Lexmark announces new solution at NRF, tackling costly retail problem

This story originally appeared on Lexmark News Blog 1/13/2014

Lexmark will be in attendance at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual Convention and Expo in New York City this week. The team will be in booth 4028, showcasing retail specific solutions to enable retailers to make their business run better so they can focus on what they do best: retailing.

We’ll be blogging, posting customer videos and interviews and showcasing our solutions throughout the week on the AccessViaretail blog, Checking Out Retail. Be sure to follow the link and sign-up to get up-to-date information in real time.

Today, Lexmark is announcing a new solution for the retail market, Lexmark’s Incident Management for Retail.

The solution simplifies and expedites reporting on incidents such as shoplifting, internal theft and accidents, while bridging the gap between retailers’ investigative systems and the unstructured information those systems don’t manage.

Currently most retailers use manual, document-intensive processes to manage incident information. Most of their investigative systems offer limited or no support to attach photos, videos, signed forms and other unstructured information, resulting in an incomplete view of incidents.

Incident Management for Retail enables retailers to:

*   Open a new case from a mobile device or smart MFP

*   Scan/upload documents for a complete incident file

*   Manage unstructured incident files in context with other systems

*   Output incident files on demand

*   Extend insight into the complete incident picture

The solution reduces manual, time-intensive paperwork and allows staff to focus on customer sales and service; improves the quality of investigations; extends the value of current investigative systems; and increases visibility and insights that can help mitigate risk and reduce losses, among other benefits.

For more information on the solution, stop by the booth at NRF, orcheck out this link or watch the video below to find out more information.

IDC MarketScape names Lexmark an industry leader in smart MFPs

Lexmark International, Inc. was recognized this week as a Leader in smart multifunction products (MFPs) by the IDC MarketScape 2013 Smart MFP report, which analyzes the strategies and current capabilities of companies providing smart MFPs.

As defined by the IDC MarketScape, Leaders are companies that have led and continue to lead the market in both breadth of offering and strategic intent.

“Lexmark is very appreciative of the recognition by IDC as an industry leader in smart MFPs”, said Brian Henderson, Director, Worldwide Product Marketing. “We are proud of the technology advances that we have brought to our customers over the past decade and take pride in enabling them to easily implement our flexible solutions into their business areas.”

The report notes “Lexmark holds a leadership position in managed print services as well as extensive software ecosystem1.”

The report also notes, “More than most vendors, Lexmark prides itself on having an ownership stake in technology. The company has internally-developed or acquired not only hardware technologies, but also several software solutions targeting mobility, cloud, capture, content/process management as well as managed print services. The intent of such an effort gives Lexmark responsiveness advantages and a greater ability to customize end-to-end process improvement solutions1.”

To read the press release in full, please click here.

To read the IDC MarketScape Report, please click here.

15 attributes of a true vendor neutral archive

This post originally appeared on the Lexmark News Blog:

The implementation of a vendor neutral archive (VNA) eliminates data silos, cuts costs and facilitates data sharing by streamlining integration to the PACS and EMR. To achieve these benefits it is vital you choose a truly independent VNA. This checklist highlights the essential attributes, qualifications and functionality to consider when selecting your VNA solution partner.

1. PACS aggregation and federation: The VNA should be able to aggregate query results from multiple disparate PACS or locations

2. Dynamic DICOM tag morphing: Confirm that the product will perform on-the-fly conversion/ mapping of data elements in a DICOM header in support of data exchange between PACS. It should use a “self-learning” library of DICOM conformance

Click here to read the rest of the article on Perceptive’s InContextMagazine.

Lexmark News Blog: Top 5 Blog Posts of 2013

Happy New Year! As our 2013 gift to you, we’ve rounded up our top 5 most-clicked stories of the past year. Enjoy, and look for new posts in the coming weeks on some interesting new projects and announcements coming from Lexmark and Perceptive Software.

1. What is the ideal life span for your devices?

3. Lexmark and the PGA Championship – A Sponsorship that Scores Big in the World of Professional Golf

2. Let us introduce you: Saperion, Lexmark’s newest company acquisition

4.  Lexmark selected for United Nations Global Compact 100 stock index

5. Lexmark insights at NRF 2013: interview with Juicy Couture

Saperion acquisition expands Lexmark/Perceptive Software’s footprint

Lexmark recently completed its acquisition of Saperion, a Germany-based developer and provider of enterprise content management (ECM) software in Europe. Saperion will report into Lexmark’s Perceptive Softwaredivision. Sascha Ohler, director of product management, international, for Saperion, sat down to discuss what Saperion does and how it fits into Lexmark’s overall business strategy.

Lexmark: Tell us about Saperion’s technology solutions.

Ohler: Saperion’s solutions enable customers to capture, store and access information. We provide a robust ECM platform that allows partners to extend the ECM functionality to specific industries. These products are highly scalable, easily integrate with all major ERP, email and document management systems, and are mobile capable, which is a real concern for our customers.

We focus on document management, document archiving and integration of the documents into business processes. We have several offerings, I will focus on a few that really stand out.

Saperion has a Web content archiving solution that is used for online retailers, large insurance companies or banks that do business through online portals. Did you know that 8 to 10 percent of transactions online are later cancelled because a customer states that they didn’t actually agree to the transaction? To combat this, Saperion has a tool that takes a snapshot of the screen when a customer submits for a purchase online. If the purchase is later scrutinized, the screenshot provides an additional layer of oversight to the transaction.

Another interesting technology is Saperion’s corporate content collaboration solution, fileNshare. It provides the ability to securely share corporate content with internal and external parties while conforming to corporate security standards.  Once a document is uploaded it can be managed and shared through a simple, yet robust privilege structure. And a key for any business, the documents can be accessed from mobile devices using both native and Web-based user interfaces.

In the area of consolidation services, Saperion has a solution that has saved some of our customers millions of dollars. Let’s say you are an enterprise customer that has multiple large content repositories, for example in support of your SAP system.  Today you will be forced to maintain all of these repositories indefinitely if you need to access some or all of the content at some point. This also means paying the repository vendor for maintenance. TheSaperion Consolidation Services offer customers the ability to reduce these maintenance fees by providing a way to access the content, independent of repository through a unified Saperion user interface. Data and content access is maintained and maintenance cost is lowered without the need for a lengthy content migration.

Lexmark: How does Saperion fit in with Perceptive Software?

Ohler: From a product portfolio perspective, Saperion will bring some unique product offerings, such as those discussed above. From a footprint perspective, Saperion brings a well-developed European customer base and partner channel to the table. We feel that we can only elevate the Perceptive Software name and brand, particularly in Europe.

Lexmark: What are you focused on right now as Saperion joins with the Lexmark/Perceptive team? 

Ohler: Saperion leadership just returned from a 10-day knowledge exchange at Perceptive headquarters in Kansas City, and we continue to work on the road map toward product integration. We are making very good progress.

To find out more information on how Saperion can help your business, click here.

[Lexmark News Blog] Ten ways to kick-start your office’s sustainability efforts

Todd Hamlin, president of Lexmark Canada, recently bylined an article for The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, that discusses how streamlining operations can not only improve productivity, but help businesses be more sustainable.

It goes without saying that technology plays a critical role in helping businesses of all sizes be successful in today’s always-on, constantly evolving operating environment.

One area that is often overlooked, however, is how office technology can not only streamline operations and improve productivity, but can also help businesses be more sustainable in the process. The following are a few key considerations for tapping technology to foster a “greener” environment:

1. Consolidate your devices. Chances are, your office has at least one fax machine, one scanner, one copier and one printer. With the rapid development of technology, these functions can be combined into a single, compact multifunction printer. Rethinking your device management and reducing the amount of devices saves on licensing costs, support costs and energy consumption, all while freeing up office space in the process.

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

[Lexmark News Blog] Perceptive gives back at Oracle OpenWorld

Perceptive Software, a Lexmark company, used its booth at the recentOracle OpenWorld for a unique opportunity: helping impoverished children in the Philippines.

At the booth, Perceptive highlighted how its new customer, World Vision International, is doing amazing things with accounts payable and procure-to-pay automation.

In addition to learning about Perceptive solutions, booth visitors were able to take part in a fun and rewarding service project – assembling school supply kits for World Vision outreach to distribute to children in the Philippines.

The community outreach was a huge hit. During the three-day event, visitors to the Perceptive booth put together 1,000 World Vision school supply kits. Each day, all of the kits allocated for the day were assembled in the first few hours.

“This experience was a great way to serve people in need,” said Alicia Belford, ERP marketing communications manager for Perceptive. “Multiple attendees thanked us for the fun and meaningful experience of building school supply kits, and hoped other companies would begin doing similar outreach activities.”

For more information about Perceptive and World Vision, read the recent news release.

[Lexmark News Blog] Records and Information Management: Not just for destruction and defense anymore

Stephanie Eaton. senior solution manager for information governance at Perceptive Software, a Lexmark company, recently wrote an article on Perceptive’s InContext blog about records and information management (RIM) that discusses what happens as companies broaden their understanding of what RIM actually means as electronic information grows.

While organizations are far from getting rid of all their paper, many are making a conscious effort to do more electronically, which means they are producing even more data than ever before. An analyst report titled “IDC Predictions 2013: Competing on the 3rd Platform” estimates that “The ‘digital universe’ —the total of all digital data created (and replicated)—will reach 4ZB in 2013, almost 50 percent more than 2012 volumes, and nearly a quadrupling of 2010 volumes.”

Click here to read the rest of the article on InContext.