LRS (Levi, Ray & Shoup) is a leading provider of Enterprise Output Management (EOM) software. The US company, based in Springfield, Illinois, has integrated Retarus’ cloud fax services in VPSX, their cloud-based flagship platform.
The middleware provided by LRS is inserted as an abstraction layer between users or applications, on one end, and output devices or channels on the other – replacing all print servers, for instance. Depending on the role of the user, it then makes predefined workflows available for them to use. In addition to output scenarios, the opposite direction is also supported – for instance, managing scan workflows from multi-function printer devices.
LRS cooperates with all well-known manufacturers of multi-function devices and supports output from virtual desktops and applications, mobile devices and legacy back-ends, right up to mainframe output. Among other functions, the centralized administration includes reporting options as well as driver and queue management.
For the fax output channel, beginning last year, LRS has seamlessly integrated Retarus’ Cloud Fax Services as an ISV partner at the API level (RESTful) as well as via SMTP in the VPSX EOM system and MFPSecure/scan (on-premises and cloud). As a result, the print-to-fax and scan-to-fax functions are available to customers directly in the VPSX UI and in the mobile app for any number of multi-function devices – with all the well-known benefits of cloud fax.
Sales, service and support – including the SLA – remain with Retarus. The efforts required for implementation are reduced significantly, while fax cards are no longer required in devices. To set up the service, the customer only needs to conclude a cloud fax agreement with Retarus. In the process, the customer receives the credentials that simply need to be entered into the LRS system. This simplifies cloud migration strategies and ensures that the centralized administration of heterogeneous printer landscapes is more cost-effective, faster and less complicated.
LRS and Retarus are both specialized in providing solutions to sectors in which handling sensitive data securely is of crucial importance. So it makes perfect sense for the companies to combine their common expertise in dealing with industries such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, banking and financial services, manufacturing or retail to ensure solution-oriented, audit-ready integration into leading ERP and EMR/EHR systems such as SAP, Epic and Cerner – just to name a few.
The “blue collar” challenge
For a large construction company, LRS came up with an unusual but extremely practical solution, in which its partner Retarus plays a crucial role. It involves the complicated situation on construction sites, where subcontractors also need to send faxes and receive automatically printed transmission reports, even though they have not been authenticated by the system. LRS made this possible with a solution consisting of two of their own products and Retarus’ Cloud Fax Service, which was connected via SMTP in this case. Incidentally, this also saves the customer more than 1.5 million euros over the contract period, for instance by eliminating the need for fax cards, analog fax lines and the costs and efforts for maintaining them.
