the solution 

meets their requirements. There are 

ways of optimising a physical 

inventory which are affordable and 

achievable. 

MYTH 5: Physical storage is on its way 

out very soon 

The 'paperless' dream has been a long 

time coming and most industries are 

nowhere near it. 

In the NHS, for instance, we estimate 

there are still 100 million records 

stored in physical form in the UK 

alone. 

Of course, all these businesses would 

benefit from digital transformation 

but equally they are limited by 

legislation and culture. 

This is one of the reasons that 'paperlite' 

has emerged as a serious 

alternative to 'paperless'. 

Organisations have started to talk 

about progress rather than focusing 

on being fully digital. And this can 

often mean keeping paper as part of 

the mix. 

We are seeing examples of this all 

the time, including in government 

departments such as the Land 

Registry. So, it's time we talked more 

openly about how to optimise hybrid 

records management systems and give 

physical data a voice. 

MYTH 6: Digitisation will lead to 

savings 

Once again, this one doesn't ring true. 

If businesses digitise all their data and 

keep nothing on paper, then they can 

save on physical storage - but they 

may also have to keep the original for 

a period of time, for legal reasons. 

In addition, the cost of scanning in 

the first place means it will take a long 

time to feel that benefit. And if you 

plan to keep a paper 'backup' then 

that adds another twist to the story. 

Significant cost savings can, 

however, be made by reducing the 

amount of boxes you store, securely 

destroying anything that is past its 

retention date - and scanning files 

which are required most often. 

The good news is, as the largest UKowned 

records management company, 

you can count on us to do exactly 

that, saving you money, time, and 

space. 

A hybrid model in which paper 

storage is optimised and the mostrequested 

files are scanned delivers 

the same end user experience as 

digitising all legacy paper records by 

ensuring fast retrieval of records, 

improved compliance, and greater 

transparency of your overall records 

solution. 

So, wherever you are in your digital 

transformation journey, can we agree 

to give physical data the respect it 

deserves? 

More info: www.restore.co.uk/Records 




21

Dm RESEARCH: COMPLIANCE 

80% of companies have compliance concerns 

New survey from Hornetsecurity suggests growing impact of compliance 

concerns amid a lack of automated solutions 

their organisation. 

2 in 10 respondents (21.6%) 

claimed compliance regulations 

prevent their organisations from 

storing data in the cloud. 

'Lack of trust' (42.2%) and 'hard 

requirement data on-premises' 

(37.8%) were the most commonly 

cited reasons for not storing data in 

the cloud. 

Nearly 4 in 5 organisations are 

more concerned about 

compliance than they were five 

years ago, with the burden falling on 

the IT department in more than half 

(57%) of businesses, according to a 

new survey conducted by cybersecurity 

software provider Hornetsecurity. 

Worryingly, 69% of respondents said 

that compliance has a 'moderate' to 

'extreme' impact on their IT 

department's operations, and 1 in 8 

companies (13%) said they couldn't 

confirm that they were compliant with 

required controls. 

The findings of more than 200 

respondents, from CIOs to system 

administrators, revealed that despite 

this widespread concern, 37.5% of 

organisations don't have a dedicated 

compliance officer, and 1 in 8 have 

been penalised for non-compliance 

with regulations. 

Just one-fifth of respondents said they 

use an automated system for 

compliance, with nearly 40% relying on 

time consuming manual processes. 

Even when using compliance features, 

like those present in Microsoft 365, 

there are problems; over half (52%) 

cited 'Lack of internal knowledge' and 

44% said 'complexity' causes issues, 

both of which can jeopardise effective 

data protection and compliance with 

laws and regulations. More than 80% 

of respondents said their organisation 

would gain 'moderate' to 'extreme' 

benefit from a new, easier compliance 

management tool. 

Commenting on the findings 

Hornetsecurity CEO Daniel Hofmann 

said: "This new survey should be a 

wake-up call for businesses. The fact 

that more than half of companies are 

hindering the day-to-day work of IT 

departments through lack of 

compliance staff and policies is a huge 

concern. It confirms our suspicion that 

there's a widespread need for easy-touse, 

effective compliance management 

solutions to enable companies to 

streamline data management and 

reduce the risk of data loss." 

CLOUD PROBLEMS 

Unfortunately, the survey findings also 

revealed that cloud storage was a 

major issue when it comes to 

compliance. 

 

1 in 3 respondents (33.3%) said a 

'lack of effective reporting and 

auditing tools' is a reason the cloud 

cannot be used to store data in 

To address the mounting challenges 

faced by IT teams, Hornetsecurity has 

created a way for any-sized companies 

to alleviate compliance burdens with its 

next-gen all-in-one email security, 

backup, compliance and security 

awareness solution for Microsoft 365, 

365 Total Protection. Additional value 

is added by coupling this with 

Hornetsecurity's newly launched 365 

Permission Manager, which delivers 

effortless permissions management, 

enabling administrators to control 

Microsoft 365 permissions, enforce 

compliance policies, and monitor 

violations in SharePoint Online and 

OneDrive for Business. 

Hofmann added: "Hornetsecurity's 

offerings for M365 helps to deliver 

easy-to-use and effective security, 

backup, compliance and governance 

solutions for organisations. For 

example, the ease of file-storage and 

file-sharing in SharePoint Online and 

OneDrive for Business can quickly 

create a compliance headache for 

administrators. Our solutions assist 

business leaders to work in line with 

regulations, and importantly, it frees up 

time and responsibility for IT teams to 

focus on their essential tasks." 

The full survey report can be 

downloaded from the following link: 

www.hornetsecurity.com/en/securityinformation/it-cybersecuritycompliance-survey/. 

More info: www.hornetsecurity.com 


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This scanner incorporates the unique Clear Image Capture, 

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for further information or call us on +44 (0) 118 989 3771

Dm INTERVIEW: DATAWIN 

A new middleweight champion? 

DM magazine editor David Tyler spoke to DATAWIN CEO 

Johannes Boerboom about the company's newest scanner 

offering, the SCAMAX 3x1 

David Tyler: Who would be the 

likely target market for your new 

device - in terms of both the 

customer and the types of application? 

Johannes Boerboom: The SCAMAX 3x1 

is aimed at all those seeking to digitise 

comparatively small daily document 

volumes in the three- to five-digit 

range with the quality, reliability and 

functionalities of a high-end 

production scanner - but without 

'cracking a nut with a sledgehammer': 

whether in the archive, in the 

mailroom or in the scanning service. 

Moreover, it caters specifically to 

organisations that prioritise ESG 

criteria. In other words, the SCAMAX 

3x1 is an ideal choice for users who 

wish to purchase scanners produced 

sustainably and ethically in the Western 

world, or for those who have internal 

tender criteria that explicitly require 

ESG-compliance. 

Even if they are confronted with 'only' 

three- to five-figure daily volumes, 

these people need top-notch work 

equipment: genuine production 

scanners - robust, fail-safe, durable, 

user-friendly. Scanners with all the 

qualities and functionalities that 

state-of-the-art digitisation 

offers and demands. In 

today's world, no 

company or authority 

can afford to settle for 

inferior, slow, or 

unreliable document 

digitisation. 

DT: You've described 

the SCAMAX 3x1 as 

the new 

"middleweight 

champion": 

what does 

that really mean? 

JB: Firstly, the SCAMAX 3x1 stands out 

as the sole authentic production 

scanner in its segment following the 

discontinuation of the 

SCAMAX 4x3. It 

possesses 24/7 

DT: So, you are primarily targeting the 

mid-volume production scanner 

market? 

JB: Yes - but more than that, we are 

redefining it. Don't take that as a 

marketing platitude. The still 

widespread assumption that any feed 

scanner with a nominal throughput of 

around 100 sheets per minute 

automatically qualifies as a true 

production scanner, and thus is 

capable of reliably processing medium 

medium-sized daily volumes, is 

completely outdated. 

Labelling a scanner as a "production 

scanner" solely on the basis of its 

theoretical scanning speed is simply 

ignoring the reality of the people who 

spend their days working in archives, 

mailrooms and digitisation centres. 

24 




INTERVIEW: DATAWIN Dm 

endurance, exceptional durability, and 

a service life of 10 years or more. Our 

expectations for genuine production 

scanning surpass those of our 

competitors. 

Furthermore, the SCAMAX 3x1 boasts 

unique features specific to the midvolume 

segment. For instance, it offers 

automatic, event-controlled document 

sorting. It also delivers image quality 

that adheres to the FADGI (3 Star) and 

ISO 19264-1 (Level B) guidelines. Such 

standardised image quality is not only 

essential for digitising cultural 

assets but also ensures 

reliable OCR and 

significantly enhances 

process efficiency. 

Superior image quality 

translates to fewer rescans 

and post-processing steps. 

Additionally, the scanner 

provides an enjoyable user 

experience, starting from its 18 

cm touch display, intuitive 

operation, and even tool-free 

cleaning. 

DT: In your production 

scanner portfolio the 

new 3x1 series replaces the 4x3 series, 

which had become known to your 

customer base as "The Classic". Why 

take such a successful product off the 

market? 

JB: Simply because we can now offer a 

product that is even better at nearly 

the same conditions, and with 

additional features that have proven to 

be a huge benefit for users over the 

years. Although the SCAMAX 3x1 

replaces the 4x3 in our portfolio, we 

consider it a little brother of the 

SCAMAX 6x1, rather than a direct 

descendant of the SCAMAX 4x3. 

It combines the 24/7 DNA and 

numerous premium functionalities of 

the top tabletop unit in the world with 

even smaller unit dimensions and even 

more favourable conditions. We are 

convinced that this is exactly what the 

market will need in the upcoming years 

in order to scan qualitatively and costefficiently. 

Nevertheless, in case 

someone can't or doesn't want to part 

with their 4x3, the service for "The 

Classic" is of course still guaranteed for 

years to come. 

DT: The new scanner looks set to be 

the most cost-effective in the InoTec 

portfolio. Does this mean that InoTec is 

entering the 'price war' that is being 

fought especially in the mid-volume 

market? 

JB: Cost efficiency is generally a 

significant selection criterion in our 

market. Therefore, we are always 

engaged in this price competition and 

with every unit that we offer. If you 

take a closer look, we usually come out 

on top. However, this does not apply 

to the initial purchase price, as our 

products are manufactured to a high 

standard of quality. 

Yet it is precisely this quality that 

results in a low total cost of ownership 

(TCO) for our scanners, which cannot 

be achieved with cheaper devices. Of 

course, the long service life of our 

devices has a particularly strong impact 

here, but so does their energy 

efficiency, the minimal use of wear 

parts, and the ability to perform basic 

maintenance without the need for a 

technician. An often-overlooked factor, 

even in elaborate TCO calculations, is 

that every minute your production 

scanner is down, it costs you money. In 

a scanning service environment this is 




25

Dm INTERVIEW: DATAWIN 

"THE STILL WIDESPREAD ASSUMPTION THAT ANY FEED SCANNER WITH A NOMINAL THROUGHPUT OF AROUND 

100 SHEETS PER MINUTE AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFIES AS A TRUE PRODUCTION SCANNER, AND THUS IS 

CAPABLE OF RELIABLY PROCESSING MEDIUM MEDIUM-SIZED DAILY VOLUMES, IS COMPLETELY OUTDATED. 

LABELLING A SCANNER AS A 'PRODUCTION SCANNER' SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF ITS THEORETICAL SCANNING 

SPEED IS SIMPLY IGNORING THE REALITY OF THE PEOPLE WHO SPEND THEIR DAYS WORKING IN ARCHIVES, 

MAILROOMS AND DIGITISATION CENTRES." 

obvious, but it also consumes resources 

within companies or government 

entities when a scanner fails to perform 

its intended function. So yes, we also 

want to score points on cost 

efficiency but not in a flashy and 

short-term way - in a sustainable 

way. 

DT: So a focus on low TCO is at 

the forefront of your 

developments? 

JB: Absolutely, yes - alongside 

product quality and userfriendliness 

because they directly 

determine the low TCO. For 

example: process costs are 

among the direct costs in the 

TCO calculation. A fundamental 

aspect of the elementary process in 

production scanning is document 

preparation, which is done manually 

and thus causes personnel costs. 

For example, many tenders state that 

torn or crumpled documents must be 

glued or copied before scanning, 

but that costs a lot of 

time. Our solution 

was to develop a paper feeder and 

transport system that safely processes 

even damaged documents without any 

pre-processing. The exact amount of 

staff, time, and money that can be 

saved by such optimisations is not 

always easy to determine in theory - but 

it can be reliably experienced in practice. 

Therefore, we always recommend 

extensive test setups that are long 

enough to provide information about 

the true TCO of a production scanner. 

DT: What our readers will be most keen 

to learn is: when and where will the 

SCAMAX 3x1 be launched, and when 

can it be purchased? And what else do 

you have in the pipeline? 

JB: We and our sales partners all over 

the world are currently accepting preorders. 

The first series of deliveries is 

scheduled for the fourth quarter of this 

year. Then by the start of 2024 another 

new product will be ready for series 

production: the SCAMAX Sorter with up 

to 4 storage compartments, which can 

be added to the SCAMAX 3x1 and 6x1 

models. The sorter divides documents 

up to DIN A3 at the speed of 210ppm. 

All existing sorting events are supported: 

patch code, bar code, length, double 

feed, counter, and especially the full 

page analysis (DIN A4/letter), e.g. for 

bar code detection. Furthermore, sorting 

based on a database is possible (CSV 

file). We presented the sorter for the 

first time at our Partner Day in summer, 

and our distributors were absolutely 

blown away! You can already find some 

demo videos online. 

More info: www.inotec.eu 



Seamless connections for 

better business decisions 

Summit 

Learn more about Hyland Summit > 

Join Hyland in London on October 10 to discover how 

we help our customers connect content, data and 

processes, enabling them to get the right information to 

the right people, when and where they need it.

Dm MANAGEMENT: RPA 

RPA: bridging the gaps 

Brian DeWyer, CTO and 

co-founder of Reveille 

Software, explains that 

RPA is rarely a simple 

plug-and-play solution; 

rather there are 

management, 

operational and 

governance concerns to 

address 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 

has revolutionised the way 

businesses operate by automating 

routine and mundane tasks. It has 

provided organisations with the ability to 

save time and resources while increasing 

accuracy and productivity. 

Historically RPA exists to automate 

repetitive mundane tasks reliant upon 

manual access to Intranet, ERP, CRM, A/P, 

and HR applications. More recently RPA 

can extract information from digital 

content stored in document repositories 

or captured during content capture 

processing. A successful RPA 

implementation returns improved process 

efficiency, better data accuracy, and a 

lower cost point. 

RPA's use cases are vast, including - but 

not limited to - automating invoice 

processing, payroll processing, claims 

processing and more. Because RPA does 

not require users to have low-level 

programming or coding skills, there may 

be misconceptions about the necessity 

of oversight for these processes. 

However, despite the 

benefits, it's not as 

simple as 'plug 

and play' and then continue to scale 

robots. Let's dive into the management, 

operational, and governance gaps your 

organisation may have when it comes to 

managing your growing digital 

workforce. 

A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK 

Effective RPA platform management is a 

critical component of managing RPA 

platforms to help ensure that RPA is used 

appropriately and effectively within an 

organisation. The platform management 

gap in running an RPA environment refers 

to the lack of a comprehensive framework 

for actively managing RPA. This includes 

the roles, responsibilities, and processes 

associated with RPA operation, 

support, and oversight. 

This framework 

should also cover 

basic items 

such 



MANAGEMENT: RPA Dm 

as change management, incident 

management, and service level 

agreements. To have appropriate 

management, you need comprehensive 

insight into your RPA program. This 

will include: 

 

Performance metrics: Performance 

metrics such as robot utilisation, 

throughput, cycle time, error rates, 

and cost savings. 

Robot target applications: Service 

level information for the applications 

the robots are automating; such as 

application availability, performance, 

and service levels. 

 

Operational insight: Visibility into 

how the RPA platform is operating, 

such as RPA platform uptime, RPA 

database health, and system error 

rates. 

Insight into these areas is critical for 

effectively managing and optimising the 

RPA program's performance and 

effectiveness. Without active 

performance, robot, or operational 

insight, managing RPA platforms involves 

too much guesswork. 

WILL IT SCALE? 

Governance and oversight refer to the 

set of rules, processes, and controls put 

in place to manage and oversee the 

implementation, operation, and 

maintenance of RPA initiatives within an 

organisation. This certainly includes the 

scalability of your RPA program; the 

ability of an RPA program to handle an 

increasing number of processes, 

transactions, and users without 

compromising performance, reliability, 

or oversight. 

In terms of governance, oversight, and 

scalability, here are some key questions 

to consider regarding your RPA program: 

Is RPA scalability hindered by 

supporting RPA infrastructure? 

Is RPA scalability hindered by how 

your RPA platforms are currently 

managed? 

Are some RPA automated processes 

at a level of complexity that require 

additional resources? 

Is your RPA integrated with capacity 

limited legacy systems? 

How will you know who has made 

changes or updates to the RPA 

environment? 

As the RPA program grows, the risks 

associated with RPA - such as data 

privacy, security, and compliance risks - 

also increase, which requires effective 

governance and oversight to manage. 

Understanding who has administratorlevel 

control to manage and change the 

RPA configuration and access becomes 

increasingly important given the 

business-critical applications touched 

by robots. 

WHO HAS OVERSIGHT? 

While RPA platforms can deliver rapid 

impact, they do not easily adapt to 

changes in the target applications. 

Updates, new versions, or replaced 

target applications that are key to a 

robotic process will result in a failure or 

even worse - incorrect data. Error 

management of RPA automations is 

typically a challenge at scale. All of this 

points to the need for an effective 

governance and oversight framework for 

RPA programs to abide by. 

As your RPA program matures, proper 

planning, management, and tools will 

reduce your RPA programs operating risk 

driven by gaps in RPA platform 

management and governance. Gaining 

control over your RPA program not only 

mitigates risk but ensures the most ROI 

from your RPA investment. 

Market solutions can provide agentless 

management capabilities to ensure the 

continued health and productivity of 

those RPA platforms. This ultimately 

allows organisations to have that 

comprehensive framework to actively 

manage roles, responsibilities, and 

processes associated with RPA. Alongside 

the ability to manage robots at scale, 

know performance, and have automated 

notification when issues occur. 

More info: www.reveillesoftware.com 

"WHILE RPA PLATFORMS CAN DELIVER 

RAPID IMPACT, THEY DO NOT EASILY 

ADAPT TO CHANGES IN THE TARGET 

APPLICATIONS. UPDATES, NEW 

VERSIONS, OR REPLACED TARGET 

APPLICATIONS THAT ARE KEY TO A 

ROBOTIC PROCESS WILL RESULT IN A 

FAILURE OR EVEN WORSE - INCORRECT 

DATA. ERROR MANAGEMENT OF RPA 

AUTOMATIONS IS TYPICALLY A 

CHALLENGE AT SCALE. ALL OF THIS 

POINTS TO THE NEED FOR AN 

EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE AND 

OVERSIGHT FRAMEWORK FOR RPA 

PROGRAMS TO ABIDE BY." 




29

Dm STRATEGY: SCANNING 

It's time to rethink your scanning operation 

Scott Maurer, President of 

OPEX International, 

explains how the newest 

technologies can help to 

reduce document prep 

and labour costs, while 

improving the efficiency 

of your scan environment 

Traditional high-speed document 

scanning requires extensive prep, 

lots of labour, and often involves 

considerable scanner downtime while 

waiting for documents to be prepped. 

The latest evolution of document 

scanners faces these challenges head-on 

and delivers substantial improvement in 

productivity. Here's what you need to 

know to scale up your scanning 

performance. 

When was the last time you examined 

your scanning operations? If you haven't 

done so in a while, you may be surprised 

by what you would discover about 

improving your speed, efficiency, and 

ultimately your profitability with the right 

combination of workflow changes 

matched with the right scanning 

equipment. New technology innovations 

are opening the door to new levels of 

efficiency that overturn traditional models 

of process productivity. Here are three key 

areas you should audit on a regular basis: 

your document prep workflow, labour 

costs, and scanner runtime efficiency. 

DOCUMENT PREP 

Let's first look at common practice 

utilised in many scanning workflows. One 

cannot overemphasise the importance of 

the proper preparation of documents and 

financial records to facilitate quick and 

accurate capture of digital documents. 


STRATEGY: SCANNING Dm 

"THE DOCUMENT PREP STAGE REQUIRES AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF LABOUR BUT FINDING QUALITY EMPLOYEES 

TODAY CANNOT BE ASSUMED. WHEN YOUR INTENSIVE PREPPING PROCESS REQUIRES THAT YOU ALWAYS MUST HAVE 

ENOUGH EMPLOYEES ON HAND, IT RAISES THE STAKES AND EXPENSE OF YOUR RECRUITING EFFORTS, WHICH OFTEN 

MEANS INCREASED OVERHEAD COSTS IN HR. COMPANIES OF ALL TYPES, INCLUDING SCANNING OPERATIONS, ARE 

FACING THE FACT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD THAT THE OLD METHOD OF RELYING ON A READILY AVAILABLE POOL OF 

LOW-COST LABOUR IS A THING OF THE PAST." 

This time-consuming and monotonous 

process - commonly known as 

"document prep" - has been widely 

accepted in the banking, mortgage, 

revenue, and insurance industries as a 

necessary cost of doing business. 

Paper documents from mortgage, 

insurance or legal files are quite diverse 

in size, format and condition, requiring 

lots of extra handling and slow 

operational throughput. Examples 

include letter- and legal-sized 

documents paper clipped and stapled, 

envelopes of varying sizes, business 

cards, Post-it notes, torn and tattered 

sheets, carbon copies, NCR forms, 

historic documents printed on onion 

skin-type paper, and critical original 

documents like cheques, deeds, titles 

and surveys, many of which have been 

tri-folded to be sent through the post. 

These odd-sized, unusual-formatted, 

and critical documents cannot 

automatically be passed through a 

scanner without significant 

manipulation, making manual prescanning 

document prep a timeconsuming 

necessity. 

The document-prep process involves 

removing staples and paper-clips, taping 

torn documents, photocopying delicate 

and important papers, securing small or 

odd-shaped notes and papers onto 

larger sheets for photocopying, opening 

envelopes, unfolding, and removing 

creases from pages, inserting document 

separators, and whatever additional 

actions are needed to make these 

documents capable of being fed 

through a scanner in the right order. 

Sometimes it is even necessary to 

capture the image on a remote device 

such as a multifunction device (MFD) or 

flat-bed scanner and later, successfully 

reunite those images into the right 

documents. 

The most difficult part of prep and 

scan is balancing the talent to work on 

prepping documents with varying levels 

of complexity and getting jobs perfected 

at consistent quality levels. Good 

training is a constant battle when 

temporary or transitory labour enters the 

equation. The benefits of good 

technology working with good people is 

lost in standalone prep processes. 

LABOUR NEEDS 

The document prep stage requires an 

enormous amount of labour but 

finding quality employees today cannot 

be assumed. When your intensive 

prepping process requires that you 

always must have enough employees 

on hand, it raises the stakes and 

expense of your recruiting efforts, 

which often means increased overhead 

costs in HR. Companies of all types, 

including scanning operations, are 

facing the fact in a post-pandemic 

world that the old method of relying on 

a readily available pool of low-cost 

labour is a thing of the past. 

Even if you can find quality employees, 

you must deal with the ever-increasing 

expense of onboarding and training. 

And many companies find themselves 

spending more and more resources to 

retain the employees due to increasing 

turnover rates. The costs to 

management in interviewing, training 

and integrating new people into teams 

has its own impact on disrupted 

efficiency of day-to-day operations. 

Now, in the face of higher-cost and 

often less reliable or less productive 

labour, companies are looking at every 

means necessary to change their 

operations models wherever possible to 

reduce their dependence on staff in 

general, but especially in roles that 

require little talent. Bundled with the 

constant pressure to meet service level 

commitments, the shifting economics of 

staffing have made the ROI on 

automated solutions coupled with a core 

of quality operators, a lot more attractive. 

TIME & EFFICIENCY 

In many ways, throughput efficiency is 

dictated by the amount of manual prep 

work your employees invest to clean up 

the media so it can be scanned. 

Business process outsourcers are 

continually looking for faster and more 

cost-efficient ways to convert paper 

documents to digitised files. But often 

there is mismatch when the capacity of a 

document prep system is not able to 

keep up with the rate at which a scanner 

can receive and scan documents. 

In the processing of documents, the 

throughput capability of a scanner 

should not be focused solely on how 

fast a scanner can scan pages, but 

rather on the scanning speed combined 

with the scanner downtime while 

waiting for documents to be prepped, 

especially for complex prepping 

processes. A very fast mortgage or 

insurance document prepper can handle 

750 to 1,000 documents per hour, but 

this is no match for high-speed scanners 




31

Dm STRATEGY: SCANNING 

"BPOS ARE CONTINUALLY LOOKING FOR FASTER AND MORE COST-EFFICIENT WAYS TO CONVERT PAPER DOCUMENTS TO 

DIGITISED FILES. BUT OFTEN THERE IS MISMATCH WHEN THE CAPACITY OF A DOCUMENT PREP SYSTEM IS NOT ABLE TO 

KEEP UP WITH THE RATE AT WHICH A SCANNER CAN RECEIVE AND SCAN DOCUMENTS. IN THE PROCESSING OF 

DOCUMENTS, THE THROUGHPUT CAPABILITY OF A SCANNER SHOULD NOT BE FOCUSED SOLELY ON HOW FAST A 

SCANNER CAN SCAN PAGES, BUT RATHER ON THE SCANNING SPEED COMBINED WITH THE SCANNER DOWNTIME WHILE 

WAITING FOR DOCUMENTS TO BE PREPPED, ESPECIALLY FOR COMPLEX PREPPING PROCESSES." 

operating at 6,000 to 12,000 DPH. 

For most scanning work, a prepper 

generally handles less than 600 

documents per hour. Therefore, a more 

accurate estimate of scanning 

throughput would need to also include 

the prep time involved with preparing 

the documents for scanning. Only in this 

way can companies realistically assess 

the true performance of their document 

scanning operation. 

When the scanner must stop and wait 

for the document prep to catch up, it 

results in expensive equipment often 

sitting idle while the employees you 

hired to run it are also underutilised. 

This start-stop sequence occurs 

frequently in the scanning of 

mortgage, financial, insurance and 

legal documents. 

To improve efficiency, prepping 

documents simultaneous with scanning 

would not only increase throughput but 

would optimise labour utilisation 

resulting in reduced operational costs. 

An ideal workflow would involve 

systems that adapt to the complexity of 

the documents themselves. 

Although automated options do exist 

to reduce the high labour expense and 

excessive time associated with the 

document scanning process, until now 

there has not been a one-source 

solution for efficiently handling both 

clean documents at high speeds and 

messy documents requiring excessive 

prep work. 

Some scanning equipment 

manufacturers have embraced aspects 

of this concept, integrating varying 

levels of document prep into their 

scanners. The latest evolution in systems 

providing integration of document prep 

and scanning represents a significant 

game changer for document processors. 

A NEW PARADIGM IN SCANNING 

TECH 

Such a system has been introduced by 

OPEX Corporation, a manufacturer of 

high-speed automated sortation and 

scanning systems for mail and 

document handling. Its recently released 

OPEX Gemini scanner not only 

streamlines prepping of the widest 

range of document types, sizes, and 

conditions, but also provides a level of 

system speed flexibility beyond any prior 

system's capability. This latest 

revolutionary OPEX Gemini scanner has 

indeed ushered in a new paradigm in 

document scanning technology. 

The workflow has changed. 

Documents bypass traditional prep 

stations, and go directly to the scanner, 

where the operator performs minimal 

prep using Gemini's CertainScan 

software combined with unique feeding 

mechanisms that adapt to document 

conditions including stacks and 

individual sheets. 

Within CertainScan image clean-up, 

page recognition, indexing, and quality 

control can be done at scan time or in 

post scanning, providing options for 

balancing an organisation's staff of the 

highest quality operators. Where a 

conventional document prepping then 

scanning cycle might take four-and-ahalf 

hours (for example), now mixed 

speed scanning while prepping with a 

single operator could yield a 200-300 

percent increase in productivity. 

The OPEX Gemini scanner can handle 

both clean documents requiring little or 

no prep at high speeds, as well as messy 

documents at speeds optimised to a 

drop and feed method for items like 

folders or envelopes. The scanner 

seamlessly transitions speeds to handle 

workloads with different document 

types, adjusting to the right speed for 

scanning at maximum throughput. 

For example, operators can run clean 

stacks at high-speed rates up to 240 

pages per minute intermixed with 

difficult to prep, damaged or delicate 

documents at slower speeds. OPEX's 

dual-feeder capability and fullyconfigurable 

output bins permits 

operators to continuously stack-feed 

documents at high speeds up to three 

stacks deep, while drop-feeding messy 

single sheets without the scanner ever 

stopping. 

READY FOR THE CHALLENGE 

Document scanning is a crucial part of 

most company's business strategy of 

going digital. Taking time to make the 

assessment of your scanning processes 

against workflow, labour needs, 

management complexities, and 

efficiency are critical to improving 

productivity in your business. 

The latest evolution of document 

scanners has ushered in a new paradigm 

in scanning technology, one that 

presents an opportunity to optimise 

your document processing operations in 

the most robust ways possible for the 

challenges ahead. 

More info: www.opex.com 


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Growth. 

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• Do you want to achieve higher profits? 

• Do you want to expand your technology portfolio? 

DocuWare is what you need. Benefit from our attractive 

and lucrative partner programmes. 

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Dm MANAGEMENT: DM SYSTEMS 

What to look for when selecting a 

Document Management System 

With so many requirements and options to consider, 

choosing the right DMS can be a unique challenge. 

Pana Letsou, Head of Product at OASIS Group, 

addresses what businesses should be looking for 

More and more organisations are 

recognising the importance of 

efficiently organising, accessing, 

and collaborating on documents via a 

robust Document Management System. But 

with numerous available options out there, 

how do they choose the one that will suit 

their needs? Here are five things that 

decision makers should think about when 

selecting a DMS to automate manual tasks 

and increase productivity. 

SPECIFIC NEEDS: TAILORING SOLUTIONS TO 

REQUIREMENTS 

Every organisation has unique document 

management needs, and a one-size-fits-all 

approach may not suffice. A reliable partner 

should be willing to understand specific 

requirements and offer tailored solutions to 

address them. Whether it's compliance 

features for regulated industries, advanced 

search capabilities for large-scale document 

repositories, or custom workflows to 

streamline processes, the DMS should be 

capable of accommodating an 

organisation's needs without unnecessary 

complexity. 

SCALABILITY: GROWING WITH THE 

ORGANISATION 

As an organisation expands, so will its 

document management needs. It is vital 

that they choose a provider that can scale to 

support growth without compromising on 

performance and reliability. Scalability 

ensures that the document management 

solution remains cost-effective and 

adaptable to changing demands. 

In today's interconnected digital 

ecosystem, information silos are a particular 

obstacle to scaling up. Having a digital 

archive for all digital documents that also 

offers robust integration capabilities with 

existing systems can be a game changer. 

Similarly, a provider that offers flexible 

pricing models and ample storage options 

that grow with the business can help to 

avoid unnecessary expenses and efficiently 

accommodate evolving requirements. 

SECURITY: SAFEGUARDING THE MOST 

VALUABLE ASSETS 

Data security is of paramount importance in 

today's digital landscape. A reliable 

Document Management System provides a 

fortress of protection for digital documents 

and confidential information. A DMS isn't 

just a tool to manage documents - it's a 

vault to safeguard an organisation's most 

valuable assets. Security features such as 

role-based access controls, encryption, audit 

trails, and two-factor authentication are 

invaluable. 

In an era where data breaches and cyber 

threats loom large, the security of 

documents and sensitive information 

should be a top priority when selecting a 

DMS. 

EASE OF USE: USER-FRIENDLY INTERFACE 

AND ACCESSIBILITY 

An essential quality of an effective DMS is its 

usability. When the interface is thoughtfully 

designed with user-friendliness in mind, the 

barriers to entry are significantly lowered 

and the adoption is high. Team members 

can swiftly navigate the system, grasping its 

functionalities with ease, and make the 

most of advanced features like dynamic 

search and customisable folder structures, 

saving precious time. 

With this efficiency boost, team members 

can focus on more important tasks, driving 

productivity to higher levels. Add multidevice 

accessibility to the mix and the team 

can access documents securely from 

anywhere, whether they're in the office, at 

home, or on the go, creating an excellent 

overall user experience. 

BRAND TRUST: BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP 

When entrusting a DMS with critical 

business data, it is essential to consider 

reputation and reliability. A long-standing 

track record of successful implementations 

and a strong presence in the market are 

indicators of a trustworthy and dependable 

document management partner. 

Establishing a partnership with a trusted 

advisor who can grasp each business's 

challenges, provide valuable guidance, and 

effectively implement best practices is 

essential for a successful digital 

transformation journey. 

Choosing the right document 

management system can significantly 

impact business efficiency, security, and 

long-term success. An assessment of these 

factors will empower organisations to select 

a partnership that not only meets their 

current document management 

requirements, but will also support them 

through their entire digital transformation 

efforts and growing needs. If you have any 

questions, get in touch! OASIS Group's 

team of experts is on hand to help. 

More info: www.oasisgroup.com

DM Jul-Aug 2023

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