We support clients who make use of IBM Datacap as an imaging solution where they scan forms and capture information in the system. Our clients have significantly improved efficiencies when opening accounts for end users. This solution has also helped in eliminating the manual process of getting documents signed and approved.
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Data imaging solution that increases efficiencies by reducing manual capture of information
Pros and Cons
- "The feedback from our clients that this solution has increased their efficiency and their turnaround time on opening any account for end users, thus attracting more customers."
- "Recognition between certain numbers and letters could be improved. Sometimes this solution misreads five with an "S" for Singapore."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The feedback from our clients that this solution has increased their efficiency and their turnaround time on opening any account for end users, thus attracting more customers.
What is most valuable?
The best features of this solution include auto-indexing. Using optical character recognition, it recognizes what is contained in a scanned document and indexes the information. There is no need for manual intervention.
What needs improvement?
Recognition between certain numbers and letters could be improved. Sometimes this solution misreads five with an "S" for Singapore.
Buyer's Guide
IBM Datacap
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about IBM Datacap. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The latest version of Datacap is very stable. Older versions of the solution used to get stuck but the overall stability and performance of the solution has been improved with version 9.1.7.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution. We are able to add additional Rulerunner servers if our business users or user base increases. We are able to have multiple nodes for the front-end and for the Content Navigator. We have total of 3,000 users across the United States of America.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from IBM is good. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
There is sometimes a delay in getting support from the IBM team and we receive inadequate answers. If it is registered as a critical issue, we receive a response from IBM after one day which can cause our clients to lose business.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
If only one person was working on the deployment of this solution, it would take one to two weeks.
The first step in setting up this solution is to install all the prerequisite software from IBM. Once installed, we run the installer on Rulerunner servers and on Taskmaster servers. We then install the IBM Content Navigator for use in the front-end followed by creating the default desktops of IBM Datacap. The final step is to customize the solution using any plugins or any widgets based on our client's requirements.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
IBM could offer more competitive pricing. This would allow them to attain more users. Some of our clients are considering moving to a different solution called Encapture which is similar but offers more competitive pricing.
What other advice do I have?
This solution is mostly used by financial organizations. I would recommend this product to all financial organizations who are looking to improve and eliminate their paper process and improve workflows. It could assist in reducing overall SLAs of manual processes.
This solution requires maintenance including the updating of patches, which have been released by IBM. Once a month, we complete a recycle of the complete Datacap setup and system maintenance.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner

Data and AI Technical Specialist at Ditriot Consulting
Offers great features for testing and developing apps
Pros and Cons
- "Both Datacap Studio and Datacap Navigator are great features."
- "Third-party integration could be improved; it's very slow."
What is our primary use case?
I work for a bank in Tunisia and we use Datacap for extracting information. We are partners of IBM and I'm a data and AI technical specialist.
What is most valuable?
I like the Rulerunner that can run Datacap Studio; Datacap Navigator is also a great feature and both help us develop apps.
What needs improvement?
Third-party integration is slow especially through API calls because if you want to integrate between Datacap and BPM, it can only be done in that direction (and not BPM to Datacap). One of our customers needs it the other way and we had to make a development app for that to work. There also needs to be additional support for the Arabic language as the translation doesn't work well. Finally, I'd like to see an interface update in the next release.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We use the solution continuously and stability is fine as long as the product has been installed with best practices.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have between 200 and 250 users so the scalability is good. We carry out all our own maintenance, updates and fixes.
How are customer service and support?
I've contacted support many times, initially when we carried out the implementation and then again when we were in the development phase. They were very helpful and patient.
How was the initial setup?
If you're doing a custom deployment, it's easy. But if you're wanting a personalized setup then the initial deployment is complex because it requires a lot of research and there are numerous problems.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
IBM Datacap
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about IBM Datacap. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Product Lead at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature is its ability to capture data, which changes all the time into different formats
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is its ability to capture data, which changes all the time into different formats."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is great.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have a direct line to them, which is amazing. They are very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were not using anything previously. This was something from our innovation stream. It was a new experiment that we wanted to test.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy for us.
What about the implementation team?
We worked directly with IBM.
What was our ROI?
It is supposed to reduce costs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
ECM/BPM/CCM Sr. Consultant at Amexio
Has a lot of possibilities and capabilities, but there are other products that are more focused and specific in scope
Pros and Cons
- "The administration of the application following an error is most valuable. We are able to know easily when something is stuck in the system."
- "There should be an increase in the capacity of the workflows. Datacap is a little limited in this aspect. So, you cannot really implement all the possibilities."
What is our primary use case?
Its main use case was to turn papers into electronic documents and extract data from the document.
What is most valuable?
The administration of the application following an error is most valuable. We are able to know easily when something is stuck in the system.
What needs improvement?
There should be an increase in the capacity of the workflows. Datacap is a little limited in this aspect. So, you cannot really implement all the possibilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using it about 8 to 10 years ago, but I have not been using it all the time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate them a four out of five.
How was the initial setup?
Its deployment is quite fast. It's easy to set up, but it can grow quite easily. It can grow quite complex. You have a lot of options and possibilities.
What about the implementation team?
It was done in-house.
What other advice do I have?
For the development teams, it's not the easiest solution in terms of understanding how it works and how to develop things around it, but once you get the knowledge of it, it's quite fast. So, there is a steep learning curve at the beginning.
To read through the paper documents and get them to how you want, Datacap is not the best tool in terms of configuration. Datacap aims for bulk operation. It has a lot of possibilities and capabilities, but there are some products that are more focused and narrow in scope and are better. IBM has a couple of them as well. That's why I would rate it a seven out of ten. It's broad and you can do a lot of things, but on the downside, you are losing the abilities of a specific and narrow solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Account Executive with 11-50 employees
It's a platform, not a configured application, so you can do what you want with it
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary 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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. It can run in the background (zero users) to our larger clients (8,000 users).
How is customer service and technical support?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
IT Manager at Andres Medical Billing, Ltd.
Automates manual data entry, but the usability is challenging
Pros and Cons
- "The solution automates manual data entry."
- "I would like better ease of use and more support options."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for extracting data for insurance filing purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
The solution automates manual data entry.
What needs improvement?
The usability is challenging and hard for our business users.
I would like better ease of use and more support options.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is about average.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is difficult and expensive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There is a trend of moving toward automation and automotive processes.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex because the system was complex inherently.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What was our ROI?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
ECP Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Captures and recognizes pages and documents
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of IBM Datacap is the capturing and recognizing of pages, documents as well as the scanner and barcodes."
- "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."
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IBM Datacap for nine years.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of IBM Datacap is easy, with no issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing of the solution is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Director at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
It's a user-friendly solution for unstructured data, but it needs more out-of-the-box machine learning capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "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."
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Datacap is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing for Datacap was steep the last time I checked, but I don't know the current pricing models.
What other advice do I have?
I rate IBM Datacap seven out of 10. I would recommend it depending on the use case.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner

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