Integrate-ability

There are so many really cool technologies out there. Technologies that when you see them demoed you are blown away by the promise they offer. Sometimes this awe leads companies and individuals astray when it comes to not only finding a technology but one that will actualize in an already established environment. What I'm talking about is the lack of focus organizations put on the way new technology integrates.

Poor integration is the killer of ROI when it comes to purchasing enterprise applications. We sometimes forget that when introducing new technology, it must play nice with existing technology, it also must be given the chance to reach it's demoed potential. It seems obvious but so often organizations skip planning steps, skip testing and result in buying expensive technology that conflicts with the existing environment or setup incorrectly.

This problem in large part is aggravated by the vendors. Most vendors are not too concerned with their technology's smooth integration, many even want it to be difficult to integrate as their business thrives on professional service income. Recently, I was a panelist for leading enterprise software vendors, the attendees were mostly marketing staff. It was clear they did not see the importance of integration. Often what it takes for vendors to provide better integration support is more documentation, more samples. This was my initial and easiest to execute recommendation. They see this as a cost generator, or they simply don't know who in their organization would own this responsibility. The unfortunate aspect of this belief is that they are only hurting themselves. Adoption of technology depends on a good experience beyond the sale. Companies have tightened their budget all around, and to win deals these technologies need to promote features and integration.

Because the vendors are a little lost it's up to the IT departments and knowledge works who will utilize the technology to plan properly the integration. Seeing demos is great, but that is just the point when organizations should slow down. Document the current environment. Establish how the new technology will fit within it. Know the applications success factors and the path to reach them, and finally TRIAL. If a vendor is afraid to give you a trial than this should be a red flag instantly. They are not established enough to have trials, or they are trying to lock you into a professional service ROI squashing machine.

Often technology is blamed incorrectly when what really should be blamed is poor integration and planning.

Why hot folder's are so HOT

We are all guilty of over complicating things. In technology products over complication results in more features then you will ever use and less money you could use, other times over complication creates new problems in business processes. End-users, vendors, and technologist are all commonly trying to add too many elements to automation projects. One of the areas where over complication occurs the most in data capture and OCR integrations is when it comes to passing images and results from one step to another.

Most organizations when it comes to passing images from a capture application to a data capture application ask for a connector specifically written to incorporate the chosen imagines applications API to pass images to the chosen Data Capture applications API. Most organizations similarly when considering export form OCR and Data capture processes want a special connector to their repository or ECM product. I'm not sure what to blame, the warm and fuzzies that come from the realization that a OCR vendor has spent specific effort to develop these connectors, or the faith that somehow connectors are more efficient. What I do know is that in most all cases connectors are overkill and simply not necessary, why? Because there are hot folders, and they are amazingly powerful and simple.

A hot folder ( sometimes called a watch folder ) is a directory virtual or real that is setup to be a staging or queue for applications to put data in and take data from in real-time. The best thing about hot folders is they are free! Most all imaging, data capture, and content management applications support hot folders. If they don't you have every right to ask why. When an image capture application scans documents they can scan those documents to a directory. The data capture application can automatically read images as soon as they appear in this directory and process them. Data capture and OCR results can be automatically exported to another directory that a content management application can automatically pick up from. That is two folders vs. two pricey connectors.

You may think that you are losing functionality such as tracking and security, but there are numerous ways in window to monitor folder activity and protect folder security. You might be surprised that many “connectors” out there are actually just a hot folder with a settings dialog. It's a hot folder in disguise.

So when it comes to deciding how to get files from one application process to another, first consider hot folders and try your best to disprove their validity. If you can't, you just saved a bundle of money and probably picked the most efficient method for your OCR solution.