Paperwork and reams of files are part and parcel of business offices. What is most important is that large volume documents are well-managed. In addition, they must be readily available whenever and wherever needed. This is possible with document scanning and conversion, wherein all paperwork is scanned and made into digital assets that enable easy access and storage.
Take the case of a law firm with a number of lawyers scattered across many offices across various states in the United States. The firm has to focus on being efficient and managing costs. When transitioning to a paperless environment, such an office is likely to face challenges created by the ground realities of dealing with clients, various court systems and other law firms. Office staff will have to scan various documents and run them through OCR software, and in addition handle other diverse tasks. Moreover, lawyers may need to access the files even outside their law office. It is easy to see that installing scanning equipment and maintaining staff to scan and sort the documents can be very expensive and interfere with productivity. They may find it difficult to handle the volume of scans, and if the scanners are not up to the mark, they may break down as well.
The practical solution, especially for small and medium sized businesses that do not want to invest in costly scanners and their maintenance, is to utilize outsourced document conversion services.
All industries such as finance, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and legal among others can enjoy increased productivity and streamlined workflow once the documents are digitized and maintained systematically. This also prevents the documents from getting lost or damaged. Digitization helps in:
- Multiple access to the digital documents from anywhere at any time
- Easy and quick retrieval of data
- Reduced physical storage space in the office
- Backed up copies of documents for disaster recovery. The copies are kept safe and protected.
After digitization of documents, all important data can be accessed quickly and this enables better decision making by managers, smooth workflow, increased productivity, better customer satisfaction and improved overall efficiency.
Surveys show that an increasing number of American consumers prefer electronic statements and online banking since 2000. There are though, other consumers who still prefer paper statements to track fees, interest, tax information and transactions. Among the latter also, more than 74% are willing to embrace electronic statements if they could save money with possibilities such as waived fees or free checking. In keeping with this trend, businesses can move to centralized invoice and other document processing and ensure that all payments are approved in a timely manner by the appropriate managers. Suppose your finance department is receiving as many paper invoices as those received via emails. You can choose to have all these scanned and digitized, thereby ensuring that the concerned staff have access to predefined paperless workflows associated with invoices. These workflows automate all aspects – format, file name and recipient – and make sure that at the touch of a button a proper process is followed for each invoice.
Electronic documents have the following advantages:
- Critical documents such as invoices are quickly made available to the particular recipient, whether customer, partner or vendor.
- Business associates and managers can initiate invoice payments and avoid manual steps characteristic of paper-based processes that consume valuable time.
The focus of any small business should be on attracting new customers and growing the business. It is important therefore that business leaders are not caught up in the daily operations of the company and end up without time to focus on growth strategies. For this you must move toward a paperless process. If your organization is planning to digitize your valuable documents, the ideal option is to hire a reputable document scanning service provider that would ensure timely, precise and flawless data. Digitization is the first step in the process of going paperless, and if you don’t want to make heavy investment in scanning equipment and professionals, outsourcing is your best solution. With a good service provider you can enjoy customized services at reasonable pricing.
