Ok... I am taking the gloves off for this one... sorry but it's got to be done this way....
First, who is eCopy? For those of you that may not be familiar with them, eCopy is known for creating eCopy ShareScan product line. Originally started as a hardware PC sitting next to copiers, they created a brand name in copier market around PC based scanning for copiers.
Second, Canon carried their products almost exclusively up to three years ago and then they tried to branch out to other manufacturers with a lot of hit and miss. Well the only ones that really carry their product is Ricoh and then volumes really falls off with HP, Sharp, Toshiba... none of these latter set of manufacturers really carry any large eCopy volume.
About three years ago they really tried to branch out of the Hardware model to a software only model with two product lines:
1. The eCopy Desktop - a desktop application for PDF manipulation
2. The eCopy ShareScan OP - a software only version of ShareScan that runs on the panel of MFD devices.
They have 25 desktop licenses included on every license of ShareScan OP and that's how they got their license counts to grow (their claim is some ridiculously high number of desktop licenses.) and they have not had any successes on the ShareScan OP embedded side... don't believe me ask from manufacturers (not eCopy) for references of deployment of the software only version that is larger than 100 Devices. Only a few exists.
Now, here is the way I see it, Customers are getting the ShareScan product through their trusted office channels ( the copier salesman) at $5K to $6K a pop. The office channel has no incentive to really provide a lower cost / higher featured solution to the customer (hello customer wake up!!!) since they will be getting less dollars per device license sold if they provide any alternatives to high cost eCopy... So what do customers get: "Don't ask, don't tell". That's right, keep the customer blind folded and push the expensive eCopy devices into the deals. Now, what happens as soon as a customer gets information about competing products and asks the dealer... first reaction: "Muddy the water..." and present other solutions as "Second line of products... you want the elite then pay for eCopy..." which is completely false... there are products at $600 per device (that's right your eyes are reading this right... $600 as compared to $5000!!!) that do the same or better for the customer... but without direct research and closer review by customer, dealers pull the wool over the customers eyes and hide these under the covers until they asked for them by name.
So be aware and ask for eCopy competitors and if you are told there are none, ask a competing office automation dealer to bring you the competing solutions... Ask Xerox (they don't carry eCopy)... Ask Sharp (they carry eCopy as secondary line)... Ask HP (they will show you their internal home grown solution, then show you other third party solutions partners)... then go back and ask your original office automation and do tell them this time "don't muddy the water... you know there are lower cost better applications out there... maybe they will listen to you this time :)"...
If you are told that the other solutions are "Second Line"... Ask them to demo and do your own research by going to the manufacturer of the "second line" solution and get the real story. There are many competitors to eCopy, like EFI (http://www.efi.com/), NSI (http://www.nsius.com/), and many more.
If you want more info... just post your comments here...
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2 comments:
While I dissagree with much of your comments. However, I think the fundamental point of contention is one of perspective. You seem to characterize and compare eCopy as a workflow solutions and it is not. Quite the contrary. eCopy is a middle-ware solution that takes the headache out of having to develop and manage interfaces for every MFD manufacturer; this often is even different on a device level for a given manufacturer.
I do not work for eCopy but I do have one product that works with it. eCopy would be the first to tell you they are not workflow. Rather, they are the single common interface that allows an application like the two you mentioned, interwoven, worlddocs and a host of others to not have to own, borrow or otherwise have access to the 100's of image capture devices for development and testing.
I have been to eCopy's development center. They literally have 100's of machines with new ones arriving weekly so that they can add new device support to their supported hardware list.
Again, I believe it is more a point of perspective. If one is looking to eCopy for a workflow solution then you are right. It is not a great solution. However, if you are looking for an enterpise "one interface" solution to tie all of your devices to the same application(s) without custom development for each brand and sometimes model then eCopy is a great solution.
Okiecoder, thanks for your input on this. True, eCopy is not a workflow application and it's more like a device connector (as matter of a fact they use that term) that allow applications connect to a number of MFP.
Though, I would strongly disagree about their reach into copier world. Based on the last set of “true active” integration that they provide, it’s exaggerated, to say the least. What do I mean by that… take Sharp, it’s listed on their site, but interface goes through TWAIN and it is non usable. Take Toshiba, the same story… so all and all they have Canon (current investor in eCopy) and Ricoh. And yes for Canon and Ricoh devices their interface does what you describe.
As for the rest of them listed on their site like HP, Sharp, Toshiba, Konica, Xerox, etc. etc… they are not a player… I would dispute their claim to hardware agnostic-city (if that’s a word!!!)… I encourage everyone to do their own research and ask for Success Stories and customer references that have these type of devices deployed with eCopy… they are only a few.
Thanks for posting... let's keep this site going for all to comment and points of views. I hope people find this useful source ... Keep it coming.
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