Properly Implementing a Scanning Solution

For companies around the world, document scanning has proved to be an invaluable asset. Converting their data into digital files and storing them electronically — and turning their offices into practically paperless environments — proves advantageous in numerous areas, including better service, faster turnaround, improved compliance, enhanced collaboration, and significant cost savings. Not to mention bidding farewell to missing or lost documents.

However, there are mistakes many businesses make when implementing a scanning solution. By simply doing your homework ahead of time and thoroughly analyzing your company and its needs, you can avoid these document scanning pitfalls.

One of the most common mistakes made by businesses when choosing a scanning solution is underestimating the size and scope of their workload. It is important to understand how your company will be utilizing document imaging, and exactly what your scanning volumes will be. Not just your average daily volume, but also taking into consideration your peak volumes during crunch times. Failing to do so can leave you ill prepared, outgunned with the wrong speed or not enough scanners.

Another trap to avoid when selecting a scanning solution is failing to involve all stakeholders within a business. Leaving end-users and departments such as IT and customer service out of the coordination of and planning for a solution is a recipe for disaster. A company can easily end up with a system that isn’t tailored to their needs or requirements, or compatible with your existing infrastructure. This can be avoided by including everyone necessary in the planning process.

Once your document scanning solution has been selected, the final major pitfall is going all in — deploying the entire solution all at once. Attempting to roll out the whole system can overwhelm a business and its staff, and result in major bottlenecks or breakdowns. A phased implementation approach is the ideal way to begin your practically paperless journey. By deploying your solution at a more reasonable pace — by department or group — you gain the additional benefit of experience to identify and implement best practices.

For more information on our Document Management solutions, visit our website at:
http://www.momnet.com/Business-Solutions/Applications/Imaging

Document Management Basics

Your business generates large amounts of paper and electronic documents. As your business grows, so do files, and the time and effort required to manage them. Storing, managing, distributing, and accessing information from this enormous volume of data can prove to be quite a hassle.

Digital document management revolutionizes the management of information and provides the ability to rapidly find, retrieve, and share all the documents in your repository. So what is digital document management and how does it works? What are the essential components of an enterprise-level digital document management system, and the technical issues you must consider?

Digital Document Management

The process of digital document management begins with the conversion of paper or other documents into digitized images. These images can be easily organized and quickly retrieved, indexed, and archived. When files are scanned or electronically converted, a high-resolution digital copy is stored on a hard drive or optical disc. Templates, or electronic index cards, can associate information, such as author, reference number, date created, or key words, with a document. Files can still be viewed, printed, shared, and stored. Which documents users can read and what actions they can perform on these documents depend on the level of security that the system administrator has assigned to them.

Digital document management represents a significant advance over storing information on paper. No longer just ink on a page, the document becomes active content after processing by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. A document management system should offer effective search tools for document retrieval, including full-text search, template field searches, and a visual filing scheme that permits users to browse for documents. The best systems will allow you to find documents using a combination of all three methods.

Document management leverages the value of paper documents. Files can still be viewed, printed, shared, and stored, but with digital document management, these files have the enormous advantage of having active content. You can easily search files with active content, and you can create workflow rules to automatically route files to users.

For more information on our Document Management solutions, visit our website at: 

http://www.momnet.com/Business-Solutions/Applications/Imaging

Choosing the Right MFP for Your Office

The multi-function printer, or MFP, has become an extremely valuable piece of equipment in the modern office. This versatile device eliminates the need for standalone printers, copiers, scanners, and fax machines, saving you space and money while benefiting the environment, as well. 

Once you’ve decided to opt for an MFP (or replace your existing unit), the next step is to find the right machine for your organization. However, with so many choices out there, this decision can appear complicated — of all the machines available, which one is best-suited to handle your specific needs? 

Selecting the right MFP is important to ensure that you end up with a machine that will meet your business needs, keep up with your workload, and prevent you from overspending on a unit. So how can you be sure to choose the right MFP for your office? Here are some things to consider: 

Define Your Needs – Take the time to go over your requirements and determine what you’ll need from an MFP. What will you be using it for, and how often? Will you be working with black and white or color documents? Which is more important to you, the speed and quantity, or the quality of your prints and scans? Which features, bells, and whistles will be beneficial or necessary to your operation? 

Evaluate Initial Investment vs. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – Consider not only the initial cost of an MFP but the cost of supplies and maintenance over the lifetime of the unit. What may seem like a bargain up front can end up costing you much more over the long run. Also, consider asking your office equipment provider if leasing an MFP might be more cost effective, since sometimes lease agreements include regular service and some supplies. 

Learn Your Specs – MFP specifications can seem like a foreign language (DPI, RAM, PPM, etc.). Get to know what these industry specs mean, and what they mean to you. An impressive DPI (dots-per-inch) won’t be a requirement for you if your office will only be scanning documents and forms. 

Demand Compatibility – Determine which operating systems are used by your staff and select an MFP that will be compatible. And it is essential you choose a machine that will easily integrate into your existing network. 

Seek Expert Advice – If you’re still not sure which MFP is right for your office, ask your local office equipment provider to help you make a good choice. They truly know it all when it comes to these machines, and can also support you with local, reliable service after your MFP is in place. 

Contact us today at info@momnet.com, and let us help you choose the right MFP for your business. Also, visit us at www.momnet.com.