Technical FAQs
Some cars come with two keys: One that works the doors and ignition but not the trunk, and another just for the trunk.
The two-key system enables you to let a friend, mechanic or valet operate your car while still keeping whatever’s in the trunk safe and secure. Having two keys lets you empower a third party to drive or fix your car without granting that person access to the laptop you keep over your spare tire.
The same kind of protection is available for documents. Original document and image files contain hidden metadata that may include such information as the names of the creator and editors of the document, the place and time it was created, comments, a record of changes made to the document and even the creator’s and editors’ email addresses and phone numbers. Even social media postings carry hidden metadata that reveals information about the poster.
Most people have little awareness of how much hidden identifying data is attached to their files, and never even go looking for the menu items that show them the metadata.
But since the revelation that the National Security Agency had been harvesting metadata from email messages and attachments to learn more about suspects in a controversial domestic espionage operation, a few folks have become downright nervous about what the files they share reveal about them.
Others are increasingly aware of, and feel a little invaded by, the ways advertisers are cracking open social media posts and other public files to generate targeted advertising to consumers based on the personal information marketers cull from metadata.
At both the enterprise and personal level, there’s an easy way to keep metadata private: HTML5 viewing. When you email a Word, PDF or image file, or make it available from a download link on a website or blog, or post it to social media, the metadata tags along. This makes it available to anyone who opens the file. Same goes for images, and message files. But when you share that same file through an HTML5 viewer, your intended audience can read the document or see the image, but the metadata remains hidden.
In fact, the metadata never even travels through the network to the reader. On the server before transmission, the HTML5 viewer rapidly converts the original file to a high-fidelity scalable graphics format that perfectly replicates the appearance of the original but includes none of the original metadata. HTML5 viewing empowers you to show and share content without giving away the key to the trunk.
An HTML5 viewer can be installed at the enterprise level, or integrated with a content-management system like SharePoint, to quickly display metadata-free documents through the browser on any device. Website and app authors can tap a SaaS-based viewer like Accusoft Cloud Services Viewer to embed a window that shows any document without bringing the metadata along for the ride.
And individuals who want to share content without sharing metadata can simply upload their documents to a cloud-based HTML5 viewing service like the free Prizm Share site, then email or post a link to the cloud version. Recipients of the link can read the doc or see the image with one click, but can’t get to the metadata by any means… because there isn’t any.
If you’re getting a little nervous about what your metadata is telling the world about you, there’s no need to try to figure out how to scrub the hidden data from every type of file you share. Make HTML5 viewing the window on your content, and keep the metadata where it belongs: out sight, and out of mind.
Although once consigned to retail and supply chain management systems, barcodes are finding their way into applications across a wide range of industries and use cases. Scannable barcodes are ideally suited for a variety of automation strategies because they enable software to identify and sort assets efficiently with minimal processing resources. Rather than relying on error-prone manual practices or building complex artificial intelligence (AI) tools to manage assets, developers can simply deploy barcodes to track them and route information to the proper destination. In this post we explore the 5 Factors to Consider when Selecting a Barcode SDK.
When selecting a barcode SDK for integration into their software, developers need to ask a few important questions to make sure they’re getting the right tools for the job. Identifying the priorities and features that matter most pre-integration makes it easier to choose a barcode SDK that’s capable of growing with the application’s needs.
5 Factors to Consider When Selecting a Barcode SDK
1. How accurate is the recognition?
This question might seem a little obvious, but a barcode reader that doesn’t deliver accurate results is going to create far more problems than it solves. Depending upon the use case, an application may frequently encounter barcodes that are blurry, torn, skewed, or even printed in reverse. If a barcode SDK lacks the image processing capabilities necessary to read those codes accurately, it will routinely report errors and read information incorrectly.
The most sophisticated barcode integrations take an intelligent approach to improve accuracy by processing and editing the scanned barcode as needed to create a readable, black and white image. Once the image is properly rotated and deskewed, the SDK can deploy a library of customized algorithms to apply the most relevant solution for common problems, such as image blur, noise, and missing pixels to maximize reading accuracy.
2. How fast is it?
For enterprise applications where barcodes must be read in large batches, speed is essential. A high performance barcode SDK will be optimized for processing speed and support multi-threading so applications can read barcodes as fast as their hardware allows. The best way to test barcode reader speed is to simply run a timed test of 1,000 barcodes from a set of data. This will provide a real-world speed measurement for specific use cases.
3. How many barcode types does it recognize?
There are many different types of barcodes used across a variety of industries, each one using a slightly different format for encoding data. Even a limited use case could require several variants of barcodes. Selecting a barcode SDK that supports a broad selection of 1D barcodes and 2D barcodes is essential for providing applications with the ability to grow and expand functionality in the future.
4. How versatile is the recognition?
Barcodes aren’t always presented in the most ideal format. Even in a specific use case like document management, barcodes may not be used uniformly across every file. A versatile barcode SDK should be able to recognize barcodes no matter where they appear on a page or how they’re oriented. It should also have the ability to quickly identify different types of barcodes so the application doesn’t need to be reconfigured every time it processes files. Support for multiple file formats also allows developers to apply barcode recognition to a variety of workflows.
5. Is it easy to integrate?
A well-designed SDKs should be flexible enough to integrate seamlessly with an existing application. Difficult to implement solutions can quickly lead to lost development time and wasted resources. By selecting a barcode SDK that can get up and running quickly, developers can keep projects on time and get their solutions to market faster with the features their customers need.
BONUS: 5 More Factors to Consider When Selecting a Barcode SDK
6. Does it also write barcodes?
While the ability to read barcodes quickly and accurately is certainly important, many applications also need to be able to generate barcodes as part of a broader asset management system. Barcode SDKs should be able to write multiple barcode types to help organizations track and route data within their applications.
7. Is it suitable for document management?
While many organizations are now using barcodes as part of their document management systems, not every barcode SDK is well-suited to this task. Several barcode integrations are more focused on physical scanners for inventory management and retail use cases rather than the specific needs of digital documents. Developers building document management systems need to make sure their barcode SDK is specifically optimized for reading and writing barcodes on digital documents to get the best results for their applications.
8. What programming languages does it support?
Developers aren’t going to get very far implementing a barcode SDK if it doesn’t support their application’s programming language. Whether software teams are building products in .NET framework, .NET Core, Node.js, Java, Linux (C/C++), Android, or iOS, they need to secure an SDK that’s compatible with their environment when the time comes for integration.
9. Does it offer developer support?
Barcode processing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There will always be problems with source data (scanned images), and code types are constantly evolving. Working with a vendor that’s committed to supporting their SDK and providing assistance to customers as they work through implementation and performance issues can make the process much smoother. In many cases, this guidance is essential to achieve high accuracy in real-world situations where barcodes and images are far from perfect. Ongoing and active support also ensures that the barcode SDK will receive regular security and performance upgrades. This factor alone makes them a much better choice than a number of unsupported, open-source solutions.
10. Does it provide performance data?
Confidence values help developers actively track barcode recognition performance. This allows them to identify potential issues with reading certain barcodes and understand where errors are most likely to occur. Based on that information, they can actively adjust confidence thresholds to optimize application workflows to prioritize speed in some situations and more rigorous accuracy in others.
Build a Better Barcode Application with Barcode Xpress
Accusoft’s Barcode Xpress is a powerful barcode SDK integration that provides a combination of speed, accuracy, and flexibility. In just a few lines of code, developers can give applications the power to detect, read, and write more than 30 different types of barcodes. Barcode Xpress can recognize multiple barcodes on a page in milliseconds and read broken, damaged, and incomplete codes that other SDKs fail to register.
We’re constantly working to improve Barcode Xpress to add new features and improve usability. Available for multiple operating systems, our barcode SDK is fully optimized for document management to support automation processes and efficient data capture. We constantly test it with the most troublesome barcodes we can find, and that’s one reason it’s become the most reliable toolkit in the industry. Download a free evaluation copy to test it with your own barcodes and judge how it performs in your development environment.
Tietoevry, a Nordic-based cloud, data, and software company relies on Accusoft’s PrizmDoc solution to deliver efficient document viewing and redaction.
In this video, learn how:
- Maintaining individual integrations for each file format was time-consuming and expensive for Tietoevry.
- PrizmDoc provided a single integration for easy and secured access to all stored documents.
- Accusoft’s redaction features make it easy to be compliant with data privacy requests while maintaining the format and original content of each document.
To learn more about how Accusoft’s PrizmDoc can provide the document management features you need to protect confidential information and privacy, visit our PrizmDoc page or talk to one of our integration specialists.
Long resistant to technological change, the insurance industry has made great strides over the last decade to implement innovative InsurTech solutions that upend longstanding market practices. As insurance providers explore new strategies for attracting a new generation of customers, they continue to rely heavily upon InsurTech developers to build the solutions that help them expand their customer base.
The Insurance Industry’s “Protection Gap”
Today’s insurance companies are offering more products and services than ever before, and yet at the same time, most people are carrying less insurance they need to protect themselves from risk. This “protection gap” is at least partially the result of large amounts of friction when it comes to purchasing insurance. People are either choosing to not buy insurance products, or they don’t know what options are available to them.
Part of this problem is the result of outdated models many organizations use to sell insurance. There’s an old adage that insurance is something that is “sold” rather than something that is “bought.” In this model, customers are expected to interact with an insurance agent who actively sells them a particular coverage.
Unfortunately, this model is becoming less and less effective in an increasingly digitized world, especially when it comes to younger generations of customers who expect the same level of frictionless convenience from insurers that they now get from many financial services (especially those powered by FinTech solutions).
What Is Embedded Insurance?
One potential solution to this challenge is a new strategy known as embedded insurance. This approach first identifies purchases or situations where insurance is required or would present clear added value. Some examples could include the purchase of an automobile, a vacation package, or even a potentially hazardous activity like skiing. An appropriately risk-adjusted insurance package is then offered to customers at the point of sale, or “embedded” within the customer experience.
There are tremendous advantages to this strategy. In the first place, it allows insurers to offer their products to customers who need them most at the precise point when they need them. Rather than having to go through the laborious process of contacting an insurance agent to get a quote for a new automotive policy after someone buys a new car, they can simply update their plan or add insurance services at the same time they’re purchasing the car itself. Customers are less likely to put off getting insurance (and then often forgetting to do so later), and the insurance provider has an opportunity to offer services to the people most likely to purchase them. For the provider, it’s a much more efficient approach than relying on outdated cold calling techniques to sell policies that may or may not meet the current needs of a customer.
Technical Challenges of Embedded Insurance
In order to embed insurance offerings effectively, however, providers first need to overcome a few technology challenges. From improved data capture tools that allow them to conduct faster, more customized underwriting to integrations that connect their applications to partner ecosystems, a new generation of InsurTech solutions will be needed to remake insurance business models.
Better Data Capture
Having accurate information is essential to insurance underwriting. This is even more important when it comes to embedded insurance because rates need to be calculated quickly so they can be provided along with other purchases. In many cases, form information may need to be processed quickly to obtain key data on the customer and the details of their purchase. When InsurTech applications are equipped with automated forms processing tools, they can quickly extract key information and use it to make faster, more data-driven decisions.
Versatile Viewing Capabilities
Whether an InsurTech application stands on its own or is integrated into another service offering, customers will often need to view information about their policy options in order to make an informed decision. On the firm’s end, insurance agents may need to review application details or bring up other resources to review when finalizing rates. By building viewing capabilities into their InsurTech applications with integrations like an HTML5 viewer, developers can ensure that their customers will never be caught depending upon external platforms for document viewing or sharing.
Expanded Contract Automation
Many insurance policies still require some form of contract, even if digital signature technology allows these forms to exist entirely in electronic format. Having the ability to rapidly assemble a contract as part of an embedded insurance solution can further enhance the streamlined customer experience. InsurTech developers can integrate automated document assembly tools to rapidly build contracts from pre-existing templates and quickly fill in the necessary details or add additional clauses.
Accusoft InsurTech Solutions for Embedded Insurance
Accusoft’s collection of SDK and API integrations give InsurTech developers the tools they need to enhance the flexibility of their applications. Our software solutions provide proven, market-ready viewing and processing features so development teams can keep their focus on refining their platform’s innovative core functionality. Whether it’s the versatile forms processing features of FormSuite, the powerful HTML5 viewing capabilities of PrizmDoc Viewer, or the automated document assembly tools of PrizmDoc Editor, Accusoft integrations can help InsurTech developers get their applications to market faster and explore the possibilities of embedded insurance.
We’ve been working hard to design software integrations that meet the needs of the insurance industry and InsurTech developers. Download our InsurTech solutions fact sheet to see how our constantly evolving family of SDKs and APIs can improve your application’s capabilities and performance.
In a recent LegalTech article, Lisa Senger highlighted some of the concerns facing law firms in an age when sharing information is becoming increasingly digital. Collaborating with colleagues and sharing information with opposing counsel can put confidential client information at risk. As the need for increased security rises, developers are under pressure to meet the demands of their clients and ensure the safe and confidential transfer of information over a variety of networks outside of the organization.
To save the money and effort it takes to develop and stay up-to-date on the latest software for security, many developers are looking to third party providers, like Accusoft, to supply the latest solutions for eDiscovery confidentiality and security. How can Accusoft enhance your current eDiscovery offer?
Redaction
The easiest way to preserve the confidentiality of your end users’ clients is to eliminate the confidential information. With built-in redaction capabilities, Prizm Content Connect makes file sharing and collaboration easy and secure. When text is selected and redacted from a document, the redactions are burned into the new saved version, eliminating the confidential data from the file before it is shared with a third party. With auto-redaction, eDiscovery is less burdensome on law firms, allowing them to find repeated instances of confidential information–like a social security number–and redact it throughout a document automatically.
Digital Rights Management
When sharing client information outside of the firm, your clients are worried about that information being stolen or otherwise misused. For instance, after a case is over, opposing counsel may not delete files in a timely manner, putting confidential information at greater risk. With DRM, you can control who sees which files, and for how long. Our software allows you to assign permissions to view, print and download files and documents. After a case is over, you can simply revoke permission to access the document to ensure users cannot view confidential client information longer than necessary.
These are just two ways Accusoft provides security and confidentiality solutions for you and your clients. Our Prizm Content Connect suite of products can be tailored to suit your unique needs in catering to your eDiscovery and legal clients. You can view code samples here.
To see PCC in action, download your free 30 day trial today.
The insurance market is booming. As noted by research firm Deloitte, the property and casualty (P&C) sector saw a massive income uptick in 2018 and steady growth last year that’s predicted to carry forward through 2020. To help manage the influx of new clients and handle more claims, many firms are spending on insurance technology (insurtech) — digital services and solutions that make it possible to reduce error rates and enhance operational efficiency. InsurTech SDKs are important components of this transformation.
Both in-house insurtech solutions and third-party platforms often excel in specific areas but come up short in others, putting insurance firms at risk of writing off potential gains. While solution switching and ground-floor rebuilds offer one route to success, there’s another option that’s more custom to your business needs: software development kits (SDKs). Here’s a look at three top SDKs that offer customized functionality potential.
FormSuite for Structured Forms: Solving for Data Capture
Time is money. The faster insurance companies accurately complete and file documents, the greater their revenue potential. And as noted by KPMG, the need for speed is more pressing than ever. Many insurance sectors have seen substantial increases in both claims and new applications as the COVID-19 crisis evolves.
As a result, accurate and agile forms processing is critical to keep up with demand. If current insurance software can’t quickly capture forms data, recognize standard form fields, and let users easily create standard form libraries, policy processing falls behind.
FormSuite for Structured Forms makes it easy for developers to build in form identification and data capture that includes comprehensive form field detection with OCR, ICR, and OMR functionality and the ability to automatically identify scanned forms and match them to existing templates.
ImageGear for .NET and C/C++: Simplifying Conversion
Conversion is critical for insurance firms. Depending on the type and complexity of insurance claims, companies are often dealing with everything from Word documents for initial client assessments and .GIF or .JPG images of existing damage to contractor-specific PDFs or spreadsheets that detail necessary materials, time, and labor costs. The result? A mash-up of multiple file types that forces adjusters to spend valuable time searching for specific data instead of helping clients get their claims process up and running. This makes it difficult to recognize value from emerging digital initiatives.
Accusoft’s ImageGear for .NET and ImageGear for C/C++ empower developers to integrate enterprise-class file viewing, annotation, conversion, and image processing functions into existing applications, allowing staff to both quickly collaborate on key tasks and find essential data across a single, easy-to-search document.
ImageGear: Streamlining PDF Capabilities
While insurance technology offers substantive opportunities for end-users to capture, convert, and retain data, this technology can also come with the challenge of increased complexity. According to recent research from PWC, for example, firms looking to capitalize on insurtech potential must be prepared to rapidly develop new product offerings and embrace the expectations.
As a result, companies need applications that streamline current functions and allow them to focus on creating cutting-edge solutions. For example, PDF is a file format that is still used by enterprises worldwide to maintain document format consistency and maximize security. When it comes to converting multiple files into a PDF, software can be expensive and introduce data security issues.
This can all be solved with an SDK like ImageGear, which makes it possible to integrate the total PDF package into any document management application, both reducing overall complexity and freeing up time for staff to work on new insurance initiatives.
Insurtech forms the framework of functional futures in policy applications, claims processing, and compliance reporting, but existing software systems may not provide the complete capability set companies need to make the most of digital deployments. These top SDKs offer insurance IT teams the ability to integrate key services, improve speed, and boost security at scale. Learn more about Accusoft’s SDKs at www.accusoft.com/products.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was just five years ago. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, it grew to one million users in less than a week. AI has evolved from simple rule-based systems to more sophisticated machine-learning algorithms.
In the software development realm, AI has already made big strides—especially within enterprise content management applications. It’s streamlining workflows, enhancing data processing, and improving decision-making capabilities.
With the emergence of agentic AI, we’re on the cusp of a new era. This transformative technology promises to take AI from a human-dependent tool to an autonomous business partner. Agentic AI represents a leap forward in artificial intelligence that will undoubtedly revolutionize the software industry.
What is Agentic AI?
Agentic AI, or agent-based artificial intelligence, consists of AI systems that can act autonomously to achieve goals. These systems go beyond simple task execution to independently solve problems and make decisions like a human agent would.
Agentic AI is goal-driven. These systems are designed to meet specific objectives and can create plans to achieve them. They go beyond responding to inputs, proactively working toward desired outcomes. Agentic AI systems can learn and adapt. They improve their performance over time by learning from experiences and adjusting their strategies.
One of agentic AI’s most impressive features is its advanced reasoning capabilities. It can process complex information, draw insights, and make logical inferences. Agentic AI can not only tackle difficult problems and understand nuanced instructions, but it can also explain its decision-making process.
Let’s say an AI agent receives a complex customer inquiry about a missing delivery. It analyzes the situation by accessing order tracking systems and verifying shipping status. Without human intervention, the agent can identify delivery issues and initiate the appropriate actions autonomously.
Agentic AI vs. Traditional AI
Traditional AI typically operates within predefined parameters. It excels at pattern recognition, data analysis, and performing programmed instructions. But it’s unable to adapt to new situations or make autonomous decisions beyond its initial programming.
Agentic AI demonstrates a higher level of autonomy and flexibility. These systems can:
- Make independent decisions based on complex inputs and changing environments
- Set and pursue goals, adapting strategies as needed
- Learn from experiences and improve performance
- Engage in advanced reasoning
While traditional AI is an efficient tool, agentic AI is more like an intelligent assistant that can formulate plans and take initiative.
Agentic AI Real-World Applications
Agentic AI will touch every industry, offering innovative solutions to complex challenges. Here are some examples of how agentic AI has already been applied to real-world scenarios.
IT Incident Response
IBM manages and analyzes massive amounts of data on its network systems. To quickly identify threats, phishing attacks, and ransomware without overwhelming security teams, IBM developed Watson for Cyber Security. This cognitive IT system processes unstructured data like blogs and research reports. Then it correlates the unstructured data with structured data from security tools to identify threats.
Implementing Watson for Cyber Security has allowed IBM to single out and respond to threats more quickly. It’s made the process more efficient and helped IBM protect itself and its clients from cyber attacks.
Customer Service Routing
Verint, a leader in customer experience automation, uses multiple agentic AI solutions to improve interactions with customers. With help from AI, Verint’s CX/EX Scoring bot monitors customer calls, evaluating conversation flow and emotional cues. It immediately notifies supervisors when agents need support.
The company also leverages an Agent Virtual Assistant. Powered by agentic AI, the Verint Agent Virtual Assistant takes an agent question and analyzes the context using third-party applications and systems of record. From this information, it can provide personalized information to answer the agent’s question.
Software Development
Agentic AI has simplified how software teams work. Since agentic AI systems are remarkably autonomous, they can understand context and execute complex development tasks.
One example is GitHub Copilot for Pull Requests, which goes far beyond basic code review. Agentic AI independently analyzes code changes to understand their broader impact across the entire codebase. It flags potential issues and proposes specific fixes, explaining its reasoning much like an experienced senior developer would.
Amazon CodeWhisperer exemplifies how agentic AI can transform code optimization. It understands project context and independently suggests architectural improvements. It can analyze codebases holistically, identifying opportunities for performance optimization and flagging potential security issues before they become vulnerabilities.
What Does Agentic AI Mean for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)?
For independent software vendors, agentic AI isn’t just another tech buzzword. Working with agentic AI is like having a highly capable member of your team who can work independently, handle routine tasks, and make smart decisions without needing constant direction.
Development teams often get bogged down with time-consuming tasks like testing, code review, and documentation. Agentic AI can tackle these responsibilities without breaking a sweat. It frees up developers to focus on solving complex problems and creating innovative features that set their products apart. For teams with limited resources, this means getting more done without having to hire staff.
Greater efficiency is just one of the perks agentic AI brings to the table. It can also help improve product quality by continuously monitoring code, spotting potential issues, and suggesting improvements. This translates into more reliable products, fewer customer support issues, and reduced maintenance costs. The system learns from every project it works on, ensuring teams apply successful approaches consistently across the entire product.
Agentic AI is a valuable tool that enables ISVs to move faster in a competitive market. When you can develop and test your own features more quickly, you can respond to customer needs and market opportunities at a pace not previously possible. This speed advantage is critical in the software market, where being the first to introduce new capabilities can make a huge difference in market share.
How Accusoft is Preparing for Agentic AI
The future of software development is intertwined with agentic AI. Staying competitive means finding ways to apply these capabilities efficiently.
Accusoft is at the forefront of incorporating new technologies like agentic AI with features like context-based redaction. In partnership with IBM, Accusoft has integrated watsonx.ai technology into our PrizmDoc product to help ECM software organizations reduce document processing times. We continue to explore bringing cutting-edge AI capabilities to content processing and document management applications.
With PrizmDoc, developers can access sophisticated AI-powered content processing capabilities without investing months or years of development time to build them from scratch. This allows ISVs to focus on their core product while leveraging Accusoft’s expertise in content processing and AI integration.
Ready to see what PrizmDoc can do for your application? Start your free trial today!