The role of enterprise document scanning in digital transformation

Surprisingly, enterprise document scanning has nothing to do with Captain Kirk or a Tricorder. Enterprise document scanning is a fancypants term for high-volume paper scanning used by businesses (like yours) looking to get on the digital transformation bandwagon. The “enterprise” bit means you’re not a mom and pop shop; you’re a medium-sized company or a large corporation and you have too many documents (your archives and your everyday paperwork) to scan that kind of bulk in-house. The “document scanning” bit means you could use a hand converting heavy paper into weightless, indexed, digital files. The “digital transformation” bit is a biggie. From digital files to e-forms to zoom meetings to webinars, digital transformation is the whole shebang.

Let’s break it down (like Blanco Brown) 

Digital transformation happens in many places across the board. But the journey hinges on document scanning. Scanning your paper is the foundational first step that kicks off the transformation. It lifts you out of analog antiquation, converting your data to digital format. 

“Why bother?” you ask, and how much stock should you put into all the trash talk about paper dying an immediate death since the pandemic? To answer the first question, you digitize your paper (with enterprise document scanning services) because you can do a lot more with your information when you can find it at the click of a button, share it at the click of a button, work on it as a group, pull insight from it—collaborative light bulbs, everybody!—and pack it away when you’re done with it (archive it). All that stuff happens after paper scans to digital. And all that stuff is managed using document management software. 

To answer the hubbub question, paper didn’t die an immediate death since the pandemic. That’s hogwash! Paper’s been dying a slow death since the turn of the century. And if you’re just hearing about it now, swing on out into the fast lane, partner, because we’ve got you covered. You can start document scanning immediately and tick off that box on your digital transformation checklist.

And if you’re sitting there thinking “this sounds like a heck of a lot of money, muchacho,” to that we say, oh does it, now?

According to AIIM, 59% of organizations achieved a payback in less than 12 months from their paper-free projects, including 26% in 6 months or less. 84% achieved payback in less than 18 months.” 

See what we did there? We anticipated objections and answered those objections swiftly while riding on a horse wearing Old Spice. So now that you know you will not only amplify your operations but do that with a payback in about a year and a half, let’s dig into the role of enterprise document scanning in digital transformation. 

What is digital transformation? 

Let’s use a farm analogy, shall we?

If you think of digital transformation as a farm (where a number of different activities, machinery, routines, and hired help work together to drive profits), the first step to successfully running the farm is to put a few hundred head of cattle on it. You can’t run a farm without livestock. And, for that matter, you can’t manage your cows without a barn. The barn keeps your cattle safe and sound until you’re ready to let the cows out to eat some sweet green grass. Some cows go to the back 40, some chill by the salt lick, and some stay put in the stalls. The barn doors keep your cattle in and let your cattle out. The barn is your document management software. The barn doors are the secure gated access (login) to your digital files. And the cows are your digital files. 

But the cows and the barn and the barn doors are just one part of running a farm. You also need to update your ox to a tractor and swap your old milk bucket for a robotic milking machine in order to automate and optimize. You stop paying your farmhands with paper checks and set up automatic e-transfers. You stop throwing receipts in a bankers’ box and start using QuickBooks to snap photos of your receipts and automatically file them in the right categories. All those upgrades in each of those different areas make up what is known as digital transformation. 

For businesses, digital transformation looks like this:

• Face to face meetings become zoom meetings

• Your physical mailroom turns into a digital mailroom

• Trade shows are replaced by webinars and online conferences

• Secure Cloud drives replace location-based filing cabinets or isolated drives churning away in a closet.

• Paper files are scanned to digital files (where they’re indexed and made searchable)

Digital transformation changes your business, driving growth, boosting efficiency—making your employees and your customers happy. But the transformation to digital has a number of working parts. You need a plan to get there: 

Step one: Enterprise document scanning

Document scanning makes paper digital so you can shred that paper and recycle it. Low down, you can handle this in small batches with in-office scanners, tablets, and cell phones. But none of those devices are secure, the quality is crap, inconsistency abounds, indexing is nonexistent or haphazard, and the file lands in random places without assigned permissions. You think you’re saving money but what you’re really doing is asking skilled employees to perform menial tasks and nail the results up like clapboard on an abandoned shack.

Or… you can outsource your paper-to-digital scanning requirements by hiring an enterprise document scanning company like *ahem (cough!) Revolution Data Systems. A professional scanning service provider feeds thousands of sheets securely into an enterprise-level scanner, indexes them automatically in high resolution and stunning contrast, and does all of that at just pennies per sheet. Whole drawers of documents are digitized at the cost of a swanky latte from a snooty bean café. You get high-quality, high-efficiency document scanning that’s hands-off painless for your crew.

Step two: Enterprise document storing

Scanning paper documents means having a place to store the converted digital files. Shared drives no longer cut it. They’re the same as filing cabinets. Unless they’re maintained by an “IT guy” using a standardized filing system, files aren’t easily found or shared by remote employees. Since the biggest driving factor for scanning your documents is the ability to access them anywhere, a Cloud drive makes sense. Especially because Cloud drives add a layer of security—which is all-around important, but especially important if compliance is an issue.

Step three: Enterprise document management software

Document management software (DMS) corrals your herd so you can tag their ears, brand their hides, and track what they’re eating and who’s feeding them and on what schedule (analytics). You’ll know what the newborn calves are up to and when it's time to put older heifers out to pasture. It’s easy to see if you’re planting a hay crop this year, or going for corn. 

Come again, Chet?

Scanning paper documents to digital files and storing those digital files on the Cloud gets you ⅔ of the way there. You also need a tool that finds them easily, opens them in useable formats, shares them at the click of a button, and tucks them away again until they’re needed (without losing them). That same tool tracks what employees are using what files and points out what files create the best insights that make the most impact. All that right there is called a workflow. And workflows don’t work so great if they’re half manual and half automated. So get yourself some document management software to do what you want, when you want, how you want, from wherever you happen to be. 

What value do you get from enterprise document scanning?

The value of enterprise document scanning is that you’re future-proofing your business against everything from natural disasters, plumbing problems, incompetent employees, loss of knowledge at retirement, and threat actors. You’re taking care of crippling storage costs while downsizing your footprint, utility bills, and overhead. Ya yeet!

You’re also empowering your employees to be productive. They get round-the-clock access to the information they need so they can do what you pay them to do efficiently. They save time not looking for stuff, turn things around quicker, and curve those margins up a steep and satisfying slope. 

According to McKinsey, “employees spend 1.8 hours every day—9.3 hours per week, on average—searching and gathering information. Put another way, businesses hire 5 employees but only 4 shows up to work; the fifth is off searching for answers, but not contributing any value.”

Document scanning turns information that’s trapped on paper into digital files that document management software centralizes so that all five employees pitch in. If that doesn’t sound smart, what does?

Are you ready for enterprise document scanning?

At Revolution Data Systems, we could talk about enterprise document scanning all day into tomorrow and then some. We’re ready to slide a burr under all y’alls saddles. Let’s see what your path to digital transformation looks like and figure out where to start scanning your documents to digital. In other words, let’s take a look at your farm and see about getting you some Grade A beef. Contact us and kick things off today.