Archives for the 'Document Scanning News' Category
Benefits of Document Scanning
Document scanning is now an accepted key business requirement for any forward looking organisation and has become so for a variety of different reasons. However, while organisations are very aware of the benefits they are specifically looking for, they are often less clear of the full range of benefits that document scanning can offer.
Normally an organisation’s focus is on one or two areas which are the triggers for a document scanning programme, perhaps focused on accessibility requirements, disaster planning issues or the need for legal compliance in particular areas. However, there are other benefits which accrue at the same time and can make the cost justification even more attractive.
In our view, some of the areas where document scanning can have a very positive impact are outlined below.
Access to the Information
With documents scanned and indexed correctly, you have immediate access to the information - a real plus when customers are now used to find the information they require at the touch of a button. The additional benefit is that a number of employees can be working with the same documents at any given time, which can save time and help to increase productivity.
Customer Service
As individuals or as companies, we now expect a certain standard of customer service from the organisations that we deal with. Having the files available as and when required allows companies to offer this level of customer service - no more searching for the right documents and calling the customer back! The improved response time means your customers will be happier and you customer service personnel will be able to deal with a greater number of customers.
Additional / Extra Space
There is of course the actual physical space which files and filing cabinets take up in the office or elsewhere. Reducing the amount of office space and storage space used for your paper files means that you can use the space that you have more effectively.
Cost Savings
Document scanning offers cost savings through both tangible and intangible benefits: the tangible savings come from reducing ongoing storage costs and savings on paper, folders, file boxes etc.; the intangible savings come from elements such as lost time looking for files, improved productivity and improved customer service levels.
Security & Control
Security and confidentiality of information is a high priority for companies, whatever industry they work in. With the information held in digital format, multiple levels of password protection and encryption can be put in place to ensure only the people who should have access to particular documents can view them. At the same time, audit trails can be made available giving details of who has accessed or updated documents.
Compliance
There are a number of legal requirements which also come into play, particularly in terms of the Data Protection Act where secure storage and speed of information delivery is key. Depending on the type of information, other drivers will include HM Customs and the Inland Revenue as well as FSA and industry regulations.
Disaster Recovery
The unexpected can always happen but making sure that your documents are backed up and held digitally can minimise the potential risk that your organisation faces. Secure online backup in the case of fire, flood etc. with multiple copies including offsite storage makes certain that all eventualities are covered so that, should the worse happen, you can be back up and running within minutes with minimal disruption to your business.
Remote Access
With an increasing trend for employees to work remotely, scanned documents mean that they will still be able to access the files and the information that they require from wherever they are based. This can help facilitate better information sharing between offices as well as increase the productivity of working from home. It also increases general speed of information delivery across an organisation.
Environmental
And let’s not forget the benefit of reducing the ever increasing use of paper in offices – having a digital record is not only beneficial for all of the benefits outlined above but is also environmental into the bargain.
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Document Scanning for Leeds Mental Health Trust
At Preview, we deal with a lot of different types of organisations from international conglomerates to locally focused IFAs, and from IT companies, legal firms and many more besides. However, we also work with public organisations such as local goverment and local health authorities which suffer from the same types of issues and have the same requirements in terms of paperwork as anyone else.
Take Leeds Mental Health Trust as an example. They have an HR department on a par with any large other organisation generating documentation that needs to be organised and indexed in the same way that a private company does, perhaps even more so. They also have the added complexity of multiple locations, with documents being generated and often held in over 50 different locations across the Leeds metropolitan area.
Now, with the scanning of the documents and the records completed, there is much quicker access to the documents and relevant information using a central up to date resource. To achieve this, some 6,000 files were processed and 340,000 images were created which were then cross-indexed by employee name and NI number.
The new system has made it very easy to consolidate the records for one employee in a single file – thus ensuring that any given employee’s file is completely up to date. Another significant benefit of scanning the HR files is that it makes it much easier to comply with Home Office Reporting requirements as the required work permit records are now available instantly, as and when they are needed.
The system proved to be such as success that recently Leeds Mental Health Trust has also scanned and centralised all of their Leavers’ files, with Preview’s security vetted staff taking on the task of collecting, scanning and indexing these important records as well.
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Avoiding the Data Protection Crisis
Whether KPMG’s recent announcement “Six Month countdown to data protection crisis begins” was designed to shock or designed to encourage companies to take action is hard to tell. It did, however, raise awareness of an issue which many organisations were blissfully unaware of and caused a great deal of reaction in the specialised media.
The potential problems highlighted related to the ending of the Transitional Relief exemption period within the Data Protection Act (DPA) which will result in some files collected prior to October 1998 now being subject to the full force of the Act.
So why is this important? It seems that in many companies, it may be a case that they have let these files slip off the radar and so are not aware that they are going to be in breach of the Act.
The recommendation is that organisations take a close look at their own individual situations. Specifically, according to Steve Kenny, Privacy Services Leader with KPMG:
- Establish what structured paper records exist, where and how they are stored, if they contain personally identifiable data;
- If a significant number of files have relied upon transitional relief , then expanding the scope of records management activities should enable you to comply.
If you are already in the process of ensuring that all of your records are scanned or have already done so then of course you should already be covered. If not, then this might be the ideal time to look at this and the company policy on document scanning / management in general and so ensure that everything is in place and up to date.
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Bah Humbug!
Running any kind of a service business at Christmas in the UK is a real challenge!
The culture in this country has now come to expect a complete shut down in some sectors for at least to weeks followed by a trickle back to work from early January.
Staff also need holidays in early December for Christmas shopping and clients do the same.
Costs are at least the same and arguably higher during the period and the volume of work to complete is also the same.
Yet we have to try and achieve this all in a limited two week period and then ramp up fast afterwards when the appetite from all concerned is not, shall we say, at its greatest!
The document scanning business provides unique challenges in this area as some of our clients require regular and timely output of digital images regardless. Those working in customer services, finance, medicine, media and many other sectors cannot operate without our continuing high standards of service. Our supplier partners too - some of whom are offshore and may not celebrate Christmas beyond the two day festival that it used to be here - rely on a continuous stream of activity to keep their operations functioning.
So a big thank you to all our team who worked diligently throughout the Christmas and New Year period to keep the wheels turning and maintain the standards that our clients expect.
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Document Scanning, Fires and Disaster Recovery
Over the summer, there was a well publicised fire that destroyed many valuable and high profile documents. The fire occurred in one of the UK’s largest document warehouses located in the Docklands area of London. Partly due to its location close to the City of London, and because this warehouse was operated by a highly reputable world leading Company, many of the documents belonged to large corporations such as banks, legal and property firms.
Due to the ferocity of the fire, a large quantity of these records was completely destroyed. In many cases there was simply no backup material and so the information they contained was lost forever.
Fortunately, nobody was injured and so the term ‘disaster’ is limited to a commercial one for those companies involved. Nevertheless, it highlighted the lack of ‘disaster recovery’ that was in place from organisations that one might expect to be better prepared. In fact, the full extent of the problem will never really be known as the some of the companies concerned have declined to make it public knowledge that their material has been destroyed.
It has also highlighted the fact that the commercial value of the paper is not covered anywhere. Most document warehouses will only repay the value of the paper itself - a typical ream of 500 sheets being worth a few pounds. This of course in no way reflects the value of the data and unless the document owners have specific insurance to cover such loss of data then the real value is lost. Even then the burden of proof of that value will fall to the Company – a task that is far from easy.
It has taken a couple of months for the fallout from this particular fire to filter through into real actions but in the last few weeks we have seen a large number of high profile organisations who lost records, approach us for help in digitising material either instead of storing it or before doing so.
Ahh……., a classic sales pitch from an ambulance chaser I hear you say! But not so, as I am the first to accept that such mishaps can occur to anyone. This particular event has, indeed, prompted a huge flurry of activity for us but the fire will shortly be forgotten by all except those directly affected. A similar event in Southampton several years ago destroyed a vast number of records held by local solicitors – yet has now all but disappeared from the memory banks.
So I think the message is to seriously reconsider whether records need to be stored physically or whether an easily backed up digital image will suffice. Under rules of Legal Admissibility, most regulatory authorities including HMRC now accept properly constituted digital copies and research has shown that almost 98% of all commercial records can be provided in this form.
The moral I guess is to cover all bases: fires, floods and other natural disasters happen and will continue to do so. All we can do as businesses is try to make sure that they impact us as little as possible and make sure that our information is covered from both a legal and a general business perspective.
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Document Scanning Blog - Welcome
Welcome to the Document Scanning Blog from Preview Services.
Firstly – let me introduce myself as the main person who will be posting on this blog. I am a Director of Preview both in the UK and Australia and spend regular amounts of time in both locations. I will be sharing with you some of the experience and experiences that I have gained in working with organisations across the globe and passing on information that I hope will be of interest, whether you are involved directly in the industry or looking to use its services.
A colleague in a previous company once informed me that his industry had ‘just got exciting’. When I tell you that this was in airline revenue accounting you can see why he felt the need to talk it up!
So when I say that ‘document management just got exciting’ you may be equally unimpressed.
However, as a scanning bureau first and foremost, we see a huge range of material pass through our operation every day from organisations which span the whole business spectrum. As a result, I see lessons all the time that our business clients can learn from managing their paper and other records correctly and the benefits they get from doing so.
What I’ll be doing in the Document Scanning blog, is picking up on some of these lessons and sharing real life examples of issues that we and our clients face in digitising and using material. I’ll also be commenting on some of the legislation that affects our industry and our clients and hopefully sparking some comments and debate from readers.
I will of course also be answering any questions and concerns you have as well – and that’s really why the Document Scanning blog is here, to help you to understand better what we do and why we do it.
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