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4 Reasons to Scan Your Documents in Long-Term Storage

Have you thought about how paper-based document storage opens up your data to fraud risks and impacts your company’s efficiency? Data from Consolidated Technologies states over 70% of businesses would cease to work within a year if their documents were lost in a natural disaster. While many companies still have thousands of boxes in storage, it’s important to reconsider this strategy to ensure business continuity in the future.

Humidity, mold damage, fire, and other natural disasters are some of the most common hazards to documents in long-term storage. Online document storage not only saves you from being at risk of losing critical business files, but also optimizes your business processes.

If your company still has boxes in long-term storage, here are some reasons why you may want to consider a document scanning strategy instead:

1. Reduce Your Risks

In addition to helping you eliminate boxes stored in long-term storage facilities, scanning documents also protects you from unnecessary exposure by:

  • Improving your information security: Unlike with paper files, scanned documents allow you to control who receives, reviews, and approves invoices to avoid them accidentally getting lost or in the wrong hands
  • Removing the risk of water, fire, erosion, or mold damage: Redundant data backups ensure your processed work is always available
  • Allowing for easier audit preparation: The best way to be prepared and provide the auditor with easy and temporary access to all necessary documents is through cloud-based document management software

2. Make Remote Work Easier

The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way people work. A recent study by Owl Labs found 1 in 2 people won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work once the pandemic is over.

With this new work trend, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses to be remote-friendly and to have a business continuity plan in place for the future. With the help of cloud-based document management software, your staff can access documents within seconds from any computer or mobile device. They no longer have to wait hours or days for boxes to be retrieved from a warehouse or the office. This helps your employees get more done in less time.

3. Improve Efficiency

Research firm IDC found businesses lose 20-30% of revenue yearly because of inefficiency. Everyday processes could be slowing down your business and decreasing your revenue. Even activities that, on the surface, don’t seem consequential–like searching for a document in a filing cabinet–can slowly add up and result in significant time and revenue loss. Cloud file storage has added efficiency benefits that are simply not possible with long-term box storage.

With cloud-based document management software, workflow automation can be tailored to your business. By shifting from paper-based processes to cloud-based systems, teams work more efficiently, shorter wait times can improve customer service, and operating costs can be reduced. Additionally, your remote teams don’t have to be stressed about keeping hard copies of essential documents in their homes that can become vulnerable to a myriad of risks.

When insurance provider TitleVest went through a period of explosive growth, their main concern was being able to continue offering outstanding customer service. However, new paper customer files had to be shuffled back and forth between their document storage facility and office, making it hard to onboard new clients quickly and increased response times when customers needed help. By enlisting the help of MetaSource’s outsourced services to scan and index closed title files, they saved $330,000 annually through reclaimed office space, increased employee productivity, and reduced offsite storage costs.

4. Two Convenient Document Scanning Options

Digitizing your stored documents (or those about to go into a storage warehouse) can seem like an overwhelming task financially and logistically. Fortunately, there are two approaches that can help you get it done with minimal friction:

  1. Scan the most recent documents first and work your way back to the oldest documents in storage. You can scan a predetermined amount of records each month until you reach your goal, giving you a fixed document scanning expense over a period of time.
  2. Scan all of the documents (or a subset) over the course of a few weeks, and switch to a digital records storage strategy quickly.

UKG, a Fortune 500 leader in human capital management, payroll, human resource service delivery, and workforce management, counts on MetaSource as its North American document scanning partner. With over 30 years of experience, MetaSource provides UKG with professional high-volume scanning services that include file scanning, tagging, and uploading employee documents onto UKG’s human resource platform. Not only is MetaSource able to process millions of HR documents annually for UKG, but as a SOC 2 Type 2 certified partner is able to do it securely.

Contact MetaSource to find out how to easily transition to a paperless office.

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