What could go wrong with in-house scanning?

Going paperless is great, but having the right strategy while your organisation undergoes the transition is critical. Scanning technology has improved enormously over the past decade, making scanning easily one of the best ways to digitise information. Advances in optical character recognition, intelligent character recognition, and data indexing have led many people to believe that scanning bulk amounts of documents is a simple, easy process.

In truth, despite these advances, scanning documents in bulk can be a very tricky process. There are many reasons that companies choose third party scanning services like Pearl Scan to aid them in digitising their data.

Cost

Cost is generally the reason administrators cite for choosing to have documents scanned in-house. That is, they’re of the belief that they’ll save money by doing so. This is rarely the case.

A low end scanner is simply not good enough for digitising all of an organisation’s documents. A professional scanning service will have the most up-to-date equipment. Furthermore, most companies can’t afford to maintain multiple backup scanners in the event that their primary scanner breaks down. That leads to backlog whenever there’s an issue with the scanner, which puts a dent in productivity.

Additionally, having the right software to effectively and efficiently both scan your documents and capture data can be extremely costly.

Training and manpower

With this high end equipment and multiple types of sophisticated software in mind, the next problem that in-house scanning organisations run into is training. While innovations have greatly improved the equipment and software necessary to scan documents and capture data, knowing how to use that equipment and software is critical.
Who will train the employees who will be scanning documents? Can you afford to train your entire office to scan documents and index the data they contain? Or will you need to delegate the responsibility to a select few? Is there any department that is equipped to handle the extra work load?

Other issues

The safety and security of certain types of documents can be extremely important. Legal documents, medical records, and other paperwork that contain sensitive information need to be handled with care when capturing and storing that data. That’s not only to protect those to whom that information is personal, but also to protect your company from liability or regulatory concerns. Data is one of the most important resources your company has. Why not treat it as such and use a professional scanning service?

Find out how Pearl Scan can help with your document scanning needs.

Arkansas Pioneers Microfiche Recycling

Most of us are well aware that many industries will be going paperless in the not too distant future. Physical storage of information isn’t as secure, cost effective, accessible, or searchable as digital information.

But there’s still a lot of information being stored on paper, microfiche, and other physical media. It’s become relatively simple to transfer information from physical media to digital formats, thanks to innovation in scanning technology. This in turn makes much of the information in physical storage redundant, and organisations are eager to make use of this newly available space. Of course, that physical media has to go somewhere. Some are taking steps to make sure this material is disposed of in an environmentally conscious manner.

The University of Arkansas Libraries recently did just that. The libraries have been continually searching their microfiche collections for information that is no longer needed. But instead of sending their unwanted microfiche to the landfill, they decided to take a different approach.

Microfiche Scanning

Microfiche sheets were once a more efficient way of storing printed information. The information is printed incredibly small on a plastic sheet approximately the size of an index card. These sheets can then be read by inserting them in a special microfiche reader, which magnifies the printed information. Of course, today, digital storage is far more efficient, and it makes sense for libraries to streamline their collections for the eventual shift to digital storage.

In this particular case, the libraries sorted through their collections to remove out of date college catalogues that had been stored on microfiche. They found a bit more than they anticipated: 240 pounds worth of microfiche that is no longer needed.

Members from multiple departments collaborated to find a solution that they could feel good about. In the end, the university opted to have the microfiche recycled by a company that specialises in this service. Although the company did charge a fee for doing so, everyone agrees that this environmentally conscious strategy was the right thing to do.

Moving into a future where most or all data is stored in digital form is exciting. And it’s also great to consider how paperless organisations can have a positive impact on the environment. However, we are in a stage of transition. The vast amounts of information currently being stored on physical media aren’t going anywhere until we decide to do something with it. As we plan to go paperless, we need to figure out how we’re going to go about disposing of it responsibly.

HR, Accounting and Legal Departments Still Printing Too Much

A new study conducted by Wakefield Research and Infotrends has revealed the extent of the printing crisis in small to medium-sized businesses. Printing and other paper-based activities are still flourishing in the corporate office, despite new eco technologies, and the main offenders are those in HR departments, legal offices and accounting firms.

The studies show just how dependent businesses are on paper for daily routines – with 73% of owners and decision makers at companies with less than 500 employees print at least four times a day. Paper is still a major part of the workflow in many sectors, including legal and HR.

The Research Vice President of Gartner, Ken Weilerstein, says that companies have tried to go paperless but failed to eliminate it altogether. Today, he says employees print an average of 400 pages per month – that’s A LOT of paper. He says many companies have figured out the easiest ways to “go paperless” by scanning and storing documents online, but it wasn’t possible to eradicate all in-house printing and scanning completely.

The Key to the Paperless Office

The trouble with implementing a paperless office isn’t the in-house documents. Once all records are scanned and in an electronic management system, employees can convert to the paperless process quite easily. Being completely paperless becomes an issue when dealing with other businesses and sometimes clients, who still have a reliance on paper.

They may ask you to post a hard copy of a contract to sign, rather than use a digital signature. Some companies may want to fax or post you a shared document instead of email it across. Others may not accept a digital invoice...the list goes on. The secret of successfully implementing a paper office is cooperation. One company has to be brave and take the first step, start the tidal wave in the corporate world. Everything is being transferred to digital, it’s just a matter of time before those businesses which resist the movement have to conform.

So why not be ahead of the times and be the first company in your area to make the move to a paperless office? It’s something you could brag about in the future as a cutting edge forward thinking business.

Pearl Scan specialises in HR document scanning and legal scanning services. Join a number of businesses who have ignited the digital revolution and benefited from exceptional document management.