When you’re in a hurry, it’s only natural to pick the first option that shows up. This is true even when you’re looking for professional document scanning solutions. Many people don’t understand the fine details and possible complications until they start working with one. By that time, they’ve already exposed themselves and could be at risk for trouble.
Don’t think that picking the right professional for document scanning services needs to be given much thought? Think again. To make your task easier, we’re listing down some of the most essential things you need to keep in mind before you choose a document scanning company.
1. Privacy Concerns
Always make sure that the professionals you are working with respect your privacy and confidentiality concerns. This is especially important when you’re getting documents with sensitive information scanned. These can include official records, employee records and even consumer data. Theft, misplacement and accidental vandalization of the document could cause you a huge loss.
Make sure that the document scanning service you are working with not only understands your privacy concerns but also has measures in place to only give access to authorized users. If unauthorized parties get private information, or if that information is lost, it could mean serious legal problems and fees for your business. The good news here is that reputable scanning service providers understand this aspect and also limit access to sensitive information.
Be sure to find out what security policies the document scanning company you are considering has in place. Features to look out for include video surveillance, traceable keycards for employees and sign-in sheets for visitors, employee background checks, compliance certifications and valuable records insurance coverage to name a few.
2. Scanning Technology Available
Different types of document formats may require various specialized scanning equipment. Pages up to 11” x 17” can be scanned on high speed paper scanners, but blueprints or engineering drawings larger than that need to be scanned on large format or wide body scanners. Microfilm scanning requires a microfilm scanner, photo scanning requires a photo scanner, aperture card scanning requires an aperture card scanner, etc.
If you have various types of document formats, you’ll want to choose a document scanning company that has the necessary equipment and experience to suit all of your digital conversion needs. Having one company perform the scanning of your entire project as opposed to 2 or 3 will be much more convenient and will generally result in better consistency and integration with your document management system.
3. Reputation and Capabilities
When getting document scanning solutions, another thing you need to consider is the overall capability of those professionals. When looking for document scanning solutions, it’s recommended to choose a vendor with a good reputation and capabilities to meet your project’s needs. Past experience is generally a good indicator of future performance. If you have 500 boxes of financial records, for example, make sure the document scanning company you choose has successfully completed similarly sized projects for organizations within your industry, and in accordance with regulatory compliance. Checking references and testimonials is always a good practice.
Another good way to gauge a company’s capabilities is to have them do a scanning sample for you. Be sure to check the scanned images for legibility and clarity. Also, make sure the folder structure and indexing requirements are correct. If you plan on using the files in an electronic document management system, ensure that the images and index data are formatted correctly for compatibility within your system.
Paying attention to the above points could mean the difference between a successful conversion or a disaster when it comes to outsourcing document scanning services.