Ricoh impressed the IFA in Berlin with its eWriter Solution, a business-class tablet designed to improve business efficiency by transferring paper processes to the digital sphere. The device and related services will be offered through Ricoh’s new business division, eWriter Solutions (EWS) . Ricoh’s CEO claims shifting business practices from paper to digital media will reduce firms’ carbon footprint and costs.

The eWriter Solution comprises the Ricoh eQuill, a tablet functioning as a digital clipboard, coupled with eWriter’s Workflow Services. This total solution aims to eliminate forms set-up, photocopying, scanning, archiving, and paper disposal.

Ricoh’s eQuill syncs with eWriter Workflow Services via WiFi or 3G. The eQuill boasts a very impressive 20 hour battery life, and as such is suitable for healthcare, document management, insurance or credit claim processing, and other such aplications where battery failure during the course of a day would be unthinkable. Early reports suggest people find the eWriter solution very user-friendly and intuitive. Business leaders were impressed by the automation of paper-iontensive processes such as forms-based data. Amongst the features feasing the transition to paperless operations are the ability to make handwritten notes and capture and attach photos using the inbuilt camera.

Portable add-on keyboards enable data to be entered rapidly, and signatures can be added with the device’s stylus. Security concerns are also given high priority for promoting take-up of the eWriter, for instance date, time and biometric stroke recognition for signature authentication, and signatures can be stored for rapid legal or regulatory recall via Ricoh EWS’s patented AuthentiDoc services.

For further reassurance the eWriter encrypts all data using patented Ricoh EWS protocols. Any information is subsequently made available to authorized users on a rights-managed basis, thus enabling fine-grained catalogued control of access to infomation for sensitive data, such as the health or legal professions.The eWriter can import and export standard pdf files and also integrates with leading data capture and document management systems by means of php and C# APIs. A single button press transfers data to backend systems.

The eWriter also delivers a fully-featured development system for custom forms-capture apps, and also allows automated server-managed operations – for periodic syncs, security checks and backups. The Ricoh eQuill functions as a wirelessly-connected client console – weighing around a pound the eQuill is as thin and light as most clipboards (its profile is less than one-third of an inch). In addition to freeing agents fron carrying multiple forms and paper-based information from client to client, the eQuill enables far better organization of agents’ resources in ultraportable form.

The writing experience is very smooth and professional, and forms processing, tailored to the specific business and their relevant server-side technology, is swift. The device can also be recharged via a micro-USB cable. Voice capture offers another valuable means of data capture. The eQuill delivers crisp black-and-white 9.7-inch high resolution images. eWriter Workflow Services functions as a cloud service, permitting data transfer between the cloud and the Ricoh eQuill.

Auto-wipe and geolocation services add to the eQuill’s security credentials.  Speed, direction and pressure of signatures are tracked by the millisecond. Tamper-proof documents are created by the AuthentiDoc service for admissibility in a court of law.

Entry-level pricing begins at less than $500. There is already a development community springing up around the eWriter for cutomized solutions.

Related posts:

1. No email on BB Playbook
2. Toshiba Promises Greener Future