Businesses value the information stored in their documents and losing such documents may be detrimental. Accidents happen in the workplace. Employees may mistakenly shred documents that have important information.
Documents may lose their form when rained on or when exposed to the sun for a long time. It’s also possible to misplace documents in the office space. Ever wondered how you as a business owner could ensure that all your documents are safe from disaster, loss, or wrongful destruction?
Well, the answer to this question is simple, stop maintaining paper records and try digital storage. Digital storage means scanning the documents available in paper form and keeping them in the office cloud or servers.
Document scanning drastically reduces those risks. Learn some of the key ways this is true.
1. Risk of Loss of Reputation
Many a time, you here customers complaining about sluggish services. Such comments and complaints may seem petty, but they hinder the development of a good reputation. One of the causes of slow service delivery is difficulty in accessing documents, especially those stored in paper form.
These delays are avoidable through document scanning. It makes document retrieval fast and efficient. Embrace document scanning and build a reputation for working with efficiency in customer service delivery.
2. Improved Security of Information
The traditional way of storing documents in cardboard files and spring files is not secure at all. Employees and other people within the office can access these documents even though others might be confidential. They can reproduce copies without anyone noticing.
Why risk the leaking of confidential information that can be detrimental to the business? This is a problem that is easily solvable by scanning all the documents in the workplace.
After all, when the documents are converted to digital copies, the paper documents can be shredded. Scanning provides the opportunity to convert the documents into a pdf format which can be locked and only accessed by those with the needed authentication.
This keeps information within the confines of the individuals who have the right and privilege to access it.
3. Risk of Failure to Comply with Regulations
There are various laws in place for different jurisdictions in regards to the storage of documents. Some laws propose that organizations must hold on to documents for a consecutive number of years before disposing of them.
Going against such a provision is breaking the law and as such, is exposure to the risk of litigation. Managing an archive of paper records for several years isn't an easy task. It may require a special team of staff. Why go through all this trouble and risk facing litigation when you can simply scan your documents.
4. Protection from Unforeseen Events
There have been cases where the office roofs leak or the drainage within the surrounding of the office is faulty. The result is the workplace filling with water whenever it rains. This, without a doubt, poses as a threat to an organization that has a lot of paperwork within it.
On other occasions, fire and related perils may occur. All these conditions are unforeseen and beyond human control. However, though scanning of documents, the different organizations can easily protect their information from these calamities.
Why risk losing your information to such harsh conditions while you can scan your documents and keep them safe at all times? Prevent a looming disaster from occurring by scanning your documents and storing them in digital form.
5.Ease of Access from Anywhere
Ever been at the verge of closing in on a deal but at that moment, you realize that you miss that one crucial document? This happens many times. People schedule meetings with investors seeking funds and before the close of the meeting a document or two are nowhere near the meeting place.
Not every business person is patient enough to wait for the other party to make plans for the retrieval of the documents from the office. Some people are impatient enough to the extent of canceling the deal.
Why risk losing such a life-changing opportunity while you can scan all your documents and retrieve them with ease whenever needed? Scanning offer businesses the chance to access documents from wherever they are and whatever time zone they are in.
Losing a deal because you missed a document or two is an avoidable disaster. Don’t allow yourself or business to fall into such a trap while you can adopt scanning for more efficiency and for reducing losses in the form of logistics for document retrieval.
6. Maintaining Paper Records Means Higher Operating Costs
Many companies risk breaking even in terms of revenues let alone making profits. Running an organization to make profits means ensuring that the costs are as low as possible. One easy way of lowering the operating expenses is through embracing digital storage of documents.
This is achievable through document scanning. Paper records and other forms of stationery account for a significant percentage of the total operating expenses of an organization.
Protect your organization or that which you work for from making losses. Propose the scanning of documents and see the wonders this will impact the business earnings.
7. Ease of Document Recovery
Under the conventional way of document storage, paper records are at risk. They could be lost due to a disaster. However, though scanning of these documents, it becomes possible to retrieve the information even after the disaster strikes.
Most of the documents scanned can be stored in a server or an office cloud that allows access from anywhere. It doesn’t require that employees use a specific desktop or machine to access the information.
All that is needed is a username and password. Deleted documents can be restored by accessing the backup. This isn’t a possibility with paper records. Once the papers go through a shredder, there’s no going back.
Get Rid Of Paper Records
Maintaining paper records is risky in many different kinds of ways as highlighted above. Protecting organizational information is important for the success of the organization. Why compromise on success while you can embrace document scanning?
Read more on our blog on the risks of maintaining paper records and insights on document management systems.
