How To Get The Most Out Of Document Scanning

By Samantha Masters | January 30, 2020 | 5 minute read

Converting your company to digital documents is an exciting change, especially when you complete the initial scan process. Now that you have this document scanning system, how do you ensure your company is experiencing all its benefits? It’s important to take action to ensure you continue to benefit from your new document management system and take full advantage of its options. 

Set Up A Document Management Plan For Scanned Documents

First, you must have a document management plan to ensure your team stays on track. When you have a plan that contains effective strategies, you’ll avoid falling into the time-wasting paper trap you just escaped. The first stage in your plan must be scanning paper documents directly into the system as soon as they are created. This ensures that you continue to experience the benefits of your new document management system.

Involving Employees In Maintaining Scanned Documents

A common way to maintain scanned documents is by having your employees maintain the process. This is often done with the help of a desktop scanner, all-on-one scanner, or network copier scanner. It scans the document and sends it off to the scanning system. At this point, the document will be compressed and indexed in your document management system. 

When properly configured, a document management plan can provide advanced benefits. One scan will ensure the document is scanned and formatted. Additionally, it will immediately route to the person or department that needs it next. This process is very beneficial when a certain document needs to be approved by multiple individuals or departments, or that must be made aware of the status of the document. This integration helps make document scanning a key part of the work process.

You can simplify this process by working with Record Nations’ secure network of providers and our Day-Forward Scanning service. This service ensures you smoothly transition from outdated record-keeping methods to your modern, streamlined digital document format. To further reduce your workload, they’ll securely dispose of the original physical documents and confirm their destruction. That’s greater efficiency and peace of mind combined in one convenient service.

Training Employees to Manage Scanned Documents

Ensuring that your employees can effectively achieve the benefits mentioned above requires they be properly trained to use the systems provided. This training must happen when the system is first introduced or onboarding new employees. Effective training will give them the tools to navigate the document management system, use the available tools, and properly engage with your new digitized paradigm.

Once complete, they should be able to easily navigate the basic processes the system makes available. In addition, they should be able to use the sharing protocols, edit documents, and follow data security practices. This will help ensure that your day-to-day operations flow smoothly, free from the inefficiencies resulting from unfamiliarity with the new tool. Further, these employees will feel more confident embracing the system and making it a standard part of their workflow.

When you use Record Nations’ network as your document management system provider, they can provide this training to help your team get on board and become experts with the new tool. Moreover, this saves countless work hours. You’ll always be guaranteed to have an expert available who can train your team on the latest innovations and features in your system.

Valuable Tools To Use After You’ve Scanned Documents

The next stage is taking advantage of two tools that greatly increase the value and versatility of all your scanned documents.

• Optical Character Recognition—OCR is a tool that attempts to read the text on your documents and convert them into editable text. Once the process is complete, you can edit the information on these documents as easily as any other digital text document.
• Integrated Redaction Tool—Redacting refers to blocking information from a document. When using a redacting tool as part of a document management system, you black out information that can’t be accessed. This information cannot be retrieved using methods commonly used to subvert ink used to redact information on paper documents.

These two tools expand the options available with your document management system to a remarkable degree. You no longer have to rescan documents with updated or sensitive information removed. You can make those changes as part of your system. This reduces security risks, document errors, and lost physical documents caused by moving them between departments.

Expand Your Document Scanning To Every Department

The full potential of a document management system is often underestimated by those seeking to store their generated documents digitally. One example of a place where this system can be integrated that is often overlooked is the mailroom. By automating your mailroom document service, you can have all incoming mail scanned into your document system. They will be stored and immediately delivered to the recipient or recipients throughout your organization.

This is one example of how fully integrating scanned documents into your business will help speed the delivery of information, eliminate information silos, and boost transparency and effective decision-making throughout your organization. This integration helps ensure instant mail delivery, faster communication, reduced correspondence loss, and enhanced productivity.

Equally important, the delivered mail will be slated for destruction, eliminating the risk of a data breach from lost mail. Record Nations can help you develop these automated systems and provide document scanning and destruction services. These services will help streamline your organization and protect its most valuable data.

Making Use Of A Full-Service Document Management Company

Record Nations is proud to have provided its clients with systems that improve security, enhance productivity, and eliminate waste from their organizations. We provide full-spectrum document management systems that our team will integrate seamlessly into your workflow. With our support, you’ll be able to reclaim office space, reduce paper-related overhead, limit security risk, and streamline coordination and communication within your company. Discover what Record Nations document management systems can do for you by contacting (866) 385-3706 today!