There is a common line of thinking when dealing with investors, upper level management and stakeholders:  “paper is dead and so is the hardware, software and solutions that is associated with paper.”  “As business undergoes “digital transformation” there will be no need for solutions dealing with documents.”  

Is the world, as we know it, over? … yes,  most likely.  Is this true? … maybe partially. 

Is Capture destined to go the way of landline phones, film photography or the dinosaur? 

…not even close for those that address the new market needs and respond!

Capture has been adapting to change since its inception as a software category. From film to digital, from a flat image to a file that could be classified, transformed and transported to appropriate business processes, Capture has been changing to enable business processes and eliminate key entry.  RPA is essentially a technology that eliminates manual key entry to enable business processes and so we regard that as a part of capture and will be including it in the future.   It is true that paper is in decline.  The need for document scanners is also in decline, as there is less paper and more options for capturing a document with a MFP or mobile device.   What has not changed is the need to be able to take data coming into an organization and transform those data into usable information.  This need is spiraling upward due to the following three factors: 

1.       Exponential increasing amounts of data

2.       Increasing demand for real-time information availability 

3.       The technology is better integrated and more widely available to more effectively convert, understand, process and route information derived from a variety of media types (email, voice, PDF, image and much more.) 

You can read the full blog from Mike Spang, VP Research, Harvey Spencer Associates here.