The Next Generation of Smart Copiers has arrived!

The next generation of smart MFP's has arrived.  Back in June of 2009 and I wrote a blog titled "I Want My...I Want My.....Smart MFP.  Just a few years ago we were ecstatic that Smart Copiers were now capable of saving businesses countless hours of time for scanning document.  The statement I hear of lot of this year is "do more for less".

The Hot features a few years ago was scan2ocr (will scan a paper based document and drop in back into a word doc), searchable .pdf (will scan a paper based document and turn it into a searchable .pdf), scan2MS365 and MS Sharepoint (via UDOCX) and the standard features for scan2email and scan2folder.

Document Management Software

Today's Smart Copiers/MFP can now hold the keys to kingdom for productivity in today's modern office.  Smart Copiers can now scan2 document management archival systems, many of your document management software providers are now developing connectors for the Copier/MFP.  Basically this means that you'll be able to scan documents to nested folders directly to your document management system, and it doesn't stop there with some document management connectors that are designed for the likes of Sharp and Toshiba you'll be able to access that document from the Copier/MFP and the print the document from the Copier/MFP.  If you're looking for Document Management Software check out Doculex and Intellinetics.

Scan2Cloud

Scan2box, Scan2googledrive, Scan2dropbox are just a few of the really awesome cloud solutions that are available now from different manufacturers.  

Apps

In the near future we're going to see the potential for hundreds of apps that can be run from the MFP, thus the potential to improve business process with MFPs will be enormous.  Some little know apps are available right now for your ipad, iphone and ipod.  Ricoh Innovations has a couple of apps that allow you to use your smart phone as a scanner and then also run OCR of that document. Yeah, the technology is in it's infancy but I can't wait for some of this technology to mature.

-=Good Selling=-

8 Talking Points for Selecting an Imaging/Copier Vendor

I've been in down the street office equipment sales for 33 years, over that time I've seen and heard it all when I meet with prospects who are considering a new vendor or manufacturer.

Many times... and by the way I just had a prospect email me today that price only is the driving factor as to who they will buy from.  I sent then back an email declining to offer a proposal. I work for a well respected dealer with an excellent support team and I won't compete with many of the fly by night dealerships that are out their.  Having one of my customers wait two to three days for on-service, a week for parts or not getting a return call is not an option!

Please consider the below points as more of an educational process to choose the right vendor for your needs.

Know your present and analyze your future needs: Since almost all MFP/Copiers are leased, you need to have a handle on your present and future needs. Will I need Network faxing or walk-up faxing, scan documents to email, scan to folder, walk up authentication, TWAIN scanning, Apple Air Print, envelopes, scan2cloud, scan2folders to a network drive, paper sizes needed to print, scan, fax or copy, color scan, color copy, color print.

Know what your existing costs are: How can you make a decision on a new product or service if you don't know your existing costs. Consider the cost of the current lease if any, cost of current print devices, costs for supplies, cost for service, cost for maintenance agreement, how many sheets of paper you have used for printing or copying in a week, month or year.

Ricoh MPCW220SP Scanner Reveal

Within a few days Ricoh will be launching the new Ricoh CW2200SP wide format system.  For those of us that sell Savin, Lanier and Ricoh wide format, we've been waiting a long time for a color wide format multifunctional system that will copy, print and scan.

The CW2200SP will be Ricoh's first attempt at their own color wide format system,  they've had the piezo ink technology for quite some time however it was limited to their Gelsprinter line of color ink printers.

I was going to do a spec review, however I changed my mind and wanted point out what's unique and special in reference to the scanning function of this system.

Scan2 features:

If you're familiar with scanning on Ricoh MFP devices, then you're in luck, all of the functionality of scanning from Ricoh's popular MFP's has been adopted with the CW2200SP.

You'll be able to perform walk up on-the-fly color scan2email, just enter a users email address, you can also add a cc: a bcc:, a subject line and even a message (the large color screen will turn into a qwerty keyboard for easy typing), with a touch of the button the wide format document will be scanned and attached as a .pdf.

If you're not interested in color scan2email, you can adopt the color scan2folder. Just setup a folder on any ones PC, or you can even set up folders on your server.  With the AEC (Architects, Engineers, Construction)  industry you can set multiple folders maybe one for proposals, specs, bids, etc.

How about color scan2cloud, yup I've tested Ricoh MFP's with scan2dropbox and it works very well, you might even want to think about getting a middleware product like UDOCX for scanning to
sharepoint or MS 365.

An additional nice feature is

Copiers & MFP's "Scan2Cloud Middleware Reveal"

Scanning from MFP's, every business is doing it, everyone I speak to admits it's been a boon to saving them time.

All of your current manufacturers MFP's now have standard scan2email and scan2folder. In recent months MFP manufacturers have sweetened the pie by adding additional background functionality when you scan2folder.

Such as creating a text searchable .pdf, performing OCR (optical character recognition) back to a word doc or an excel doc, or even scan2 a power point file, and least we no forget scan2cloud functionality.

It's  truly is amazing that you can walk up to the MFP and have these time saving features at the touch of a button, right?

Well, kinda, if you're a small account and all you need is to create searchable /pdf's here and there, or the occasional scan2word or scan2excel, these systems will work fine.  But what about more intensive users, lets say accounts that want every document scanned as a searchable .pdf and every document is 30-50 pages and you want to drop them off to the cloud?  This is where it can get

Ricoh MP6002, 7502, 9002 series "Scanner Reveal"

It seems about every 18 months Ricoh will refresh a series of multifunctional copier systems.  The latest refresh of the MP6001/7001/8001/9001 completes the entire line change to the new "istyle" series. 

The new Ricoh MP6002 (60 page per minute device), the MP7502 (75 page per minute device) and the MP9002 (90 page per minute device) will be the new models moving forward. The new MP 7502 will be the replacement for the MP6001 and MP7001. There will be six different models in all, MP6002/MP7502/MP9002 will not come from the factory with scan and print.  The MP6002SP/MP7502SP/MP9002SP will all come from the factory with color scan, network scan and black network print.

Scanning:

The speeds are awesome!  When scanning at 300 dpi with the single pass dual scan document feeder you'll be able to scan black at 88 ipm for single sided and 176 ipm for double sided originals.  Color scanning at 300dpi will run at 88 ipm for single sided and 120 ipm for double sided originals.  Thus if you are using document management programs like Doculex or Intellenetics you'll be able to breeze through those documents in seconds!

Scan2folder, Scan2email, Scan2ftp, Scan2url are all standard features and you'll be able to scan from 100dpi to 600dpi. Let's say you have ECM (Enterprise Content Management) software then you'll be able to take advantage of the Ricoh's  1200DPI TWAIN scan driver. 

But!  What I like best is that the new Ricoh MP6002/7502/9002 is that you can add a browser unit (the browser unit is an option and the unit allows the MFP to connect to the Internet)!  Thus if you're a Microsoft Sharepoint or MS365 user you'll be able to scan directly Sharepoint & MS 365 with the UDOCX Cloud solution.  With UDOCX there's no need to install software on the server, no maintenance, it's a true access & go solution! 

There's a few other items I like also, even if you don't have the browser unit, you'll be able to use two really cool FREE cloud storage solutions.  One is dropbox where you can get a free 2GB service, dropbox sets up as a simple scan2folder on your PC or notebook, you'll then set a path from the MFP to your folder. That's it!  Anything you scan will then be sync'd with the folder on your pc/notebook and replicated in on the Dropbox Cloud.  The other service is OfficeDrop, they'll offer you a free 5GB solution, sets up similar to dropbox, however with OfficeDrop you'll be able to label your files.  With the labeling feature you'll then be able to search those files.

Output formats for scanning on the Ricoh can be single and multi page  page TIFF, PDF, JPEG, high compression pdf, encrypt pdf, and PDF/A. If you're not familiar with PDF/A is a file format and also an ISO standard for long term archival of scanned pages.

Ricoh has also added as a standard feature a nifty scan2usb and scan2sdcard.  Users will be able to scan to a usb drive or sd card, along with that users will also be able to print from these devices.  I was able to test this on a Ricoh MPC4502 and not only can you print the files but you can also view the files from the USB drive or SD card right on the awesome 8.5 inch color display.

I'll be you thought I was done right?  Nope, there's one other noteworthy feature and that's JBIG2 compression support. In a nutshell JBIG2 compression for scanned black images will enhance compression and allow companies to make better use of their document storage solutions.  FYI, for you those of you that are dealers, I highly recommend this leasing company, truly a pleasure to do business with LCA.

Stay tuned for next week when I'll go over all of the cool new print and fax features!

-=Good Selling=-

Top 7 Solutions @ Transform 2012 Conference "Intellinetics @ #1"

Cost Per Page Billing for Document Management Services

Photiizo’s Global Transform has concluded for 2012.  I'll be attending the conference in Scottsdale for 2013. 

About two months ago I wrote a blog about "Managed Documents the Next Big Thing" which I related to Managed Print.  The thought was to have an MFP connect to the cloud, and then scan documents directly to a cloud based document management system or a folder in the cloud.  After the documents were there the dealer would then manage the documents to have them indexed, OCR’d.  The dealer could then charge either a monthly fee for the service or a click charge that could be added to the existing maintenance agreement.  The benefit to the customer would be no upfront cost, no training (except to retrieve the documents), no internal IT support, and no maintenance fees.  The dealer could then remain “more sticky” in the account and offer the value added service.

While at the Transform Conference I ran across an Enterprise Content Management solution that was right up my alley.  The Intellivue ECM platform from Intellenetics is available as a cost- per-page model where you pay a low monthly fee based on the number of pages you use to the software to manage.  There is no upfront cost!  Billing would be enabled on a cost per page model, there would be one cost per page for a black scan and one cost per page (higher than the black cost) for a color scan, the reasoning for the higher cost for the color is that the color scan created a larger file size. With this SaaS solution a company can realize and immediate return on investment from the first month Intellivue is deployed.

Another excellent benefit to the dealer is that they can charge professional services for the installation and training to the end user. I’m more of a fan of the dealer performing the indexing of the documents for the end user and I’m not entirely sure this can be accomplished with Intellivue.  I will be making a call to them to see if there is a way this can be done.

The concept is for the user to scan2file from the MFP, the user would then index the file and submit to the ECM on the cloud (this is the part I’d like to see the dealer do so you it could be a seem less solution for the customer and you would be able to bill professional services).  Intellivue then retains the document for Archival in the Cloud or Premise Solution.  Intellivue would then create a monthly total of Pages in the Archival tabulate the monthly bill based on the cost per page.  Intellivue can then feed the monthly page totals and cost to the MPS billing software (I’m hoping that this will also work with MFP billing software).  You MPS software would then generate the total bill including line items for hardware, supplies, services and Intellivue.  Royalties are paid to the reseller from the ECM revenues collected.

The power of this solution is that there is no upfront cost and I see Intellivue as a tremendous value for the SMB customer.  For too long the SMB customer has shied away from content management due to the upfront cost, the training, the IT infrastructure and the thought that they would have to dedicate and employee to operate the software.

BTW, this is the first blog in a series of 7 for the top 7 solutions at Transform 2012 Conference.

-=Good Selling=-