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A number of business processes still start with paper-based forms, especially in HR, insurance, government, and financial services. And in an increasingly digital world of document repositories and content management systems, getting that paper-based information into a digital architecture remains a challenge.

Paper-based forms still dictate a number of business processes because they use a universal technology, that is, a piece of paper and a pair of eyes to read them. Paper-based forms also remain the gold standard when a signature is required on a form. But there are costs involved in scanning forms or manually entering the data they contain, and neither scanning or manually data entry are perfect.

Clearly, the race is on to close the gap between paper and electronic processes, and a pair of announcements early in 2004 may shed some light on where the world of electronic forms is headed.

Adobe's 2-D Barcode Technology

Unveiled at this year's AIIM Expo and widely available in the second half of 2004, Adobe is bringing 2-D barcode technology to electronic and paper forms. As the mind behind the popular PDF format, Adobe has been the leader in the paper-to-electronic forms space for quite some time.

What is a 2-D barcode? Attendees at AIIM actually had one on their show badges. (It looks somewhat like static on a television.) In addition to looking different from a 1-D barcode, a 2-D barcode holds more information.

An example of a 2-D barcode.	An example of a 1-D barcode.

Adobe's 2-D barcode solution allows form designers to include a 2-D barcode on the form. The barcode actually changes as the information on the form is added or edited. Once completed, the form can then be submitted electronically or it can be printed out. If the form is printed and mailed or faxed, a generic barcode scanner can be used to read the information from the 2-D barcode. Adobe says scanning is 100 percent accurate when it comes to reading the barcode.

Adobe is taking aim at the government and financial services sector first, since they are heavily reliant on forms (voter registration, motor vehicles, tax agencies, etc.). Adobe is selling the 2-D barcode as a good way for enterprises and government organizations to play in the electronic forms market while keeping the paper-based forms for those who need them.

The 2-D barcode gives end users a choice as to whether they use paper or electronic forms. And since the free Adobe Reader program is on most everyone's computer, anyone can read and complete the forms.

Cardiff Acquired by Verity

In other forms-related news this year, Cardiff, which was best known for its Liquid Office and TeleForm form applications, was acquired by Verity — best known for its Ultraseek and K2 search products.

The acquisition points to an interesting evolution in the world of forms. To a customer or a consumer filling out a form, that's usually the end of a process (an insurance claim, for example), but for the enterprise or organization receiving that form, the process has just begun.

Once a form has been received, it not only enters a process, but it must be cataloged and indexed so that it can be referenced later if the need arises. Cardiff's products already took care of the capturing of information from forms, but Verity can bring a way to organize that information. Not only can that information be searched in the traditional way, such as by name, state, country, etc., but the door is also open for applications that search for patterns and conduct analysis of the data in forms.

For now, Verity is marketing the applications it acquired with Cardiff as part of its stable of content-centric applications. At some point, the company will need to tie together its new applications with its previous area of expertise and explain to potential customers exactly what problems its products will help solve. There is also the possibility that Verity will continue shopping and make more acquisitions in the coming months.

The market for forms-related applications will remain an interesting one for the foreseeable future. While paper still abounds, enterprises would love to move more form-related transactions to electronic forms in order to cut costs. That's why Adobe's 2-D barcode, which aims to appease both the paper and electronic crowds, is the right product at the right time.

What we do with the information on forms is the next step. The argument used to be over the merits of optical character recognition (OCR) over manual data entry. But with forms serving as a point of entry for content into enterprise content repositories and intranets, new ways to mine that data and make sense of it will be found. And that's where Verity seems to be headed.