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It’s one of the first questions that comes to mind when a company wants to change its document management processes and there’s a wide range of ways you can do this.

The first thing to consider is what format you want to store your documents in; hard copy or digital? Once you’ve decided this, there are a few methods you can choose between so let me break it down.

Manual Document Management

Manually managing documents is the traditional method of storage and is still a favourite with lots of businesses across the country. Whether it’s the nostalgic love of paper or the need to have something physical in their hands, despite the rise in digital business, these people still prefer to store documents in the two methods below.

Office Storage

Think filing cabinets, folders and boxes. It’s probably the image you have in mind when you think of the average business office. Storing files like this is the most traditional method and the go-to way for a number of businesses but if we really think about it, there aren’t a great deal of benefits, it just seems to be a force of habit. Having said that, for a small number of documents, office storage can be the best method.

Off-Site Storage

Sometimes when there’s too many documents and files to fit on their premises, companies hire off-site facilities to store their documents securely. While this method is more secure than storing files in the office, it has an even slower document retrieval time because you have to request for the relevant document to be sent to you.

Digital Document Management

CD/DVD/USB

Storing digital images or files on a CD, DVD or USB means you can carry them on the go for remote site access. Files can be duplicated onto different systems, shared and viewed easily. The only downside to this method of storage is the risk of losing the CD, DVD or USB having not back the files up and the fact that you will always have to remember it when you know you’ll need to retrieve files.

Shared Network

With a shared network, the benefits are obvious; you have a network on which you can share your digital files with other members of staff or anyone else with access to the network. Shared networks can be based on a computer network or an online cloud platform. Both of these networks offer advantages but cloud storage has really taken off over the past few years because it offers the ability to access files at any time from any device with access to the internet.

Document Management System

Sometimes when companies decide to store their files digitally, they don’t have a system in place which can lead to some trouble managing the files. This is where document management software becomes a vital resource. It allows documents to be searched, organised and retrieved with ease. There are a wide range of choices of software ranging from simplistic to highly technical but the best thing to do is try one out and see if it suits your company.

Pearl Scan Can Help

Here at Pearl Scan, we provide document scanning services as well as document management consultancy to businesses, organisations and individuals from a wide range of industries including legal, HR, healthcare, education and finance.

We can scan any file from as small as a till receipt right up to a large format drawing or plan for which we can then provide image management software for your scanned images. We also have our own cloud platform, Pearl Cloud for you to host your files once they have been scanned.

If you would like some more information about our document scanning, management and storage services, check out our website or give us a call to receive your free, no obligation quote.

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The Scan-do People^tm


For more information feel free to give us a call: 
Nationwide: 0845 22 55 923          London: 0207 183 1885
Manchester: 0161 832 7991         Birmingham: 0121 285 1900

Human Resources departments up and down the country are leaking money from company budgets daily and you might not even realise it but with document scanning, those costs can be reclaimed from various different areas.

How are you wasting money?

With the current situation in your Human Resources department, you could be wasting money in a number of ways without even realising…

Storage (off-site and in office)

With hard-copy storage, there are two main locations the files can be stored in. Either they are taking up a great deal of valuable office space or you have decided to store them in off-site storage facilities and incur annual storage costs. Whichever method you choose, you are losing money regularly for something as simple as document storage.

Wasted time & unproductive tasks

With a system as inefficient as paper document storage, it is almost guaranteed that you are wasting a lot of time (up to 30% according to studies) searching for documents, re-filing and other admin tasks and that isn’t even mentioning the tasks that turn out to be unproductive because a file is lost or unavailable at the time. Time is money and with this much wasted just imagine what it’s doing to your profits.

Paper, ink and printing

This is a more obvious budget drainer. You can actually see the costs on your invoices regularly yet many companies still don’t take steps to reduce the amount of physical paperwork they are producing.

Poor reputation with clients

If your customer service is poor due to slow file retrieval and bad all-round file management then this will have a direct effect on your reputation with current clients as well as potential clients. If they don’t feel like they are getting/will get good service from you, they will turn to one of your competitors instead. Obviously, loss of clients can have a very damaging effect on profits so it’s definitely something that needs to be addressed.

If you’re worried your HR department may be experiencing lost money due to any of the above then don’t worry there is a solution and it’s a good one.

HR document scanning

Scanning HR documents and storing them digitally instead will provide a successful solution to those issues with cost. The storage of digital documents will abolish extortionate storage costs because, provided the digital copies are fully backed up and secure, you will no longer need to store the original paper documents. Digital documents are also much more flexible and reliable as they can be fully indexed and retrieved instantly. There is minimal chance of losing files and even when they are they can be found through text searches of relevant data. Files can be shared quickly too and via various methods reducing the need to print documents out. Digital business processes will reduce the costs spent on printing and sending files. Overall, the benefits that going digital will bring to the efficiency and budget of the company can then be transferred to the services you provide for your customers. This will give off a much better impression and maybe even persuade customers to join and stay with your company.

Other benefits

Not only does document scanning for HR offer annual and immediate cost savings for your business, you can also benefit from a range of other things too;

• Reclaimed space
• Time savings
• Improved security
• Boosted efficiency
• Environment
• Morale

Scan HR records with Pearl Scan

Here at Pearl Scan, we offer a completely bespoke document scanning service and document management solutions aimed at the HR departments of companies up and down the country. We can handle the entire project from collecting your documents right down to setting you up with your digital files in an efficient and usable system. You will receive high quality, OCR’d digital images in a quick turnaround to ensure minimum disruption to the company. We can even provide you with our document retrieval software, Halogen, free of charge. This specially designed software will aid the managing of HR files and help you to really reap the benefits mentioned above. For more information about how we scan HR records, take a look at our website and blogs or give us a call today.

The way your office manages its documents can have a big effect on your employee’s morale so it’s important to take action now!

Effects of Low Office Morale

While some people might take the idea of low office morale lightly, it can bring serious repercussions for not only the working environment but for the overall business too. When employees don’t feel motivated or supported by those around them, the most obvious effect is a dip in productivity but you could also see effects on working relationships. It can also project a bad atmosphere to potential clients and effect current customer relationships. More worryingly, an employee suffering from low motivation and morale at work can lead to health issues through stress or depression leading to a rise is absentees. Every single one of these problems will be seen in a lowering of profits so before anything gets that far, we think it’s time you address it.

Smile & Scan Your Documents

Not being able to complete simple tasks because of a difficult to manoeuvre document management system can easily lower morale but there is a very simple solution to this. Adopting a digital document management system by scanning the documents you currently store in, shall we say, an organised mess will provide you with a much simpler way to manage, retrieve and share files. With your current system, employees may be spending up to 30% of their time every day searching and retrieving files and wasting even more on unproductive tasks. With scanning and digital storage, files can be retrieved in seconds through simple text searches and they can be shared via email with no need to print or photocopy documents. No one wants to be held back from doing the job they’re paid to do and by showing staff that you care by making changes you can boost morale in a big way.

Document Scanning Service

Have you been convinced? We would love to help you in your quest for a better working atmosphere. We provide a fully bespoke document scanning service with tried and tested document management solutions that can bring you a simple yet effective document management system.

We will handle the entire process so you don’t have to worry yourself either; from collection of your documents to delivery or the digital files. Our scanning service gives the ability to scan to a range of formats including PDF, searchable PDF, TIFF, JPEG and more. You can also receive your digital documents fully OCR processed to make them fully text searchable in your new system. If you would like some more information about Pearl Scan’s document scanning service, take a look at our website or give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

Request a Quote   |   Contact Us    |    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Scan-do People^tm


For more information feel free to give us a call: 
Nationwide: 0845 22 55 923          London: 0207 183 1885
Manchester: 0161 832 7991         Birmingham: 0121 285 1900