Whether you call it records management, document management or information management, it comes down to the capture, storage and retrieval of your data. The amount of data generated by organizations today is phenomenal and is rapidly increasing. The latest measurement of data is in petabytes (1 million gigabytes)! So we forward emails, share documents, and store forms all at a blink of an eye and without a second thought of space. And most times there are a multitude of copies and versions of any one of these documents floating around on desktops and servers.

For 53 years the American Records Management Association (ARMA) International Conference & Expo has been addressing the issues that organizations face when it comes to managing their information. Held this year at the Las Vegas Convention Center the conference showcased 200 exhibitors and drew over 4600 attendees.

Storing data is one thing, but being able to retrieve it is where the true meaning of management comes into play. There are countless numbers of companies available that specialize in helping organizations find the right solution to their information management needs.

Kodak Takes a Leap
Featured at the Kodak booth was its recently updated Capture Pro Software v.1.1. According to Kodak, its Capture Pro Software v.1.1 will provide user functionality for approximately 150 third party manufacturers’ scanners with ISIS drivers and VRS. It is the first capture software available from a scanner hardware manufacturer that is compatible with both Kodak and third party scanners. Users of both Kodak and non-Kodak scanners can now manage virtually any scanning operation – from desktop to production – with one intuitive graphic user interface.

“Capture Pro represents a significant step for Kodak’s Document Imaging business. We have been perceived as a scanner manufacturer only in document imaging, but Capture Pro catapults us into becoming a solutions provider,” says Brian Bagan, Director, Business Development for Kodak.

Kodak has taken this leap into the solutions provider arena very seriously with a comprehensive Capture Pro sales and technical training program for its resellers – a wise and tactical move on their part.

Managing the Big Stuff
Attendees of the ARMA Expo looking for solutions to large document management weren’t overlooked. State-of-the-art solutions were on-hand for those organizations looking to manage documents such as large drawings or maps. Among the choices featuring large format solutions were Contex with its SD4400 and Paradigm Imaging Group with its EIS Supra. Marketing manager, Jane Hicks of Paradigm commented to us that that they were seeing a fair amount of traffic from government agencies looking to archive large documents and drawings.

Staying Current with Education
For many attendees, the educational sessions offered at the ARMA International Conference and Expo are a great benefit to attending each year. This was evident in the fact that a couple of the sessions were standing room only. The session choices were just about non-stop during this four day event. With six session choices running simultaneously attendees could tailor their choices to fit their industry and skill level.

Océ Business Solutions was not only an exhibitor at the ARMA International Conference and Expo but also had three of its staff speaking at various educational sessions and roundtable discussions. Ann Lewis spoke on ways records and information managers can gain executive support in dollars and directives for their organization’s needs. Kenneth Neal gave a communication & marketing talk on critical verbal skills for presenting to senior management. Gail Ann McCreary conducted a roundtable discussion on the specific records requirements as they relate to utilities.

Summary
The need for information sharing, accessing, scanning, storing and tracking is rapidly expanding. Learning what services and tools are available to assure the document workflow in an organization is efficient can be critical to its strategic goals. The information available can be overwhelming, but is worth the research.