The word “outsourcing” has taken on a negative quality over the years because it immediately implies sending the work overseas for cheap labor and sketchy results. Before I get in to the meat of this article I wanted to clarify outsourcing, any time you hire an outside resource to complete a task you are outsourcing … so why not use companies right in the USA?

Sometimes it boils down to dollars; if you are on a really tight budget there may not be another option. If you are after reliability then using a company within the USA is your best option! A few other incentives for using mainland companies is a common language, the ability to call with questions and get customer service and sometimes price is comparable to overseas depending on the project (and especially when you compare shipping of documents and having to have work redone).

Moving forward, document conversion projects that lend themselves to outsourcing are typically large, hairy, monsters in the beginning that need a strong experienced staff to get the job done right. For instance, think about the sheer quantity of paper to be scanned … the amount of work involved to make sure each document can be found after the conversion is complete.

Although there is a number of high-volume scanning products on the market to complete a task like this, which is only a portion of the work. Once the papers or microfiche has been scanned there needs to be a document management software and storage solution in place to receive the scanned documents, read them and build a searchable database. And I bet you know as well as I do that these products never work perfectly together on the initial installation!

Let's say you have a room that is 15' x 15' that you use for storage, shelves that go 6' high packed as tight as you can get them. Banker's boxes full of paper neatly organized (well sometimes) just waiting for a catastrophe. How many employees would you have to pull away from their existing jobs to scan and verify each of those pieces of paper in order to get the backlog of stored documents in to the new system? Don't forget you now need to task other employee's (or bring in temporary help) with the full-time work these employees did before the conversion project started. I don't need to go down this rat-hole any further, you get the idea.

Taking on a document conversion project is way more than just scanning documents, and it is easily one of those projects that really do need to be outsourced at the onset and then handed over to the staff to maintain. The trick is:

1. Finding a reliable resource to select the right infrastructure to fit your document storage needs long term.

2. Knowing your new document management system will be easy to use and all key employees are trained thoroughly.

3. Having ALL of your existing documents scanned in verified in to the document management system so they can be found easily.

4. Have a clear system in place for maintaining the incoming documents in order to keep your company organized.

Do your research when looking for a reliable company to take on your document conversion outsourcing; I received the information in this article from Digital Storage, Inc. out of Long Island, New York. They were extremely helpful in helping me understand every aspect of this process. Outsourcing does not have to be a negative experience, when you find the right resources.