IBM Datacap Reviews

I have worked on many projects at this company. The first project was primarily web services. They have a separate service, so we need to validate the account number. Datacap is a scanning tool. If a person enters their account number, that will be validated by a separate server, and we use web services to validate that. Once validated, it'll connect to another server to fetch that account number based on the customer's name. We do all the validations via web services. 

We are slowly moving into the cloud, but they are still using some mainframe technology. We plan to move all applications into the cloud in 2022. First, we'll do all our development on-premises then move to the cloud. IBM has its container environment called CP4BA, so we'll use that to migrate our development applications.

Datacap's main advantage for the user is the validation part and its ability to implement any kind of page. Say, for example, we have a scenario where a financial company is processing many loan documents. When they scan a page through our application, it'll automatically detect based on the page identification. Datacap matches the text according to the application settings, and it works quickly.

I like Datacap's integration with FileNet because financial companies use that export. The second part is web services integration, which is effortless to implement. 

We don't have any issues with web services integration or any email format, whether it's tape images, PDF, or even Excel, so we can implement those in our applications. Recently, we've been using XML files to validate the account number through web service. We can edit and implement those XML files in our application.

IBM could improve Datacap's navigator. The company implemented Taskmaster starting in version 8.0. We're using the Taskmaster web interface, and our main issue is the navigators, especially in the new CP4BA environment. The application is slow, so we face issues with the navigator and the new plugin. 

There are also some bugs in the features they added in 9.1.7, and the fixes they applied are still not working, so IBM still hasn't rectified some issues. The navigator plugin makes the application a little heavier. That needs to be improved.

The financial team I'm working with always compares their old application with our new one. They have been using that application for the last 15 to 20 years, and they're not happy with the UI. They think the layout isn't user-friendly. From a user perspective, I would like all the buttons to be easily labeled.

I've been working on Datacap for the last 11 years, and I haven't seen any massive changes aside from the navigator plugin and the mobile application. However, IBM needs to make many small changes to keep this scanning solution up to date.

We have page requirements where some values must be copied on each page. For example, say I need to scan a bunch of documents, and the name will be a field on every page. We don't have a default functionality in Datacap to copy the field value on the first page to all the pages. That feature would make the documents easy to prepare.

I've been working on IBM tools for the last 11 years. Mostly, I work on the enterprise management tool for FileNet called Enterprise Content Management. In terms of scanning solutions, I worked on Datacap and GoFax. One of my current clients is a financial services company from the United States, so I'm working in the financial sector using IBM tools. I mainly handle the IBM Datacap part.

Datacap's navigator is a little heavy. We have two configurations: one on the Taskmaster web interface and another on the navigator site. I feel the Taskmaster web configurations are more straightforward than the navigator. Sometimes the changes are not refreshed, it's slow, or it requires a user-ready password to log in. Many configurations are necessary, but Taskmaster web is a simple, easy, lightweight application where you can make all the changes.

You can have a stable environment with different roles on a server and many Taskmaster servers, so Datacap is scalable.  

IBM's Problem Management Report team isn't that effective. Sometimes we don't know stuff, or the end-users ask for more information about whether something is possible or not. We expect a high level of information from the PMR team, and I feel they don't have it. They're not helpful at all in some cases.

They take a lot of time for new things, too. For example, if I ask for a change, they have to check with the support team to see if it is required. It can take two to three weeks to escalate to a higher PMR level.

There are two ways to deploy Datacap. If you have multiple servers, we can use the Datacap deployment server, a new service IBM provides. You can also deploy it the traditional way, where we zip the file, add it to the main server, map it with our application manager, and update the XML file where all the application names are listed. 

Once we successfully authenticate with the database—Oracle, Access DB, etc.—we connect with the Datacap studio to test that the application is working fine. We later map the application inside the Datacap navigator. 

After that, we add a repository with Datacap that includes all the details using the LDAP authentication or a normal username and ID, and we create a new desktop. If there's an existing desktop, we export and import the desktop on the same server, add the repository inside the desktop's menu, configure all the menus. Finally, we can start with our application.

I work with an onsite architect, but I'm the only developer here, so I'm primarily handling the deployment process.

I rate IBM Datacap seven out of 10. This tool can be easily integrated with the Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or IBM cloud. In addition, they have a mobile app you can use from iPhone or Android to scan your documents and upload them to your repository without any user intervention. This is all straightforward from a user perspective. Also, there is less need for customization from a technical point of view. It has all these out-of-the-box actions that can be used in your applications to make them more mature.

We use Datacap for scanning Proof of Delivery and Proof of Pickup from our delivery agents and drivers. We have a defined workflow in Datacap, and we process these documents into our imaging system and PODs or POPs for paying the drivers and agents for deliveries.

Datacap provides remote users with the ability to scan documents using some plugins. Internal customers can scan their documents and define their workflows, like where the document needs to be sent and how it needs to be indexed. That is one thing I like about Datacap. Several documents get scanned during the day, and they come from agents, drivers, internal workers, and customers. 

While we are doing indexing, we tag the document type. It's programmed inside of Datacap to automatically detect the document based on a given template. It auto-indexes that document, which means that it automatically tags the correct document type to the scanned document.

Datacap's workflows are helpful. 

When I scan a document in Datacap that has a watermark or the document is a little distorted, the image output is poor. It either becomes completely black, or there is so much distortion that we cannot read the numbers or the addresses mentioned in the POD. When we scan a document, we expect the output to be at least 95 percent accurate. If IBM could work on that particular thing, I think it would be fantastic.

I've been using Datacap for around 10 years now.

I have seen complaints on the older version, but we haven't had any issues with the new version so far. However, it's only been a week since we did the upgrade. Versions 9.1.4 had performance issues. For example, it used to take an hour to complete a batch job.  

IBM support is good. We open a ticket on the forums, and our questions are answered in a couple of days. So I wouldn't say it's bad.

I wasn't around when Datacap was deployed, but they have done two upgrades since I joined the company. The process was tedious. We needed to upgrade the server and the client. If it automatically upgraded the client when we updated the server, that would be fantastic. 

When we updated the client, we lost all our settings, like the shortcuts and preferences. Those settings go into an XML file or somewhere. The upgraded client should retain that file. It should not be completely deleted. The user has to set it up from scratch, which is frustrating.

I would rate IBM Datacap seven out of 10. If you're implementing Datacap, you need to understand the solution from end to end. In other words, you need to know how the server connects to the client. If you think there is a clear delineation between the server and client, you'd be wrong. 

There is a lot of dependency between these two, and you need to make sure the configuration XMLs are in place before you implement anything. You should also ask the Datacap technical support team about every attribute they're going to touch. Otherwise, it's going to be a nightmare.

We use it to capture documents issued from the business processes. For example in the sales department during the exhibition of our business process, we procure a huge amount of documents that are in paper format. To make it easier, we use Datacap to use the OCR in order to extract data from the documents to make the research of the documents easier for our clients. I have around 40 people on my team who are in charge of digitizing the documents. We have to start with the existing documents to make the gap smaller between the past and present documents. Once we finish with one department, we have to give them the means to digitize the work and the ability to do it themselves and continue the work. 

I am dedicated to code digitization which concerns too many documents at the same time. The batches are very heavy. In the same batch, we can have up to 14 folders and each folder can contain up to 1,000 pages. It's different than classic capture in which the employee has one or two documents and wants to implement them in the solution. 

I like the features that we just started using. The 2019 project was an as-is migration. With Captiva, we had a basic recognition process that was based on the indexation of each document apart. 

In tier one for example, in Casablanca, they are dealing with 2,000 folders per day. On each team, I have four people and each one is in charge of preparing the documents to review these days. Second-tier is in charge description of the documents. This discussion is made on an Excel sheet and then it generates descriptive documents that go with each folder. So we have a main page in which we can find all the metadata related to this document and so on. We ingest all of the folders in the system at the same time and the system is able to recognize all those folders and automatically classify them on Documentum. What I liked about DataCap and what made us decide to move to Datacap instead of Captiva was the licensing. With Captiva we had to pay for each page, the licenses, there are a number of pages. For Datacap we have a licensing model which is based on the number of users. We are not limited in the number of pages. This is the first thing we liked about a Datcap.

The second thing that I like about Datacap is the fingerprint capture which is easy to configure on Datacap. From the form of the document, if a document is redundant in the same department, we can configure the capture based on the form of the documents. We tell Datacap to bring this information from a certain day and then we have a symantec capture which is the ability to read the page and identify amounts based on the meaning of the phrase. For example, if the sentence says that the total amount of this operation is $2,000, for example, it will understand that $2,000 is the amount and put it as meter data.

The interface can be more intuitive. What is in common with the big solutions like EMC tool, OpenStack, IBM SharePoint, et cetera is that the platform and the interfaces are not generally user-friendly. They are powerful. This is common in between all of those solutions. It's hard to customize those interfaces to be intuitive and to be user-friendly. We have to create a new interface up to par of these strong solutions to make it user friendly. I tried many solutions in my life and I never had a beautiful solution that is powerful. 

We have been using IBM Datacap since 2019. 

It's not very stable. We use IBM support to resolve some issues but they're not huge issues. 

We use it daily on several sites.

I would rate their support a three out of ten. IBM support is one of the strongest and maybe after the quarantine they will be more reactive. 

It is easier to set up than Captiva. The configuration doesn't depend on the technical admin. The business admin can handle the configuration. In the past, we had billions of documents. For each type of document we have to configure the system to apply the security and it's important to configure each document apart. When we had Capatra we had to go back to our partner and configure the document. Now we can add members of documents without asking for support from the IT department.

To deploy a departmnet took two months without much customization. For the standard deployment, it won't take more than three months .

For a company that wants to install Datacap, make sure to choose a suitable person to manage it. It can't be a regular IT person. You have to check the laws in each country before implementing Datacap. We have to know the law for a retention policy before starting to implement it. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Datacap has all of the features that we need. 

We use it for extracting data for insurance filing purposes.

We are using data in flat files or XMLs and importing it directly into our database, or exporting it to clients who can process it and do insurance verification.

The solution automates manual data entry.

The usability is challenging and hard for our business users.

I would like better ease of use and more support options.

The stability is about average.

It is scalable. However, we are not scaling it up because we haven't got it over capacity yet.

It is hard for us to scale it up. I know it has potential, but it's not easy to do that.

The technical support is difficult and expensive.

There is a trend of moving toward automation and automotive processes.

The initial setup was complex because the system was complex inherently.

We used an integrator for the deployment, and our experience was very bad. They gave us an unreliable, broken solution which did not work, then they would not work with us. Afterward, we couldn't get a quote for more billable hours of support. They just disappeared and ghosted us.

The solution has increased our productivity, but not to our expectations.

The solution saves eight to 16 man-hours a week.

It has not reduced our operating costs.

We have worked with Imagine Solutions and have dealt with enChoice. However, Imagine Solutions was on the shortlist.

We chose Datacap because the team demonstrated expertise.

Manage expectations and confirm you have actual buy-in from upper management.

We plan to expand our use of automation in our organization.

We have integrated the solution with non-IBM tools.

I attended the technical track. I learned about the upcoming improvement, which is coming with the Datacap software. We are looking forward to that.

We are using the tool to capture data from bills that customers send in.

It is not used on the business side. It is on the back-end side, and it is sort of automated. We process things for the digital channel.

We don't use it internally in the organization. We link into it and expose it to customers. Generally, it hasn't change the way we work, but we hope it will change the way our customers interact with us.

The most valuable feature is its ability to capture data, which changes all the time into different formats.

The usability is great. The tool is powerful, and it's the right thing for us to use.

The integration process was pretty easy. There were exposed APIs for us to call and the documentation was available for us. Therefore, we could do it pretty easily.

I would like to see the product have the ability to process more documents in parallel. Right now, it is a single queue. Therefore, if you want to really test the load and stress test it, having multiple instances and the ability to scale it up would be great.

The stability is great.

I would like it to be able to handle multiple instances. E.g., if we had suddenly one million documents to load into it, the solution would work through them one by one. It would be great if it could dynamically scale up and have three or four instances that it could handle, or even many, concurrently.

I have a direct line to them, which is amazing. They are very good.

We were not using anything previously. This was something from our innovation stream. It was a new experiment that we wanted to test.

The initial setup was easy for us.

We worked directly with IBM.

It is supposed to reduce costs.

Pricing depends on how much we use it. We pay per bulk quantity. We pay as you go. Therefore, it sort of depends on our usage of it.

IBM offers a strong product. We also looked at Google's offerings with something similar. There was another company that we looked at, which I can't remember. 

What differentiated IBM was we had a strong relationship with them already. It was a natural fit for development and support throughout our process and journey of this application.

It is not easy, but it is worth the time to configure and set up. The benefits dramatically outweigh the cost and labor of implementing and using it.

Make sure that you are using it for the right reason. There has to be a compelling, valuable reason why and where you are going to put this product in, and you have to pick the right thing. Otherwise, you are wasting time and money.

We are using it for automation projects.

It is something that we want to continue to invest in and use.

Most of the algorithms in IBM Datacap are for capturing information on physical, tangible pieces of paper or documents, allowing them to be scanned, and associating them with an automated workflow.

Datacap can work in conjunction with FileNet most of the time. However, Datacap allows companies or government municipalities to take in information, scan it, and have it in a centralized database, so you can have an automated workflow structure for it. It speeds up a lot of internal processes, reduces human error, etc.

We use a lot of in-house ECM solutions and a lot of different technology solutions. We have our own CRM system. As far as Datacap and FileNet go, we scan in a lot of our documentation and have a lot of automated workflow structures for building RFPs in the government sector. Therefore, we can take a lot of information and scan it in, then it can tell us the differentiation in documents, etc. We try to be as paperless as possible. It's mostly digital these days. 

I'm working with the Connecticut State Troopers right now. We're implementing a Datacap and FileNet system for them. Their goal is to have their sex offender registry unit:

• They have about 120 to 150 mailed letters that come in every month or within a cycle of three months (90 days). 
• They have to tell people the location of theses individuals, where they are, what they're doing, and if they're still in the same location.
• They have to track and make sure that no one is being harmed by these individuals who have committed crimes.

Thus, we have integrated a system, which should be going live in the next few weeks for them. The Datacap and FileNet systems will work in tandem together to pull the information from the letters, mailing, and forms which have been sent out for the sex offenders into the system. Everything will be an automated workflow structure so they don't have to hire ten people to sit there and type in all the information or scan the information in and still have to type it. It should automatically pick up a lot of the details which are already on the documents, then be able to flag specific individuals, and tell the people who are working at the state trooper facility, "We need to check up on this person. This person moved."

This is one specific example that I could give you as far as the benefits go. It's a lot of time and money saved, and ultimately, it protects more people, because there is less human error. If someone is typing in the information and they screw up, it could be detrimental and somebody could end up getting hurt in the process. So, there are a lot of different perks to it.

• It reduces human error. 
• It saves time.

Automation is all about eliminating human error and saving time. Time is a way more valuable resource than money. You can take out loans and receive money from anywhere. Thus, time is a much more valuable resource.

The overall issue is the amount of money that you pay workers every year to spend time filing paperwork or sticking with a manual process. An example: In the state of Connecticut, we implemented a solution which was forms based, but inspired by IBM technology. We were able to eliminate a process which normally took 60 days and cut it down to six hours.

I would like to see integration of Watson AI technology into Datacap. AI could play a huge, pivotal role as far as where IBM technology's heading. Not only that, but where the world's technology is heading, as well.

We have been seeing all these different competitive uses and different, softer technologies along with a lot of copycats who have popped up. IBM is fantastic and phenomenal at being a differentiator. As time has moved forward, there has been less focus on the Datacap and the FileNet side, and there has been more focus on the next generation of technology, like AI.

IBM works in both the private and public sectors. 

As you're implementing the system correctly and you have the right people able to run and support the system, you will rarely ever see issues. When you compare that to a manual process, it's uncanny the amount of benefits that you can get from such a stable system.

It is very scalable.

The biggest thing that IBM has going for it on the customer service side is their ability that they have to create relationships.

My company adopted the technology in the mid-2000s because they wanted to make things faster, better, stronger, and more efficient. They also wanted to stay ahead of the competition and kept information secure.

It can take some time to implement. As long as the customer understands that they have to be patient with the entire process, it's very easy to work with people and have the level of the technology they want to work. However, everybody has to be onboard with it.

It is wonderful when you compare it to something like a Datacap or FileNet system, then to a manual process. For example, when you have to bring in more people to do a job, it takes training, time, knowledge transfer, money, etc.

The difference when you have a system that's already set in place with automated workflow structure, you can just bring people on, show them how to use this system, then they can work the system for 10, 20, or 30 years. What I have heard from IBM is, "If a job is replaced with automation technology, you increase newer jobs to be able to run automated systems."

So, you save a lot of time and money, but the benefit is you have people who are able to run the systems, check to see if there are any errors at all, and there are a lot less errors than a human system.

I do a lot of the business analysis or project management in our company. I have seen the difference that it makes to our customers to implement a technology like Datacap or FileNet.

I would definitely recommend this solution depending on the need and situation. If they need help with sales, or something along those lines, Datacap is not the first thing that I would think of. That would be more of a CRM tool. When it comes to wanting to eliminate a lot of human error, wanting to streamline a lot of internal processes, or even if it's just cutting expenses, increasing cashflow, and revenue overall for the business, then I would recommend Datacap, and additionally FileNet.

IBM Datacap is a imaging platform that our company specializes in from a developer/architecture perspective. It is a platform, so you can write any type of capture or advanced imaging application. It produces great value and results.

We are thought leaders in the capture and imaging space. What we do is we help companies figure out how to use advanced imaging techniques, processes, best practices, and other tools, such as ODM or RPA. Our goal is to generate as much highly valuable output as possible.

Going forward, IBM needs to ensure that the output is perfect (as it can make the product) while staying true to platform's core.

The product is like every other enterprise product. Vendors (like Microsoft) should not be able to put software out there with a lot of bugs and fix them with enhanced packs and service packs. However, that's how it is. 

No product is perfect. Our job, as solution architects and implementers, is to help customers get around these hurdles until they are fixed. We do it very well.

It is highly scalable. We have customers who are pumping through thousands of documents a day. If you're looking for enterprise, this is the solution because it is a platform. I can develop an accounts payable solution today on top of IBM Datacap, and tomorrow, I could be developing an HR application, which is huge.

One of our value adds is we have a very great relationship with the IBM support team. In a lot of cases, we will help IBM work the support system on behalf of the customer. From our perspective, support is great because we have the impact to help influence it, which is valuable.

The great thing about the cloud offering and tools that IBM Datacap implements are customers don't have to rely on anything. They are supported, maintained, and fix by IBM, so customers just pay and use. 

Pricing needs to stay competitive.

At the end of the day, our customers have a great night's sleep knowing that their software is being installed, maintained, and developed properly.

It's an accounts payable automation. It automates the capture of invoices, extracts relevant data, creates an export, and feeding it that way. 

It's resiliency. There are multiple ways of identifying what you are looking for. There are multiple export formats. 

It's a platform, not a configured application, so you can do what you want with it.

They have to stop focusing on new development and stabilize the latest release. It is not stable. 

We're going to a web interface, which is very common these days. However, the web interface in the latest release is not stable. This is causing issues. We are about to lose a very large client because IBM can't fix the product.

It's scalable. It can run in the background (zero users) to our larger clients (8,000 users).

The technical support is horrible. They have downsized the support teams too much. They've outsourced some of them along with some of the development, and they're just stretched too thin.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.

If someone is looking just to install and remedial capture, the initial setup is maybe a month.

Most of our engagements are a four to six month time frame. Not overly long, when compared to SAP or Oracle, which have about two to four year engagements. We are about a six month average. Primarily ours is more about understanding the business requirements. We'll not alter the business to fit the software. We'll make the software fit the business. It's understanding it to a finite degree.

That's the complicated part. Almost 20% of any of our engagement is talking to the client and end users, and understanding what they need.

It really only has two serious competitors in the market. 

Kofax: They bundle their products, but they also license via page count, whereas Datacap doesn't. Therefore, initially Datacap looks expensive until you do a three to five year ROI. Unfortunately, Kofax has been sold maybe four times in the past three years.

The other one is Captiva, which was part of the Dell EMC portfolio, which was bought by OpenText. Having worked at OpenText, we terminated it, knowing, "That's where software goes to die." In our thoughts, the product is in a death spiral. 

That is the difference between the products.

They've got to stop chasing their tails and putting new things in it. At the moment, they need to stabilize it. Once that is done, this will allow the sales reps to sell it, then they can go ahead and start doing the fancy stuff.