Manual document filing is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With most business practices available online, more companies and clients are looking for digitized storage solutions to pick up the slack of manual filing.
At MES Hybrid Document Systems, we specialize in the task of streamlining your manual to digital document process. It’s our job to help you find documents and store documents with ease. No more shuffling papers, losing important information, or worrying about information loss.
As a leader in document management, we often receive questions about the pros and cons of manual filing vs. digital document filing. While we’re sure we could provide a list a mile long, we’ve narrowed it down to a few key points. Here, we’ll discuss the disadvantages of maintaining your manual system.
1. Mishandling Information and Lost Paperwork
One of the biggest issues companies face with manual filing is the potential mishandling of information. No matter how careful staff are, or how well trained, there is room for human error. A document gets mislaid, an important piece of information is stored in the wrong file, or worse, a piece of paper is damaged or tossed out by mistake.
With digital filing, there’s little risk of information loss, as files can be stored in multiple secure locations. Mitigating risk is what MES Hybrid Document Systems is all about. We can help you:
- Minimize risk of mishandling information
- Easily retrieve documents
- Produce end-to-end audit trails
Working together, your clients and business partners feel safe leaving their information in your hands.
2. Slow Retrieval and Time Waste
Another problem with manual filing is the time it takes to retrieve important information. Whether you’re in the legal, medical, construction, or sales industry, time is money. When you can quickly retrieve documents, you increase productivity and decrease time waste.
Digital document filing allows you to:
- Find documents quickly
- Extract specific information
- Perform a search by keyword
- Sign documents digitally
- Send documents digitally
Not only does this improve your business processes, but it makes you look like you’ve got everything under control. Being an authority in your fieldsets you apart from local competition. Accessing important information at the touch of a button creates a picture of professionalism and success for your clients and shareholders.
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3. Security Issues and Privacy Laws
Depending on your industry, client privacy and information security could be detrimental to the future of your business. Document filing is important in any setting, but it becomes especially critical when you are handling private or sensitive information.
Digital files can be password protected and are stored on data drives with no way to glimpse the information without the file. Paper files, on the other hand, can be left on desks, in printers or fax machines, or grabbed by accident while pulling another paper from a file.
4. Disorganization and Compliance Complaints
Organization is important for all business types, especially around tax season. When you store and retrieve documents manually, you set yourself up for hours of searching and finding things that may not be where you saw them last.
Digital filing allows you to quickly retrieve documents by typing a keyword or opening a specific file. You can store all of your tax information in one place, and maintain organization year-round so end-of-year taxes are a walk in the park.
5. Messy Offices and Lack of Space
A messy office looks unprofessional and keeps your staff busy trying to find everything they need to keep the business running. Digital document filing is a great way to take back your office and implement a strategy for successful office practices.
One of the concerns we hear from clients about manual filing and digital filing is how difficult it would be to make the switch. We understand that the thought of putting decades of paperwork into digital storage can be daunting. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with our scan to zero design.
As the title suggests, when you scan to zero, you start at the beginning and scan until there are zero paper copies left to file. This lets you minimize stress by systematically scanning documents over time. Breaking down your manual filing into monthly increments, you can safely scan and file documents in seconds.
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6. Making Changes Takes Time
With paper filing, making changes to your documents can be a pain. It may even require new signatures, printing, mailing, waiting for documents to come back, and refiling.
You can skip all these steps when you store your documents digitally. Recall a document by typing a keyword into your file manager, retrieving the document, opening the document, making the changes, and saving the document. Voila!
You can send the document to clients for revisions at the touch of a button and create new signatures the same way. To retain security, documents can be watermarked, and encrypted to protect information from landing in the wrong hands during transit. This ensures that only the person who should be singing a document has access to do so.
No more waiting for mail couriers, hoping your document makes it to its destination on time or reprinting multiple pages to refile. Save time and save trees by taking your manual filing practices to the digital world.
Contact MES Hybrid Document Systems
MES Hybrid Document Systems believes in peace of mind, not pieces of paper. By scrapping the stack and opting for electronic filing, you can save yourself time and space, optimizing information storage and information retrieval. Explore our online resource center for eBooks and guides on getting started.
With more than 40-years of experience, and over 12-million images scanned per month through our services, you can rely on us for experience, quality, and discretion. Our secure conversion facilities have earned us the trust of hundreds of companies like yours.
Interested in learning more about digitizing your manual document filing process? MES Hybrid Document Systems can help. Get in touch with a member of our team today to streamline your document storage.
