Document scanning & digitization
Document scanning and digitization, from boxes to searchable files
Paper is expensive to keep and slow to search. We turn file rooms into searchable, secure digital records, including the oversize drawings, well logs and microfiche nobody else wants to touch.
Plenty of companies still keep important records on paper: contracts, drawings, patient charts, well files. Some of it is irreplaceable, and much of it lives in a room that floods, burns or simply runs out of space.
Digitizing it is usually cheaper than storing it. More importantly, a scanned and indexed file can be searched, shared and backed up. A box in a file room can do none of those.
The work is unglamorous and detail-heavy. Staples come out, pages get checked, oversize sheets need the right scanner, and every batch is checked for quality before anything is called done.
What's included
- Standard scanning
- Documents scanned to PDF, TIFF or JPEG, single or double-sided, in color where it matters.
- Large-format scanning
- Engineering drawings, blueprints, maps, plans, circuit diagrams, topographic maps, well logs and oversize photographs.
- OCR
- Scanned pages turned into searchable text, so a file can be found by what it says rather than where it was filed.
- Indexing
- Keywords, metadata, barcode capture and file naming, loaded into your document management system.
- Data entry
- Information pulled from forms, invoices, time cards and reports into a usable format, by people or by machine learning for standard forms.
- Document classification
- Mixed boxes sorted by document type, so a stack of paper becomes organized records.
- Microfilm and microfiche
- Film, fiche and aperture cards converted to digital images.
- Old media conversion
- Data recovered from CDs, tapes, DVDs, floppy and Zip disks and VHS, with specialist partners where needed.
- Automated redaction
- Sensitive information removed from scanned documents without relying on a fixed template.
The process
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Cost and scope
What your paper costs to keep now, and what it would take to digitize it.
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Preparation
Boxes packed, collected and securely transported, then bindings and staples removed.
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Scanning
Documents scanned, images cleaned up, and every batch checked for quality.
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Capture
Indexing, OCR and data entry, so the files are searchable.
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Storage and originals
Files delivered to your storage, on-site or cloud. Originals returned, stored off-site or securely shredded, as you choose.
Questions we get asked
What does keeping paper actually cost?
More than the rent on the file room, though that adds up too. As an illustration, a 20-by-20-foot room at $5 a square foot a month costs $24,000 a year, or $240,000 over a ten-year lease. Then add the staff time spent searching, lost and duplicate files, version confusion, copier leases, and the risk of losing it all to one flood.
Should we destroy the originals afterwards?
Not until you are sure. We would rather you keep originals until the digital copies have proved themselves. When you are ready, we can return them, store them off-site or shred them securely.
Can you handle large drawings and well logs?
Yes. Large-format engineering drawings, blueprints, maps and well logs are a regular part of the work.
Where do the files end up?
Wherever suits you: your document management system, SharePoint, a file share or another cloud store, indexed so people can find things.
Related
Document management, scanning and redaction, secure remote access and confidentiality controls.
IndustryEngineering & constructionCAD workstations, drawing digitization, jobsite connectivity and project cost reporting.
IndustryHealthcareEHR support, HIPAA compliance, telehealth and help desk for practices without IT staff.
IndustryThirty minutes, and you will know where you stand.
No obligation, no pitch deck. We will tell you what we would do and what the ceiling would be. If that is not worth it, you have lost half an hour.