Business Info - issue 139

01732 759725 19 magazine There’s no getting away from the fact that technology continues to transform everyday activities – in both our personal and working lives.While it’s very easy to focus on the actual technology enabling change – think cloud, data, Artificial Intelligence and so on – it’s perhaps the way technology is ‘purchased’ that is the greatest agent of change. The last decade has seen a marked shift away from commodity purchasing towards the subscription-based economy. Microsoft talks about its cloud revenues. Oracle and SAP are the same. Adobe did a 100% shift. That’s the way the world works today. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2020, all new entrants and 80% of historical vendors will offer subscription-based business models, regardless of where the software resides. “What began as a trickle a few years ago has become a stampede of vendors wanting to make a move to a subscription business model,” the research organisation said. What’s more, the subscription economy has led to the development of some of the most disruptive businesses on the planet. Zipcar enables a world where you don’t have to possess a car; Spotify means you never need to own music; and organisations never need to physically own their technology. A perfect likeness PFU (EMEA) Limited, a Fujitsu company, is partnering with TheWatercolour World in the creation of a single geographically- indexed and fully searchable library of watercolours, many of which have been digitised using the company’s ScanSnap SV600 contactless scanner. TheWatercolour World was founded with the objective of digitising documentary watercolours painted before 1900 and making them available via the charity’s website. To date, the online, free-to-access archive has scanned in the region of 80,000 watercolours, providing a valuable documentary resource for the scientific community and the wider public. The ScanSnap SV600 is particularly well suited to the task: it is able to scan through glass, so paintings don’t have to be removed from their frames, saving time and avoiding the risk of damage; its light range is powerful enough to capture images in high detail, but not so strong that it will harm delicate paint; and it is highly portable and easy for digitisation teams to take to collections, galleries and homes around the world. Key features include: n One-button overhead scanning of bound or flat documents n A3 scan in less than 3 seconds n CCD optic with fast LED illumination within safe limits for paints/inks n Book curve image-flattening technology n Erase finger from image function n Auto page-turn detection sensor n Timed interval scanning mode for manual batch scanning www.watercolourworld.org www.scansnapit.com/tww Subscribing to the future of document capture These disruptors are proving popular because they deliver hassle-free flexibility: there’s no need to worry about the assets; solutions tend to be scalable; and the subscription model can ease cashflow. That creates a much better environment for doing business. The OPEX shift Document capture solutions are no different, and demand for subscription- based products is clearly growing as organisations look to migrate away from CAPEX and onto OPEX models. Indeed, Harvey Spencer from analyst firm HSA notes: “We have seen over 100% growth in OPEX-related capture services in our latest worldwide capture market report, versus overall growth of 11%. Clearly, the industry is rapidly moving to a services model. In a fast-changing environment, it allows a flexibility of services in response to growing customer demand.” Software purchases can fall under either category. Software can be considered a long-term asset and qualify as a CAPEX that depreciates over the lifetime of the product or solution. Or, it can be considered an ongoing cost of doing business, and therefore an OPEX. OPEX is increasingly preferred for capture software, for a number of reasons. A survey conducted by IDC highlighted that the acquisition cost of solutions is the largest hurdle for businesses to clear when automating document-based workflows. A subscription model addresses this concern as it allows businesses to pay as they go and align spending with usage of the software. Affordability is the key benefit, as OPEX offers a lower barrier to entry. Plus, given the importance of carefully managing cash, funding projects from OPEX budgets helps maintain a lean balance sheet while preserving cashflow. Scalable and reliable Aside from the financial benefits, flexibility and scalability are key drivers behind the rise of the subscription economy.Whether companies face seasonal changes in workload, the business grows (or is streamlined), or the size of the business changes because of mergers and acquisitions, subscription-based pricing gives organisations the flexibility to scale up and down according to need. In addition to its inherent scalability, the subscription-based model brings consistency. Subscribers always have access to the latest software version (a common requirement to take advantage of the latest features, capabilities and, crucially, security) and the cloud ensures that everyone is using the same version. Capture software, like other digital technology, looks set to become increasingly subscription-based as businesses adopt new financing models and a more flexible way of procuring technology. www.alarisworld.com Gerry Kelliher explains why the way products are purchased is the greatest agent of change in organisations today Gerry Kelliher, General Manager of EMEA Region at Alaris, a Kodak Alaris business. SCANNERS