computer science

ReadSoft

ReadSoft is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ReadSoft rather than just read about it. In short: ReadSoft was a global provider of applications for automating business processes. ReadSoft was founded by two university students in Linköping, Sweden, in 1991.

Key takeaways

ReadSoft belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ReadSoft to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ReadSoft from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ReadSoft was a global provider of applications for automating business processes. ReadSoft was founded by two university students in Linköping, Sweden, in 1991. The company was headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden and its shares were traded on the NASDAQ OMX – Stockholm Small Cap list. ReadSoft had operations in 17 countries and a partner network in an additional 70 nations. In July 2017, private equity and growth capital firm Thoma Bravo acquired and combined ReadSoft, Kofax, and Perceptive Software into an independent portfolio company named Kofax.

Company operations ReadSoft's specialties included accounts payable automation, accounts receivable automation, sales order processing, and digital mailrooms. ReadSoft has been regarded as an "AP invoice specialist" – AP is a common abbreviation of Accounts Payable – by Gartner, an independent information technology research and advisory company. Specialist software is designed to integrate with the AP software from ERP systems, such as Oracle and SAP. For example, ERP integration may take advantage of single-sign-on processes, eliminating the need for employees to juggle multiple logons and systems. With more than 12,000 customers, ReadSoft claimed to be the market leader of the Document Process Automation segment – a term first coined by ReadSoft itself to cover the technology that automates the processing of business documents. It involves data capture and extraction (optical character recognition) from paper and electronic documents, integration with company's existing ERP system and routing to company agents for approvals and problem resolution via workflow. In 2006, ReadSoft merged with Ebydos AG from Frankfurt am Main, Germany a dedicated SAP Specialist Team that developed the Process Director, formerly known as Invoice Cockpit Suite. ReadSoft maintained other than SAP also Oracle competency/development centers which provided integrated solutions for companies with SAP and Oracle systems. Market analyst firm Harvey Spencer Associates reports ReadSoft with a 13% market share. In May 2014, US Company Lexmark International, Inc announced a bid to buy out all remaining shares in ReadSoft. The deal was completed in late 2014, and ReadSoft then operated as part of Lexmark's Enterprise Software (formerly Perceptive Software) division. In July 2017, Thoma Bravo acquired Lexmark's Enterprise Software business which consisted of three entities: Kofax, ReadSoft, and Perceptive Software. Following this, Kofax and ReadSoft were combined into a single, newly independent Thoma Bravo portfolio company named Kofax.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ReadSoft

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ReadSoft claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ReadSoft before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ReadSoft ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ReadSoft

In research: ReadSoft appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ReadSoft in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ReadSoft is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Helsingborg, Optical character recognition, Optical character recognition software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ReadSoft outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ReadSoft in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ReadSoft means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ReadSoft out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ReadSoft in simple terms?

ReadSoft was a global provider of applications for automating business processes. ReadSoft was founded by two university students in Linköping, Sweden, in 1991.

Why does ReadSoft matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ReadSoft?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ReadSoft.