You may be considering a document scanning solution to reduce your company’s dependence on paper. Paper reduction is a big trend within the business world and is a smart decision for many organizations looking to boost efficiency and productivity.

In order to ensure it provides the most benefit to your business, first consider these three factors:

1. Cost

A professional document scanning solution helps you save money over time. Initially, however, there are upfront costs because of the number of steps required to convert hardcopy records to electronic images:

• Sorting and organization
• Preparation and coding
• Document scanning
• Document Indexing
• Image transfer

Quality control procedures ensure all information is accurately captured throughout the scanning process. All of these procedures contribute to your document scanning costs. Determine which records to digitize by evaluating your accessibility and retention needs. Those will be good indicators of which records to scan, and by scanning only the most needed ones, you’ll keep your costs in check.

2. Accessibility

You should be able to easily locate and access your digital information, otherwise you’re in the same place you were with your paper records—taking too much time to find the information you need. Prior to scanning, decide where your digital files will be stored and who will need access. Will they be stored locally on a server, on a portable storage device, or in the cloud? Will you be using an electronic document management system? Regardless of the storage location, it’s important to ensure that your files can be:

• Integrated with business applications
• Processed quickly
• Properly routed and tracked
• Easily searched for
• Only accessed by those who require access

As a rule of thumb, frequently accessed files should take priority in your scanning project. Inactive, archival documents can be inexpensively stored off-site and quickly retrieved and imaged with a Scan on Demand solution for fast accessibility.

3. Retention requirements

Your information, whether it is in paper format or digital format, has to be kept and tracked in accordance with legal requirements. Therefore, any retention data associated with your paper records should also be transferred to digital copies.

Proper indexing and coding during the document scanning process is vital so retention guidelines can be followed after the scanning. And Optical Character Recognition (OCR), the conversion of printed text into machine-encoded text, allows retention information to be easily pinpointed through keyword searches.

Moving forward with confidence

Document scanning is an effective solution for reducing paper dependence in your company. Incorporate an assessment of cost, accessibility and retention compliance into the scope of your imaging project to ensure your imaging project enhances productivity for your business.

Richards & Richards provides document scanning and online document hosting solutions to businesses throughout Nashville. For more information, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.

Author: techsupport