Commercial Real Estate Firm Automates Document-Centric Processes With Captaris Solutions
October 03 2007 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Story Highlights BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Captaris, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAPA), a leading provider of software
products that automate document-centric processes, today announced
that The Abbey Company has deployed Captaris RightFax(TM), Captaris
Workflow and Captaris Alchemy for electronic document exchange,
business process management and digital storage and retrieval, all
of which are working in tandem to support the company's commercial
real estate operations. Read the full case study at
http://www.captaris.com/case_studies The Abbey Company, based in
Long Beach, CA is a mid-size real estate investment and management
firm that serves a client base of close to 1,200 tenants. With 11
field offices and 80 staff members, efficiency was elusive because
of manual paper-based processes that relied on many fax machines,
too much paper and more than 2,000 square feet of filing cabinets
brimming with documents that provided audit trails for leases,
insurance certificates, real estate acquisitions and legal reviews.
While these manual processes slowed down productivity, they also
heightened the risks associated with legal transactions, tenant
acquisition and retention. "We wanted to break through the silos of
each department so that our employees can make decisions using the
majority of information for a property, tenant or vendor at their
fingertips," said Scott Janke, The Abbey Company's director of
Operations. "In the past property managers often didn't have the
full picture. They were lucky to make the right decisions with the
wrong information." Working with iDocs Technologies and AuLogic
Solutions Inc, The Abbey Company gained control over its paper
processes by implementing Captaris solutions to reduce paper,
create business process management workflows and comprehensive
digital storage and retrieval. Today employees exchange, review and
store critical business information -- whether in faxes, emails or
other media -- right from their desktops. The corporate office and
field locations use RightFax to send and receive faxed documents.
Because the firm is still a hybrid analog/digital shop, it directs
incoming faxes to public folders on Microsoft Exchange server for
each department, thus using only a handful of analog lines.
Employees are automatically notified when a fax arrives and can
review, forward and even deposit faxes in Alchemy without leaving
their desks. The system limits confidential information from
sitting on fax machines and a history of fax delivery and receipt
provides an audit trail for back-up and security. To send faxes,
employees send files for transmission from any software application
or directly from MFPs, recently standardized to Kyocera machines.
"Captaris has the best suite for electronic faxing, workflow and
document management under one roof," Janke added. Along with
affordability, he cited ease of administration as a top
characteristic of the Captaris solution. "As a medium sized
business, we only have two people dedicated to the IT department.
We can manage Captaris solutions with basic assistance and without
a massive group of programmers to handle our infrastructure." The
Abbey Company first implemented Captaris Workflow to manage Human
Resources processes and is expanding it to manage insurance
certifications and activities associated with the negotiation and
execution of new and renewal leases. Each customized workflow
routes documents and delivers task notifications according to
pre-set guidelines. The workflows also support document version
control and provide visibility into approval status. Using Captaris
solutions, The Abbey Company has significantly reduced the need for
storage space and has eliminated close to 75 percent of its fax
machines and the related costs of paper, supplies and maintenance.
Property managers complete tasks and make decisions with the most
up to date electronic and easily accessible information. Reliable
information supports business interactions as well as risk
management. "Paper is now a byproduct, not a requirement," Janke
commented. "We now have the tools to reduce paper-based processing
which has given our employees the ability to focus on their primary
jobs -- not spending time searching for pieces of paper." About
Captaris Inc. Captaris, Inc. is a leading provider of software
products that automate business processes, manage documents
electronically and provide efficient information delivery. The
products of Captaris and its subsidiary Castelle, including
Captaris RightFax, Captaris Workflow, Captaris Alchemy and the
Castelle FaxPress line of products, are distributed through a
global network of leading technology partners. We have customers in
financial services, healthcare, government and many other
industries, and our products are installed in all of the Fortune
100 and many Global 2000 companies. Headquartered in Bellevue,
Washington, Captaris was founded in 1982 and is publicly traded on
the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol CAPA. For more
information please visit http://www.captaris.com/. The following
are registered trademarks and trademarks of Captaris: Captaris,
Alchemy, RightFax and Captaris Workflow. FaxPress is a trademark of
Castelle. All other brand names and trademarks are the property of
their respective owners. DATASOURCE: Captaris, Inc. CONTACT: Mark
Littrell of Captaris, Inc., +1-425-638-4136, ; or Barrie Locke of
Ripple Effect Communications, +1-617-536-8887, , for Captaris, Inc.
Web site: http://www.captaris.com/
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