The upside for innovation is clear.  With vast amounts of government data available in machine-readable formats, new mashups are likely to emerge at a rapid clip.   And these innovations are likely to create jobs and social value.  As Alex Howard wrote in Slate, “This is perhaps the biggest step forward to date in making government data—that information your tax dollars pay for—accessible for citizens, entrepreneurs, politicians, and others.”

Raising the Bar

It is indeed a huge step forward on a path that began in 2009 when the US government mandated that every US agency provide at least three “high-value data sets” through its portal, Data.gov.  As helpful as this was directive was, it was clearly just the tip of the iceberg.  A significant portion of the data that was made available was locked in formats not ready for ready integration into IT systems, solutions and apps.  This order means to change that.

To raise the bar even further, the administration is not letting agencies off the hook for legacy data.  A part of the order is a mandate to all agencies to create a public inventory of their available data and prioritize its release.  As the Sunlight Foundation’s John Wonderlich wrote, “Agency-wide comprehensive audits of datasets is a big and aggressive move.”

An Information-Centric Approach

As the President’s Digital Government Initiative states, the mandate is to move from  “managing ‘documents’ to managing discrete pieces of open data and content which can be tagged, shared, secured, mashed up and presented in the way that is most useful for the consumer of that information.”  The move away from “documents” to “information” as the primary currency of disclosure offers significant challenges.

Most agencies work with a patchwork of legacy systems that were not architected to make data securely available via APIs or portable formats outside the boundaries of their own silos.  Budget to extract this data and adapt these systems is scarce, particularly under the constraints of the sequester.  This is one likely reason that the administration was careful to apply the order specifically to all new IT systems.  However, even new IT systems often pull data from processes that were not designed to support open, machine-readable outputs.  Many valuable datasets are still collected via paper and stored in boxes, waiting to be input.  Other datasets are housed in PDF or scanned documents that make information difficult to extract.  This “first mile” problem is often one of the hardest to solve and one that receives little attention among developers more interested in working with data once it is a digital format.

At Captricity, we have a platform that can help with this piece of the puzzle.  The ability to efficiently get data from file cabinets or file servers into a machine-readable format is a huge hurdle in complying with the new order.  Our solution not only captures data from static forms, but our unique blend of machine learning and human intelligence ensures that the data is extracted in hours and with a 99% accuracy rate.  And our unique approach to privacy ensures the protection of sensitive data.

Since participating in the Code for America Accelerator Program, we’ve worked with government agencies and institutions to help them overcome exactly this challenge. Visit our Open Data Gallery to see some recent examples of government data we have digitized, from 990 forms to financial disclosures.

This executive order spells a sea-change for how the government manages its data.  And we all stand to benefit.  We also understand the path to get there is a long, hard one, particularly in times of cut-backs and the sequester. We feel confident we can help solve some big parts of the problem and look forward to working with you all toward an efficient, cost-effective solution.  To learn more about how we can help, please contact us.

The post Executive Order on Open Data Raises the Bar for Data Access appeared first on Captricity.

We get it.  Captricity offers a full-service data entry/capture platform that improves data extraction and integration for customers worldwide.  The demand for accuracy, speed and privacy have all been baked into our solution from the earliest days.  Our technology was developed in health clinics in Uganda, so we have experience addressing even the toughest challenges offered by  handwritten survey information.  Here are some recent examples:

Catapult Health: Catapult Health improves employee health and lowers costs by offering on-site (e.g. at-work) preventive health exams, risk assessments, and personalized treatment plans.  Though most of Catapult’s information flows electronically into its health management information system, the company routinely collects paper-based patient satisfaction surveys at all of its locations.  With paper, Catapult achieves response rates of 90%.  These surveys are scanned on site directly to a Box.com folder.  From there, they are uploaded to Captricity and pushed to Catapult’s Salesforce.com information system.

• Captricity streamlines Catapult’s business process through integrations with Box.com and Salesforce.com.
• Catapult’s COO estimates that the current volume of 3500 forms a month, Captricity saves the company 400 employee hours per year while providing higher customer satisfaction and more accurate and efficient data analysis.

New York University’s   Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED):  A team of researchers from CTED conducted a randomized control trial of 1000 farmers in Ghana who were using a novel text messaging system (Esoko) to send farmers up-to-date crop pricing data.  In order to map Esoko’s impact, the CTED team administered a baseline paper survey and then monthly paper follow-ups.  Paper was the clear choice for coordinating and conducting the research.  With paper, the team knew what to expect and could entrust thousands of surveys to a dozen enumerators without worrying about additional training or technology failures.

• Captricity worked with CTED to digitize all the paper surveys much more quickly than manual entry.  Each form would have taken 20 minutes to enter manually (333 hours total!) The 1000 form baseline would have taken 2 weeks; Captricity completed the job in 24 hours.

• Manual entry was error prone.  In such a large spreadsheet, the correct information would often be entered on the wrong line, throwing off the whole data set in ways that were difficult to correct.  Captricity returned double-entry quality data with no manual error issues.

Political Science Research in Mali:    Political scientist Jessica Gottlieb sought to understand whether providing citizens with information about local government and the basics of democracy led to increased demand for good governance and accountability among elected officials. Her study looked at the effect of educating citizens in Mali, a country that had its first democratic elections in 1992.  Gottlieb designed a three-month paper survey of citizens across 570 villages in 95 rural towns in Mali.  A total of 5,700 seven-page paper surveys were completed for a total of 36,819 pages, with an average of 162 fields per survey — approximately 1 million distinct data fields.

• The project’s original estimate indicated it would have taken two data clerks 32 weeks to finish the job at single-entry quality (based on a rate of three surveys/hour).  After receiving the images, Captricity digitized the one million values in less than a week, at near-double-entry quality.
• The results were returned to Gottlieb as a .csv file which she then imported into STATA where she performed her analysis.   “Captricity was a simpler and more reliable way to getting to a better result,” said Gottlieb.

Psychology Department at a Major US University:  A multi-year survey conducted in middle schools sought to develop insight and tools for combatting school bullying.  In each school, all children completed a paper-based survey at the beginning and end of the school year.  The research produced hundreds of thousands of pages of handwritten, paper-based data during two survey rounds.  A survey of this size would take many months and a large budget to process using conventional manual data entry.  In addition, there were accuracy and privacy concerns with manual data entry.   They required that all the data be housed in a secure location and only be accessible to the researchers.

• The project team worked with Captricity to create a template based on the survey and sourced a company to scan the paper surveys into image files.  The data was returned as a .csv file in hours with a high degree of accuracy.
• Using manual entry, this project would have taken close to 800 hours for single-entry quality.  To achieve double entry quality would have taken roughly 2,000 hours.  Instead, Captricity achieved double-entry accuracy in days.
• All data was processed with privacy protections, and results were stored securely.

Can Captricity Help You?

You many know that paper is best for data collection but dread the data entry phase.  If you are designing or running a paper-based survey, we can help you get your data faster and more accurately.  Drop us a line.  We’d love to learn more about your use case and help get you started. If you’re a non-profit research institute or university, be sure to ask about our special non-profit discount!

The post A Research Challenge: Extracting Data from Handwritten Surveys appeared first on Captricity.

Companies rely on handwritten data…

www.aiim.org/research/Aiim-White-Papers/forms-processing

Of the companies surveyed for the study,  50% identified handwritten information as important to their business processes and a full 25% identified it as playing a key role for them. This data could be generated internally, through employee evaluations, culture surveys, site inspections, invoices, walk sheets, etc. It could also come from current or potential clients, in the form of newsletter signup sheets, registration forms, raffle tickets, satisfaction surveys, comment cards, mail-orders forms, purchase orders, and even signed contracts. 

…But they struggle to convert handwriting to digital data

www.aiim.org/research/Aiim-White-Papers/forms-processing

While companies rely on handwriting to collect data, they need that data entered into their computerized systems quickly and accurately. How are they bridging the paper and digital worlds? The reality is that most companies live with a painful disconnect between their data collection methods and digital data needs. More than half of those surveyed enter the data by hand, while another third rely on OCR, and another 12% use ICR (intelligent character recognition). Before Captricity, there really were no other options available.

Manual Entry, OCR & ICR are Woefully Inadequate:

Unfortunately, all three options – OCR, ICR, and manual entry – come with significant trade-offs in terms of flexibility, turnaround time, and/or quality.

• All of us at some point have dealt with manual data entry. It’s slow, often expensive, not always accurate, and can lead to significant lag times in getting your data. Many companies tell us they have backlogs of months or even years that their manual data entry staff just have not been able to deal with.

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) converts images of text into a digital, machine-readable format. While it tends to work adequately for well-scanned and printed text, it is extremely inaccurate for handwriting, and yields only a “bag of text”, not structured data. In other words, if you start with a scanned, typed form, OCR will give you a .txt file, not a data set. And if you start with a form filled in by hand, OCR will give you very little useful data at all.

• ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) was created to more accurately read handwriting. If you have ever filled out a driver’s license application or customs form, you’re already familiar with the highly-regulated ICR-ready forms, where boxes or “combs” (small vertical lines) separate each letter. While this system can read hand-printed text a bit better, it’s as limiting as a Scantron bubblesheet is to teachers who want to ask open-ended questions. ICR makes free-form text and short answers almost impossible. Furthermore, setting up ICR-compatible forms takes time and expertise, requiring significant up-front investment. For the vast majority of those organizations that rely on handwritten data, this is not a practical solution.  They are in a tough spot.

Enter Captricity for REAL handwriting recognition.

Our unique data capture technology was created specifically to turn any handwritten form, no matter the format, into digital data quickly and accurately. Multiple-choice, numerical response, likert scale, short answers and long answers are no problem! There is minimal set-up and no software to install.  Take your completed forms, scan or photograph them, and upload the images to Captricity. Our special mix of computer algorithms and human intelligence extracts data faster than manual re-keying and more accurately than OCR, with more flexibility than ICR.

Find out more

Captricity is already helping companies turn valuable handwriting into the digital data. Some companies send us a steady stream of invoices that they need fed into Salesforce, others send us user satisfaction surveys or event reports, while still others rely on Captricity to capture exam scores or survey data. Read more about how they’re using Captricity (and what they say). What type of data does your organization rely on, and how are you collecting it? If you fall into that 50% of companies for whom handwritten data is valuable but hard to manage, we are here to help. Try Captricity now (for free) or contact us to discuss more!

The post New handwriting recognition study compares usage and performance of OCR, ICR and manual data entry appeared first on Captricity.

Did this happen to you?

If this has happened to you, it is fraud. The charge did not come from us. Somebody else has your bank and/or debit card information. Please contact your bank immediately to report the transaction as fraud and shut down your card. Once you report the fraud to your bank, it would help us a lot it if you contact us as well.

Captricity started as my PhD dissertation, and our whole team has worked hard over the past years to establish our good name. We take this issue personally and very seriously. We reported it to the Federal Trade Commission and the Berkeley Police. We want to know who else has been affected so we can continue to update our report and investigate further. Please email me directly at kuangchen@captricity.com or call our main office line: (415) 237-3637. We promise a personal and prompt followup.

Current Captricity Users

The fraud occurring did not originate from anywhere or anyone in or relating to Captricity. The individuals affected so far had never heard of us, never used our service, certainly never shared their bank information with us. Their information was stolen from somewhere else. The only thing taken from us has been our name. In other words, there was no breach of Captricity’s security, so there is no cause for concern if you are a current Captricity user or have ever purchased credits from us. Your information is safe.

How did this happen?

After many calls to the Federal Trade Commission, the Berkeley police, and a number of affected banks, we still don’t know exactly where this fraud originated or why Captricity’s name is involved. So far, all we can tell is that someone seemingly randomly selected our name, and decided to attach that name to what have so far been relatively small deductions from bank accounts. We spoke with the victims of this fraud, and we feel for all of them. We worked hard to build a reputation of trust and accountability in our company, and we are beyond upset that our good name is being used for such sinister purposes. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing reports trickle in and not having the information we need to find out who is behind this and stop it from happening to more people.

Please help us get to the bottom of this

As we mentioned earlier, if you’ve been a victim of this fraud, please call your bank immediately. And then, if you would, please give us a call or shoot us a quick email too. We appreciate any information you feel comfortable providing. Every little bit help us investigate what is really going on and prevent more people from being affected. Thank you.

—kuang

The post Important notice regarding false credit/debit charges appeared first on Captricity.

We’re participating! Check out our submission, and please give us your thoughts and share with anyone interested. We’ve discussed in previous posts the importance of making sure that open data is shared in a way that it can really be put to use, not locked away in scans and PDFs. However, getting data into a machine-readable, useable format requires resources which may be out of the reach of the agencies releasing the data. Our submission seeks to address the financial barriers that stands between millions of pages of public information (available only as scans and PDFs) and the machine-readable data sets that are necessary to actually use that information. We aim to set up a crowdfunding platform that would allow government agencies, civic organizations, open gov hackers, and anyone else to propose the datasets that they feel should be digitized.  Then foundations, individuals, and others can chip in towards the cost based on the value they see in having that data in machine readable form.  For example, you could contribute $5 to someone who will cut down on your wait at the DMV by turning your last license application into digital data.

IndieGoGo and KickStarter are the big names in crowdfunding, but it remains a hot topic: Y Combinator, the famed incubator, has two crowdfunding platforms in the recent Winter cohort – Watsi and Microryza (more here).  Both aim to turn the power of many small donations on social problems: healthcare in developing countries and scientific research, respectively.  Unlocking civic data seems like a logical next step. If you doubt the scope of the problem, even the Library of Congress is looking for alternatives to digitize public records.

Please stop by the News Challenge site.  While you’re there, note what’s going on in the comments: not merely feedback and props, but genuine collaboration. Already, we’ve been in touch with several other participants about ways we can work together.  Take for example Marc Joffe, who’s working on a tool to digitize the financials from every city and county (all standard formats, released in PDF…).  His tool could be a great add-on to a crowdfunding site by bringing more data sets through on an ongoing basis.  Or Jerry Hall working on eCitizens, which aims to centralize massive amounts of municipal information.  He sees clearly the benefit of machine-readable data over scans and PDFs in terms of the benefits eCitizens can offer to all of us and thus reached out.

These are just two examples, and conversations are ongoing.  But at a high level, it’s an exciting time and an exciting process that we’re thrilled to be a part of.

The post Knight News Challenge: What’s next for civic startups & open gov appeared first on Captricity.

Catapult Health, a true innovator in this space, currently provides between ten and thirty clinics per week, each on-site in a different location (usually a work-place). In one 30-minute appointment, employees receive a  consultation with a Nurse Practitioner, a panel of basic, potentially life-saving tests, and a full personal health report and action plan to help them improve their health going forward. If they’re at high risk of developing problems down the road, nurses will even follow up to make sure they’re doing well and on track to improvement. Employees love the convenience, efficiency, and accuracy of the results. Employers, meanwhile, understand that their investment in a one-day health clinic will get them healthier employees, less productivity lost to illness, and lower long-term spending on employee health.

Catapult doesn’t just expect employers to intuitively understand the benefits, though; they prove the ROI. After each visit, Catapult generates detailed reports, including, among other things, an aggregate summary of employees’ health and also a patient satisfaction report. They pride themselves on closing the loop with employers quickly after each visit, and are seeing the demand for their services increase in part because of this careful reporting.

We at Captricity have been happy to help Catapult improve their reporting speed even as they scale up their services. Catapult realized that paper-based patient satisfaction surveys are key to maintaining response rates of over 90%. However, getting data entered from those paper forms was becoming a bottle-neck in their otherwise efficient, digital workflow. Captricity, and our integrations with Box and Salesforce, save them the trouble of data entry while integrating directly into their workflow. How does it work? Thanks to our Box integration, staff at eight regional offices could scan their surveys directly to Box. Just before going home for the day, staff at the central office could instantly pull hundreds of surveys from across all those sites directly from Box into Captricity.  When they come back to work in the morning, the data is entered, and a quick button-click pushes it straight to their Salesforce application for instant reporting. Theoretically, less than 24 hours after a visit, Catapult can close the loop with employers.

Would you like to know more about Catapult or how they can help out your company? Currently they’re operating in Oklahoma and Texas, with plans to expand to more States soon. Learn more about their work here!

Interested in knowing more about how Captricity can help with your paper forms? Try it out now  (for free!) or contact us to learn more!

The post Catapult + Captricity: Streamlining Patient Care and Data Management appeared first on Captricity.

Jen Pahlka, Gavin Newsom, Tim O’Reilly

When government agencies — DARPA and the NSF — pioneered the Internet, they looked to civilians like Vint Cerf for the enabling technologies that knit together the various private networks including ARPANET and NSFNET. The agencies provided the will, and innovative technologists provided the way. Together, they seeded the most transformative platform of their generation. The growing Open Government (OpenGov) movement, flying the banner of “Government as a platform,” is no less ambitious. Its champions, like Jen Pahlka, Tim O’Reilly and Gavin Newsom, push for opening government data so that citizens can enjoy better services. Their challenge is similar to that of the Internet’s early days: governments need the will to provide the raw data, and enabling technologies must be available to knit the data together. 

Captricity extracts 1M+ values from latest IRS 990Ts

We are proud to be an enabling technology for OpenGov. To demonstrate our capabilities, we sifted through 12 years of IRS 990 forms to auto-magically pull out all the latest form T filings (what’s released of 2011 tax year filings, so far). We then released them as structured, machine-readable public datasets on our Open Data Portal. Check them out! Set 1, Set 2

Why IRS 990 forms?

Beth Noveck explains the power of the data from the 990T forms best in the Aspen Institute’s influential report on nonprofit sector data:

“The data that the IRS collects about nonprofit organizations present a great opportunity to learn about the sector and make it more effective. Yet this data could be made far more useful than it is today. It’s time to ‘liberate’ 990 data and make it easier to gain insight into the workings of America’s nonprofits.”

You see, while these forms technically have been publicly available for years, they have been locked away on CDS costing tens-of-thousands of dollars. PublicResource.org led the charge to post 12 years’ worth of returns online as freely-available PDFs. That was step one towards putting the data in the public’s hands. Still, you can’t map, sum, or otherwise analyze data trapped in PDF format, making it impossible to expose trends or gain the insight needed to guide research or inform policy at a high level.

How did Captricity extract the data? 

Captricity uses massively parallel machine- and human-intelligence-powered algorithms in the cloud to extract data (even handwriting) from paper forms. We call it human-guided machine learning. What were the steps?

1. Document Identification: First we used “clustering” algorithms to group all the documents of the same type together. Of the set we examined, there were 105 different “clusters,” or types of forms.
2. Template creation: Because there are so many different types of forms, we did not want to spend even the 5-10 min per type to mark up each. So, we used computer vision algorithms to analyze each cluster to automatically figure out where on each page the data that we wanted was.
3. Page Extraction: Next, we used “classification” algorithms to find the key pair of pages, out of sometimes over 100 pages per filing. This was necessary because the key pages were often out of order.
4. Data Extraction: Once all the pre-processing was completed, we used Captricity’s standard service to “shred” and digitize the data.

How did it all turn out? See for yourself! (Set 1, Set 2) We cranked through 1M+ values in a couple days, and at one-fifth (1/5) of the cost of manual outsourcing (at double-entry quality).

Have ideas for more open gov data? We’d love to hear it @captricity or email me directly at kuangchen@captricity.com.

The post Paper Data Capture for OpenGov: Captricity digitizes IRS 990 forms appeared first on Captricity.

You’ve probably seen headlines about violence and corruption in Central America, mostly due to the drug trade. But did you know that Honduras has become by far the most dangerous country in the entire world? Its murder rate of 91.6 (per 100K) is almost 50% higher than that of the second-most-violent country in the world (El Salvador), three times higher than in South Africa,  and more than four times higher than in Mexico.  Between the day-to-day violence, crushing poverty and political instability, it’s hard to see how the average Honduran maintains hope.

Yet amazingly they do.  And not only do they hold on to this hope, but average citizens are teaming up with NGOs to affect real change.  Just two weeks ago, many of those groups came together for the first time at the US State Department’s TechCamp.  By bringing together local NGO leaders and technologists, the Camp aimed to help the NGOs find no/low cost technology tools to help them exponentially increase their impact. Captricity was honored to be invited to participate.

One of the first things that struck me at the TechCamp was the amount of paperwork these already under-staffed and under-resourced NGOs are dealing with. If you’re dismayed at the amount of paper forms you still have to fill out at the DMV, imagine day-to-day life in Honduras.  Nearly all the NGOs have handwritten paper forms of one type or another, from medical records at a hospital they’re working with to attendance records tracking teacher absenteeism. Organizations repeatedly voiced their frustration: at the limits to adopting technology tools, the time and cost to access that information, and at the hassle of getting the information they need.

Luckily, the TechCamp series (global) was created to solve these problems. Teams excitedly pieced together various technology tools to develop end-to-end solutions for these NGOs. We were happy to see Captricity fill an important need.  Here’s an example of a solution one team crafted for an NGO working to provide better health information resources to teenagers.  First, the NGO could mount a Facebook campaign to let teens know about your service. To aggregate information about at-risk youth, they could send out a team of “scouts” to collect data and use Captricity to aggregate information.  Then, they could establish a virtual “call center” with trained professionals, perhaps combining a custom force.com platform with Frontline SMS to manage text message and phone communications.  The team, composed of experienced technologists and NGOs, was able to develop this solution and clear steps to implement it in just a few hours, solving challenges that had proved too daunting for the NGO to solve previously. Certainly the next weeks and months will continue to bring new challenges and struggles, but the important thing is seeing the NGO set off on the right path with clear and ongoing guidance. That is the magic of TechCamp.

I wanted to end by describing one of my favorite NGOs: Jovenes Contra la Violencia (Youth Against Violence).  They shared their work at TechCamp as a model of how technology can empower positive change. The problem of violence is particularly severe for young men. In just three months last year, almost 1,000 youth were killed. Ths national chapter of an international program works to combat that, targeting positive messages to teens at critical moments (for example staying in school during the years when gangs begin recruiting).  With government funding they have a one-hour TV spot as well as a few live events.  But they needed to find ways to more effectively engage teens.  What better way than with smart social media campaigns? They’re on track to set up a facebook page, Twitter handle, and YouTube channel and implement a system of badges and other status indicators for participation and increasing engagement. This will open up a two-way conversation to help the weekly TV spot, produced by youth volunteers, keep a finger on the pulse of the community.  They know there is still lots of work to do, but the energy and enthusiasm they showed was encouraging and made the couple of days in Honduras lots of fun.

The post Captricity at TechCamp in Honduras appeared first on Captricity.

Upload paper forms, get back structured, digital data.

Do you have paper forms piling up? Looking for a better way to capture data from them without having to spend hours typing every last detail into your computer? Good news: Captricity’s web-based data entry solution just got even easier to use with the addition of our Magic Inbox. Just upload scans or photographs of your filled-in documents, and automatically get back structured, digital data. Captricity will do all the hard work for you.

What is Magic Inbox?

If you’ve used Captricity before, you know that it automatically captures data from paper forms, saving you the trouble of data entry. However, you also know that Captricity needs a template to help guide its data capture. You used to have to create that template document yourself. No more! Now, Captricity’s advanced technology can do it for you. Just upload your documents and let Captricity create your template and automatically run your job. The template stays in your account so you can reuse it in the future, and your digital data is ready for you to review, download, or export to Salesforce, Constant Contact, or any other database or web service you use.

How Does it Work?

Capture data from your paper forms in just a few easy steps with the Magic Inbox:

1. Upload 10-30 sets of the same document here.
2. Wait for an email telling you that your job is complete. Follow the link in the email to view your data.
3. Have more of the same documents to enter? No problem! Captricity created a template for you that you can use with as many documents as you’d like.

Try it Out!

Could this data capture solution help you? Give it whirl! Your first Magic Inbox submission is free.

The post Capture Data from Paper Even Faster with Magic Inbox appeared first on Captricity.

What’s New?

Here are some of the features we’ve added to improve this integration (and make it a database  manager’s best friend):

• Custom mapping to any object: You choose which object to push different data to. Examples include: business cards into Leads, order forms to Opportunities, invoices to FinancialForce,  and any other form or scan you have into custom objects and third-party apps.
• Robust field types: Built-in validation rules ensure that we don’t push incorrect data; picklists/ multi-picklists are also supported.
• Lookups: Referential lookups maintain already-built relationships in Salesforce.
• Multiple record creation: Two separate Captricity fields can simply create two records in the same Salesforce field.
• Upsert (coming soon!): Don’t risk creating duplicate records! We’ll check to see if critical information is already in Salesforce and update, rather than duplicate, existing records.

Why a Salesforce-Captricity Integration?

When two sticky things collide, do they attract or repel?

Take paper.  It’s sticky in workflows, in doctors offices, in classrooms, the DMV…  Now take Salesforce.com.  What started as a SaaS system to help sales managers has blossomed into a huge, robust platform.  The ecosystem of solutions built on and around the platform makes it sticky as well for many businesses (whether you use it or not, it’s not going away soon).  But what happens when paper collides with Salesforce.com?  They repel.

Or to be more precise, someone in an organization gets stuck with the chore of entering that information into Salesforce.  By hand.  It’s easy to see why, when we announced our Salesforce integration, we got strong responses.  Imagine saving those hours of manual entry with a few clicks.  In fact, the feedback was that our initial app, Paper-to-Lead, was not enough.  So we dug in and built a much more robust solution, automatically connecting the dots from offline, paper processes to electronic management systems.

Organizations have a range of needs for their data because the processes behind that data are complex.  Now  Captricity has an off-the-shelf integration to meet those diverse needs.

True to Captricity form, all of this integration’s complex functionality comes packaged in a visual and easy-to-use interface (see images).  You’ll need no programming whatsoever in order to map the data fields in Captricity to your data fields in Salesforce.  And it’s free to use  (you still pay a low per-page fee for Captricity’s service).

Just as Salesforce is a global platform, the organizations already looking to take advantage of Captricity’s new tool span the globe as well.  One is a mid-sized manufacturer or GPS equipment here in the US – using Salesforce to manage all the 3rd party installers who deliver work records via fax.  Another is an award winning social enterprise in Kenya – they work in the slums and there’s simply no way other than paper to collect operational data.  Both have the potential to take a full-time employee off of data entry so that he or she can focus on more important things than just typing data into a computer.

Can I Try It?

To get started using the Salesforce integration, download the app (here on the Salesforce AppExchange), and then emails us (support@captricity.com) so we can get you set up. It just takes a couple minutes and is completely free.

The post Captricity + Salesforce: Now Even Paper Likes the Cloud appeared first on Captricity.