Scanner Info for a business -- Have you gone paperless? If so tell me about it

[GCS]

Looking to possibly take our accounting firm paperless. I have looked over what we do here and how much paper we waste (and toner for that matter) and all the money we spend to box up and store 10 years worth of client paperwork, not to mention our own. It's ridiculous!

I am thinking we may to look towards the future and see about working towards electronic archiving of our client work.

If you have gone paperless tell me what did you use and how is it going.


Quick Background info ...

Every month we process client information -- bank statements, credit card statements, tax notices, payroll reports etc. We produce financial statements from this information. We are required to keep this information on hand for 10 years. Right now this is all in paper form.

It would be great for all of these documents to be stored in the client folder on our server in a PDF form (or some other form if it's appropriate)

This would be a daily occurrence for us for multiple clients.

Server space is not an issue. Network is a peer to peer workgroup running Windows XP.

Ultimately it would be great to scan in the backlog of paperwork as well but it is not a priority at the moment.

Looking for something safe, simple, easy. Something a clerical worker or receptionist could do.

Thanks in advance for any advice you care to share.

Greg

 

[Rottie]

all I can say some scanners come with program that allows to store documents to hard drive. You might want to look for multi function printer that comes with fax copier and scanner. I have CanoScan 4300F with touchbutton that scans documents to store on the hard drive.

 

[corkyg]

It works for me, but . . . not for wifey. I think PDFs are great - and filing can be greatly enhanced that way. As long as you can print out hard copy for those who must have it, go for it. And, plan some redundancy with two or more backups.

 

[Athena]

Scan to PDF is a really good way to make reduce paperwork. Don't worry about file names; use metadata to describe the documents. Get everyone in the habit of completing the File Properties and you won't get bogged down in hundreds of folders and subfolders -- just set up standards for tagging the documents.

 

[VinylxScratches]

You'd probably want some kind of Document Management System.

 

[GCS]

Originally posted by: VinylxScratches
You'd probably want some kind of Document Management System.

Any suggestions, anyone?

 

[nato78]

Originally posted by: GCS


Any suggestions, anyone?

Whats your budget GCS? In the past i have used Ascent Capture software by KOFAX. You would have to get a quote from them directly. In Australia atleast, i havent seen there software in retail stores.

In my opinion you would also want an independant scanning solution, dont bother with the multi-function devices. The last place i worked for had a scanner that cost around $AU2000 which could do 40 pages per minute and had a 50 page auto document feeder.

Software wise, I have only used the Ascent Capture software, and then also another one called EZEScan. They are based in Australia and not sure of there availability outside of Australia.

The scanning software mentioned above had options where you could export the files in a variety of formats to anywhere you wanted. There are options on how to save the filename, too many to name. Also, you can do the same with the folder structure.

Sorry, its late sunday night and im trying to keep my brain working .

You still in Virginia (checked profile)? I was put out of work about 6 weeks ago, but im open to offers if you would like me to get you setup over there. Ive been wanting to get back over there since i last went 4 years ago hehe.