Capturx Digital Pen Systems
by admin
As a means of adding a bit of flavour to Enterprise Features, I’d like to start covering some new and exciting emerging companies that are shaping the future of business technology.
Today, I’ll be profiling the Capturx digital pen system.
Capturx helps teams automate paperwork without mobile computers – so they can speed up workflows and eliminate scanning, data entry and risk from missing documents.
Capturx enables paper designs, maps, and forms to be filled out or marked up with digital pens, which digitize the handwriting and integrate the data directly into market leading applications. Adapx has developed a full line of Capturx products, which are natural interfaces into Microsoft Office, ArcGIS, PDF, and SharePoint through digital pens.
Company History
Adapx began as a Natural User Interface (NUI) Research Firm supplying technology to the Department of Defense through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). NUI has grown to become an integral part of current technologies and is paving the way for future consumer and department of defense tools.
Adapx decided to work toward making technology adapt to the user with natural simple pen and paper workflows. Today Adapx helps a range of businesses and agencies speed data collection and streamline operations with Capturx software.
Key Advantages of capturing data via digital pen over traditional paper forms
Paper survives in today’s business, because it’s easy and reliable.
Anyone can create and print a paper form with Office. Anyone can fill them out with a pen. No special training, support, enclosed environment or equipment is required.
However, getting that important data off paper to keep a business process moving is hard. Paper often languishes in the field, waiting to get delivered, or subject to misinterpretation during transcription. Business languishes as well.
Capturx works with standard digital pen technology, which creates normal records with ink on paper while also digitizing the ink strokes for display on a computer. With Capturx teams continue using easy and reliable pen and paper, but now their data entry is automated without the time lag and cost of manual re-entry, scanning, or shipping of documents.
Teams can complete projects, services, orders, and billing faster, with less cost and risk of transcription errors or missing documents. Since data is immediately available and shareable with teams from remote locations to the central office, collaboration improves, and more informed decisions are made faster.
Other Interesting Points
Many people ask how the pen captures the data or if they have to buy special paper, so here’s a quick run through about “How it Works.”
With Capturx, teams simply print forms, maps and PDF files from their native applications using office printers on ordinary paper. Capturx creates a unique digital watermark –like a 2D barcode—on each print which enables the digital pen and Capturx software to track and associate handwriting on each print with the original source files.
Printed pages are filled out/marked-up with ink using a digital pen, which also has a sensor processor, and memory. As the pen writes, handwriting is digitized and stored on the pen.
When it is docked to a PC, Capturx integrates the data directly into the original Office, SharePoint, PDF, or ArcGIS sources.
Why this is better than taking a laptop on-site
Many workers with digital pens also use laptops and smartphones.
They tend to use digital pens for collecting information while they are on the move, when using computers is cumbersome due to weight, limited battery life, and fragility – or due to use outdoors when computers can be difficult to operate in bright sunlight and rain.
For other organizations, deploying mobile computers can involve large costs in equipment, training, custom application development, support, and theft.
The unique Capturx experience speeds data collection without requiring expensive mobile computing equipment or changes to existing business processes. Users get the ease and simplicity of collecting data on paper with all the benefits of immediate access to digital data in native applications.
You can learn more about Capturx by visiting their web site at http://capturx.com/
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotogroup/3465589846/sizes/s/
