If you have never heard of aperture card scanning, that may be because they are a blend of two technologies. Microfilm images are placed in a cut-out region of an old-style IBM punch card. These films usually contain images of a document, blueprint, or engineering drawing while the card portion contains information about the image. Together you get both the image and the information to contextualize the data.
While it is an unusual way to store information, it is actually extremely effective. You can easily store huge numbers of documents in a compact form, rather than relying upon boxes full of paper to do the same job.
Consider a Hybrid System
One way to meet all of your document storage needs is to create a customized hybrid system. Use aperture card scanning to create digitized copies of your engineering drawings and microfilms for regular documents. All of your papers will be digitized and shrunk for easy storage, and you can index everything exactly the way you want.
The right scanning technology will even improve the quality of the documents you currently have. You can keep current papers in a digitized format that is accessible both in the office and on the road. Originals can be returned or shredded once they have been properly scanned.
3 Advantages of Digitized Scans
There are three key advantages to using microfilm and aperture cards to store your data. First, you have a format that will last for hundreds of years if properly stored. Second, you can access all of your documents by searching for one key word – if everything is properly indexed. Finally, you save a tremendous amount of space previously used for housing paper documents. There really is no better way to control the paper monster.
Take a close look at what digitized media can do for your company. It goes way beyond aperture card scanning. This is a comprehensive management plan for all of your document storage and retrieval needs.