CHOOSING THE BEST SCANNER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

Transcription

1 CHOOSING THE BEST SCANNER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

2 Choosing the right scanner is... a matter of ensuring an organization can go and stay paperless Therefore, choosing the right scanner is not just a component of going paperless it s a matter of ensuring an organization can go and stay paperless. This puts into proper perspective the significance of choosing the right scanner: your organization will also need to develop an imaging roadmap to use when paper documents are either shipped via snail mail to your place of business or you re working with other businesses that continue to depend on paper: If not taken into consideration, these can become roadblocks to paperless continuity. For instance, if an organization has already gone paperless prior to purchasing a document management solution, data migration services and structural frame-working of content are enough to deploy a document management Although the up-front costs of a paperless office can solution, but not enough to ensure paperless continuity first be daunting, selecting a scanner, Zonal OCR add within the department or business. on, and document management solution to complete the paperless task will continually pay for the cost of To ensure you choose a scanner that helps you go implementation over and over, and to a greater paperless and assists you in meeting your organizational extent the longer the document management goals, follow these simple guidelines below, and you ll be solution is used. one step closer to making your office paperless.

3 7. THE IMPORTANCE OF PURCHASING YOUR SCANNER FROM A DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT VENDOR Unfortunately, a simple scanner won t be enough to ensure the best route to a paperless workspace. A compact and efficient scanner with a variety of different tools and features will be the best option for most organizations going paperless in compliance-centric and traditionally paper-dependent industries and departments (insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, human resources, and accounting), for instance. However, the good news is that buying a specialty scanner from a document management solution vendor like efilecabinet will usually provide better pricing below scanner MSRP rates for Epson, Fujitsu, and Plustek models. These prices are continually driven down by the number of document management vendors partnering with scanning companies to sell these scanners. This means you can get a sophisticated scanner for a reasonable price....you can get a sophisticated scanner for a reasonable price.

4 6. THROUGHPUT CONSIDERATIONS An equally important aspect of throughput is the extent to which the document is placed where Throughput is measured by the number of documents a you d like it to go once it has been scanned and scanner can upload once put into the feeder, and at uploaded to your document management solution. what pace. For instance, Fujitsu, Plustek, and Epson offer scanners that automatically let users export For instance, a duplex scanner has high throughput documents to their terminal locations and because it can scan two-sided documents. Additionally, software they already use, simplifying the a scanner that can upload and route 80 ppm (pages per throughput process. minute) has strong throughput, too. Although the volume of documents a scanner can The greater the volume of documents an organization handle (and in what time frame) matters, it should must upload to go paperless (and upload to continue to not be the only determinant of which scanner your be paperless) to their document management solution, organization chooses. the greater its scanner s throughput should be. Throughput is measured by the number of documents a scanner can upload once put into the feeder, and at what pace.

5 5. OPTICAL RESOLUTION For example, when the scanner s scanning head moves on each axis of the scanned document, the A scanner s optical resolution is determined by the number of pixels it can see once imaged, and is measured by DPI (dots per inch). With a certain number of sensors per inch, a scanner will be able to read an equal number of dots per inch. DPI number indicates how frequently it will stop per inch in each direction. If a scanner has 400 DPI, it will collect information 400 times per inch, impacting the visual clarity of the document. The more frequently your organization handles a high volume of documents with small text, the greater the DPI number you ll need for your scanner. A scanner s optical resolution is determined by the number of pixels it can see once imaged. Additionally, sometimes scanned images will need de-spotting and other touch ups before and after uploading them to a document management solution. Although these issues typically do not interfere with OCR and document search-ability, they may be worth resolving if an organization plans to share this content with clients and customers.

6 Consider feeder dimensions... and what type of documents do you regularly handle. 4. BUSINESS CARDS, PAPER SIZE, AND PAPER THICKNESS You ll also want to consider feeder dimensions of your selected scanner depending on which If you don t want to manually enter business industry you work in and what type of documents card contacts you receive from others into you regularly handle. Outlook (believe us, that wouldn t be fun), be sure to get a scanner that not only handles the For instance, if you are a construction worker scanning of business cards, but also one that relying on large blueprints, you ll need a different permits you to automatically upload them to scanner than a typical records manager dealing your CRM (such as Salesforce). with standard-sized paper.

7 3. TWAIN SUPPORT: A COMMON MISCONCEPTION Contrary to commonly held beliefs about scanning, you do not need a TWAIN-supported scanner to successfully go paperless, as there are numerous ways to sidestep a lack of TWAIN support. However, once upon a time, the TWAIN driver was integral to letting software companies manage TWAIN standard API (application programming interface) to provide easy integration with existing software. And although we still see this today, it s not nearly as common or necessary as it used to be in facilitating a paperless work environment. For instance, Fujitsu ScanSnap s ScanSnap Manager relies on its own ScanSnap interface to replace TWAIN functionality. Click here to watch a video about the Fujitsu Scansnap Scanner

8 2. REMEMBER TO CREATE AN OFFICIAL CUT-OFF DATE FOR PAPER USE Depending on the scanner you select, you ll need to set a date to cut off paper-based operations, and enforce this plan as a document management solution administrator to ensure you re generating the maximum return on investment. Whenever an office attempts to go paperless and does not see ROI generated, it s almost guaranteed employees are continuing to print, store, and file information in a paper-dependent manner, which has two negative effects: 1. The document management solution and its ROI-generating features are left unutilized, creating an avoidable opportunity cost. 2. Some employees are scanning files to and using the document management solution and others are not. This creates information chaos a state of operating a business where information is siloed and not relied on within a centralized repository because employees are bisected by the manners and mediums in which they handle digital information. To avoid this, be sure to incentivize employees to go Set a date to cut off paper-based operations. and stay paperless. Use some of the leftover cash that going paperless generates to create an interdepartmental or employee-based incentive plan. This structure must be taught and understood by all departments within an organization. This will eliminate the possibility of duplicate efforts (in

9 retrieving and storing both digital and paper documents) and dependence on paper in general. Although it is acceptable for each department to Going paperless through the right scanner can change how you transact business... have its own scanning and uploading process, a good filing process will also involve department-by-department foresight from the management team for these structures must account for potential changes during growth. 1. INFORM CLIENTS & CUSTOMERS ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO PAPERLESS OPERATIONS Remember, going paperless through the right scanner can change how you transact business, and this will likely entail replacing old scanning-based processes interact with your customers and clients once you to improve efficiency. have your scanner up-and-running. For instance, the digital signature integration and Not only will this impress your customers and clients, web portal features of a document management it will signify your interest in being as efficient as solution will improve, but also alter, the way you possible on their behalf.