IBM Datacap Reviews

Datacap is basically used to ingest the documentation of the clients, either from paper through scanners or through emails. In most scenarios, we either do scanning or consume email folders. It has connectors to read emails.

Its version depends a lot on the client and the project. I've been using version 9.1.6, and some clients have been upgrading to the latest version 9.1.9.

In terms of deployment, IBM has a solution on the cloud, but the solution I deploy is on-prem.

We recently did a Datacap implementation for a client, and we used its functionalities to do a separation of the documents and automatically capture some fields from the documents that the client wanted to extract. Before that, the software they were using wasn't optimized to do that. They were manually doing the separation of the documents and capturing the values of the fields. With Datacap, the process is automated, and they can now just validate if the captured data is correct and if the separation is correct. After it is implemented for some time, it creates a database. So, it separates automatically more over time, and the program in the background validates everything. For most batches, the operators don't waste much time on this process. Previously, they used to waste plenty of time separating the documents manually. After that, they had to write the data from the documents. The data was then sent to another platform, such as FileNet, for further use by another department. 

It is very easy to develop this software. It is low code, and if you can't find the things you need on it, you can develop custom actions with more complex code underneath. They sync well, which is very useful for automating a lot of processes. It is a really valuable feature for the clients because we can ingest information and automate plenty of processes for them. The operators don't have to waste that much time on tasks. With Datacap, they can be automated.

I've faced some bugs or issues. They should do deeper testing of the product before releasing it because some of the bugs that I found were a bit simple. I understand that it is a massive product, and some of the functionalities can get overlooked.

Their platform for reporting bugs and issues works. Sometimes, it takes them too long to solve the issue, but eventually, they do. So far, every issue that I've found in reporting has been resolved, but their support can be improved in terms of resolving the issues faster.

In terms of additional features, I've been following the roadmap they have, and so far, it has been good.

As a developer, I've been using it for over two years.

The software always depends on the infrastructure of the clients because it's very network-based. If you follow all the recommendations that it requires, it is great. It works properly, and the performance is more than okay. If you have limitations in the infrastructure or network, it can be a bit tricky, but you can always find workarounds to solve the issues.

It is very easy to scale the solution for our clients. If you want to upgrade the product on processing, it's easy. You just have to check the license requirements and the cost because the cost increases if you want to increase the servers, specifications, and processing power, but it's very easy to scale the software.

I faced some issues, and sometimes, they take a bit too long to solve them. When you open a ticket for support, they do the initial testing to test the error on their side. After that, they send the error to the development team on their side. Sometimes, this process can take a while. There are several levels of priority when you open a ticket, but they could improve a bit in terms of how fast they work. I had some unpleasant talks with their first line of support.

I started with Datacap right away.

It is now very easy for me. For someone who is starting with the product, they have a manual, and it can be very straightforward if no issue occurs. If there are some issues, it can be a bit complex to solve when you're doing the setup. Because I already have a massive experience with the setup of the environment, it's quite easy. Even when I find errors, I manage to solve them quickly.

I do the implementation for the clients. In terms of maintenance, in the last few updates, they have been implementing some tools for it to be easier to monitor. It basically depends a lot on the implementation and the functions. It depends on the capability that a client wants, such as if they want something more robust or something with easier alerts when anything aborts or an error occurs. So, it basically depends on how much the client is willing to pay for a more robust solution. In terms of Datacap, you can set up more on the development side to monitor everything. You have a tool page if you don't want to automate monitoring for everything.

It varies, and it depends on the client's requirements and negotiations. Nowadays, Datacap is also included in the IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation. 

Datacap can be very robust. It depends on the solutions that the client is using beforehand. Of course, if you're changing platforms, you're going to have an initial shock because it has different ways of working, but in the long run, it's a good solution to be implemented. It can automate plenty of processes, but you have to be willing to invest in it.

I would rate it a seven out of ten.

The main use is to scan/import document for capture, capture data based on OCR zones, verify the data captured and export document and data to the ECM platform or other platfoms if needed.

The user can use the client desktop or the plugin of Content Navigator to do all the required tasks.

We're working closely with IBM's technical team to ensure we can provide the necessary solution to our customers.

The solution has improved digitalizing all the document process

At the forefront of my thoughts, the standout feature of this intelligent product is its remarkable capability. This project we're currently engaged in revolves around streamlining workflows within both our company and the customer's company. 

It entails handling information from various documents with diverse formats and types, even when they contain the same data. The ability to connect this information with the appropriate database and recognize it irrespective of the format or source is an extremely valuable feature. Moreover, leveraging machine learning is crucial since our customer deals with an extensive archive of over five million documents. Machine learning can significantly alleviate the backlog by becoming well-versed in various scenarios they might encounter during their work once we've completed our application.   

Its weaknesses are primarily tied to the lack of available resources and expertise in the market to effectively support and provide solutions and services to each customer for seamless implementation. Expertise in this specific product is rare throughout the market. One key reason is the product's limited downloads. Additionally, archiving solutions are often perceived as complex and challenging, dissuading many companies from venturing into this domain. Consequently, partners who specialize in archiving solutions are always seeking straightforward, uncomplicated options that are easy to manage and meet customer expectations.

Since 6 years

I've had experience with several other product like Abby fine reader, Kofax Capture (formerly Ascent Capture) and OpenText Intelligent Capture (formerly Captiva)

In this particular project, I believe, as a system integrator, I might need to utilize various solutions from different vendors to address specific situations. I'm not exclusively committed to a single solution. However, in the project I'm currently involved with, especially since it involves a machine learning component, Datacap combined with other tools of the Cloud Pack for Business Automation appears to be a more robust and feature-rich option compared to competition. So, in this context, I would opt for Datacap. If the circumstances are distinct, I might suggest OpenText in an alternate scenario. My decision isn't solely mine to make. I need to engage in discussions with the customer and the technical team to determine the most appropriate course of action.

This is one of the highly potent benefit of Datacap. When properly implemented, it provides significant value, and users find it very enjoyable. During the proof of concept (POC) phase, customers interacted with the product's interface and were highly impressed by its quality and functionality. It received very positive feedback.Implementation would be considerably smoother if the necessary resources were available. However, as previously mentioned, the scarcity of resources may hinder the process, making it less straightforward.

This solution offers seamless integration with other enterprise products, which is my area of responsibility, focusing on government sector projects. Larger enterprise projects don't pose problems. It might be suitable for small businesses as well.

We have structured documents that need to be scanned. After the scan is completed, it is reviewed by one of our administrators, and then the documents are stored in the repository. 

There haven't been many improvements in the recent versions of the solution; OCR and OMR facilities have been the same. However, the installation of the solution is very simple.

IBM Datacap cannot fetch unstructured data properly; it always gives you wrong information, so no one uses this solution for unstructured data. Even for structured data, sometimes the administrators need to change the members under the characters. The reading efficiency of the solution needs to be improved. This solution is meant to focus on both structured and unstructured data to achieve the vision of the solution. 

I have been using the solution for two years. 

The stability of the solution is fine, but we are using two other admins just for the correction. These admins make structured data corrections and segregate between structured and unstructured data. 

I would rate the scalability a six out of ten. The integration of the solution is very complex. Many integrations come under installing these. This solution is going to come completely under Cloud Pak and BAW. 

The solution will be under Docker, which uses containers like Kubernetes. Our organization usually receives around five to eight thousand documents. 

Kofax is one of the other competitor solutions that I have used in a project. I think most users prefer Kofax over IBM Datacap. The cost of Kofax is economical, and the efficiency is more than this solution, which is why most users don't prefer IBM Datacap. IBM products are very expensive in the market. 

The installation of the solution is very simple. We need a CPE, a database, a batch file like a TIFF converter file and the complete round from the Taskmaster and a Rulerunner. Installation is designed in an efficient way. We have four to six hours of downtime, so it is more efficient to get covered for any upgrade. 

This solution is the most expensive in the market. 

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

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.

Datacap is good at processing unstructured data. You can build up some nice data flows, and it is simple to configure. The tool adopts a low-code approach, but you can do a lot of coding if you want to customize and automate your flows. Datacap also has the flexibility to integrate. 

Datacap's technology seems a little behind the industry. It's still using the old .NET framework. They should move to .NET Core and start integrating some machine learning. You can do some integration yourself, but you expect a solution to include the latest machine-learning approaches if you're paying reasonable money for it. 

Datacap is stable. 

I rate Datacap 10 out of 10 for scalability because it's easy to integrate, and you can add load balancers to scale it up. 

I rate Datacap support seven out of 10. We've got an IBM support agreement and contacted them for a few answers. We typed in the questions and they gave us a response. The turnaround time was okay.

Neutral

The licensing for Datacap was steep the last time I checked, but I don't know the current pricing models. 

I rate IBM Datacap seven out of 10. I would recommend it depending on the use case. 

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.

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.

The most valuable features of IBM Datacap is the capturing and recognizing of pages, documents as well as the scanner and barcodes. I also like the fingerprint recognition.

I would like IBM Datacap to add features similar to Captiva. Currently, when you are entering invoices, you have to enter multiple rows. In Captiva, the multiple rows will be dynamically added. This would be a beneficial feature for IBM to add.

Our users prefer TM's navigator more than  IBM's current navigator. It could just be a training issue, however, they like having more options like filter badges.  

In one case, our client needed to scan 5,000 pages in five minutes, or less, Datacap was not able to accommodate this task. 

I have been using IBM Datacap for nine years.

The initial setup of IBM Datacap is easy, with no issues.

Pricing of the solution is reasonable.

I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.