Press Room

Preview Services Completes Nine Month Scanning Business Review
and Chooses IBML's ImageTrac Scanner

January 3, 2006 – Birmingham, Ala. – Imaging Business Machines, LLC (IBML), maker of the ImageTrac® Scanning Platform, announced today the completed installation of the ImageTrac III at Preview Services Limited, a top ten service bureau within the United Kingdom. Preview has incorporated IBML’s technology into their business process. As a service bureau, Preview offers a wide range of specialized document management services designed to improve efficiency and reduce the costs of managing and safeguarding key documents.

Preview identified key issues within their current scanning procedures that caused inefficiencies. Their current scanning model consisted of ten mixed multiple scanners including Canon, Fujitsu and Hewlett Packard. During the review of four primary scanning providers the focus was centered on the following areas:

Increased flexibility of the scanner with the ability to perform a number of job functions and include pocketing option
Ability to scan mixed documents in one job run while maintaining image quality
The scalability of increasing scanning volume to a daily shift without adding additional scanners
Quality of the machine and the support value

After a nine month evaluation which concluded in August of 2005, Preview chose IBML’s ImageTrac III as their scanning solution.

Preview has experienced growth through new business contracts and a series of acquisitions. With this growth, the daily volume of documents to be imaged increased rapidly. Between May and November 2005, Preview experienced nearly a fourfold increase in the number of documents being scanned in the month. Today, 90% of the scanning business is completed on the IBML ImageTrac III.

Outside of speed improvements, the ImageTrac brings to Preview benefits such as the ability to automate batch processing and ICR extraction, capability to out-sort batch headers and identifying the document for indexing. In addition, the ImageTrac offers Preview the ability to scan complex mixed documents through one job run such as:

Mixed invoices
Standard A4
Magazine pages (after bind is removed)
Proof of delivery notes
Corporate litigation material
Corporate finance material
Human resource files
Local authority archive material

According to Chris Wilde, Managing Director for Preview Services, “The scanning is completed in full color and utilizes in-line ICR (image character recognition), patchcode reading and pockets specific documents based on physical characteristics. The return on the investment is expected to yield a break-even point in less than 18 months according to Preview. The project landed us exactly where I had hoped to be and we are accomplishing every objective outlined with great success.”

Once documents are scanned they can be instantly uploaded to Preview’s secure eView+ website and made available immediately to anyone with a standard web browser. This brings massive benefits to clients who need instant access or who have limited space on their own networks. eView+ is a web-based service for scanned images of all kinds - a 'Virtual Vault' or 'Web Repository' that offers instant 24/7 access from anywhere in the world.

“We view this relationship with Preview as not only an element that increases efficiencies within their organization but also a benchmark of defining the future of service bureau imaging and how our two organizations can work together to advance new opportunities,” says Ashley Keil, Business Development Manager for Imaging Business Machines.