Choosing between a centralized or distributed scanning system

June 20, 2013

For companies that have a large volume of paper documents that need to be digitized, there are a number of different directions to take. Some choose to run their document scanning system in house, either with current employees or hiring temporary workers to scan the data. Others may choose to use a bulk scanning service to quickly and efficiently digitize documents. Is one better than the other?

According to a recent Business 2 Community article, there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and many companies use a combination of the two. One of the biggest benefits of sending documents to a centralized location is the technology and training that document scanning services can offer. Since employees are educated in the scanning software, images are more likely to be the highest quality and have the most accurate readings of data when indexing. Additionally, using these services often means that businesses don’t need to invest in a high-quality scanner, and can instead use these resources when needed.

Some of the major benefits of an in-house document scanning system, the article wrote, include the ability for employees to scan documents as they come in, so information is available as quickly as it can be scanned. However, since time is a major factor, and asking employees to spend a significant amount of time scanning documents often takes away from productivity, author Michael Neubarth, explains that instead, companies should create a system combining the two. By working with a document scanning service for the initial documents, and large quantities, workers can then scan individual papers as they come in. This way workers aren’t required to spend a significant amount of time scanning, and can still benefit from digitized information.

Tab Service Company is a Chicago based company with over 53 years of experience as a data processing service provider.  We provide business with outsourcing solutions for document scanning services, data entry services and mailing/lettershop services.  As a SOC2-approved organization, we apply industry-best practices to our approach with clients.