While outsourcing document scanning and cloud document management have transformed the way organizations of all sizes and industries manage their critical business documents, good old-fashioned “do it yourself” solutions can still make a lot of sense—especially considering how cost-effective and easy both hardware and software are now to operate, even for knowledge workers that lack computer-savvy.
Where DIY Document Management Makes the Most Sense
In some industries, like pharmaceutical, documents cannot physically leave the premises due to regulatory compliance, legal issues and/or heightened security requirements. In others, the workload is too small or irregular to outsource, so it doesn’t make sense from an economic or convenience standpoint. In yet other organizations with multiple locations, documents need to be processed on a decentralized basis so they can get into the system immediately, such as in new account on-boarding applications.
Even if some departments outsource within an organization, others may want to keep things in-house, such as research and development and legal.
And this doesn’t even include situations where cloud-based solutions are not a viable option for internal IT requirements.
Whatever the case, DIY document management can still be the right choice for many—however…
DIY in Operation Still Requires Professional Planning & Implementation
As easy as they are to use, successful implementation and integration of document scanners, document scanning software and document management, still takes a trained professional to:
- Help clarify your paper-based business rules and procedures
- Identify the optimum document management solution
- Determine system requirements
- Integrate hardware, software and possibly cloud components
- Train both supervisors and users
- Provide ongoing technical support
Supplementation via Outsourcing
All of the above is great for “day-forward” use—i.e., handling all incoming documents following launch of the system—but what about all those documents already in file cabinets, the basement, chart room, or offsite storage, also known as your “back-file”? Document conversion professionals can take all of those documents, scan them, index them and make them available to your new DIY document management system—quickly, cost-effectively and without the paper cuts.
Thus, as you consider the best way to take advantage of document scanning and document management solutions, remember that in-house systems should be considered along with their outsourced and cloud-based counterparts—and possibly even utilized in combination.