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2024 Application and Technology of the Year Award Winners Announced

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Lutz, FL — August 13, 2024 – Xplor International, the worldwide electronic document systems association, today announced the recipients of their 2024 Technology and Application of the Year Awards. The awards will be presented at a ceremony Tuesday, September 24, 2024, during the Summit event in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Application of the Year Award:

The Application of the Year Award is presented to an individual, a company, or an organization to recognize outstanding achievement in the imaginative application of current technology and/or unique implementation of existing digital document and communication systems. This award is open to members and non-members alike.

This year, Xplor presents two honorable mentions, in addition to the winner of the award.

  • The winner of the 2024 Xplor Application of the Year is OSG & InfoSlips for Transforming Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) to Patient-Centric Experiences.
  • An Honorable Mention is awarded to RRD for their Business Communication Intelligence.
  • A second Honorable Mention is awarded to Solimar Systems, Inc. for their Secure and Streamlined Printing of National Exam Books with JDF Job Tickets and Intelligent Workflow Automation.

Technology of the Year Award:

The Technology of the Year Award honors an individual, company or organization that has conceived and developed an original concept leading to a significant advancement in the industry. This can be a new program, product, or technology that notably enhances the capabilities of digital document and customer communication systems. This award is open to members and non-members alike.

This year, Xplor presents two honorable mentions, in addition to the winner of the award.

  • The winner of the 2024 Xplor Technology of the Year is Crawford Technologies’ AccessibilityNow® Translate.
  • An Honorable Mention is awarded to Quadient for their Inspire iForms
  • A second Honorable Mention is awarded to Papyrus Software for Papyrus PDF/UA for Accessibility.

“Advancements in technology, how people communicate and the solutions that address them continues to push the boundaries of technology and has made it more and more difficult for the Awards Committee,” says Skip Henk, EDP, President and CEO of Xplor International. “Congratulations to each of our 2024 award recipients and thank you to all who took the time to submit a nomination.”

Xplor International will also be announcing the recipients of additional awards during the 2024 Xplor Summit on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, during the awards ceremony.

For more information regarding the event, or to access the registration site, please visit register.xplor.org/summit. Questions should be directed to Register@xplor.org or +1-813-949-6170 between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM (ET), Monday through Friday. Vendors interested in being a sponsor or exhibitor can contact Xplor HQ, at +1-813-949-6170 or via email at sales@xplor.org.

About Xplor International

Xplor International is a not-for-profit association dedicated to the education, evolution, and success of the Customer Communications Management (CCM) industry.  Our members design, produce, implement, deliver, and manage high-volume, highly regulated and highly personalized communications across all channels and in all formats.

Xplor’s mission is to provide the education and resources necessary for the development of engaging customer communications.

Xplor enhances organizational success and advances the careers of our members by providing research, analyst access, industry certification, professional development, and educator guidance. Global members benefit from our in-person annual conference, virtual events, and networking opportunities.

Xplor International has its worldwide headquarters in Lutz, Florida with active membership across the globe.

Further information is available at www.xplor.org.

Xplor International Media Contact:
Chad Henk
Marketing Director
+1-813-949-6170
Chad@xplor.org

Is The Tablet Becoming a Small Boat Anchor?

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Is The Tablet Becoming a Small Boat Anchor? (That floats intermittently)

Last week the motherboard went out on my PC which caused the usual chaos and scrambling to find a new PC, load programs, backup files, etc. It was painful, but it too has passed.

While researching what my next PC would be I ran across several articles on the demise of the PC. In fact one of the original architects of the IBM PC team states, “Personal Computers Becoming Obsolete.” He himself has chucked his PC for a tablet.

The IBM 3270

In reading this article and others that talk about applications and data being in the magical “cloud”, I started to wonder if we are setting ourselves up for failure.

IBM_3270Not many people remember the IBM 3270, a dumb terminal that hooked up directly to a mainframe. It had no standalone computing capabilities and if the mainframe was down every 3270 hooked to it was also. In large companies that could be thousands of terminals.

Imagine what is like when you lose the internet but worse, because you can’t do anything else as there was no Microsoft Office, no applications or documents on the terminal. As a technician once described it to me ”It becomes a boat anchor that floats intermittently”, until the mainframe was back up.

What may the future hold?

You have your “tablet” in hand your applications and documents sitting on the cloud and the cloud suddenly “dissipates”.  It could be a hardware or software failure, a hacker or cyber terrorist but your tablet becomes  a smaller boat anchor (that floats intermittently), until the cloud re-appears.I thought this scenario was a farfetched at one time, I almost felt like some conspiracy guy but with all the stories of hacking and cyber terror that has emerged over the last several months, I am not so sure.

In Florida we have hurricane plans. We prepare to be without electricity for several days. You fill your gas tank, stock up on food and water, get cash from the ATM and if you are really prepared, have a generator. All in preparation for not being able to buy gas, food or get cash because of the loss of the “electricity cloud.”

As we look to empower the cloud by trusting it with all our applications and data are we setting ourselves up for failure? What is the back-up plan? Is my tablet becoming a boat anchor?