Using the Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800 to Scan Documents Directly to SalesForce.com

The Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800 is a very capable, compact, and cloud-connected network scanner.  In some ways it is more like an MFP than a desktop scanner.  Primarily because it does not require a PC to function.  It connects directly to your network through an Ethernet connection.  The N1800 has an intuitive touchscreen complete with on-screen keyboard, and is efficient, secure and intelligent, thereby minimizing operator involvement before, during and after the scanning process.

The slides embedded above demonstrate using the Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800 to scan directly to SalesForce.com and Chatter.  This represents a very powerful combination because users of SalesForce typically want simplicity and don't want to worry about complex, or expensive integrations.  The N1800 is great way to "image-enable" SalesForce to handle some of your paper-based processes.  

Be sure to check out my other post on the N1800 titled "Scanning Documents to Box (in the cloud) with a Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800"

Scanning Documents to Box (in the cloud) with a Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800

Several months ago a friend at Fujitsu gave me a brief demo of the new Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800 network-attached color document scanner.  As a gadget nut, I was completely drawn to the sleek design and "iPad-like" touchscreen interface. The N1800 is a network-attached device, meaning it does not need a desktop PC to drive the device.  It connects directly to your network with an Ethernet connection.  The scanner has the scanning software baked right into the device and uses a touchscreen for user interaction.  Think of it more as a more powerful, miniaturized Multi-Function Peripheral (or MFP). The general intention of a scanner like this is to be able to scan directly to a network drive or a Microsoft SharePoint site.  The scanner also can be configured to, scan-to-email, scan-to-fax service, and scan-to-FTP, all with the software bundled with the scanner out-of-the-box.  

Hands-On with Canon imageFORMULA P-215 and DR-C125 Document Scanners

As an ECM professional and Capture expert, I get the opportunity to play with a variety of document scanners.  Canon is a brand that I have not had the pleasure of working with too much.  So I was excited to be able to play around with 2 new scanner from Canon this week, the imageFORMULA P-215 "Scan-tini" mobile scanner and the space-saving DR-C125 desktop scanner.  The one that peeked my interest most is the P-215 mobile scanner.

Managing Documents in the Cloud with OfficeDrop's iPad App

This is one of those blog posts that intersects my professional and my personal life.  During the week I happen to be an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Technical Lead for a large financial institution.  This is just to say that I spend a lot of time working with document imaging systems. The length that companies have to go through to capture, store and view paper-based data is staggering.  Most of these enterprise systems are not very exciting or innovative.  Outside of my work-life, I don't normally think too much about imaging my personal documents. But, I will say that on occasion it is important that I have capture important documents in an digital format.  If you follow my blog, you may have already read my post titled "Scanning to the Cloud with OfficeDrop".  You could say that this post is part 2 of that original post.  This time around I am going to focus on OfficeDrop's new iPad app.

Scanning Documents To The Cloud with OfficeDrop

I work with Enterprise Content Management (or ECM) systems for a living and have an extensive background in Imaging or Document Capture.  But yet, at home I struggle to find a good way to capture important documents and keep them intelligently organized.  I have a rather nice Fujitsu fi-5120c desktop scanner, but it rarely gets used.  I tried a number of consumer-focused scanning tools in the past but none of them seemed very inspired.  I usually find that they are just too cumbersome to configure and use, even for me.  So I gave up trying for a while while and my scanner sat on the desk collecting dust.


A few months ago, while I was getting organized for tax time, I decided to fire-up the internet search engine and look again.  This time I trained my focus on a "cloud" based scanning solution.  I wanted to see who in the industry was trying to leverage online storage infrastructure to store scanned documents.  Well, I found one service in particular that seemed to be doing just that and they have a nice desktop scanning tool as well.  The service is called OfficeDrop.

**Exclusive First Look** at the ILINX Tablet!

At the Nexus ECM 2010 conference in Bellevue, WA Shadrach White (Twitter: @shadrachwhite), CTO of ImageSource Inc, announced the ILINX Tablet.  It is an Intel based tablet running Windows7 that is aimed squarely at business users.  


ImageSource is a leading Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions provider and software company so this announcement will certainly get people talking.As an ECM professional and avid Apple iPad user myself, I was quite shocked today at Shad's keynote presentation.  I am also very excited about the concept and I think it takes a lot of guts for this company to dive head first into the business tablet market.  There is something to be said about being first and that is certainly one goal of ImageSource with this product.