There’s a lot to consider when selecting a document digitization service. An outsourced partner can offer a range of benefits, such as fast turnaround, cost savings vs. in-house work, and more organized and accessible digitized information after the process is complete. Digitizing your paper files is an important step in your digital transformation. Getting it right is important. There are at least six things you’ll definitely want to consider before resting on a final selection:
1. Quality Standards
To start, you’ll want to establish the level of quality you can expect for the final, digitized documents. Digitization should result in high-quality images that are clear, legible, and accurately represent your original documents. The right document digitization service for your business will be able to show you a well-established quality assurance process and a track record of success in meeting industry standards with scanned documents.
Make sure to ask what sort of quality standards the archival digitization service adheres to, including image resolution, color depth, and file format. You might also ask if they offer any additional services to further enhance the quality of the digitized documents, such as image restoration and enhancement.
2. Security Measures
Next, you’ll want to consider the safety of your digitized documents. If not handled securely, exposing sensitive information in the scanning process can put your business at risk. Do your due diligence on the document digitization service to ensure they have proper security measures in place to protect confidential or sensitive documents.
- What security protocols do they use to safeguard the documents during and after digitization?
- Does their facility have video surveillance and access controls?
- Do they take digital security measures, such as encryption and firewalls?
3. Turnaround Time
Quick turnarounds are why outsourced document digitization services are the best way to digitize paper documents. Rather than slow-moving internal resources with limited personnel, a well-equipped partner can process enormous quantities of physical files quickly. For instance, Scan-Optics digitally transforms over 4,000,000 documents every day.
Make sure your preferred service can deliver your digitized documents within the necessary timeframe. Slow turnaround times would disrupt your workflow and affect business operations. Ask about their capacity to handle large volumes of documents. You might also see if the vendor offers any rush services, just in case.
4. Range of Solutions & Features
It’s in your best interest to select a partner with a comprehensive range of solutions that cater to specific needs. Services can range from document preparation to scanning, quality control, data extraction, and additional services that can help improve the usability of your digitized documents.
Scanning is a start, but scanned and digitized documents that lack quality and usability are not much improvement over paper files. Ask about solutions such as image restoration, color correction, and de-skewing to ensure that the digitized documents are clear, legible, and accurately represent the original. OCR (optical character recognition) and indexing can make your digital copies easily searchable, greatly accelerating operations.
Data management software that organizes and structures your files will also help maximize your digital efficiency. This can be a major competitive advantage when analysts at Gartner estimate that upward of 80% of enterprise data today is unstructured.
5. Level of Support
Consider the continued support offered by the digitization service. Document digitization is an ongoing process, and you may require support from the service after the initial digitization project is completed. A reliable service should offer continued support to ensure that you can access and use your digitized documents effectively.
Inquire about the level of support offered, including any training provided, ongoing maintenance, and technical support. Also, ask about any additional services such as cloud storage or document management software that can help you manage and access your digitized documents efficiently.
6. Pricing Structure
The final thing to consider is the pricing structure of the document digitization service. You’ll want a competitive cost that fits your budget, but also be sure to ask about optional fees for rush services or potential discounts for bulk or ongoing digitization services.
Your One-Stop Document Digitization Service
Choosing the right service is important to ensuring that your digitized documents meet your needs and expectations. At Scan-Optics, we understand that you’re not like every other company out there. And you need to digitally transform in a way that fits you and your people. We’ll help you digitize, organize and optimize your files to fit your processes and resources. Talk to an expert today to learn more about how we can help.
