Depending on the age and practices of a business, there may be a few paper records sitting around in a file or a filing cabinet. Or there may be an entire section of a corporate building dedicated to physical archive storage, with documents going back decades and all carefully preserved. In some cases, such materials may even be offloaded to a third-party vendor for storage if the office space is necessary, but so is preserving the documents. That is where digital document management can play an important role.
While it's true that taking existing digital documents and merely compiling them into another digital system is not an intensive effort, but it is also possible to transform older physical documents into a digital format and migrate them to a digital storage system, and that has many benefits.
Everything Can Be Scanned
All paper documents can easily be scanned into a digital format. Scanning is merely a “half-step” in the traditional photocopy process, where instead of taking that photographic reproduction and making more physical copies of it, the photographic reproduction is the end goal.
However, in this case, the photographic reproduction now exists as a digital file. It can be stored digitally, which means no large, physical space is required to house it. But more importantly, those records can be treated digitally, which means they can be organized, filed, and retrieved with all the ease of a digital file. The data contained in those documents is also retrievable digitally, and may even be done online through a mobile platform.
Reclaim Desk & Office Space
Needing to store physical paper can lead to the inevitable piles on desks, which doesn't convey that you’re busy just disorganized. The priority should be to regain valuable workspace. For businesses with sizable document archives, entire rooms or even buildings may need to be dedicated just to safe storage of documents. That means paying for the required environmental maintenance, such as climate and humidity control in order to preserve the condition of the documents. All of that space and money is used for papers, which are infrequently required, to just sit there.
By shifting over to a digital format, these storage zones can be reclaimed for actual business use, rather than as large, expensive closets. Or you can give up your offsite rental space and save that money for more important purposes. Digitally transforming your document storage means higher efficiency and lower costs.
A One Time Process
The best part of deciding to undertake a digital transformation is that you only need to do this once. Scanning a pile of documents that go back years, even decades, is going to be time-consuming, but it is not something that has to be done in-house.
A more efficient way to do it is to let an experienced digital documentation expert handle the process, meaning that it can be an efficient, dedicated, full-time effort. And it won't be a permanent, ongoing expense either. Once you get your old documents digitized, you're done. Now, most or all of your documentation going forward can be done digitally.
A digital transformation will save you money, space, time, and maybe even a few headaches. Bring your business into the 21st century with managed digital systems today.
