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Capture Conference 2021 – Take That Covid

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First, all of us at Infosource would like to thank everyone – sponsors, speakers, and attendees – for joining us in Chicago on September 8 and 9. We had a great time. We hope you did too.

Never a large event (an intentional choice by Harvey Spencer to encourage conversations and connections), the conference was about 60% of our regular attendance. We can blame the pandemic as we were on track for normal attendance prior to the resurgence of the Delta variant. One example, our Epson sponsors had to “attend” virtually due to a last-minute change in their corporate travel policy.

Capture Conference 2021 — comfortable chairs, electricity, snacks, oh, and knowledge.

We are all crossing fingers, arms, toes, and legs in the hopes that when it’s time for the 17th iteration of the Capture Conference (September 7 & 8, 2022 at the Eaglewood Resort outside of Chicago – save the date!) we’ll be on the other side of the pandemic.

A Time of Change

Change is a constant and it’s been over a year of dynamic change for Infosource. We’ve grown from a hardware market sizing and analysis provider to incorporate a newsletter (Document Imaging Report), software industry analysis, and, now finally, the Capture Conference.

From left: Bryant Duhon, Barbara Richards, Craig Laue, Petra Beck, Ralph Gammon, Johann Hoepfner, and Harvey Spencer.

Harvey Spencer created the event 16 years ago and it has grown to become an industry staple.  

Infosource is excited to carry on Harvey’s legacy of putting on a great conference, and we’re confident we did this justice with the 2021 event

Another element of this handover has been the transition of Ralph Gammon from editor/publisher of DIR into the role of industry analyst. In conjunction with Petra Beck, they’ll be continuing the work of Harvey and Mike Spang regarding capture industry analysis and sizing.

Bryant Duhon has been pulled back into the industry as Editor-in-Chief of Document Imaging Report.

The pandemic has changed our personal and business environment, leaving irreversible scars as many have lost family members or friends to the COVID-19 virus; businesses were disrupted and forced to adjust to the changing market situation. On a more positive note, the Capture industry was impacted significantly less than many other industries; it also fared better than the analysts predicted a year ago and grew by 5% in 2020. The pandemic temporarily slowed the market growth, but it also accelerated several trends in the industry, in particular:

  • Increased prioritization of digitization at the executive level
  • Accelerated shift from analog to digital business inputs and from documents to multi-format inputs
  • Continued strong interest in automation of business workflows which continue to drive demand for front-office Capture applications
  • Accelerated shift to subscription-based business models

As organizations transition to the post-pandemic environment, we expect these step changes to remain a major part of the new reality.

After the introduction and executive welcome by the Infosource CEO Johann Hoepfner, senior analysts Ralph Gammon and Petra Beck reviewed The Impact of COVID and Capture Market 2021 – 2025 with focus on changes caused by the pandemic and predictions for the future development of the Capture market and resulting opportunities.

We invited visionary guest speakers who highlighted business applications and technologies that present major growth opportunities. These included:

  • Our first presentation set the stage with a visionary presentation on Customer Experience Management – a new dimension for Capture, a large adjacent opportunity for Information Capture that is starting to be embraced by RPA vendors but remains largely untapped by traditional Capture vendors. Customer experience is the guiding principle for contact centers and front office business transactions, where omni-channel inputs involve contact center interactions. Ashish Bisaria, EVP and Global Head of CX, Firstsource shared how his organization is adapting to the increasing requirements in the contact center market and the role Capture technology needs to play to address unmet needs.
  • We continued with an industry sector that is in an earlier state of digitization, which was painfully exposed during the pandemic: the Government. George Warner, Founder and Chief Content Strategist, Horizon View Services LLC shared his view on Reimagining the Public Sector in the Post-COVID World starting withthe deficiencies in Information Management exposed by the COVID pandemic. He also shared his predictions related to investment priorities in the Public Sector post pandemic.
  • Continuing with immediate Capture opportunities in the Public Sector, we invited two experts to discuss the Looming M-19-21 Records Management Deadlines and Opportunities for Service Bureau Sales to the Federal Government. What took place was a lively discussion between Christopher Beasley, CEO, Edge Digital Group and Scott Swidersky, Vice President, ECM, Konica Minolta Business Solutions outlining the significant work that remains to be done to meet the deadlines.
  • After lunch we shifted to two technology presentations that took a deeper look at the shift of the Capture market to the cloud, which presents a key pillar of our future vision for the Capture industry, Capture 2.0. Shadrach White, Founder and CEO, cloudPWR moved away from the Capture industry 10 years ago to focus on implementing cloud solutions for government agencies. He reflected on Challenges and opportunities of moving Capture to the Cloud and shared his personal experience in implementing cloud applications.
  • The second technology presentation looked at Cybersecurity, the single most important hurdle for end user implementations of cloud-based Capture solutions. Bill Edwards, Researcher and Cryptographer, Deep Blue Krypto is an expert in this topic and provided the audience with his guidance on Secure Capture for Cloud Applications. Attendees gained a solid understanding of the Cybersecurity considerations for Information Capture and fact-based check on the risks they present in cloud Capture.
  • Subsequently we returned to our series of business applications that present key opportunities going forward, starting with Changes in the Legal Industry – The Role of Capture Beyond Paper and Email in Discovery. David Horrigan, Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director, Relativity provided insight in the latest changes in the legal sector and his role as in-house counsel in compliance and discovery. He shared what challenges the pandemic presented for an industry that is still at a fairly early stage of digitization and automation. Capture technologies present key opportunities in legal discovery not only for the digitization of document but also multi-channel input types, as David outlined. 
  • Another industry sector that is undergoing disruptive changes caused by the pandemic is the Healthcare industry. Healthcare providers were under significant stress caused by the pandemic while patient visits and elective procedures slowed. The pandemic significantly accelerated the offer and acceptance related to Telehealth. Suleima Salgado, Director of Telehealth, Telemedicine, and Rural Health Initiatives and Jackie Woodard, Telehealth Special Projects Manager Georgia Department of Health discussed the changes in Healthcare and the Shift to Telemedicine – What are the Capture Opportunities? We heard firsthand factshow Telemedicine has transformed the way Healthcare is being delivered and how this impacts the requirements for omni-channel Capture.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We’d like to thank our event sponsors:

  • Epson
  • Foxit
  • P3iD
  • TWAIN

Their support is greatly appreciated during these trying times. And, of course, as with many events, we have them to thank for at least part of the meals and liquid lubrication that really make an in-person event special.

Thank you.

We interviewed our sponsors at the event as well. Look for those video interviews online, on LinkedIn and Twitter, and in the Document Imaging Report soon!

2022

As mentioned earlier, we will be hosting the the 17th Capture Conference almost exactly a year from the 2021 dates. We would love to hear from YOU about what you would like to see in the Capture Conference.

What types of networking would you like? Topics? Any thoughts or opinions at all are welcomed.

Most of all, all of us at Infosource look forward to working with you and helping create more opportunity for the capture industry to expand.

View of the golf course at Eaglewood — there’s also a spa if you’re more inclined that way.

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