Document imaging radically changes document-management practices by speeding up work and reducing costs. Instead of going to the file room, pulling out folders, and trying to locate a document needed for work, you just hit a few computer keys at your workstation.

Costs are saved because you don't need filing rooms and large numbers of filing cabinets at prime business space. Much of the paper documents (not required to be preserved under some law) can be shredded once they are scanned. That saves costs on paper-handling labor, filing equipment, and filing-room space.

Document imaging also makes the documents available to geographically-dispersed offices, as the electronic documents can be viewed over the Internet from anywhere with an Internet connection.

With higher speeds, lower costs, and worldwide access, document management gets transformed beyond recognition.

When Should You Use Document Imaging Services?

If your business generates a large volume of paper documents, your business can definitely benefit from document imaging. The question is whether to buy document-imaging facilities for use in-house or use document-imaging services offered by third parties.

Outsourcing the work to document-imaging service companies can be justified when:

The document-imaging volumes are small and buying expensive equipment would not produce an acceptable ROI

Specialized document-imaging facilities for such tasks as scanning blueprints and x-rays are involved, but are too small to justify in-house facilities

Expert assistance from specialists are desired, as for obtaining high-quality images, for processing the images and even for hosting the documents on the Internet

Even small businesses can afford inexpensive desktop scanners. However, these can be used only for small jobs, and would also need good quality originals to produce acceptable images.

Where larger volumes are involved and/or paper documents are non-uniform in quality, expensive equipment become necessary.

Document Imaging Services

Document-imaging service companies offer document scanning and microform output as basic services. These services are supplemented with indexing and other services. Specialized imaging services for engineering drawings, slides, books, etc. would be available from these companies.

Where the volume involved is large, the services might be offered onsite at customer's facilities, to make available the specialized expertise of the company's staff with experience of handling all kinds of standard and sophisticated jobs.

The staff of document-imaging service companies are likely to be experienced not only with scanning work, but also in facilities management, records management and other related functions. They would thus be able to handle your document-imaging projects just right to achieve desired results.

Onsite projects can also be executed with the service company's own equipment, software, and project management, as well as personnel.

Document imaging services often come with Web hosting of the documents. Access to these documents stored at Web sites can be restricted to authorized persons through the use of security features. One advantage of such third-party hosting is that the document sites are likely to be managed with up-to-date software and hardware, and that backing up the documents are handled in a professional manner.

The different tasks involved in conversion projects - preparation, scanning, OCR/ICR, indexing, and so on - can be allocated among the service company and client staff for optimized handling.

Considering all these factors, you should seriously evaluate the option of outsourcing these kinds of work to third-party, document-imaging service companies. Just ensure that the company you select has the facilities, experience of similar projects, and a reputation for integrity. Get references from their past clients.

Above all, evaluate them based on whether the company's approach is one of looking at your specific requirements and developing a solution to meet these. A standard solution might not be the best to meet your particular needs.

Conclusion

Document imaging can be done in-house with your own facilities and personnel, or can be outsourced to document-imaging service companies. The services of these companies can be used even if you have in-house facilities because they bring expertise and experience of handling varied kinds of jobs.

Document-imaging services often come bundled with incidental services such as OCR/ICR, indexing, storing the documents on the Internet, etc. You should pick and choose an ideal mix of services.