Deciding between DIY vs. professional scanning services is a challenge. You want to save your company time and money, but cutting costs can mean cutting quality. Though there are times when it makes sense to keep your document scanning in-house, it is sometimes better to hire a commercial scanning service to get the job done right. Keep reading to understand the difference between doing it yourself and working with a professional scanning company.
Choose In-House Desktop Scanners
When it comes to scanning documents in-house, you can rent or buy a desktop scanner. Desktop scanners can handle documents up to a certain size. In-house scanning is best in cases when:
- You need fast turn around
- You don’t require extensive indexing
- You only have a few documents to scan
- You are scanning many documents over a long period
Pro Tip: Scanning in-house gives you more security since non-authorized employees may not be allowed to see certain documents to scan them.
Hire a Professional Scanning Service
If you have many documents sitting around that you need to digitize, choose a professional service. You can trust professionals to deal with a high volume of documents that need indexing. The best services use optical character recognition (OCR), which allows you to find your documents once they are scanned. Commercial scanning services are best when:
- You have many documents that you need to scan
- You have documents that are larger than legal size paper (8.5” by 14”)
- You need help saving your documents to a cloud service
Use a Combination of Both Scanners
You can use a desktop scanner for the documents you don’t need indexed. Some documents you can easily handle in your office, and you can leave the rest for commercial scanning services. While there is a difference between DIY vs. professional scanning services, they can work in tandem.
Scanstrong offers commercial scanning services that help you convert to a paperless office. You’ll save time and can enjoy the security of digital files when you use a content management system (CMS) backed up to the cloud. Contact us today to find out how we can help you free up storage space and save money on paper in your office.