Businesses in the 21st century are relying less and less on paper and are becoming more fully digitized. For example:
- We advertise online;
- We send project information and communications via emails; and
- We store vast collections of information in the cloud.
In many companies, records management has become completely digitized, with paper documents being scanned into a database and applications, forms, and other paperwork being handled entirely on computers. For companies still relying on paper, document conversion is the process of digitizing their physical documents.
How Document Conversion Works
At its core, document conversion centers on high-fidelity scanning of paper documents. Those documents, once scanned, are saved as images in a computer database, and that database can be made available to you via email, intranet, through a secure data center, or on a disc or other storage device. Documents can be made searchable with optical character recognition (OCR) technology to improve speed of retrieval.
Advantages of Document Conversion
Converting paper documents into digital format comes with numerous advantages, including the following:
- Less space: Digitized documents take up far less space than physical ones do, with a single CD being equivalent to several filing cabinets.
- Streamlined security: Keeping physical documents safe from unauthorized access is tedious and expensive. With a digitized system, on the other hand, it is easier and less expensive to keep it secure—network and software security measures, not bulky and costly physical protections—are what is needed. Redundancy is also far easier to manage.
- Quick access: It’s easy to search for and find a document that has been scanned and indexed into a database, and it’s generally much faster (and far less prone to error) than sifting through cabinets full of papers.
Simply put, document conversion services streamline every aspect of document management.
Types of Document Scanning Services
There are various types of document scanning services available. At Armstrong Archives, for instance, we offer:
- On-demand document scanning for those using our physical storage facilities
- Custom scanning solutions
- OCR of PDF files
- Secure SAS 70 compliant storage in an offsite data center with online access
To learn more about our document conversion services, contact Armstrong Archives, LLC, today.
Posted By: Sherri Taylor – President/Managing Partner
Sherri Taylor is the Managing Partner and President of Armstrong Archives, one of the largest independent records and information management companies in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.
