Numerous businesses are currently on the lookout for efficient, dependable, and cost-effective methods of converting paper documents to digital format for secure, compliant storage and retrieval. Whether you need to scan 200 or 700,000 documents, you would want to work with the best provider for your high-volume scanning needs.
What should you look for when selecting the best secure document scanning services provider, whether you’re a law firm, clinic, hospital, financial institution, school, or any other entity with human resources, legal, or accounts payable department?
Securing Documents
The protection of your documents is critical. Make certain that the people who have access to scanning your documents can be trusted. This may entail a visit to the venue where your documents will be scanned or inquiring about the organization’s security measures. You should be pleased with their facility’s physical security. Notable features to consider would include a digital work process, security cameras, and dependable access control.
Quality of Scans
Each client has unique requirements for scanned document quality checks, whether they require checking every page (which requires additional time and money) or just one file out of every 50 to make sure that the scanning technology is functioning properly. Assess if the document scanning services you have selected are capable of meeting your quality standards.
Confidentiality and Compliance
Is your document scanning services provider willing and able to provide you with a confidentiality agreement if you request one? Is their staff HIPAA-certified? Your confidentiality expectations should be high to ensure that the person scanning your important documents will keep your data safe.
Expertise and Experience in Bulk Scanning
Make certain that the scanning service is capable of handling your scanning job. It’s advantageous if they’ve previously managed a project similar to yours. Be specific about your requirements and request that they describe the type of scanning they are capable of performing. Determine if the scanning services they provide meet your requirements. Is the scanning service backed up by satisfied customers who can attest to its efficiency and effectiveness?
Needs for Long-Term Document Scanning
Your requirement to scan existing documents may be distinct from your requirement to scan future documents. Can the scanning service provider assist you in establishing a plan for future needs, such as day-to-day document management and a work process system that enables you to scan documents as they are created?
Capabilities for Bulk Scanning
Consider the information that needs to be scanned. Are you tasked with the care of fragile historical documents? Do you require scanning in large-format sizes? What about books that are bound? Not all document scanning services provider offers the same capabilities.
Flexibility
Is the document scanning services provider willing to conduct scans at their facility or at your location? There are instances where documents are not permitted to be transported out of the client’s building or maybe even out in its designated room due to legal requirements or to avoid impeding business operations. Is your scanning service adaptable in terms of scanning locations and willing to collaborate with you?
Document Access
While documents are being scanned, employees within your business may require remote access. Will the document scanning services provider go the extra mile to scan something immediately and send it to you through a secure file share if you require it? You don’t want your files to become disorganized and inaccessible during the scanning process.
Scanning Time
Consider the following factors that affect the speed of service: the number of documents to be scanned, their size, the speed of the scanning equipment, and the number of staff available to do the scanning for you.
Why Engage With A Document Scanning Services Provider?
Are you still undecided about going paperless? Why wait anymore when your business can benefit from many advantages? The following are the primary reasons to engage with a document services provider:
- Extra office space
Using prime commercial office space to store company data is an expensive additional expense. Hiring a document scanning services provider to store up bulky documents frees up valuable office space, which can be used to increase your company’s revenue. They can be stored on one dedicated server rather than storing thousands of files in bulky file cabinets.
- Enhanced Data Preservation
If you possess significant historical documents, you would want to ensure their preservation for future generations. Regrettably, each time they are handled, the aging process accelerates. Scanning documents is the solution. First, this lets you keep important information safe from physical damage. Secondly, it improves the legibility of old paper copy records.
- Enhancement of data security
At best, safeguarding hard copy data is challenging. Encrypted and password-protected scanned documents can be securely stored on the server. Then you can assign different levels of access to different users and monitor all file activity.
- Compliance with Audits
Compliance is a fact of life for the majority of businesses. Engaging with a document scanning services provider will enable your business to comply with legal and regulatory requirements more easily. Second, they will be able to easily organize digital files, have them indexed, and have them produced promptly to meet the requirements of even the most stringent auditor.
- Better Client Support
It isn’t easy to provide reliable customer service when you have customers in multiple areas. Rather than printing and mailing bills, invoices, statements, and other documents, having your document scanned can help you deliver critical information to your clients much more quickly.
- Paper Clutter Is Significantly Reduced
Clutter is a productivity killer. Office paper clutter does not have to be the norm. Having your documents scanned eliminates the accumulation of excess paper, allowing your employees to be as productive and efficient as possible.
- Efficiency of Disaster Recovery
Paper documents are particularly prone to destruction in the event of fires, floods, and natural disasters. Fortunately, if you have hired a document scanning services provider, it enables your business to improve its disaster recovery capabilities. It is now possible to back up digital images to tape or hard drive or protect them digitally with an e-vaulting tool.
- A More Eco-friendly Planet
Document scanning is not only beneficial to your business; it is also beneficial to the environment. Research shows that an average office worker uses at least 10,000 sheets of paper per year. That is a large number of trees! And even if only a small percentage of that paper is discarded, it has a negative impact on the environment. Scanning documents significantly reduce your business’s paper consumption, contributing to a greener planet.