Don’t you hate how confusing it gets to choose the right technology stack for your business with so many technologies around?
In the document scanning space itself, there are a number of technologies at hand.
So, how do you pick the right document scanning stack for various business workflows where document and image acquisition are important steps like automation of business processes, managing stores’ inventory, or even building a website, for that matter?
Well, one interesting type of document scanner that leads the way is ‘TWAIN’ scanners.
Yes, not ‘twain’, but ‘TWAIN’, which is not an acronym but a backronym. Sounds interesting, right?
Source of Interesting TWAIN Name
The word ‘TWAIN’ is infamously known as ‘Technology Without an Interesting Name’ as no name could be decided on the technology. However, the TWAIN Working Group, a non-profit organization that represents the technology, pronounces that the name is derived from an excerpt of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The Ballad of East and West”.
‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,’
As the excerpt connotes the difficulty in establishing an agreement between two different things, the name TWAIN typifies the challenges businesses faced in bridging computers with document scanners at older times.
As the name of the technology, TWAIN scanners are interesting too. It is the most widely used online document scanner, and every business that has its document scanning functionality as a critical component absolutely needs a TWAIN scanner.
What is TWAIN? How does it Work?
TWAIN technology involves application programming interfaces (APIs) and communication protocols that manage communication between software and digital imaging devices, such as image scanners and digital cameras. TWAIN is supported on Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and on iOS and Android.
The three key elements of TWAIN scanners are,
- Application software, such as graphics software, a fax application, or a word processor.
- Source manager software or software library
- Device drivers or source software
Both the application and the device driver must support TWAIN for the interface to be successfully used.
Reasons Why You Need a TWAIN Scanner
Interoperable Standards
Modern TWAIN scanners can run decades-old drivers with their backward compatibility. This empowers applications to discover a scanner’s features wherein all versions of the standard are interoperable. The standardized functionality makes TWAIN an excellent choice for a long-run integration.
Ease of Deployment
TWAIN online documents scanners SDKs are easily deployed on most programming frameworks such as Angular, JavaScript, jQuery, VBScript, HTML5, HTML, etc. These are even compatible with any JavaScript framework (AngularJS, ReactJS, Node.js, Vue.js). Apart from the client-side integration, TWAIN online scanners work well on the server-side as well and can be easily distributed to the end-users with batch-based installation in any network. Altogether, TWAIN scanners provide every necessary component in creating new applications for a business ecosystem.
Multiple Systems Compatibility
As different businesses use different types of browsers and operating systems, it is critical to pick the tools that work well on every platform. TWAIN with its broad compatibility feature supports major browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge and operating systems such as Mac OS, Windows, and Linux/Unix.
High-Speed Document Scanning
TWAIN scanners are enterprise-grade document scanners and can scan tens of thousands of subjects in a single session. These also eliminate the time-consuming APIs with asynchronous requests and maintain high-speed functionality. Additionally, built-in triggerable procedural events are available in these online scanners to streamline business workflow.
Robust Security Features
TWAIN scanners keep data security remains paramount and keep on enhancing security features. They cover all security concerns like security features, authorisation and authentication, and data security and deliver enterprise-class security to security-keen businesses. Further, to eliminate any unexpected threats to the software, source code security management is also provided in most document scanners.
Free Test Runs
Many of the TWAIN web capturing software solutions are available for a free trial. Businesses can take free trials to get a comprehensive understanding of the features that will help them decide on the stack.
TWAIN’s Self-Certification
The TWAIN self-certification is also provided which helps developers validate their data source’s support with the standards. Developers can perform tests to confirm the data source’s interface works as expected with applications and responds correctly to commands sent by an application.
Add-ons over Regular Features
Regular scanning hardwares comes with limited scanning features but with TWAIN scanning SDKs, businesses can easily integrate essential add-ons into their scanners based on their business document requirements. A complete TWAIN scanning SDK with advanced features for scanning, uploading, editing, converting, and saving documents is a comprehensive and future-proof solution for businesses with high-powered document scanning requirements.
Ever-developing Technology with Knowledge Support
To keep up with technological development, the TWAIN standard keeps on updating. This makes the TWAIN scanner a great option for the long haul. In fact, TWAIN Working Group has a new generation version in the pipeline with which vendor-specific drivers will no longer be needed. The application will be able to communicate directly with scanning devices.
Bonus Takeaway: Besides TWAIN scanners, WIA, ISIS, and SANE are the other document scanning drivers. All have different functionalities but TWAIN being a comprehensive solution, provides an abundance of advanced capabilities that help reduce development costs and time in addition to reducing technical support requirements for businesses.
