Briefing: Laserfiche 8.3 Takes Transactional Content Management to the Next Level

Laserfiche has released Laserfiche 8.3, an enterprise content management (ECM) solution that helps organizations improve information governance and automate transactional processes such as accounts payable processing, case management, contract management, HR onboarding and permitting, among others.

“Over the past year, our customers have begun automating more and more complex business processes. We developed Laserfiche 8.3 to respond to their needs,” said Tom Wayman, Vice President of Product Strategy at Laserfiche.

Laserfiche 8.3 includes the following new and enhanced features:

• New Workflow activities. With Laserfiche, building a workflow is as easy as dragging and dropping pre-built workflow activities onto a graphical canvas.

Database activities automate the process of retrieving and updating information from third-party databases, simplifying integration.

PDF activities add immediate value to the product suite by enabling Laserfiche administrators to automatically import PDF forms into Laserfiche, retrieve information from PDF fields and map them to Laserfiche fields.

More than 60 built-in workflow activities make it easier than ever to customize workflow configuration to the unique needs of each organization and line of business.

• Digital signatures. Digital signatures in Laserfiche 8.3 are validated with signing certificates on the server, so users know that a signature is trustworthy.

• New Web Administration Console. Laserfiche 8.3 offers an easy way for administrators to securely access the administrative functions of the repository from anywhere—including remote sites, client computers and even mobile devices—making administration more flexible than ever.

For a product demo or more information about Laserfiche 8.3, please contact Catherine Ramos, Director of Operations.

Company News

Laserfiche Salutes Customers Chosen as America’s Top Digital Cities

Laserfiche is proud to congratulate 19 of its customers for being named among the most advanced digital cities in 2011 by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities Program. The cities were chosen from the results of the eleventh annual Digital Cities Survey, which examines how municipalities use technology to create operating efficiencies while realizing strategic objectives.

“In light of budget cuts and a volatile economic climate, our broad network of local government customers have repeatedly underscored the vital role that technology plays in enabling them to deliver critical services to the community,” said Kimberly Samuelson, Director of Government Strategy at Laserfiche. “We are honored to help these advanced digital cities develop successful information governance strategies that allow them to improve service delivery while reducing costs.”

Ten top-ranking cities in the four following population categories were selected: 250,000+, 125,000-249,999, 75,000-124,999, and 30,000-74,999. The Laserfiche customers on the list include:

250,000+

• City of Corpus Christi, TX
• City of Fort Worth, TX
• City of Long Beach, CA
• City of Riverside, CA
• City of Virginia Beach, VA

125,000-249,999

• City of Alexandria, VA
• City of Augusta, GA
• City of Hollywood, FL
• City of Hampton, VA
• City of Chesapeake, VA
• City of Chula Vista, CA

75,000-124,999

• City of Lynchburg, VA
• City of Pueblo, CO
• City of Simi Valley, CA
• City of Roanoke, VA
• City of Westminster, CO
• City of Independence, MO
• City of Santa Monica, CA

30,000-74,999

• City of Danville, VA

For a full list of winners, visit http://www.digitalcommunities.com/survey/cities/.

For more information about Laserfiche’s success in the local government market, please contact Sarah Kellison, Communications Specialist.

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Laserfiche Releases White Paper on ROI of ECM for RIAs

Laserfiche has authored a white paper that explores the return on investment for RIA firms that leverage ECM software. Calculations are based on benchmark data from recent industry studies prepared by Nexus Strategy, Moss Adams, and the 2011 InvestmentNews RIA Technology Study.

“We originally published this paper in 2007, but because we kept hearing that technology is a key differentiator in tough times, we decided to look at how much firms are saving by using ECM to ‘go paperless’ and automate document-related processes in today’s economic climate,” said Tim Welsh, CFP, Senior Consultant at Laserfiche. “In total, firms that use ECM can increase profitability by 64.1% to 125.6%.”

In particular, firms that embrace ECM realize five major benefits:

• Reduced paper storage costs.
• Automation of back-office processes for increased efficiency.
• Integration with CRM software for increased productivity.
• Simplified compliance.
• Increased business valuation.

“For a relatively small investment in ECM software, RIAs can make a powerful improvement in today’s income as well as tomorrow’s long-term business value,” said Welsh.

For a briefing on how Laserfiche can help financial advisors, please contact Linda Kao, Financial Services Strategist.

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Pre-recorded Webinar Features ECM Solutions from USC and Texas A&M

If you missed the live event, we are happy to announce that you can now view “Align ECM with Institutional Strategy and Departmental Goals” on demand!

Watch to learn ECM strategies from top IT and administrative leaders in higher education:

• John Parker, CTO of USC’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science, explains how he transitioned Dornsife off a handful of departmental imaging installations onto a university-wide ECM system that works in tandem with the college’s transactional database.
• Don Barwick, Manager of Texas A&M’s System Office of Budgets and Accounting, shows how his office cost-effectively meets records retention requirements, improves information sharing and automates accounting processes with ECM.

The live Webinar was hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

For a briefing on how Laserfiche can help colleges and universities, please contact Linda Ding, Higher Education Strategist.

In the News

• CMS Wire: Forrester Wave Q4 2011: Fragmenting Enterprise CMS, 12 Firms, Targeted Content
• Long Beach Post: Just How Did Long Beach Become a Top-10 Digital City?
• Santa Monica Mirror: Santa Monica Among Nation’s Most Computerized Communities
• InvestmentNews: Tamarac Announces Availability of Advisor Xi
• Roanoke Star-Sentinel: Roanoke Recognized as Top Ten Digital City

Upcoming Events

Empower 2012: Laserfiche Institute Conference in Anaheim, CA, on January 25-27: Gain a “developer’s-eye” view of the architecture of the Laserfiche product suite. The special ACE track gives you insider access to key Laserfiche personnel, including software architects and the product strategy team. Register for the ACE track to connect with editors, analysts, consultants and expert integrators leading the enterprise content management industry.

2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, NV, on February 21-24: Visit booth #3275 for an overview of how Laserfiche can complement existing EHR implementations, streamline medical billing and automate credentialing.

Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit in Orlando, FL, on March 12-14: Laserfiche will be on hand to demo its agile ECM solutions and discuss key takeaways from recent in-person research conducted with CIOs.

ITEX 2012 Expo & Conference in Las Vegas, NV, on April 18-19: Don’t miss our booth (#829) or speaking session, “Selling Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Software Leads to Profits.”

Participate in the Community

Submit an Article: Laserfiche is now accepting submissions for guest articles to be featured in our weekly reseller newsletter (circulation: 3,000) and in our monthly newsletter for end users (circulation: 24,000). If you would like to showcase your expertise within the Laserfiche community, please e-mail Melissa Henley with your proposed story idea.

Laserfiche has a very active user community. From user groups to support forums, we’ve got a constant ear toward our users and Laserfiche® 8.3 directly reflects their initiatives, their experiences, and their needs.

We saw more and more users looking to automate increasingly complex business processes with Laserfiche. They were also relying on Laserfiche for their sole source of transactional content—not only in single departments, but enterprise-wide. And of course, they expressed the need to meet evolving business challenges in real time.

The new features of Laserfiche 8.3, including drag and drop database integration and VERS certified digital signature technology, are a direct reflection of our continuous dialogue with Laserfiche users.

Watch this video to learn more about what’s new in Laserfiche 8.3.

Since 2001, the Center for Digital Government has honored America’s Top Digital Cities on an annual basis. Spanning four population categories, this year’s 41 winners have at least one thing in common—they’ve all found innovative ways to leverage technology in order to create operational efficiencies and realize strategic objectives. Additionally, all 41 winners have done so in the face of glaring fiscal challenges. In fact, the latest U.S. Census Bureau data reports that in 2009, state and local governments brought in 22.1% less revenue than the previous year.

But 19 of this year’s Top Digital Cities have something else in common—a secret weapon of sorts—Laserfiche.

As my colleague Kimberly Samuelson puts it, “What Laserfiche contributes to these winning cities is ECM infrastructure that improves service delivery while reducing costs.” By truly leveraging its ECM infrastructure, each of these 19 cities is turning technology into new ways of doing things that save money and time, and increase overall effectiveness.

For example, Laserfiche customer and first-time Top Digital City, The City of Long Beach,CA focused on a three-pronged effort to reduce costs without compromising service delivery, including:

• Consolidation of information and communication technology (ICT) services.
• Increased transparency and collaboration across the enterprise.
• Digitization of processes, forms and workflow.

Implementing Laserfiche as part of these efforts enabled the city  to cut its annual ECM support costs by 50% while bringing a wide range of documents online for citizen consumption.

Read more about the City of Long Beach’s journey to Top Digital City recognition.

Briefing: IDC Explores Enterprise Vision and Strategy in Exclusive New Webinar

Enterprise applications, systems and processes are critical to the survival and growth of an organization, but the truth is there’s more to enterprise deployment than just volume pricing. Instead, an enterprise is a socio-technical system comprised of people, processes, information and technology.

Join IDC’s Melissa Webster, Program Vice President, Content and Digital Media Technologies, for a Webcast focused on bringing enterprise vision and strategy to ECM.

Topics covered include:

• The definition of enterprise—and why it matters.
• How to define the scope and drivers of an enterprise deployment.
• Recommendations and best practices for enterprise deployment of ECM technology.

This 50-minute Webinar is available on demand at: http://www.laserfiche.com/en-us/Events/Webinars/SignUp/1809

Company News

Laserfiche SharePoint Integration Solutions Guide Now Available

To help customers understand the value of integrating Laserfiche with SharePoint 2010, Laserfiche has created a collection of case studies highlighting how customers around the world are using the Laserfiche SharePoint Integration to:

• Rapidly deploy transactional content management.
• Enable paper-based capture and enhanced document storage.
• Add DoD 5015.2-certified records management to SharePoint.

The solutions described in the guide include:

• Medical records management. Spindletop Mental Health Mental Retardation Services was already leveraging Microsoft SharePoint for its intranet site, but it needed additional content management functionality in order to scan and store millions of pages long-term. Spindletop selected Laserfiche to complement its SharePoint implementation because Laserfiche is cost-effective and aligns its technical architecture with that of key Microsoft initiatives such as the .NET framework, Windows Workflow Foundation and Microsoft Management Console in order to simplify system administration. As a result of the integration between Laserfiche and SharePoint, Jerry Carnley, CIO at Spindletop, says, “We’ve increased productivity, and morale has jumped in every department that uses it. We’re very happy with the way Laserfiche has enabled us to expand our use of SharePoint.”
• RFP/vendor selection. The Virginia Port Authority was looking for a way to bolster its records management plan, but because it relies so heavily on the document workspaces in SharePoint, it wanted to find a solution with a seamless SharePoint integration. By integrating Laserfiche with SharePoint, the Port Authority now has the ability to collaborate on documents, retain them electronically, and efficiently manage and dispose of digital records—all while giving users access to content through the SharePoint interface. The Port Authority has started using Laserfiche to streamline the RFP and vendor selection process, which used to be manual and paper-based. “Even employees who aren’t technologically inclined appreciate the efficiency of our new process,” says SharePoint Administrator Angela Ellis. “In general, having real-time information available in a central location has been one of the most important process improvements our organization has received as a benefit of this project.”
• Employee forms submission. When it came to paper records, Dubai’s Emirates Petroleum Product Company (EPPCO) used to rely on file cabinets. Imaged documents, meanwhile, were stored on a shared “U:\” drive, and electronic content was managed in SharePoint. Using Laserfiche, EPPCO has gained centralized control over its information. In particular, EPPCO’s internal audit department has automated the submission of its Employee Acknowledgement and Conflict of Interest forms, which all 1,500 EPPCO employees needed to sign and submit to the department each year. The Laserfiche SharePoint Integration allows employees to scan these forms directly into SharePoint, where they are converted into PDFs and automatically filed in the correct HR folders in the Laserfiche repository.
• Student financial aid portal. By integrating Laserfiche with its SharePoint-based Web portal, Oklahoma Christian University has enabled students to complete and submit financial aid documents online, as well as view their financial aid status and see which documents have been received or are incomplete. “Giving students access to financial aid information via the Laserfiche SharePoint Integration has improved student satisfaction with the financial aid process while reducing the number of inquiries received by the financial aid department and allowing staff to focus on more complex aid issues,” explains John Hermes, Vice President of Information Technology at Oklahoma Christian University.
• Case management. In 2009, Buffalo’s legal department implemented a new case management system built on the Microsoft SharePoint platform. Within a year it became clear that the volume of documents and case files were overwhelming SharePoint and slowing access and operating speed to a crawl. Daryl Springer, Buffalo’s IT Manager, says, “By archiving closed case files in Laserfiche, we were able to preserve the user experience in SharePoint. In effect, Laserfiche acts as ‘integrative middleware’ to support the legal department’s need to access—via SharePoint—closed files that were initially created in the case management program.”.

Be sure to check out the Laserfiche SharePoint Integration Solutions Guide for more detail on these stories.

Schedule a briefing about the Laserfiche SharePoint 2010 Integration by contacting Catherine Ramos, Director of Operations.

In the News

• ARN: App of the Day: Laserfiche Mobile
• AdvisorOne: Three-City Workshop Will Address Integrating CRM and ECM
• For the Record: Keeping Tabs on Data
• CMS Wire: Enterprise CMS and the Internal Customer Experience

Upcoming Events

Empower 2012: Laserfiche Institute Conference in Anaheim, CA, on January 25-27: Gain a “developer’s-eye” view of the architecture of the Laserfiche product suite. The special ACE track gives you insider access to key Laserfiche personnel, including software architects and the product strategy team. Register for the ACE track to connect with editors, analysts, consultants and expert integrators leading the enterprise content management industry.

Participate in the Community

Submit an Article: Laserfiche is now accepting submissions for guest articles to be featured in our weekly reseller newsletter (circulation: 3,000) and in our monthly newsletter for end users (circulation: 24,000). If you would like to showcase your expertise within the Laserfiche community, please e-mail Melissa Henley with your proposed story idea.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is home makeover shows. Flip That House, Design on a Dime: I watch all indiscriminately.

I like these shows because they spur me to enhance what I already have. (I’m looking at you, circa-1960 cabinets.) However, what I really appreciate most is when the show’s end product isn’t some million-dollar HGTV set – it’s a functional space without reinventing a homeowner’s lifestyle.

That’s the aim of Laserfiche’s integration with Microsoft SharePoint, too. Our integration doesn’t try to gut a company’s business processes; it works in tandem with users’ existing preferences and business processes to enhance what’s already there – not replace it entirely. Laserfiche acts as integrative middleware, linking into Microsoft SharePoint, legacy systems and line-of-business applications like GIS, CRM and ERP that employees are already familiar with.

Combining Laserfiche and SharePoint 2010, companies get capture and archiving, transactional content management and joint DoD 5015.2-certified records management. It’s a solid IT architecture for cross-functional business processes: Combining Laserfiche and SharePoint is like putting the same sturdy, quality flooring throughout a whole house.

We realized, however, that nothing proves how easy integration is better than actual customer success stories. So, we put together a resource that showcases just that: The Laserfiche SharePoint Solutions Guide.
This guide demonstrates how easy it is for Laserfiche users to create their own IT foundations using Laserfiche. Excerpts from the SharePoint Solutions Guide:

• “We’ve increased productivity, and morale has jumped in every department that uses Laserfiche. We’re very happy with the way Laserfiche has enabled is to expand our use of SharePoint.”- Spindletop MHMR Services.
• “Most of our users don’t even know they’re using Laserfiche. The integration enables us to access all of our information from SharePoint without having to train our users on the new Laserfiche system.” – Virginia Port Authority.
• “Giving students access to financial aid information via the Laserfiche SharePoint Integration has improve student satisfaction with the financial aid process while reducing the number of inquiries received by the financial aid department and allowing staff to focus on more complex aid issues.” – Oklahoma Christian University.

For more stories, screenshots and workflow examples, read on…