Moving from hardcopy storage of your business's important documents to a digital archive is a big step in the direction of a more organized, more secure office—a step that can save you space and money, as well. If you're considering document scanning for your business, here are the answers to some of the questions you may have.

What is document scanning?

Document scanning, or digital archiving, is the process of scanning a document into a digital image. The documents are then stored on a hard drive, online, on an external drive, or on CD's.

Many companies use document scanning as a way to back up copies of important legal, financial, and other documents essential to their business. Some companies rely solely on document scanning to store important documents, and with good reason—digital archiving can save companies thousands of dollars per year in paper. It also saves on space, and keeps documents far more organized than they would be in hardcopy form. In addition, copies can be made much more economically in digital form, ensuring an easier and cheaper way to back up these important documents.

What are the benefits of document scanning?

Apart from saving on paper costs and storage space, digital archiving has many benefits. Added security is one—with electronic copies, you can keep a record of who has viewed a document, as well as keep them confidential if you need to. Ease of access is another—you can send documents instantaneously through email, find documents much more easily, and never worry about misplacing a document again. Some industries have strict privacy standards as well—standards it's difficult to comply with if you're using a hardcopy filing system to store documents.

Why use document scanning and imaging services?

Companies interested in transitioning from hardcopy records to digital archives have two choices: do it themselves, or hire a document scanning company. Many companies underestimate the complexity of the job at first—some businesses can have thousands of documents that must be scanned to a high-quality image and then stored in an easily accessible manner, and many businesses don't have the resources to do the job right. That's where a document scanning and imaging company comes in.

What is the process like?

While every company is different, you can expect the scanning process to be similar with many of the scanning companies out there. Most scanning companies will provide you with an assessment of your needs first, with a proposal including a price estimate for the project. You may have to mail them your hardcopy documents and have them mailed back; expect secure, reliable shipping, and for any confidentiality issues to be addressed to your company's satisfaction before signing on.

Are scanned documents admissible in court?

At the time this article was written, the law was fairly clear on scanned documents' uses in court: as long as the document is an accurate reproduction of the original, it is admissible. Other technologies that are valid in court include faxes, photocopies, and microfilm as well as digital imaging.

Digital archiving is the wave of the future—and many companies are signing on to transform rooms full of bulky filing cabinets into easily stored electronic format. By converting your hardcopy documents into electronic files, you can save your company room and money while improving security and access.