By Lisa Reider, Senior Product Editor, Scanners and Environmental
As financial pundits and industry analysts wave their fingers, shouting “I told you so!” at the news of Kodak filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a conversation with the people this announcement affects the most reveals that it is not all doom and gloom. In a recent conversation with Sue Cardot, Kodak’s worldwide director for BSSG Outbound Marketing and Communications, and Jackie Horn, Kodak’s worldwide marketing manager for Document Imaging, they seemed confident that their day-to-day operations wouldn’t be significantly impacted, and that the BLI award-winning Kodak-branded line of scanners, software and services would live on and continue to expand.
According to Kodak, its Document Imaging business, now part of the “Enterprise Services and Solutions” portion of the company’s newly formed commercial division, is one of the strongest areas for the company in terms of continued product growth, with a 15- to 20% increase in 2011 (compared to 2010). “Digital and Functional Printing” (its commercial printing operations) and “Graphics and Entertainment and Commercial Film” (commercial consumables), which also fall under the commercial division, remain a significant part of Kodak’s strategy.
When we read a document there are many factors that go into determining whether or not we accept it as a quality document. Quality can refer to a number of different facets of the document, including the quality of the content, and even the quality of the print. One of the most important factors in determining quality is whether or not the document is printed in colour. While you can have high quality black and white documents, colour adds a level of quality that goes beyond just the aesthetics of the document.
The best thing about colour printing is that it does not cost an arm and a leg like it used to. High quality colour printing solutions are now more affordable than ever. Some of the best reasons to switch to colour printing include:
· Improved Definition and Detail: Bring out the best of your documents with full colour printing! Colour printing brings increased detail to each of your documents, adding an unprecedented level of quality!
Office printing is an ever changing landscape. Traditionally, offices tend to have a high volume of print output that could be avoided. Now that businesses are finding ways to get more out of printing less, colour printing is becoming a popular option. Colour printing used to be an expensive alternative to black and white that didn’t offer the same quality.
Now, high quality colour printing is available for a more affordable cost than ever. Colour printing is not what it used to be. It is now possible to print in high quality colour for an affordable cost. Colour printing brings many benefits to the table, increasing the overall quality of your printed materials.
Benefits of colour printing include:
· Affordable, high quality printing with vibrant colours
· Newfound versatility with your printed documents and marketing materials
When you are printing materials, the use of colour is very important. Once you make the decision to switch to colour, you must decide which colours to use. This decision is important, as the colours you use will influence those reading your materials.
Colour can accomplish a number of different goals, as each colour can evoke within the reader different emotions. Blue brings about feelings of tranquillity, while red can induce a feeling of anger, or passion. You must decide what the purpose of your printed materials are, and then decide on how to best utilize colour. If you are creating a marketing piece that has a specific call to action, you may decide to use green as your main colour. On the other hand, if you are creating a flyer to raise awareness for a cause, you may choose to use blue, or purple.
Colour choice can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of resources available that will help you to decide which colour to use for a specific cause. There have been many studies done on the various effects of colour use and how an individual responds to a given colour. By combining colour with your printed materials, you are more likely to incite an action within the reader. When compared to black & white printing, colour has been found to be much more effective.
The use of colour in your materials is more than just about inducing an emotional response. It is also about showing a level of quality that is not present in black & white materials. When compared with black & white materials, even when printed on the same paper stock, colour materials will always look and feel more professional and of a higher quality. While colour printing used to be too expensive for most companies, the costs have come down significantly over the past few years. It is much more reasonable for a company to invest in colour printing now than it has ever been before.
I keynoted this year’s Intersystems Global Conference on the topic of “Freeing the Data” from the transactional systems we use today such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Electronic Health Records (EHR), etc. As I’ve prepared my speech, I’ve given a lot of thought to the evolving data needs we have in our enterprises.
In healthcare and in many other industries, it’s increasingly common for users to ask IT for tools and resources to look beyond the data we enter during the course of our daily work. For one patient, I know the diagnosis, but what treatments were given to the last 1,000 similar patients. I know the sales today, but how do they vary over the week, the month, and the year? Can I predict future resource needs before they happen?
In the past, such analysis typically relied on structured data, exported from transactional systems into data marts using Extract/Transform/Load (ETL) utilities, followed by analysis with Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) or Business Intelligence (BI) tools.
Have you ever tried to hunt down a file or document that you just couldn’t find? Hours of time wasted on sifting through old files just to find one document to reference in a very important upcoming presentation. Document scanning and document management can effectively streamline your office, no matter what field you are in. By taking out the massive amount of physical storage space needed and instead digitally scanning all your documents into one easy to access, searchable database, you virtually prevent this scenario from ever happening again. Document management saves space, time and more importantly money.
The great thing about storing your documents digitally is that you not only save on the time it takes you to sift through old filing cabinets, but it also opens up a large portion of your office. You save time, money, and increase the size of your useable office for more important matters.
As technology changes, so do the means by which we do business. Instead of being buried under a mountain of paper, take your business into the modern age and store your files on a digital server. As more and more businesses decide to take the leap of faith, document scanning and electronic storage is growing more and more.
As a business in today’s world, it is very important to be fully aware of the many ways that one can help save the environment. Corporate awareness is one of the keys to changing the ways that business has traditionally been completed. One of the important ways that your company can help is by cutting down on paper consumption.
There are many ways to promote the idea of a paperless office, including acquiring a document management system. Document management software tracks and stores your company’s electronic files, which are digitally scanned and converted to digital images. These files are then stored on a secure server or on a web-based storage system. Once your documents are stored digitally, staff can access the files securely from anywhere.
By implementing a document management system, you can access any of your files in seconds without the hassle of sifting through tons of paper files which can take forever. Furthermore, a document management system saves you precious office space occupied by filing cabinets. This can all help your company reduce their costs of operation.
Across the country, people are taking various steps to go eco-friendly. Green printing is one of the many ways to save our environment. By adopting this method, we can reduce pollution, decrease the sizes of landfills, and increase efficiency.
In eco-friendly printing, artificial and harmful chemicals are not used as it can pollute the soil. Another way of printing less is by printing only important documents. As much as possible, use email to send documents or files. Other green printing practices include:
· Always buy environmental friendly paper and inks
There are numerous expenses that are needed to run an office, and one of the most overlooked of these expenses are office supplies. It is also a cost that can be easily managed, saving your company important money.
One way to manage office supply costs is to use an economical printer. There is a vast variety of printers to choose from, and doing your research on the cost efficiency of each printer is vital.
Another important factor in managing these costs is controlling your printing usage. Up to ninety percent of printing is wasted. Setting printers to draft modes will help control cartridge and toner costs.
It is very common for valuable time and resources to be wasted on opening, preparing and sorting standard mail manually. The solution for this is to add document scanning to your mailroom.
Having your key business documents scanned at the point of entry into your company eliminates the risk of security breaches, mistakes, and wasted manual labor. Documents mailed together will stay together through scanning all the way to their destination.
Document Imaging and Your Mailroom Instead of having to sort and transfer your mail to the appropriate offices, the mail can be opened in the mailroom and scanned directly to a folder on the recipients desktop. No longer will you have to worry about important documents being lost en route or files being indexed improperly.
even the quality of the print. One of the most important factors in determining quality is whether or not the document is printed in colour. While you can have high quality black and white documents, colour adds a level of quality that goes beyond just the aesthetics of the document.
Colour can accomplish a number of different goals, as each colour can evoke within the reader different emotions. Blue brings about feelings of tranquillity, while red can induce a feeling of anger, or passion. You must decide what the purpose of your printed materials are, and then decide on how to best utilize colour. If you are creating a marketing piece that has a specific call to action, you may decide to use green as your main colour. On the other hand, if you are creating a flyer to raise awareness for a cause, you may choose to use blue, or purple.
The great thing about storing your documents digitally is that you not only save on the time it takes you to sift through old filing cabinets, but it also opens up a large portion of your office. You save time, money, and increase the size of your useable office for more important matters.
In eco-friendly printing, artificial and harmful chemicals are not used as it can pollute the soil. Another way of printing less is by printing only important documents. As much as possible, use email to send documents or files. Other green printing practices include:
Having your key business documents scanned at the point of entry into your company eliminates the risk of security breaches, mistakes, and wasted manual labor. Documents mailed together will stay together through scanning all the way to their destination.
