It’s a familiar site – businesses have rooms full of file cabinets and employees spend considerable time walking back and forth to those cabinets to retrieve and then re-file documents. But those productivity inefficiencies aren’t the worse part of this document dilemma – it is the potential loss of important business documents due to a disaster.
When a company implements a document management system they start scanning and electronically filing new files immediately. Much planning and training surrounds that, but what to do to get all the existing paper files scanned and indexed into the document management system is a question not always immediately addressed.
Some businesses think they will be able to back file scan their old documents themselves, but most times they find their employees don’t have the time to do this. A good recommendation is for the business to plan for back filing and hire outside resources or a vendor to do the project for them.
How files and documents are scanned and indexed into a document management system determines the ultimate usefulness of the system. It is critical that documents are properly prepared and indexed so they are easily retrievable by employees who need the files.
Security is vitally important when handling and safe guarding a business’ documents. When scanning is done off site at the vendor’s facility, documents must be securely transported. Look for tracking documents to be signed by both the business and the scanning vendor.
Once the documents are at the scanning facility, they will be prepped, scanned, and indexed. Prepping can include removing staples, paper clips, unfolding corners, and sometimes putting the documents in a particular order. Quality assurance checks should be built into every step of the process.
Once scanned, many businesses want their original documents destroyed. Some elect to have the scanning vendor store the documents for a set period of time before destroying them. For the document destruction, make sure your scanning partner uses a credible source to properly destroy your old documents.
Once old files are scanned and indexed, businesses can reap many rewards. Files that once required people to get up, walk, pull files, and then return to their desks are electronically available, instantaneously at an employee’s desktop. Customer service improves as the time to answer document-dependent questions is dramatically shortened.
Files don’t have to be re-filed so the risk of losing files is eliminated. Additionally, the space that was once taken up with file cabinets can be used for other purposes. Probably most reassuring to many businesses is the peace of knowing the risk of documents being destroyed due to flooding or a disaster is no longer a risk.