What is Document Scanning?
Document scanning converts ordinary paper documents into useful and accessible digital files. Paper documents create a barrier to productivity, accessibility, and profitability for any organisation due to their inefficient nature. Paper documents inherently are hard to manage, secure, and protect. Converting these same documents into electronic documents solves these issues and provides costs saving by integrating these images into routine business practices. The process is quite simple in that paper documents are passed through a scanning device that converts the paper document into an image. Once in the form of an image information is entered that describes it for filing it. With these converted images special processes also can be applied to read, manipulate, and interpret them through the use of OCR (Optical Character Recognition ), OMR (Optical Mark Recognition), ICR ( Intelligent Character Recognition) and Barcode Recognition technologies. These technologies transform the image into text and data that can be read for retrieval or sharing with other applications.
BENEFITS OF DIGITAL DOCUMENTS
- Reduced costs of:
- Printing and Mailing
- Copying
- Sorting, filing, and retrieving documents
- Physical data storage
- Filing cabinets
- Additional security for the documents protection
- Space for the paper documents
- Increased data security with:
- Passwords
- Backups o Firewalls
- Increased information accessibility
- Quicker collaboration and retrieval times
- Information and data continuity
WHAT CAN BE SCANNED?
- Finical Spreadsheets
- Correspondence
- Invoices
- Contracts-Agreements
- Human Resource Files
- Medical Records
- Maps and other oversized documents
- Transport documents
- Delivery Dockets
- Ballot Papers / Census Forms
- any Paper based document
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- Digital documents and date can be protected and secured by restrictive access through the use of passwords, access codes and permissions profiles.
- Documents are accessible and retrievable anywhere worldwide within seconds.
- Documents and data can be routinely backed up and secured eliminating the risk of physical damage or security breaches.
- Digital images provide a consistent format allowing for increased business efficiency and reduced operational costs.
- Using digital documents allows for collaboration within business processes which reduces cycle times and costs.