Submitted by Bob Larrivee,
AIIM Director/Industry Advisor
In the late 1900’s I was fortunate
enough to work with a company in the transportation sector that felt simplicity
would be a key element in the remote capture of paper documents associated with
delivered loads by various trucking companies. The concept was good but I think
the culture and even the technology was not quite ready and it never became
the wonder tool of the decade. I do however, believe simplicity in this
form is still a viable option and with the inception of the ATM and book
scanning kiosks in libraries, cultural acceptance of the kiosk is no longer the
barrier.
While I was at AIIM 2010 in Philadelphia
last week, one such device caught my attention; it was a kiosk sitting on the
edge of the Hyland Software booth with the hardware marked as PFU Systems, a
Fujitsu Company. I later had the good fortune to speak with John Hoye, Director
of Business Development for PFU Systems. When I asked John about this venture,
he responded, “There is an externally focused self-service aspect to ECM that
can be addressed using kiosk technology tightly integrated with ECM technology
at the back end (what we are doing with Hyland for example). These
solutions will come highly customized to suit the needs of the user (user
interface design, card swipes, proximity sensors, etc.). In other words,
the user experience will mean everything to the success of the implementation
and thus will be designed as such (as opposed to grouping off-the-shelf
technologies). I think this flexibility along with technology is core to
PFU’s strength as a kiosk provider.”
When looking at the application in place
at AIIM 2010 it was obviously clear to me that what John had stated was in fact
real. In this case the kiosk represented a local government agency providing
the ability for citizens to pay bills using a card swipe, access various public
records and documents, through use of a USB connection, download various forms
and applications for processing. The fact that there is USB capability also
implies that sometime in the future, a kiosk of this type could also
incorporate a scanner of some type allowing the user to capture all forms of
information and feed the systems rather than feed off it.
In my view, this type of device coupled
with the back end solution presented by Hyland Software is a prime example of
taking ECM to the masses in a more intuitive way by extending the enterprise
into the user realm. Imagine the possibilities and applications for devices
like these. In my theoretical model you could find these in the local
Seven-Eleven possibly combined with the ATM to provide full banking
capabilities like getting cash, accessing your accounts, applying for loans and
much more. Why with a scanner attached you could even use these in place of fax
machines where you access the scanner that is attached to the kiosk, scan your
documents and upload them to a specific location or email them. In the trucking
industry, one can scan and send the documents from the kiosk directly to the
accounting department for processing, all while getting fuel and coffee.
I know I am missing a lot here but I
hope I got my message across that simplicity and mobility is key in extending
the enterprise. Providing access to the information from anywhere at any time
in an intuitive and simple way is what will determine success. I tend to agree
with N P Negroponte “it is not computer literacy we should be working on, but
human-literacy. Computers have to become human-literate.” In the kiosks, I see the beginning of
human-literacy.
What say you? Did you
attend AIIM 2010 and see something you would like to share? Are you a patient
who has fallen victim to a security breach? Do you have a story to tell? I want
to hear from you.
Looking to learn more
about intelligent information and process management?
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Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org
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BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.
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