MPS Plus Enteprise Capture: An Emerging Trend

When I spoke at Harvey Spencer Associates' annual capture conference a couple weeks ago, one of the predictions I made was that a digital copier vendor would buy a capture ISV. Yes, we've already seen Lexmark acquire Perceptive, and I guess in many ways, this is represenative of what I was talking about. So, I guess I should have said "another" MFP vendor will buy a capture company.

I based this prediction on the emergence of the managed print services (MPS) market, which according to the Photizo Group, has grown from $9.5 billion globally in 2006 to $20.3 billion in 2009. That stat comes from a recent e-mail I received from Nuance, which also states, that "by 2013, the market researcher estimates the market will be $59.7 billion in revenues, accounting for over 50 percent of the total distributed imaging business market."

No doubt, MFP vendors view MPS has a huge opportunity for themselves. With hardware sales struggling, software and services-based MPS gives them a way to re-invent themselves.

I just got off the phone with Joy Lipari, an executive with Xerox's MPS group who told me Xerox is integrating ACS's document management expertise into its enteprise MPS strategy. She acknowledged that most MPS cusotmers are still in the early stages of trying to reduce costs through better utilzing their printing resources, but added that there is certainly interest in adding document scanning to MPS platforms.

"The advantage of MPS is that it enables you to track how often someone is participating in a process," she said. "For instance, you might find that one department is utilizling a vertical capture solution 100% of the time and another, only 2%. MPS enables you to monitor these types of metrics."

How the emerging concepts of "enterprise capture" and MPS will come together exactly remains to be seen - but we're confident there is something there.

In the mean time, here's some more from that e-mail from Nuance, which discusses: "Five Areas Where Print and Document Capture Value Converge in Managed Print Services Strategies:"

1. Authentication

- For Print Management Users: Authentication means security at device or “Who are you?” It can involve a variety of methods from PINs to smartcards to biometrics.
- For Document Capture Users: Authentication involves a single sign-on in Microsoft Office-based workflows that feeds credentials to downstream business applications such as content management systems.

2. Authorization
- For Print Management Users: Authorization provides access to features and addresses: “What are you allowed to do?” It can restrict or allow print, copy and fax options.
- For Document Capture Users: Authorization helps to deliver a personalized or role-based workflow experience by allowing only the applications the user needs to be presented.

3. Accounting
- For Print Management Users: Accounting enables charge-back to internal billing systems or the ability to bill back externally for print and copy functions to recover the costs of fixed assets and supplies.
- For Document Capture Users: Accounting provides the means to charge-back internally or bill back externally for value added document services or processes.

4. Audit Trail
- For Print Management Users: Audit trails provide a rolling history of print and copy activity – helping an organization maintain a log of what has been done internally.
- For Document Capture Users: Audit trails produce a compliance-oriented history of document behavior - allowing an enterprise to always know: “who has scanned what, to whom, and how?”

5. Cloud Computing- and Server-based Tickets or Tokens
- For Print Management Users: These capabilities provide pull-printing or “follow me” printing for secure release and waste reduction. Users can print to the cloud or server, and release at the device.
- For Document Capture Users: These capabilities deliver bi-directional interplay with content management systems or forms. It can also provide an application-based scan trigger with delayed scanning integrated with a ticket or token.