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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.

Are you struggling with shrinking office space which you are paying through the nose for? Today we have a solution which could see you free up office space without the need to relocate to bigger and more expensive premises.

According to reports, the value of office space rented by one of Britain's largest landlords rose by 18.8% last year. This news from British Land further cements the uncomfortable struggle coming for London based businesses to operate while incurring crippling prices for their premises.

While there's still a debate about whether businesses would be better off moving outside of the capital to reduce the amount of money they spend on premises, there is a better and much simpler solution.

Going Digital with Document Scanning

So much office space in companies across London is being consumed by cumbersome filing cabinets, folders and boxes which have become such an office staple that you might not even have noticed them overrunning your office.

It might have started out as just a few boxes of paperwork here and there but between invoices, HR files, client information and incoming mail, you've found yourself with a serious document management issue. But aside from not being able to find the documents you need, when you need them, there is another more pressing issue; the space it's wasting.

How Much Space (and Costs) Are You Wasting?

Let's say a 4 drawer filing cabinet (used in many offices as an 'easy' storage method) uses around nine square feet of space. Now take a look around your office and the rest of the offices and storerooms at your company. How many filing cabinets do you have? 10s? 100s? 1000s? Multiply that number by nine and you can see an estimate of the amount of square footage you are using just for storage.

If you know how much money you are paying out per square foot of office space you can also calculate the cost of this storage too.

Shocking, isn't it?

But did you know all of that space can be saved simply by scanning documents and adopting a digital document management system. Transferring the documents filling those filing cabinets to a more manageable system hosted on a cloud platform, using document management software or simply stored on your IT network can transform your offices and leave you wondering why you didn't make the switch sooner.

Why is Digital Document Management the Superior Choice?

• Managing documents digitally eliminates the need to store paper copies.
• This freed up space can be used more productively and cost effectively.
• Digital documents are more secure as they can be protected from the loss, theft and damage issues faced by paper documents.
• Fully indexed digital documents can be accessed, edited and shared in seconds.
• You will see significant improvements in office productivity and efficiency.
• You can lower your carbon footprint and boost your green credentials by printing less and sharing documents electronically rather than photocopying them.

By switching to managing your documents digitally, you could benefit from all of the above AND still remain compliant with file retention laws. It's a win-win situation!

Let Document Scanning Services Help

A document scanning service like us here at Pearl Scan, can make the transition to digital a smooth one by scanning your documents, whether a small or large volume, in high resolution in a quick turnaround.

We have worked with a number of London based companies from a wide range of industries including the legal, healthcare, education and financial sectors. Our document scanning bureau is fully equipped with the latest scanning technology and monitored by 24 hour CCTV so your documents will be in safe hands throughout the entire process.

For more information about the wide range of scanning services we offer, why not explore our website? If you would like a member of our friendly and experienced sales team to draw up a quote for your scanning project, get in touch by email, phone or by filling in our online form.

Alternatively, if you have already decided to move out of London into cheaper premises, we can still help you by taking away the stress of a big office move. Find out how.

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