Ask any library that houses rare, historical documents like old newspapers, letters or manuscripts – those paper copies don’t last forever. Paper is fragile, prone to rips, bends, fading and the ravages of disasters like fire or flood.
Now consider all the paper residing in the typical SMB file cabinet (more likely cabinets, as companies keep adding to the collection as the years go by). Such hard copy may contain important and confidential information like tax records or customer histories.
Are you really in a position to lose such irreplaceable data?
Going digital
Libraries are taking their printed material digital, and so should you.
Consider how digitizing makes a difference:
- Documents are no longer put at risk for loss or theft – or even the inadvertent loss associated with human error like misfiling.
- Fewer hard copies mean less waste of paper, toner and energy.
- A cloud-based storage system keeps your legacy information not only accessible by remote users, but also safe from unauthorized eyes.
- Eliminating manual tasks like printing, filing and retrieval frees up staff members to focus on more important core business goals.
Digitizing also delivers business benefits tied to metrics: if you use data analytics to track and assess your business, think of how much faster that would go if your records from months, or even years, back are seamlessly integrated with your current digital documents.
Even if you wish to keep hard copies on hand, digitizing them provides a valuable backup in the case of unforeseen misfortune.
Trust the experts
Digitizing is no “do it yourself” effort; it takes the right combination of software and skill to produce online data ready to save, share and store. A Managed Print Services provider can help you digitize your documents and integrate them into your business workflow. Talk to an MPS provider about the first step – a free assessment of your print environment that uncovers the gaps and overlaps in your print fleet, and gives you a new strategy that aligns to your company’s budget and needs.
Then prepare to bid a fond farewell to the file cabinet as you take your workplace into the online environment.
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