As we head into the fall season, I thought it’d be a good time to check in with Imaging Office Systems president Brian Kopack. We talked about trends in information management technology that have emerged during the pandemic, best ways to utilize cloud computing technology, and the sport of running. Yes, running!  

Last January, Brian was named the head coach of the cross-country team at Delphos St. John’s High School in Ohio. It won’t be a major transition. Kopack—a former competitor on the Butler University cross country team—was already involved as an assistant coach, along with his wife Amy, and he has two kids on the team. However, what might have been new for Kopack was having me ask him to draw comparisons between the sport of running and running a business—but I’m glad I did. What he had to say was really thought-provoking.

Emily Donley, our director of conversion services, manages the Imaging Office Systems document conversion lab, which is where many of our clients' paper-based records go to be transformed into digital data and/or securely stored in one of our state-of-the-art, climate-controlled facilities. A mainstay with Imaging Office Systems since 2009, Emily works closely with our customers to ensure the information management services we provide align with their goals. She's acquired an amazing amount of experience and wisdom along the way, and I thought it'd be a valuable exercise to give our blog readers a little sample of it. So, without further ado, here's Emily...

In this second installment from our interview with Aaron Sarber, the director of our Professional Services Group at Imaging Office Systems, we talk about the future of information management, best practices for implementation and execution of new systems, what surprises him, what surprises our customers, what makes his job easy or hard, and what he thinks are the most valuable elements of the services we provide to our customers. 

Aaron Sarber manages our Professional Services Group here at Imaging Office Systems, and he has been with us long enough to have witnessed a major evolution in information management technology and content services solutions. I thought it would be a valuable exercise for our blog readers to sit down with him and get his perspective, in a simple question-and-answer format, on a variety of topics and issues related his group's role in building solutions for our customers.

Schools at the K-12 level serve as development platforms for the next generation of people. While the chief factors in that developmental work are the dissemination of information, discussion of ideas, instruction on skills, and teacher-student interaction, so much happens behind the scenes to create and maintain the platform where this can happen—namely, activities that happen in the Main Office or Business Office. This is where student records are kept, HR activity happens, and interaction occurs between the school and the outside world, including parents, the community, vendors, and state officials—the business of running a school. And just like any other business, the Main Office has business processes. 

Now, we here at Imaging Office Systems are quite aware of what we are and what we are not. And one thing we’re not is an expert in e-learning platforms and all the various software ecosystems that comprise that world. However, for all the supporting business activities happening in the main office? You know...those business processes that may have been caught in a technology time-warp (trust me, you’re not alone) and now require more time than they should to handle? We are experts at helping schools leverage technology to streamline those business processes. 

Here’s a look at a few projects we’ve worked on that have helped streamline the work of school office workers.