Intercon Associates Inc. Information Capture Solutions

2012

This paper describes Intercon Associates, Inc., its products and services

Executive Summary

More and more organizations are struggling to come up with an information capture strategy. This is

being driven by:

Operational inefficiencies related to paper and manual processes

Disparate storage repositories

Inaccessibility of information

Operational related bottlenecks

Many organizations such as those in government and healthcare are challenged by compliance with

existing federal laws and regulations.

Forms are mission critical to a business and are not a core competency of the IT resources within an

organization. According to the Gartner Group 85% of all business processes begin with a form.

Handling information (forms) manually keeps a company’s on-going expenses high due to:

Mailing, storage, processing costs

Slow, error-prone approval chains

Repeated, inaccurate data entry

Semi-manual data reconciliation across multiple applications

The Gartner Group has found that for every dollar spent on producing paper forms, between $30 and $60 is spent in processing those forms, and estimates that $360 billion is spent annually on processing data from forms. More to the point, even one simple intra-company form, such as a vacation time request, can cost a company over $150 per form to process, according to a study funded by Microsoft. This includes labor and materials for printing, storing, filling out, receiving approval, and entering the information into the business system.

Intercon’s Information Capture Solution bridges the gap in engagement between end users and e-forms

and collapses the business process by automating the capture, management and processing of a

company’s business data.

This paper will provide an overview of Intercon Associates and a description of their information capture

solutions and services and how they can benefit your organization.

About Intercon Associates

Intercon Associates is a veteran-owned small business (VOSB) founded in 1984 and based in Rochester,

New York. The company develops software applications to automate the collection, management and

processing of content and data for enterprise content management systems, electronic forms, pharmacy

labeling systems, and barcode applications.

Intercon’s two business groups, IT Services and Rx Services support its primary markets of Government,

and Healthcare across the country and around the world.

Since its inception, Intercon has established itself as a leader in providing software solutions that

facilitate automation of the document preparation, assembly and output processes. The technical team

at Intercon has a wealth of domain knowledge in data and document solutions.

By leveraging this knowledge base Intercon is able to provide solutions that improve your business

process providing seamless integration and enabling you to maximize your current investment

in technology.

RX products are used by 65% of the pharmacies in North America

Over 1,000,000 worldwide users of the Accessible FormNet Software

Saving government over $300 million per year

Serving domestic and international clients

Intercon's history is marked by several significant accomplishments listed below:

1984 Intercon Associates founded in Rochester, New York.

1987 to 1997 Intercon was the exclusive provider of digital signature technology for the US

Senate. This aimed to provide security to US Senate Signatures.

1992 Intercon released its Rx Fonts, the first digital prescription warning label hardware

solution that eliminated the need for pre-printed rolls of warning labels.

1996 Intercon was the first IT company to offer Government an open system data

collection solution via LAN, WAN and the Internet.

1997 Intercon was the first company to implement XML technology into document

management and data collection applications.

2002 Intercon successfully launched Accessible FormNet™ data capture software for

electronic forms based on the requirement of all branches of the Federal

Government to comply with two pieces of legislation: Section 508 of the

Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 and the Government Paper Elimination Act

(GPEA).

Intercon released Intercon Software Fonts, a software based prescription warning

label solution that eliminated the need for warning label font cards.

2003 Federal CIO Council Best Practices for GSA Accessibility Project.

2006 Intercon released two new products: BizCycle Workflow/ECM and a USB e-forms

product for government (USAde) & higher education (R-Forms).

2009 Intercon launched AirForms™ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for on-demand web-

based data capture.

Intercon introduced GoData™ for automated on-demand XML data transfer.

The above accomplishments illustrate Intercon's experience managing and delivering large

opportunities.

Intercon’s Products and Solutions

Customer driven data and document solutions for Government and Healthcare

IT Solutions

Pharmacy Solutions

Solutions to capture, manage, and process data

Data Capture Solutions – SmartData, Accessible

FormNet, CloudForms, GoData, GoAccess

Solutions to provide Rx warning labels

Rx Warning Label Software -

Available in multiple languages,

Document Management Solutions - BizCycle for

Workflow processing; Paperless Office Solutions

for Web-Based Content Management.

Rx Warning Label Hardware

Monthly Hardware Update

options available.

Barcode and ADC Solutions

[3]

Flash Media

[4]

Solutions to supply Barcodes and Automatic Data

Collection fonts

Custom font solutions to program Signatures,

logos, letterheads, barcodes, and forms on flash

memory cards for your laser printer.

Solutions to find out which flash media

type is used in printer

Flash media by printer model

Printers by flash media type.

Data Capture Solutions

Capture → Manage →Process

Intercon’s innovative data collection software product suite provides organizations with the ability to

improve their business process and enhance the customer experience by the capture, submission and

processing of data electronically.

Intercon’s product suite includes:

SmartData™ Intelligent Information Capture Solution

Accessible FormNet™ Interactive Data Capture Solution

CloudForms™ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

GoData™ XML Data Extraction Tool

GoAccess™ Scripting for Accessibility Tool

SmartData™…Bridges the Gap in Engagement between End Users & the Enterprise

Intercon’s SmartData™ Information Capture

Solution enables both large and small

organizations to collapse their business

process by capturing information accurately to

eliminate errors and reduce the error

correction process cycle. SmartData’s easy

engagement with the end user enhances the

customer experience and bridges the gap

between end users and the enterprise.

Administrative burden is greatly reduced by

moving your paper-based/static electronic

forms to a digital interactive web-based

information capture solution. Information is

captured accurately in a native (non-

proprietary) XML format and can easily be

extracted to use in company databases, third party programs and enterprise applications.

SmartData™ employs conditional logic in a unique “Prompt & Response” User Interface to simplify

information capture & control user input for data accuracy. Information can be auto submitted to

document management systems & workflow solutions based on your organization’s business process

requirements.

FASTER TIME TO MARKET MORE ACCURATE DATA REDUCED ADMIN BURDEN COST SAVINGS

BENEFITS: FAST AND EASY TO USE:

Accurate Information

Enhanced Customer Experience

Completely Digital - GO GREEN

Business Rules Driven

Workflow and document

management

Unlimited Number of Users

Unlimited Form Distribution

On-Premise/On-Demand

(SaaS)/Portable

Rapid Deployment

Smart Card Signature Capability

How SmartData™ Collapses Your Business Process

When businesses think of electronic forms, they think of a fillable PDF that is printed, signed and either scanned for emailing, faxed or mailed. Whichever scenario is in place, a static PDF is not a “true” information capture solution and cannot provide companies with an integrated solution to automating and collapsing key business processes.

Listed below are the key elements that enable Intercon’s SmartData™ Information Capture Solution to collapse your business process and bridge the gap in engagement between your customers and your enterprise. This is especially critical since according to the Gartner Group, 85% of business processes rely on forms.

1 -- Eliminate the Paper from the Beginning

SmartData™ is more than just an electronic version of a paper form. It accurately captures, verifies, approves and integrates information with the critical business systems used to run organizations. When information is automatically captured and distributed without a paper form to begin with, business processes are streamlined, efficiency is improved, costs are cut and your organization becomes much greener.

2 -- Release the Information Needed to Run Your Business

Most of the information needed to run your business is trapped on paper and paper equivalents such as Word® documents, PDF files and pre-printed forms. By capturing and moving crucial information—previously trapped —into core business systems faster and more affordably, SmartData™ enables organizations to improve customer service, eliminate errors, shorten cycle times and lower operating costs.

3 -- Integrate Data with Core Business Systems Automatically

Once submitted, data entered on a SmartData™ form can be saved to one or more business system databases automatically and seamlessly. With two-way integration, an existing database can pre-fill a SmartData™ form, allowing for confirmation of information and elimination of user error. Integration is secure and works within an organization’s IT architectural structure and standards. Data captured on a SmartData™ form is typically sent to HR, finance, customer support and custom applications. The SmartData™ forms themselves can reside within a document or content management system for secure storage, retrieval, distribution and management.

4 -- Improve Data Accuracy

SmartData™ employs conditional logic in a unique “Prompt and Response” User Interface to simplify information capture and control user input to ensure data is captured accurately and completely. SmartData™ can auto-populate fields based on prior data entered and validate field-level data and form-level completeness before submission. Without the need for someone to manually enter data from a paper form into another system, data entry errors are eliminated and no data is lost in transcription.

5 – Utilize Automated Workflow

SmartData™ forms can be electronically submitted beginning an automated workflow based on an organization’s business rules. Employee applications can be distributed to the appropriate individual in HR for review, sales orders can be sent to a manager for approval and then on to distribution for delivery, credit applications can be sent to the appropriate manager in the finance department for immediate review and approval. Automated workflow is seamless, quick and ensures accountability.

6 -- Digitally Signed SmartData™ forms are Legally Binding

Digital signature technology allows users to sign a SmartData™ form without the need for distributed digital certificates or third party certificate authorities. Smart Cards or Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credentials can be used for signing SmartData™ forms and built-in encryption tools allow for secure transmission of data.

7 – Rapid Deployment & No Need to Re-Design Forms

SmartData™ utilizes your existing forms to publish them with no programming skills required. Migration of current paper forms and any static electronic forms (Word, PDF, Excel, etc.) takes hours not days or weeks and SmartData™ maintains the form’s image which eliminates the need to train users on a new system. No server software is required so SmartData™ can be quickly deployed.

8 -- Realize a Quick Return On Investment (ROI)

SmartData™ can deliver an ROI in as little as a few months, depending upon the number of forms processed monthly. Form completion costs, processing costs and error correction costs are greatly reduced. Paper related expenses, such as supplies, scanning, storage and transportation, are eliminated altogether.

Accessible FormNet Interactive Data Capture

Organizations today are data centric and are

challenged to find cost effective ways to

improve their business process and reduce

administrative burden. Process automation is

the key. Automating the collection,

management and processing of data with

Intercon’s Accessible FormNet™ data capture

solution delivers faster time to market, more

accurate data for re-purposing, significant

administrative burden reduction and cost

savings.

Forms are mission-critical to the business

process because organizations use them to

capture the data that drives the enterprise.

Forms, however, are intimidating and subject to customer interpretation. It’s been proven that

customers require human intervention because most automated systems offer limited options and lack

the flexibility to adequately communicate with the customer. With static electronic forms the user can

only “Print & Fill” or “Fill & Print” without the ability to save the form with the data. This leaves the

organization to deal with the huge amount of paper being submitted every day by their customers and

the substantial administrative burden of manually entering the data into their enterprise systems. This

manual data entry process results in a high percentage of data errors/inaccurate data.

Intercon Associates’ Accessible FormNet™ solution is an electronic forms and data collection tool

designed to greatly simplify customer interactions with an organization by utilizing variable data

technology. Accessible FormNet’s virtual handholder guides the user to accurately complete, save, e-

sign and electronically submit the form or just the XML data based on the company’s workflow

requirements.

Accessible FormNet™ combined with Intercon’s GoData™ On-Demand XML Data Transfer module

provides an end-to-end solution that will enable your organization to realize double digit savings on a

per response versus a paper based or static electronic forms partial solution. Savings is achieved

because data is captured, submitted, and processed all electronically.

“Overall we found Accessible FormNet to be a compelling solution for interactive, authenticated data

collection from all types of customers. The application presents forms visually and verbally and guides

customers through the data collection process with instructions and extensive help tools. Customers can

save work-in process forms and restart from where they left off or go back and make changes to the data

previously entered. Completed forms are then routed via e-mail, stored locally, or saved to a network

directory.” (Madison Advisors...”Accessible FormNet: Simplifying the Customer Experience”)

GoData™…Extract native XML data from filled electronic forms without opening the file.

Intercon’s GoData™ On-Demand XML Data Transfer Software Module provides organizations with the

ability to enhance their business process by automating data extraction for re-use and reducing their

administrative burden by moving their paper-based or static electronic forms to an interactive web

based data capture solution. Native XML data can be transferred to company databases, 3rd party

programs and enterprise applications.

The GoData™ module combined with Intercon's SmartData™ or Accessible FormNet™ data capture

solutions will enable your organization to realize savings of over $75 per response versus a paper based

or static electronic form partial solution. Data is captured, submitted, and processed all electronically.

(Savings based on Burden Hour Calculation used by the Federal Government as reported to the U.S.

Office of Management and Budget)

Use Intercon’s SmartData™ software for your customers and employees to accurately complete, save, e-

sign and electronically submit the form based on the company’s workflow process requirements. Then

use GoData™ to extract the XML data from the form to re-use across the enterprise eliminating the

business issues associated with paper and static electronic forms.

FASTER TIME TO MARKET MORE ACCURATE DATA REDUCED ADMIN BURDEN COST SAVINGS

BENEFITS: FAST AND EASY TO USE:

Automate the data transfer process

NO need to open the file

NO paper – All electronic – GO GREEN

“Pay only as you grow”

Workflow and document

management

Open GoData™

Select the file or files

Click the GoData™ button

Use the Data

Printed Forms Consolidation Project

What follows is an actual example of the savings that can be realized by implementing Intercon’s

Information Capture Solution.

Project Description

The Printed (Paper) Forms Consolidation Project will enable ABC COMPANY to capture substantial cost

savings ($59.00 per form or response, see below) on an annual basis and significantly reduce the

company’s ongoing administrative burden. This will be accomplished by eliminating the printed paper

forms produced by ABC COMPANY, estimated to be in excess of 10,000 forms, and converting them to

an electronic format. The project will consist of two phases. Phase I will address the printing and

storing of these paper forms. Phase II would only be done if ABC COMPANY decides that it wants to

process the data from these forms electronically.

The Gartner Group has found that for every dollar spent on producing paper forms, between $30 and

$60 is spent in processing those forms, and estimates that $360 billion is spent annually on processing

data from forms. More to the point, even one simple intra-company form, such as a vacation time

request, can cost a company over $150 per form to process, according to a study funded by Microsoft.

This includes labor and materials for printing, storing, filling out, receiving approval, and entering the

information into the business system.

The majority of forms used by ABC COMPANY are paper. Using the Federal Government formula for the

calculation of estimated savings shown on page three (Appendix A), the printing, storing, filling, and

submitting of these printed paper forms costs $61.25 per form. By making them electronic the cost is

only $2.25 per form, a savings of $59.00 per form (or response).

Conservatively assuming that ABC COMPANY has 200 different paper forms in use with an average of

1,000 paper responses (transactions) per month the savings that ABC COMPANY could realize by making

those forms electronically available would be $468,000 in the first year (see page 2). These savings can

begin to be realized in just a few weeks after starting Phase I.

The conversion of these printed paper forms to an electronic version would be done by Intercon

Associates, a Rochester based company known to ABC COMPANY and who has been doing this same

work for the Federal Government for many years. Their electronic forms solution has been used on a

worldwide basis in government for the past eight years and delivers over $275 million in savings to

government on an annual basis.

Intercon’s electronic forms do not require the involvement of ABC COMPANY’ S IT resources and can be

hosted by Intercon or ABC COMPANY. The electronic forms do not require programming and will look

just like their paper counterparts making the transition simple and straightforward. All they need to get

started are the paper forms.

PHASE I:

Gather the printed forms inventory

Intercon would digitize the printed forms and map the fields for fill

Intercon would make those forms electronically available to users via the web in a hosted

environment

PHASE II – These forms would be XML tagged should ABC COMPANY decide at a later date that it wants

to process the data from these forms electronically.

Return on Investment (ROI) for ABC COMPANY

Accessible FormNet (AFN) Software Implementation

The Cost/Savings Model below was created using the following assumptions:

1. 200 different paper forms being used

2. All forms are 8.5 x 11 one sided single page

3. An average of 1,000 paper responses (transactions) per month

4. Cost per completed & submitted paper form is $61.25

5. Cost per completed & submitted Accessible FormNet form is $2.25 Total savings of $59.00 per

form or response

COST/SAVINGS MODEL

Item Description Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Cost for Paper Transactions $735,000 $735,000 $735,000

Cost for AFN Transactions $27,000 $27,000 $27,000

Savings for AFN Transactions $708,000 $708,000 $708,000

200 Onetime AFN Enterprise

License Fees

$200,000 $0 $0

Annual Software Maintenance $40,000 $40,000 $40,000

TOTAL SAVINGS USING AFN $468,000 $668,000 $668,000

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

The initial investment of $200,000 by ABC COMPANY for implementing Accessible FormNet software

would be recouped in 3.4 months. Thereafter, a savings of $468,000 in the first year and $668,000 in

each subsequent year.

Additional benefits:

Unlimited distribution of the form

Unlimited distribution of the software on a worldwide basis

Unlimited number of users

No client access licenses (CALs) to manage & track

Electronic processing of the data can be added at a future time to extract & manage the forms

data

Note: The cost/savings model does not address the electronic processing of the data from these forms.

Electronic processing of the data would significantly add to the cost savings that ABC COMPANY

would achieve for this project.