ImageSource
Creating a Unified User Experience

For nearly 30 years, ImageSource has worked extensively with state agencies to simplify complex business solutions. In the early days, that involved hardware or multiple software components that the company would integrate or customize to work together. ImageSource built its ILINX platform with that expertise, delivering true business process automation, connecting systems, and adding real value through digital transformation with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Following is the conversation that CIO Applications had with Terry Sutherland, the CEO of ImageSource, Inc.

What are the market pain points of your customers that have manifested as opportunities for ImageSource’s solution and approach?

Our customer partners had to respond quickly to work-from-home initiatives and adapt centralized business processes traditionally performed in a specific physical location. We know technology is the only way to overcome staffing and budgeting constraints while workloads remain the same or increase.

Our customer partners may have a single business process automated by ILINX or an entire organization. In either case, we keep close to their initiatives and share how our platform is expanding into new solutions. We can quickly expand an ILINX deployment or help solve unique business needs.

How does ImageSource design, deliver and support front and back-office solutions for entire departments or specific business processes? Please elaborate.

We work to understand a manual or existing business process and identify areas of improvement with our expertise. It might mean unique integration points like ILINX managing claims accessed through SalesForce, or it might be with our own ILINX Engage module, which brings front-office user experience to traditionally back-office processes. ILINX Engage creates a unified user experience for internal or external customers who can participate in 24/7 self-service for business processes like accounts payable, contract management, or licensing.

Please shed light on how the ILINX platform takes organizations through paper reduction initiatives, to business process and workflow automation? Can you illustrate it with the help of a customer success story?

Working with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), we have helped modernize many processes that ultimately deliver critical resources to Alaskans.

We started working with Department Commissioner Adam Crum and Shawnda O’Brien, Director of Division of Public Assistance (DPA), first to implement a standard electronic document management solution to address the backlog of requests and supporting documents in various physical locations across the State.

The agency committed to technology and automation to manage its manual processes. With these tools, staff improved overall work efficiencies and they quickly moved through a longstanding backlog of 15,000 public assistance applications, and, in turn, Alaskans were better served. Commissioner Crum describes “lobby-heavy processes” where different locations throughout the State had different volumes of in-person interaction. With the help of ImageSource and the ILINX platform, that work is distributed across sites, regardless of the origin of the interaction.

The technology investments made by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services prepared the Division of Public Assistance to quickly transition employees to fulltime telework at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. As the pandemic winds down and state employees move to hybrid work models, the continued usage of the ILINX platform allows the Department to maintain continuity in their staff and, therefore, the services they deliver Alaskans.

Commissioner Crum continues to work with ImageSourcemost recently, on phone authorization solutions, storing and maintaining recordings and transcripts for citizens that can’t initiate services via an internet-dependent device. Crum says, “It’s been a great experience to work with ImageSource. They respond to our workforce needs and provide the best in class service”.

What impact does ImageSource’s work culture have on its employees and clients?

We have a very collaborative culture and culture of longevity at ImageSource, which has several benefits to our customer partners. Our approach is to listen and create consensus around goals and key performance indicators for ILINX solutions. End-users tell us we help them understand the benefits of a solution while speaking plainly about technology. The longevity of our staff means many expansion projects are likely to be staffed by the same project managers or implementation support staff as the original solution, which reduces ramp-up times and ensures a shared understanding of a working solution for a customer partner.

How did you keep track of the right ingredients you wanted to have to build the relevant solutions portfolio?

For us, this is all about collaboration and listening. We listen to users and customer partners. Many of our modules originate from vision engineering with our customers. We may solve one business problem, like addressing a backlog of documents for the State of Alaska, and then very shortly, we are building an innovative Cognitive Services module for audio transcription and integration into workflows and document retention policies.

How has ImageSource delivered best-in-breed solutions for the Government Tech space and is poised to march ahead in the same fashion when responding to its clients’ needs. Can you provide us a sneak-peak as to what lies ahead for your firm?

We are excited about our Cognitive Service module, discussed above, and our ILINX Engage solutions which bring front office usability and user experience expectations to traditionally back-office functions. We are working with agencies in the State of Washington on licensing applications on ILINX Engage that enable 24/7 constituent self-self service and integration to automated workflows.