How to Save Your Company Money Through Document Scanning

There are many reasons why document scanning should be seriously considered as a great resource for all types of businesses. There's the flexibility that comes with a digital document management system, the space that can be saved, the improvement in efficiency and, as we discuss here, saving money, and not just saving money in the long run, but saving money from day one.

Document scanning and digital management is not a service that will put extra money into the company's wallet, but one that helps to save on a lot of outgoings which add up to a large amount. As most people in charge of a company can appreciate, it's some of the smaller things and even some of the things that go unnoticed that make the most difference when it comes to costs. In the case of document scanning and electronic document management, an efficiency boost which can in turn mean that staff can get more work done within the day. This is one of the main areas where document scanning can help to save money.



In paper based document management systems, there is a lot of 'to-ing and fro-ing' involved. What we mean by that is that staff who need to find a particular document or set of documents will often have to get up from their desk and search through cabinets, drawers and storage areas just to find what they're looking for. In a worst case scenario, you could be storing your files and documents with a document storage facility and you'll have to request that the files be sent over to you which can take a few days and can cost you money that you shouldn't need to be spending.

Getting these documents scanned and put into a digital management system means that all of your documents will be accessible to you at any time through your computer system. The files can be stored either on individual hard drives, over a shared network or stored online. And we're not talking about documents that have been scanned and left as they are, documents can be fully indexed meaning that the computer can read the entire document, so searching for particular references becomes considerably easier. The process of making a document completely text searchable is commonly known as OCR or Optical Character Recognition.

The files can also be named as whatever will help to make finding the particular document easier, whether that be a reference number, a client name or otherwise.

In turn this means that your documents can be found in considerably less time than if staff were searching through filing cabinets. This means that more work can be done within a day, production will be up and, of course, saving time means saving money.

There are also other costs to consider such as the increasing prices of printer paper and ink for printers which are very expensive. With document scanning and digital document management all office equipment based around your previous paper based management system can be, in essence, removed completely such as the need for paper, ink, new printing equipment, photocopies and accessories and much more besides.