Document scanning can help if you have a massive collection of documents, invoices, personnel records, tax documents, and piles and piles of stuff that you just can’t organize. The benefits from document scanning are almost immediate, as it helps eliminate clutter, gives you instant access to all your records, and increases productivity.
This article will give you some tips and information on the benefits of document scanning and document storage to help you make an educated decision on the service that’s right for your needs.
What Are The Benefits of Document Scanning?
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of document scanning for your office.
1. Having everything scanned onto your computer system is a huge time saver
Instead of spending your time running around the office trying to find a document from years ago, you can pull it up on your computer in seconds with a quick search.
2. You don’t run the risk of losing an important document
Because everything is stored on a cloud server, it’s difficult to delete a document by mistake. When you have boxes of important paperwork lying around the office, you’re asking to lose something of value eventually.
3. Who doesn’t want to save space in their office?
Having all of your documents stored digitally, eliminates the need for bulky filing cabinets and drawers full of paper work. Put that occupied space in your office to better use.
4. Manage your records to the best of your ability
When everything is stored on your computer, it makes managing your records very simple. You can pull up anything you want to within seconds, eliminate duplicate copies, and maintain a high level of security. You’ll also have version control to ensure everyone is accessing the latest version of a particular document. Most documents can be edited in real time, making collaboration effortless.
5. What would you do if a disaster struck?
Most offices don’t think that a natural disaster could ever affect them, but what if it does? All of the records that hold your company together would be gone in their physical form. Having all of your records scanned means you’ll be able to bounce back in no time.
6. Don’t ever risk leaving a document at home
Have you ever forgotten an important document at home and had to be late to that important meeting? If you keep everything stored on the cloud, you never have to worry about leaving your paperwork at home.
7. Who doesn’t want to save money?
Depending on how many records you have, yes it can be expensive to use a scan service to get everything started. But what about after that?
You’ll likely save money on storage space and reduce your filing cabinets. Your employees will save valuable time trying to find misfiled documents. You’ll also save money not printing multiple copies, or securely destroying those copies when they’re no longer needed. Everybody knows that in business time = money.
As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to scanning your files and keeping a digital record instead of a traditional record storage system. But the choice is up to you.
Tips To Start Your Document Scanning Project Off on the Right Foot
Here are some tips to help you figure out the size of your project if you’re considering using a document scanning service to digitize your office.
1. Boxing Files
Make sure that you box all your files for document scanning beforehand. Make as many boxes as you need to, and make sure each is categorized and separated appropriately. Boxing up your documents will ensure that all your documents are safely transported, but it will be easier for you or the document scanning company to index them so you can find them in a keyword search on a document management system.
2. Remove all Staples and Paper Clips
To make sure that no pages are accidentally missed, it’s important that you remove all staples and paper clips from your documents. You can have your scanning service do this for you, but it will save you money and decrease the time it takes to complete the project if you take the time to do it yourself. It will also give you the time to sort through your documents to determine if all the files you have need to be scanned.
3. Do you have Receipts?
The only time you should use tape is when you need to scan receipts, airline tickets, or business cards. To ensure that you get the best possible scan, tape each item on one side of the paper only.
We recommend only taping receipts and the other items on one side of a page. Not only will that cause issues when you scan it, there’s a small chance that the second side might get overlooked.
Click here to learn more about some of the questions our experts will ask you about your scanning project.
Things to Avoid When Prepping Your Documents for Scanning
There’s always a few things that make the project a little more difficult to handle. As you move forward with your project, and if you are planning on continuing to digitize your documents, keep some of these best practices in mind.
- Scanning services advise against using glue sticks to secure paper- it gets stuck on the machine, and isn’t very reliable when or if the glass heats up. Stick to using tape for all your receipts and other, smaller documents.
- Try to unfold papers or receipts, and send all documents in either manila envelopes, files, or stacked in the proper format. That way nothing gets misplaced, misfiled, or indexed improperly.
- Avoid stapling your documents multiple times. Large amounts of staple holes make it difficult to feed the paper into the scanner- which can cause it to be double-fed, and could result in an additional per-page charge.
- Try to avoid grey or dark colored paper when you print your documents. Documents with dark to light contrast are very difficult to scan. If you do happen to have documents that have darker backgrounds, it might be beneficial to have them copied or re-printed on lighter color paper to ensure that you get the best resolution and readability once they’ve been scanned.
Get Free Quotes on Document Scanning Today!
From Document Scanning to Document Management Systems for your electronic documents, our experts will help you select a customized Document Management Solution that fits exactly what you’re looking to do for your company. To get started, fill out the form to the right, or give us a call at (866) 385-3706. Within minutes of receiving your request, you will have free quotes from experts in your area that can help you.
