At the last HP Printing Tech Day in Boise Idaho, HP surprised us with several innovations in printing.
The most important, in my opinion, was HP Flow CM.
I must confess I was cynical when told about the Print Tech Day.
Why?
Well, apart from evolutionary increments in speed, I hadn’t seen much innovation in printing the past couple of years.
However, I was told I would be impressed. I was.
HP Flow CM
With HP Flow CM, HP has taken something as mundane as printing and imaging, and applied the fruits of it’s much maligned, and possibly fraudulent Autonomy acquisition.
While the financial details of Autonomy may be in question, the technology isn’t.
Now, HP is leveraging that same tech – thanks, Fringe! – in order to advance the state of enterprise printing.
To wit: HP Flow CM.
What is HP Flow CM?
According to HP, Flow CM – in HP Flow CM Professional guise – is a cloud-based document management solution that gives growing organizations a complete set of proven tools for document capture, storage, search, retrieval, sharing and more, so businesses can manage information more efficiently.
In other words, Flow CM takes utilizes the power of HP’s Autonomy cloud to deliver a workflow engine that allows for document capture, storage, search and more.
This is big. Especially for larger enterprises.
It allows enterprises to streamline workflows, enabling convenient and productive collaboration across their infrastructure, safeguarding company data while enabling mobile and everywhere access.
What does this help HP customers do?
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Rely on the same security that supports leading banks, legal firms and stock exchanges – including enterprise-level encryption, authentication and security management – allowing them to confidently send, store and retrieve valuable information and meet certain regulatory requirements.
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Enhance employee productivity by providing access to files and documents while at home, in the office or on the go via a web browser or by using the solution’s mobile device app.
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Access content from a convenient online destination featuring a user-friendly interface and powerful search features, all from desktops, laptops, mobile devices or HP LaserJet flow multifunction printer (MFP) control panels.
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Get first-rate cloud storage and the scalability without costly commitments, allowing them to manage their content without needing to purchase additional software, hardware or IT infrastructure.
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Share files and folders across devices using the HP Flow Sync tool, which is integrated with HP Flow CM Professional to share new or updated content almost immediately.
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HP Flow CM Professional supports a multitude of multi-vendor MFPs and scanners, but provides a better together solution with HP LaserJet Flow MFPs which can be configured to fully integrate with HP Flow CM Professional. Businesses can access the solution from the front panel of the HP LaserJet Flow MFP with the touch of a button.
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Using the Scan to HP Flow CM Professional button, SMBs can capture single or multiple documents even easier and faster.
The sister product, HP Flow CM Enterprise is a comprehensive set of intelligent enterprise content management (ECM) solutions built by Autonomy, an HP company, designed to help enterprises access, organize and leverage the information in documents, audio, video, email, web pages and more.
The five ECM solutions – used individually, as a suite or in combination – can be combined with HP LaserJet Enterprise flow multifunction printers (MFPs) to make the most of an organization’s information. The printers offer document processing and sharing, as well as fast and reliable scanning, which enables organizations with easy, accurate data entry. HP Flow CM Enterprise then gives instant access to information assets and help to integrate, simplify and automate information processes to improve employee productivity, reduce operating costs and assist with compliance efforts.
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Autonomy TeleForm: eliminates time-consuming manual document sorting and data entry by automatically capturing, indexing and classifying information from paper and electronic documents using powerful recognition technologies to create accurate process-ready content in real-time.
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Autonomy Process Automation (APA): minimizes the risk of fines, reduces human errors and automates every day, manual tasks by speeding paper and electronic forms management for consistent, compliant and auditable processes.
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Autonomy WorkSite: reduces risk with version control, improves communication efficiencies, and makes documents and email accessible from virtually anywhere by allowing employees to seamlessly collaborate across any geography within the enterprise using any network- or web-connected device.
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Autonomy Intelligent Universal Search (IUS): delivers comprehensive, precise search results ordered by relevance that reaches across all databases of an enterprise as well as online, including documents, images, voice, video and other rich-media files.
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Autonomy Records Manager (ARM): reduces risk of noncompliance and increases security, data integrity, productivity and accountability for enterprise customers, providing a comprehensive records management solution.
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When you look at all this, you can see what HP is trying to do: bring intelligence to printing and imaging.
All of a sudden, documents don’t have to be static and dead.
They can be living, dynamic, searchable, instantly retrievable, and bring more value to the enterprise.
Personally, I am looking forward to this product!
© 2012, John Obeto II for Blackground Media Unlimited
