enx magazine

Recently, we traveled to New York City to attend a press event sponsored by eCopy to highlight their recent and forthcoming activities and business strategies. Over the last several years, eCopy has built a strong reputation as one of the elite providers of solutions that integrate paper documents into business software applications. From the LDI office equipment dealership overlooking Times Square, we began with an overview, hearing about the wild success eCopy has experienced, facilitating the need to open offices in the UK, Tokyo, Australia and, in the near future, Singapore. eCopy is now positioned to support the North American, Pan-European and Asia Pacific markets and boasts over 10,000 eCopy placements worldwide.

Xerox has become the latest vendor to climb aboard the eCopy train, announcing that their subsidiary, Global Imaging Systems, will carry eCopy’s ShareScan® solution for their MFPs. According to eCopy, they now “work with the seven leading MFP brands, representing over 75% of the laser MFPs shipped in the US market.” Océ USA has also just signed on to distribute eCopy as has Konica Minolta Europe and Ricoh France. eCopy estimates sales outside the U.S. are currently 30% - 40%.

eCopy also announced that they are targeting Segment 1 MFPs and scanners. Considering the fact that Segment 1 shipments in 2007 were roughly 3 times the combined number of shipments of Segment 2 - 6, it’s easy to see what an opportunity this is, especially considering eCopy has traditionally shied away from low-cost Segment 1 products. One issue that has traditionally precluded eCopy from marketing solutions on Segment 1 devices was the cost of their solution compared to the cost of the device. The feeling is offices won’t pay $4,000 - $5,000 for a solution built into a $2,000 MFP.

With that, eCopy announced that they are discontinuing ShareScan 4.1 and introducing two new products – ShareScan Essentials and ShareScan Suite. Essentials is basic version and includes a single seat license, with all connectors available as “plug-ins.” Suite is fully configured with all connectors and comes with 10 seat licenses. Essentials appears to be eCopy’s first product aimed at the lucrative SMB market. Suite will give Enterprise customers a lot more for their money.

eCopy then announced an updated OEM agreement with Canon who is now shipping the first OEM product to include the new embedded ShareScan Essentials solution. The Canon ScanFront 220E scanner represents what should be the first of many products to roll out with the embedded document imaging software bundled directly into the device.

What else is new with ShareScan? Vista support, Cost Recovery Protocol 3, Document Services, PDF/A support, MS Exchange 2007 support, enhanced Scan to Desktop connector, support for external keyboard and ISIS support add another level of capability and flexibility to an already powerful solution. eCopy Desktop has also been upgraded with the addition of Vista support, automatic file conversion to PDF, PDF bookmark support, Select Test tool, search pane, slider pane and apply

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