OpenText also announced that this achievement was approximately 15 times higher than traditional message volume log solutions for larger businesses, which commonly process between 1 and 1.5 million messages daily. 

OpenText chief marketing officer James Latham noted that the benchmarks are a clear indication that even larger organizations can leverage email monitoring platforms.

"Given our highly productive relationship with Microsoft, customers can confidently tap OpenText's deep understanding of governance and business process management while using Microsoft's database technology to ensure scalability and availability, as well as to lower their total cost of ownership," Latham explained.

OpenText has developed many solutions to improve performance on Microsoft platforms. The company announced in March that its Managed File Transfer application reduces file attachment sizes in Microsoft Outlook.

You may have noticed that one of the images we’ve used on our new web site is one of plastic building blocks, or Lego’s. And you may have asked yourself why we would use that visual. Well wonder no more as I explain…

Our viewing and conversion software development toolkit (or ‘SDK’) RasterMaster, is the foundation, or building blocks, of our development technology both for our line of document viewers, as well as our image conversion applications. RasterMaster is also the go-to SDK for developers in a wide range of industry sectors including banking/finance, healthcare and insurance to address their documentation needs, and build solutions for universal document viewing, streamlining claims and forms processing and enhancing content management systems.

RasterMaster has been utilized by software developers to create solutions to help them best leverage their resources to help their companies and their customers. Whether used in a Java SDK, Windows SDK or .NET SDK environment, RasterMaster provides the tools needed to create and integrate document imaging, viewing and conversion technology into enterprise applications. Snowbound customers enjoy unprecedented workflow, productivity and customer service benefits from developing and implementing their unique document and image viewing and conversion products.

So you can see that comparisons to our RasterMaster SDK and building blocks are pretty easy to make. What we don’t have so far though, unlike Lego’s, is a theme park to call our own, and why not? I mean aside from the millions of dollars to build and insure the place, why shouldn’t Snow Land or Snow World exist? We could have attractions like the Blizzard, an arctic-themed ride featuring a sub-zero wind chill factor. Or maybe a thrill ride called the Nor’easter, where riders drive their carts through a blinding storm, until they find themselves stuck on the side of the road, trying to flag down a tow truck.

Okay, maybe not. I don’t think we could improve upon New England or Midwestern winters – except for last year’s mild season, that is. So we’ll just stick to making the best viewing and conversion SDK and off-the-shelf applications we can. But it’s fun to ponder…

Enjoy the spring and summer everyone – and let’s keep winter in the rear-view mirror for a while…

Scott

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

Remember from your folks the television families of yesteryear when we all seemed to have a certain night and time that was appointment viewing? (Or as NBC so successfully coined in the 80’s ‘Must See TV’.) Early wholesome shows like ‘Father Knows Best’, ‘Ozzie and Harriet’, ‘Burns and Allen’ and ‘My Three Sons’ started the genre followed by ‘The Brady Bunch’, ‘The Partridge Family’, ‘Family Ties’ and ‘The Cosby Show’ – which started to address more serious social issues a bit while still keeping to the light sitcom format. Then along came the groundbreaking family situation comedies, shows like ‘All in the Family’, ‘Married with Children’ and ‘The Simpsons’ – that would push the limits of a variety of social norms and mores – evolving the sitcom from a safe family viewing haven to a more enlightened and realistic place.

So we thought in this same sense of family history and spirit of evolution and innovation – we’d give you a primer about our own growing and evolving ‘family’ of document viewing and conversion products and services here at Snowbound Software:

Our patriarch, RasterMaster SDK, is the leader of our group and head of our growing family of document viewing and image conversion applications. RasterMaster – as the founding father of our group – is the actual foundation from which the other members were created. You see, our viewing and conversion SDK, that we distribute to organizations around the world to address their document needs, was used to design and develop our own family (there’s that word again) of VirtualViewer document and image viewers (and its predecessors Snapplet and FlexSnap) – as well as our batch conversion application – SnowBatch.

RasterMaster – The Smarter Viewing and Conversion SDK as the tagline goes, has continued to evolve as technology has continued to advance. The SDK is continually enhanced with new functionality and formats to ensure developers are leveraging the most advanced imaging tools in the industry. RasterMaster is the most flexible, easy to work with SDK on the market offering cross-platform usability and unique extras such as DocClean image clean-up module for scanned or faxed documents.

Have you ever tried to open a document or image file and found that you couldn’t due to either not having the correct application on your computer – or an outdated version of the app – and the file was created in a newer version? Let me introduce you to VirtualViewer, the solid, always-there-when-you-need-them family member that is the document and image viewing branch of the family, and this will no longer be an issue. All our viewers also provide the tools needed to help easily and efficiently process documents – everything from annotation and redaction to text search and mobile document viewing.

And last, but not least, is our newest family member SnowBatch – the batch conversion application created using the latest RasterMaster SDK technology. SnowBatch quickly and easily takes files of disparate formats and converts them into a user-defined file type – to build a searchable archive and enable high-speed viewing – even of proprietary formats. Documents may even be redacted as they are converted applying watermarks, highlights or ‘sticky notes’ to files to protect sensitive information or add notes during review cycles.

Of course our entire family is coupled with the best support available – backed by Snowbound’s Pinnacle Support Plan. This service provides comprehensive coverage for our family of products – from evaluation through implementation and beyond. You see, once you join the Snowbound family – we work together to ensure your success. Implementing the right solution, keeping abreast of technology, best leveraging knowledge and expertise, and continued efficiency and effectiveness are all part of the Snowbound experience.

Now, wouldn’t you like to join our family?

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

The company added that some other benefits of the latest version of Isilon are a 25-percent increase in single file system throughput and reduced latency improvements by 50 percent for input-output applications.

Enterprises seeking effective security options to ensure their data remains protected are also covered with the new OS release. According to EMC, new features help company data become more available so they meet compliance needs.

"Isilon's scale-out NAS is the clear choice for enterprise customers looking to protect, share and manage sensitive data as they scale to petabytes," noted EMC's co-founder and president Sujal Patel. "Increasingly, enterprises will need to consider scale-out storage for its ability to simplify management and accelerate access to their storage in the pursuit of new opportunities."

Companies of all types have benefited from EMC's Isilon solution. The vendor announced in April that event coverage company Livestream has reduced its storage operating costs by nearly 30 percent since adopting the application.

These days we are inundated with electronic chatter – between email, texts, IM and all the content on the Internet – it’s becoming harder to sift through the e-clutter. So we at Snowbound Software decided to do our part and make our online Web presence easier to navigate and use – and therefore more user-friendly (having already revamped the blog you’re currently viewing in the past year).

Our past Web site was very product focused, which is great if you know what product you’re looking for, but not so great if you know what issue you’re trying to resolve – but not the product name. The new interface provides searching by solution type, so if for example, you’re looking to view documents on the web or process claims or forms more efficiently, you can quickly and easily find the solution that’s right for you. The site also features navigation by industry, success stories and articles about how other organizations have leveraged document viewing and conversion solutions to address their needs, and a voluminous library of technical tips. And of course lots of product data as well!

Snowbound’s document viewer and conversion solutions are sold globally through direct sales as well as a network of OEM and reseller relationships.  As a result, it was important to provide the international audience with an easy way to understand what Snowbound has to offer in their own language.  The new site incorporates Google’s translation technology allowing visitors to translate any of the pages on the site into over 52 different languages.

We’re very pleased and proud of the evolution of our site towards Web 3.0 – the next generation of the Web. The concept and implementation behind Web 3.0 is to connect with users in a more interactive way – making searches faster and easier. Instead of multiple searches, users may enter a more complex series of questions such as “I’m looking to streamline my document processing and need document annotation tools – what have you got?” The search technology behind the Web 3.0 browser will analyze your response, search for all possible answers, and then organize the results for you.

As computers, and now tablets, smartphones and other portable devices, increasingly become the center of our work and home lives – delivering business information and entertainment to us – it’s good to see the evolution of technology like Web 3.0. The volume of data we have access to has never been greater, and helping us disseminate that information to find what we’re looking for in a timely manner will become ever more important. Please take a moment to visit the new Snowbound Web site to experience our evolutionary move towards the future – we think you’ll like what you see and find…

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

The great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, was the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in1887, and was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. This complex character so captivated audiences that even today, Holmes stars in newly published stories by a variety of authors, as well as both new productions adapted for television and film.

Ah, the canon of Sherlock Holmes. I love how the mystique and wonder of this fictional character has survived and even grown over the years. PBS is currently showing a new series of the detective’s adventures, ‘Sherlock’, the second trilogy of the character that takes place in today’s London. It’s interesting seeing Holmes work his magic using modern technology such as his ever-present mobile (phone), and as always accompanied by his partner in crime, and now online chronicler, Dr. John Watson. (Not to mention of course, the hugely successful movie franchise starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law – but that’s another blog…)

It got me to thinking about how people choose the products and services they acquire – proper vetting requires a bit of detective work as well. Testing and analyzing the features and benefits of a company’s document viewing application or software development toolkit (SDK) to see if it meets an organization’s requirements – and then comparing it to other firms’ offerings – to ‘detect’ the best fit.

For over sixteen years, we at Snowbound Software have always encouraged firms to take a closer look at our technology, as well as that of our competitors, and put us all through our paces. We welcome the challenge and the input, and more often than not, our offerings are deemed the best fit and are chosen over all others. Our document viewing applications and conversion SDKs are the choice for organizations in a wide variety of industries around the globe including banking and financial services, healthcare and the insurance industry sectors – or as Dr. Watson would say, “Extraordinary!”

But you needn’t take our word for it, visit our web site and experience Snowbound’s document viewers, image converters and SDKs for yourself. Online demos are displayed instantly at the ‘click’ of a button, and product trials are easily accessible, and may be renewed for in-depth analysis, comparison and proof of concept.

And if you’ll permit me one more ‘Holmesian’ literary reference:

“You will not apply my precept,” Holmes said, shaking his head.”But how often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”

Try Snowbound Software and experience the truth for yourself…

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

The Radicati Group noted that the market is expected to undergo growth due to several trends.

“A dramatic rise in the amount of corporate data and information that is being produced has created great demand for solutions capable of controlling and managing this unstructured content,” the report said. “Businesses are also being driven to deploy ECM solutions in order to adhere to corporate governance, regulatory standards and support legal matters.”

The research firm said many companies, including Microsoft, EMC, HP and OpenText, among others, will assert themselves as ECM leaders during the forecast.

Although not as optimistic as the Radicati Group study, a Frost & Sullivan report also indicated the ECM market is poised for significant growth. According to that research, the total ECM ecosystem market is expected to reach nearly $6 billion by 2016.

The annual SAP Pinnacle Awards included 22 categories and more than 150 nominations from SAP employees and partners.

SAP global ecosystem channels president Eric Duffaut noted that OpenText received recognition for its impressive value offered to the company’s mutual partners, as well as its extensive relationship with SAP.

“SAP has chosen to be an open innovator, with customers’ success as the ultimate goal,” Duffaut added. “Through close collaboration with our expanding partner ecosystem, SAP provides customers with choice and value second to none. Together, we help our customers adopt innovations easily, gain results rapidly, grow sustainably and ultimately run better with SAP solutions.”

OpenText has continued to develop ECM solutions to address growing industry challenges. The company launched its Capture for Microsoft SharePoint application in February to help organizations index and digitize their documents to upgrade their infrastructure, rely less on paper files and lower overall operating costs.

Ah, remember the days of casual Fridays? The one day of the week where we all ‘dressed down’ in the office – substituting ‘office attire’ for the laid-back look? These days, it’s hard to tell what day of the week it is based upon the way people dress for work – it’s always casual now. (And sometimes too much so – are we working or going to the beach?)

‘Dressing up’ now means a decent polo shirt (with ubiquitous insignia – a pony or some other ‘critter’ on the chest) and khakis – with minimal wrinkles for upper-crust occasions. (And I won’t even get into cargo pants – and just what is in those oft-bulging pockets anyway – boat anchors?) Maybe Snowbound Software should market a line of golf shirts to accompany our document conversion applications and toolkits – could have a little snowman on them! (What’s that snowman doing on your shirt? Why, nothing I hope…)

Advertising and branding campaigns have become a barrage for the senses in our increasingly digital society. (Speaking of digital, just recently, I snagged an interesting email tagline from a friend that states, “*No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced*”) In terms of budget, television advertising still rules for major corporations, but for most companies, trade shows are the highest percentage of their marketing budgets, and email campaigns still have the edge for prospecting and lead generation activities (B to B, March, 2012).

So I’m advocating a return of the sandwich board or roadside handheld sign styles of advertising for companies for a number of reasons – it breaks through the digital clutter, is a very cost-effective medium, opens up your offerings to a wide (but certainly not targeted) audience segment, and it gives today’s youth a ready-made avenue of employment opportunities – which it seems they desperately need according to recent articles in the media.

And for our firm Snowbound Software, – we can have an army of life-size snowmen (and snowwomen) patrolling the trade show circuit, highways and byways – getting the word out about offerings for streamlined claims and forms processing, web document viewing and image conversion solutions. Who knows – might work better than a tiny pony on your chest?

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

Scott

Let me explain.  As we know too well, we have all become very dependent upon our financial institutions.  Their systems cannot break down, they cannot be compromised, and they need to run 24x7x365. And if something goes wrong, there are millions of users who get upset.

To protect their operations, these institutions have standardized on UNIX servers because of the many suppliers, their stability and their security. And with the extensive mergers that have occurred and continue to occur, the systems these gigantic corporations own, even if they’re running UNIX, aren’t necessarily running the same UNIX. There are variations of UNIX by brand (Sun/Oracle, IBM, HP, Linux, etc.) and there are variations of versions as well.

But these organizations need their applications to run across all their platforms as seamlessly as possible. They can’t afford different behavior when running on an HP server versus an IBM or Sun/Oracle server. The solution for these organizations, made years ago, is UNIX as the OS and Java as the application platform. Java offers fabulous interoperability – as the same code runs on all UNIX systems, built-in from the bottom-up security (applications can’t touch client hardware), memory protection that  prevents program misbehavior, and easy installation and software updates.

Admittedly there are trade-offs. Java, as an interpreted language, adds a layer of computation that reduces performance. Due to its security capabilities, you can’t easily use it to drive hardware such as scanners or other peripherals. But with the performance of servers today, as well as the inherent scalability of Java, performance is a trade-off easily accepted for the benefits of security and universality.

OK, so I answered why financial institutions use UNIX.  But why do they use Snowbound?  Well, as much as the paperless revolution is upon us, paper or paper facsimiles still exist.  Systems as large as these have been built over decades and change has to be done gingerly.  So if faxes aren’t printed to paper anymore, they’re still graphical (raster) representations of text and need to be handled by a document imaging engine.  Same story for checks – even if scanned, they are still raster images. Signatures are graphical as well, and have to be preserved that way, and clearly that’s critical for financial documents.  And many institutions, for security reasons, like to archive documents as raster because they are much harder to modify. Often, even when sending their output to Adobe Acrobat files, the content is in raster form.

And no, I didn’t ignore the present and future.  The world of documents, even in banking, includes text based documents like MS Word, Acrobat PDF, and HTML.  The need for all these institutions is to have one system work with all their documents, avoiding extra software expense and personnel training.  Yes, they need it in Java and it needs to run on UNIX systems.

So when it comes to providing document handling and imaging solutions in Java for UNIX, the path leads to Snowbound Software. How can we help you?

Simon

The university made the decision to bypass cloud computing in favor of the premise-based SharePoint to deliver personal file storage capabilities because the school has a policy restricting the use of off-site data hosting. The writer indicated that the platform was ideal for a variety of the institution's needs, including the My Sites feature, which replaced personal private networks so staff could access files on-site or off the campus.

"The Team Sites component supported shared document libraries on a per-department basis, and the powerful security model would allow us to devolve administration and management of each department's sites to a handful of people within each department, school or faculty," Schifreen wrote.

While the University of Brighton preferred an on-premise SharePoint deployment, the next version of the platform is expected to be geared toward the cloud. RedmondMag.com's Jeffrey Schwartz recently reported that SharePoint 15 will also include an applications marketplace and interfaces suited for social networking.

After sixteen years, it’s nice to be able to say that Snowbound, like fine wine, keeps getting better with age. A fledgling start-up in 1996, the firm now is a well-established market leader in the field of document viewing and image conversion applications and toolkits. (Please excuse any viticultural or technological phraseology faux pas made by the author attempting to marry these two fine subjects together.)

Just as wine is meant to complement food, the company’s technology enhances electronic content management (ECM) storage systems in a wide variety of industries around the globe. Benefits to these firms include:

• Secure Web viewing of virtually any document types from any browser-based device
• Streamlined processing – collaborate, annotate & redact to help process forms & claims
• Automated file conversion for user-specified document archiving and retrieval

A ‘full-bodied’ document viewing and conversion solution provides quick and secure access to virtually any document and image file – no matter the format. And this secure ‘accessibility’ is achieved without the authoring application (or even a dedicated viewer for that matter) being installed on users’ computers As a bonus, this ‘robust’ system also features fewer client support requirements, allowing IT departments to only focus on server-side installation and maintenance since a ‘well balanced’ web viewer (or even a client/server document viewer for that matter) will automatically upgrade client nodes as they access an upgraded server revision.

Snowbound document viewers include tools for annotation and redaction that provide the ‘structure’ vital for claims and forms reviewers involved with document processing such as insurance claims, medical records and financial forms. Annotation features including rubber stamps such as ‘APPROVED’, highlighting for important text, “sticky notes” with comments to other reviewers and watermarks like ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ enable users to better collaborate during document processing, without affecting the original document or other annotations.

Redaction capabilities provide the ability to secure sensitive data such as social security numbers, credit information and account numbers from those unauthorized to view these – preserving original content while ensuring compliance with corporate and government regulations and security standards.

In addition to the functionality that document viewers provide, batch image conversion technology has a host of built-in features, coupled with an ‘approachable’ (i.e. easy-to-use) interface that also delivers the capabilities needed to help streamline document and image viewing and conversion processes:

• Automated image conversion enables the creation of searchable PDF output from any text based input
• Documents and image files may be automatically highlighted and/or watermarked during the conversion process
• User-specified document archives may be easily created via the file conversion process

And the ‘finish’ once a Snowbound solution is integrated with a firm’s ECM? ‘Lingering notes’ of satisfaction…! Salute!

The iPad, in particular, is considered a game-changing device. OpenText cited a study conducted by market research firm IDC that projected global tablet shipments to surpass 106 million in 2012. The iPad will account for a majority of these devices.

OpenText connectivity general manager Eugene Cherny asserted that enterprises must address the changing IT landscape to support their mission-critical applications and new devices like the iPad.

“Exceed onDemand for iPad allows them to offer a mobile, touch-friendly, collaborative solution to access UNIX applications, without sacrificing security or compliance,” Cherny added.

As more vendors adopt a mobile approach to ECM moving forward, revenue for such solutions is expected to grow. According to a study by ABI Research, mobile ECM profits are projected increase from approximately $900 million in 2010 to almost $3.5 billion by 2016.

Every marketing publication seems to have some study or other about the importance of social media as part of a firm’s overall marketing strategy, and most organizations do have some sort of presence in this channel today. Case in point, aside from the online presence of our website and blog, we here at Snowbound Software also have a Facebook page, as well as a LinkedIn listing and group dedicated to our document viewing audience.

Like most successful organizations, we try to use every marketing program at our disposal to get the word out about our document viewing and image conversion applications and toolkits – but are social media tools the best way for a high-technology B to B company to accomplish this?

While our overall online presence continues to show solid growth in both the number of visitors to our website and blog, the measurable impact of social media has been minor. But since this is not a costly avenue to pursue in terms of either time or money invested – it has certainly been an undertaking worth pursuing.

When we first created our company Facebook page, we were scrambling to get the required number of ‘likes’ that it took for the page to be launched. In the middle of this development, Facebook changed the parameters and we were thankfully able to post sooner than anticipated. While we’re happy to have our Facebook page, we’re not sure of its impact in the business-to-business environment.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, has been a great B-to-B social tool, enabling us to connect with clients, colleagues and other business associates, invite them to webinars and other events, and establish a business-specific user group (as previously mentioned) focused on our document viewing and image conversion technology.

So, won’t you be our ‘friend’? (Still sounds a little ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood to me if you substitute ‘neighbor’ for ‘friend’). We’d ‘like’ that!

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

Scott

The ECM vendor said its total revenue for the third quarter increased by 11.1 percent from 2011, surpassing $292 million. OpenText said its ECM solution was a key part of this growth, including the release of the Extended ECM for SAP Solutions Version 10 and SAP Supplier Relationship Management applications.

“OpenText delivered our best third quarter adjusted earnings per share and cash from operations, and on a year-to-date basis our adjusted earnings per share was up 14 percent,” said OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea.

OpenText has continued to diversify its ECM solutions and expand its offerings for small and medium-sized businesses. The vendor announced last month the availability of version 9 of its Document Server Alchemy Edition to help SMBs capture and store their mission-critical documents.

According to the provider, companies are encouraged to refresh their current hardware, software patches and operating systems to support the latest SharePoint release. Businesses should also consolidate their Windows File Shares and Exchange Public Folders if needed, as well as their data externalization to make the transition more effective.

Organizations may also want to invest in a strong governance policy for the next SharePoint release.

“Investing in a strong SharePoint governance model now will pay huge dividends later, enabling IT to implement a mature governance system from day one in the new version of SharePoint,” the vendor said.

The next generation of SharePoint is expected to offer several improvements compared to its predecessors. RedmondMag.com’s Jeffrey Schwartz recently suggested that the new platform will provide greater mobile support, an applications marketplace and interfaces designed to meet more social networking demands.

Golf is one of those games that have been frequently described as a mobile meeting while walking through a park. Executives often invite clients, partners and other business associates to partake in this pastime as a way to commence or continue negotiations, or as a ‘thank you’ once these are successfully concluded.

This got me to thinking that maybe we at Snowbound Software should begin an incentive-laden tournament with our customers, prospects and partners – perhaps the Snowbound Open or the Snowbound Masters – with an inventive pricing structure. For instance, rather than offering volume or site licensing discounts for our document viewing and image conversion products and services, one could set their own discount based upon their score card. The better you play – the less you pay!

The once soaring popularity and growth of golf has been tempered a bit in the past few years by the recession – as, let’s face it – greens fees and golfing apparel and equipment aren’t inexpensive. A recent article in the paper stated that the industry is trying to attract new players by attempting to position the sport to relate to a broader audience– updating the stodgy rigid image – and attract new blood. High technology equipment that make the game easier to play and relaxed dress codes allowed at some courses, while more engaging to the younger set, are not being nearly as well received by traditionalists of the game.

Paraphrasing John Updike, ‘golf is a good walk spoiled.’ In my own game, I always get my money’s worth, using the entire course when I play. It seems I also tend to do a lot of gardening during my drives, leaving divots in which one could grow a row of tomato plants. My favorite part of the game is the final hole. No, not the 18^th – the 19^th – the bar where I inevitably end up buying the martinis after the day’s frustrations are concluded. Oh well, at least I get to wear some ‘loud’ clothing and saddle shoes for a while…

Cheers!

Scott

Bat-computer from ‘Batman - The Animated Series’ by DC Comics (Is that a TIFF Viewer?)

Have you noticed a marked increase in super hero movies, graphic novels and media in general in the past few years? I mean the genre has been around for generations – the ‘old men’ of the comic set are Superman and Batman from the 1930’s. But it seems that there has been an explosion in recent years of movies and merchandise from this fictional literary segment.

What does this have to do with TIFF Viewers and TIFF Converters you ask? Well since TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a popular format among graphic artists for storing images, and is frequently used in the publishing industry (and by professional photographers as well) – it occurred to me that these topics are interconnected. For instance, leading independent publisher McFarland, has recently ventured into graphic novels, and prefers that submissions from freelance authors be submitted in the TIFF format.

TIFF Converters and Viewers – Ensuring Universal File Access and More…

Using universal document viewing applications to display image files such as TIFF ensures access to these as well as almost any other file formats. File conversion, the engine behind document viewers, enables a wide variety of popular and proprietary document and image formats to be quickly and easily displayed – turning a PC into a TIFF converter and TIFF viewer. (Or a converter and viewer of almost any other document of image files such as Word, Excel, PDF, PNG, JPEG and more.)

Originally created to be a common scanned image file format for desktop scanner vendors, today TIFF is a flexible, adaptable file format for handling high-depth color images and data. The capability of TIFF to store image data in a lossless format (meaning the exact, original data may be reconstructed from the compressed data – files may be compressed to save storage space or increase online download speeds for example) makes TIFF files useful for image archiving, unlike standard JPEG files that use lossy compression.

Using TIFF viewers and converters to access and display TIFF files provides users with the ability to view, annotate, and print TIFF files through a standard Web browser, as well as to leverage tools such as annotation and redaction ­­­­built into some document viewing and conversion applications. A searchable TIFF file archive may even be created using advanced TIFF converter functionality – and wouldn’t The Caped Crusader love to have that at his fingertips?

We’re Snowbound Software – how can we help you?

Scott

We all know about the ubiquitous acronyms used for IM and texting such as ‘LOL’, ‘OMG’, ‘BTW’ and ‘ILY’, but how about some business-based abbreviations that clearly state what we’re trying to get across. You know clear concise statements that leave little margin for error – so we can shortcut through all the red tape and get right to the point. So, in that vein, and without further adieu, (right, get to the point) I give you the list:

GOTTAGO – I’d like to speak with you right now (really I would) but my housekeeper is getting deported and I’m late for the hearing

QUOTATRIP – Please buy this (product/service) now as I’m this close to meeting my quota and really need to win that incentive trip to Pittsburgh (yes, I’m that desperate)

@$$$ – E-messages only please – I never answer my phone unless its publisher’s clearing house calling

HECK??? – Who the heck are you again and why am I listening to your drivel?

5PMSUMWHERE – If I dress up like Jimmy Buffet on casual Friday, can I come in drunk?

NOSVC4YOU – You’re going to be on hold with customer service interminably – so you’d better make sure to handle the following before making this call:

• Vote for President by proxy
• Service your car
• Review your children’s college applications – even if they’re still in diapers
• Tell your spouse you love them – and wish them a happy life
• Have food, water and grooming supplies within arm’s reach (and your wastebasket)

HOOVER! – Your technical support sucks!

HOOVERX2! – Your technical support sucks and so do you!

WTF?! – Where’s the fire? (You were thinking something else, weren’t you?)

OUTTAHERE – I know there’s still work to be done, but there always is, and its five o’clock on Friday, and I just need to be outta here – so see you Monday if I’m not too hung-over.

Please feel free to submit your own ideas to add to this list – until then – TTFN!

Scott

According to the market analysis firm, the ECM industry has matured in recent years and the technology is expected to offer companies improved return on investment, efficiency and innovation.

“Frost & Sullivan defines an ECM as a large-scale, multi-functional, cross-platform content management system, designed to address the complex content management needs of enterprise-level organizations,” the firm’s report stated.

Modern ECM solutions help companies establish a unified platform to share information anywhere with secure access. Such solutions also help businesses deliver their data on a broader scale and improve digital content capabilities throughout the information life cycle, Frost & Sullivan stated.

Research conducted by market intelligence firm TechNavio is even more optimistic about the global ECM market. According to the organization, spending for ECM solutions is projected to reach $9.6 billion by 2014. Key contributors to this trend are the continued adoption of such systems among small and medium-sized businesses and the need for improved collaboration among different business departments.