Optimizing document scanning

Posted by Mark Brousseau

In spite of the tremendous growth of document imaging over the past decade, half of the companies that responded to a recent TAWPI Question of the Week (www.tawpi.org) admit that their organization images 30 percent or less of their documents and forms that could be usefully scanned.

Based on the survey results, these organizations are badly lagging their peers that have adopted document imaging in a big way: 17 percent of survey respondents indicated that they scan 75 percent of their documents and forms while 33 percent of respondents said they scan all of their documents.

Overall, the survey results illustrate that there is plenty of potential growth for document imaging, explains Derrick Murphy (dmurphy@ibml.com), president and CEO of ibml (www.ibml.com).

Murphy attributes the slow adoption of scanning by some companies to the perceived (or actual) complications of deploying an integrated document imaging solution, and the change management associated with it. "Process change scares some people more than new technology," he explains.

But Murphy believes that more companies will take a fresh look at their document imaging initiatives as the economy emerges from the recession. "They'll re-evaluate imaging for all of the reasons vendors like ibml have talked about over the years: accelerating access to critical information, re-balancing their labor force, improving customer service, and lowering operating costs," Murphy says.

"Now is a good time to invest in capital assets that better position your organization to take advantage of the inevitable economic turnaround," Murphy concludes. "Companies that aren't prepared to take advantage of the turnaround risk falling behind their forward-thinking competitors."

What do you think?