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Many organisations across all industries can benefit from going paperless – and the government has already highlighted the National Health Service as one such organisation. The NHS has a target to digitalise patient records and become completely paperless, which will reduce time spent on administrative tasks and hopefully improve patient care. NHS Trusts are already expected to have patient records online, but health secretary Jeremy Hunt has challenged the NHS to become a paperless operation by 2018.

This move to roll out paperless operations has already started, with some NHS Trusts and GP practices taking the plunge and making the digital switch. The first NHS Trust to go paperless a few years ago was St Helens & Knowsley, and now other across the UK are on a paperless trail. In one GP practice in the area, moving to a digital database has freed up 20 square metres of space and freed up staff who had to spend two to three hours manually searching records for referral letters and other records. Dr David Wilson predicts digitalising all 11,000 records has reduced admin costs by one person a day each week.

With such positive reports from professionals who have made the paperless switch, many other NHS trusts are following suit well ahead of the 2018 deadline. One of the most recent areas to implement the digital strategy is Royal Free London NHS Trust, which treats around 700,000 patients each year. All paper care records are being transferred to digital, so staff can have instant access to records and patient information.

Will Smart, Director of information management and technology at the Royal Free said, "For a complex hospital environment like ours, managing patient care using paper case-notes has been logistically very challenging. Tracking and moving paper case notes across a large physical estate has made it difficult to ensure that these are available where and when they are needed and has required a large administrative team.

"By digitising these case-notes we have the opportunity to improve the quality of the services we provide whilst reducing costs, and believe the new platform will enable us to digitise other paper-based corporate records and drive further efficiencies.”

The NHS obviously has an obligation to keep patient records and log all communication with patients for compliance. Medical record scanning services and electrical storage is more efficient and cost effective for private and NHS hospitals, doctor’s surgeries, dentists and medical trusts. A digital archive system can securely store case notes, information and event digitised X-rays, while reducing admin costs. For more information about how medical record scanning can improve your healthcare practice and reach digitalisation targets, get in touch.

Are advances in technology making it easier for businesses to adopt a more digital and paperless approach to every day working?

The Paperless Dream

The paperless office has been a long time dream of many businesses who can see the wide ranging benefits of ditching inefficient and bulky paper processes in favour of digital and more streamlined alternatives. Unfortunately, it hasn't been easy to part with our beloved paper and many offices still insist on storing their files and documents in hard copy despite its obvious downfalls.

So, Are We Any Closer to Success?

There have been some huge improvements in technology for businesses over recent years. Not only are there more digital devices to speed up the way we work but lots of these devices have now become portable giving access to the tools you need, wherever you are.

We have gone from static desktop computers to semi-portable laptops and we are now at the stage of seeing tablet devices like iPads introduced into the workplace letting staff pull up information in meetings and benefit from flexible working without being tied to the desktop.

Automating Business Processes

With these portable devices, it is easier to switch to paperless business processes. Paperwork you would normally store in hard copy format can be digitised and stored in either a shared network or in the cloud. By storing documents like this, you will be able to retrieve them instantly on your portable devices even if you are working remotely.

Whether you need to retrieve invoices, client information, HR records, contracts or anything else, they can all be in one place, fully indexed for easy text searching and retrieval. Going digital also means you can share and edit documents without having to print copies. There are even extensive capabilities to collaborate on documents simultaneously with applications such as Google Docs meaning you can be in separate locations editing the same document while seeing each other's edits too.

What's So Attractive About Going Paperless?

Adopting a paperless office brings many advantages including;

• Businesses can become more agile as a result of less reliance on paper.
• Paper can be difficult to manage, store, archive and search.
• Managing your documents digitally can speed up efficiency in your office.
• You can save costs on paper, ink and printing equipment.
• You can free up office space with the removal of bulky filing cabinets and boxes.
• Going digital offers the chance to be compliant without losing physical space for document storage.
• With digital storage you can minimize data loss by up to 99% and boost the longevity of your information.
• You will get a greater control of your documents and workflow leading to better productivity and higher office morale.

Make the Paperless Office Your Reality

With Pearl Scan's paperless office solutions, you can outsource your document scanning project to professionals with over a decade's worth of experience. We can scan your documents whether you have a little or a large volume of files, folders and boxes.

To aid with your paperless transition, we also offer a range of solutions to help you manage your documents once they have been scanned. If you want to store them on a cloud platform, we can offer our fully managed cloud system, Pearl Cloud. If you don't already have a system in place to manage digital documents, we can provide your scanned documents with Halogen. Halogen is our in-house developed document storage and retrieval software which has a powerful but easy-to-use interface which enables you to search through hundreds or even thousands of files and retrieve the one you need in seconds.

For more information about all of the paperless office solutions we offer, why not browse our website or you can get in touch and speak to a member of our sales team who can explain which solutions will suit you and your business. We can even draw you up a quote free of charge with no obligation.

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Many people think that the more you scan, the higher the costs but with bulk scanning services, this doesn't have to be the case.

Companies and organisations often think they have to pick a small amount of important documents to be scanned so as not to break the budget. What they don't realise however, is that larger scale scanning often doesn't cost as much as you might think and they also bring bigger benefits!

What is Bulk Scanning?

Bulk scanning is exactly that; the process of scanning a large bulk of documents. Companies who still store documents in paper form will usually have filing cabinets, folders and boxes full to bursting with them. Once they have made the decision to go digital with their document management system, it makes a lot of sense to scan all of those documents rather than just some.

What Can I Scan in Bulk?

Almost any document previously stored in hard copy can be scanned in bulk. From till receipts and invoices to archives and heritage collections.

How Can I Save Money With Bulk Scanning?

Standard document scanning alone can bring cost savings in the form of reduced paper and printing use as well as lower storage costs but if the scanning is completed on all of the documents you hold, these savings can potentially be massive. Imagine being able to abolish all of your storage costs or reduce the amount paper you use to almost zero (or even none at all if you want to try out a paperless office). Profits will be through the roof and who can say no to that?

How Can I Manage My Documents Once They Have Been Digitised?

Once your documents have been scanned, they should be OCR processed and converted to the format you need. When you outsource your scanning project to a document scanning company like Pearl Scan, your documents can be managed with bulk document management software, Halogen. Since they have been fully indexed, you will only need to make a simple text search in the software to retrieve the documents and information you need.

What Benefits Can Bulk Scanning Bring To My Company?

Scanning alone brings a lot of benefits for businesses and organisations alike but when you choose bulk scanning, you can gain further advantages;

• There will be a vast reduction in outgoing costs (storage, paper, printing etc.) once your company deals with all of their documents digitally.
• By scanning all of your stored documents in bulk, you can remove all of the filing cabinets etc from offices and potentially save a huge amount of space or utilise it more efficiently.
• By dealing with a purely digital document management system, you can improve office productivity and efficiency.
• Your green credentials and carbon footprint will be improve due to the reduced need to use paper and store it.
• Bulk scanning is a low cost solution which brings bigger savings right from the beginning.
• Your workflow can be improved with the use of email, shared networks and online platforms.
• With improved efficiency and a more open workspace office morale will be boosted.

How Can Pearl Scan Help?

Here at Pearl Scan, we specialise in bulk document scanning for companies and organisations across a range of industries including bulk legal scanning, bulk HR scanning and bulk education scanning. We offer an excellent yet affordable service and also offer our bulk document management software, Halogen, free of charge for larger projects.

With our bulk scanning service you can start to benefits from cost savings and many other advantages so get in touch today for a free, no obligation quote for your scanning project. If you would like some more information on the bulk scanning services we offer, check out our bulk document scanning page.