Imaging presents special challenges to many IS organizations. Image capture involves specialized equipment with a high level of maintenance needs. This equipment is most often operated on the department level but needs interface to enterprise-level systems. Image storage and retrieval is both demanding of storage capacity and bandwidth-intensive. It also creates additional applications development and maintenance requirements in order to tie storage and retrieval software to enterprise applications. Perhaps most important, digital images have come to play a key role in business continuity planning in the event of disaster. When physical facilities, data storage or telecommunications circuits are disrupted, imaged documents stored at diverse locations can become critical to the survival of the business. For these reasons, many IS managers prefer to segregate imaging from other functions. Frequently, this leads to a decision to outsource image capture, image storage, or image retrieval to a third-party provider. The ideal provider has substantial expertise in imaging, is hardware-independent, and is able to provide the complete range of services -- including access to images by mobile and remote employees -- from a single source. IPS can meet all of these requirements, whether on-site or off-site, and can ensure smooth integration with enterprise or departmental information systems. Our ImageServSM application can provide the full range of scanning, indexing, storage and retrieval to authorized users via the Internet. ImageServSM eliminates capital requirements, simplifies integration and reduces maintenance needs, while offering the highest level of business continuity protection. |
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