From paper to bits and bytes

Active Data converts, customizes, publishes documents for business clients

Move over, microfiche.

Morrisville's Active Data Services is doing its part to make the business world an even more digital place.

The company converts paper and film-based documents into digital formats for clients, offers Web access to the scanned data and prints and distributes documents on behalf of its clients.

Instead of bulk jobs, the company focuses on higher-order tasks customized to clients' business needs, said Peter Ransome, chief marketing officer.

"We didn't open our company to be scanners or printers," he said. "We looked at the need for companies to outsource ... around mission-critical solutions."

That means Active Data prints individualized manuals about health benefits rather than employee handbooks, and checks rather than coupon books. In some cases, it partners with customers to provide services for their clients.

Over the past four years, Active Data has focused its business in the health care, financial and government markets, all "document-intensive businesses," said CEO Ken Eller.

Health care is one of the most recent industries to undergo the digital revolution, he said. In the past few years, new federal regulations have mandated that records be portable. That usually means digital.

Whereas the new regulations have been "a burden for lots of people, we've seen it as a great opportunity," Eller said.

Active Data's biggest customer is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, which covers more North Carolinians than any other health insurer. Its second-largest is Misys Healthcare Systems, the Raleigh-based provider of electronic medical records systems. Other area customers include Durham Regional Hospital, Quintiles Transnational and Martin Marietta Materials.

Outsourcing needs

The service industry involved with printing documents such as bills, statements, invoices and insurance policies measures in the tens of billions of dollars, said Andy Plata, CEO of OutputLinks.com, which tracks the industry. Outsourcing is a growing part of the individualized document printing business, he said.

As demand grows for higher-quality bills and statements that contain more data than ever before, companies are finding it's less expensive to contract with businesses such as Active Data than to buy the necessary equipment and develop the expertise themselves, he said.

What's more, outsourcing allows for flexibility, Plata said.

"If you outsource your ... [documents], and then you need a different kind of output next year or next month, you can get your outsourcer to do it for you," he said.

Blue Cross has embraced that philosophy. Active Data manages the backbone of the the Chapel Hill health insurer's paper-based communication with members.

The Morrisville company first scans in enrollment forms and sends out benefits booklets customized for each employer and member. It later digitizes paper claim forms and prints checks for doctors and claim-related documents for patients. In between, it ensures data is posted online for Blue Cross employees.

And the relationship is growing. Blue Cross recently awarded Active Data more work for a new statewide enrollment effort.

Meanwhile, Misys packages Active Data's Data Vault offering under its own brand with its electronic medical records software. While Misys helps doctors digitize their records, Active Data converts their paper files into digital formats and makes that information available securely online.

Active Data has trained hundreds of Misys salespeople since the program started this spring, Eller said. Active Data does all the scanning for Misys customers in this region, and it's building a network of other businesses that can do the same work in customers' own areas.