On Monday, Crabtree Companies, a VAR in Eagan, Minn., will be honored by the state's Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities for its activism in the employment of people with disabilities. The solution provider has been instrumental in establishing half a dozen document imaging operations within day centers for developmentally disabled adults, and has been integral in helping employ others in office settings.
Crabtree is one of the largest VARs of Laserfiche document management products. About a year and a half ago, Crabtree got involved with the council, as a result of the group's media campaign that revolved around employing disabled citizens.
"The council was trying to get more businesses to hire people with development disabilities," said Clay Baer, Crabtree's lead software engineer at Crabtree. Baer sells and supports Laserfiche product, in his implementations; however, the Minnesota program as a whole uses various vendors.
"[The council] had seen that scanning had been done at one of the state facilities by a team of such individuals," said Baer. The council knew that other private sector businesses would have similar opportunities, if it could just get out the word.
At the same time, Crabtree also saw the potential for hiring the developmentally disabled. "Some businesses have half a million paper documents a week that need to be imaged," Baer said. "These people take pride in their work. They're not just standing there, with an iPod plugged in, making copies. They're not bored. They want to do the job right."
The VAR now has a number of Minnesota counties involved in the project. In addition to setting up onsite document imaging systems, Baer also has implemented a number of programs that are offsite, similar to sheltered workshops, to which organizations outsource their document imaging. The program has been such a hit in Minnesota, Baer said there has been talk of making the document imaging services program a retail business.
"When we first went around to speak to companies, we told them this is a great technology with great people. It also is a feel-good win for a company," Baer said. "In addition, the people are also getting paid much more. This is an office job, with much better pay then, for example, janitorial services. You can't believe the look on their faces when they get their paychecks. It has definitely been a success."
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