The potential for channel vendors to resell scanners and capture software in the MPS industry is significant. In its Managed Print Services Landscape 2018 report, Quocirca argues that MPS is a key enabler for accelerating digital transformation (DX) through digitization and workflow automation.
While many MFPs offer scan functionality in addition to core print, copy, and fax functions, it’s not always a case of one-size-box-fits-all. Dedicated scanners and capture software should also be considered as part of any MPS solution. There is a natural synergy between print and capture technology. Scanners and capture software solutions are designed to support DX strategies and have the potential to address many print-related customer concerns, including streamlining business processes, automating workflows, and ensuring the security of information. Furthermore, by boosting their portfolio with production-class scanners, resellers can extend their reach into other business areas such as the mailroom, where there is no requirement for MFPs.
Moreover, MPS providers with customers using MFPs to digitize documents could in fact be losing money. While MPS customers typically lease hardware for a fixed monthly fee and pay per page for printouts, scanning volumes are not charged on a cost-per-page basis. But maintaining the scanning component of an MFP is part and parcel of the resellers’ service support—and this can be costly.
Kodak Alaris partners report that 18 percent of support calls are scanner related and more than three-quarters (79 percent) of these require an onsite visit to fix. On average it costs an MPS supplier $197 per call-out to fix a scanner-related issue, and with service revenue as low as $28 per device (black and white) a month, the losses can add up very quickly.
Working More Efficiently
With an MFP, it takes time to scan multiple pages one at a time. In fact, scanning a 10-page document on an MFP typically takes 67 seconds—it normally takes a lot less time on a dedicated scanner. And while the MFP is scanning, it prevents others that need to print or copy from working efficiently.
Furthermore, MFPs and scanners have different features for saving scanned images. For example, entry-level MFPs offer basic send-to options, while others enable documents to be directly scanned into applications such as SharePoint. Best-in-class scanners come with standard drivers and software to integrate with Windows, MAC, and LINUX environments, and as such offer direct integration with all leading document solutions, enabling the seamless execution of more complex workflows.
Most MFPs have basic capture and imaging options, which can be sufficient in cases where scanned documents require little image enhancement. However, businesses with more complex workflows, as well as those looking to automate manual tasks for increased efficiency, will benefit from the powerful capture, imaging, and processing features associated with specialist capture software.
Capture software helps businesses automate paper-intensive business processes by transforming paper documents into business information. The ability to extract critical data from documents and seamlessly feed it into existing business processes helps make workflows more efficient and workers more productive. Individuals can run complex jobs with push-button ease, enhance data integrity, and reduce the time and cost spent on document management.
Security on the MPS Agenda
Quocirca’s 2018 MPS survey reveals that data losses remain widespread across companies of all sizes that use MPS. In 2018, 65 percent of respondents reported at least one instance of data loss, an increase from 60 percent in 2017.
The latest generation of scanner technology support industry standard enterprise security protocols including HTTPS, WPA Enterprise, and TLS Encryption for scanning over networks. Newer scan solutions also offer the ability to pull document images and metadata into a transactional business process in a distributed environment at the point of transaction, which helps with securely attaching documents to business transactional systems and eliminating errors caused by batch processing.
Scanned data is processed exclusively through volatile memory, which protects sensitive information by erasing image data when the device is turned off.
Fleet Management
Managing a fleet of scanners can be a challenge but there are a few new technologies that make it easier. For example, the Web API available on some of the newer scanners in the marketplace integrates the business app or application to the scanner directly without the need for a driver, removing the hassle of regularly updating multiple drivers.
In addition, new web-based and mobile solutions designed to help businesses simplify document capture are making a significant impact on fleet management. Users can access these solutions from anywhere. They work with multiple platforms, browsers, and devices including TWAIN-compliant scanners, Android and iOS mobile devices, and MFP web browsers.
MPS resellers should look to partner with a scanner vendor that has a broad array of information capture solutions to meet their customers’ diverse, evolving needs and improve their bottom line. By partnering with a premier scanner vendor, MPS resellers can expand their capture capabilities and win new business in any industry with high-volume scanning workflows; reduce MFP device wear and tear, lower service costs; and grow their reach into customers’ operations with new revenue streams.
Guest writer Katie Sullivan-Armento is the General Manager for the US & Canada at Alaris, a Kodak Alaris business.