3 Factors to Consider When Evaluating Your Document Scanning ROI

Digital transformation and going electronic are increasing topics of conversation these days in most offices. As more employees begin to work remotely, and companies try to find new ways to save money on hard-copy document management, document scanning services are more relevant than ever.

Document scanning (conversion and scan-on-demand), more so than ever, is a necessity to enable fast, secure, and 24/7 remote access to information. While companies know they need to convert paper documents to digital files, recognizing the return on investment can be challenging. If you’re working on a digital transformation strategy, but struggling to justify cost, here are some factors to consider that will help you make the case for a document imaging plan.

Factors to Consider When Evaluating Your Document Scanning Return on Investment:

  • Office Space & Overhead Costs
    If you’re storing active records in file cabinets around the office, you’re wasting valuable office space that could be utilized for a more beneficial purpose. Analyze your cost per square foot and how much those hard copy documents are costing you monthly in onsite storage. Whether you lease or own office space, eliminating clunky file cabinets can create room for revenue-generating activities.
  • Paper-Related Costs & Wasted Time
    A study from the International Data Corporation (IDC) demonstrated that professionals lose as much as 2.3 hours a week searching, but not finding, the right documents and another two hours recreating documents that can’t be found. All told, time wasted in document creation and management activities cost organizations over $9,000 per employee per year – or a 9.8% loss in the company’s total productivity according to the study. Costs related to managing hard copy records can also add up – especially in a paper-intensive industry or department such as accounting, operations, or human resources. Expenses related to filing, copying, printing, and supplies multiply relatively quickly. Evaluate your internal departmental processes to determine where the most time could be saved with an electronic document management system. Take into account supplies and employee time to calculate an annual cost savings when you implement a document scanning strategy.
  • Employee Efficiency & Accuracy
    Are internal paper-intensive processes causing errors, late invoices, slow customer service, and more? The third factor to consider when calculating your document scanning ROI is if a document scanning strategy can make your processes and departments more accurate and efficient. What if customer service could use a cloud-based document management system to quickly find important client information? Or accounting could easily route and approve invoices and check requests electronically? It’s difficult to put a price tag on client and employee satisfaction, but it’s an important component of your operating costs. Since the way you manage information and data contributes to operational costs, take a look at where errors are occurring within departments and identify areas for improvement with document scanning. Can Customer Service respond to customers faster and more accurately with electronic records versus taking the time to search and make copies of information? Can employees complete tasks quicker and with less errors by using an electronic system with indexed electronic files that allows them to search exactly what they’re looking for?

    Justification for document imaging services can be achieved by looking at an organization’s long-term goals for sustainable document management. Invest in a strategy that starts with a document scanning plan in the most vital areas of the business and go from there. Over time, you will begin to see improvement and be able to more easily quantify results. Eventually, you may decide that your ROI justifies creating an entirely paperless office.

 Are you in need of document scanning services in Charlotte or an electronic document management software for your organization? Request a Quote.

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