Articles

The Evolution of Document Scanning

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Document scanning and data capture are mature technologies that have enjoyed a
significant amount of penetration and success at large organizations. The growth
rates for these solutions have remained strong over the past several years, despite the
economic downturn. Organizations realize that paper volumes are not decreasing as
fast as they would like.
 

Against this backdrop, organizations also recognize that they need to get more out of
their document scanning investments, to help drive the myriad document processes
that follow.
 

By better automating document scanning (the point at which most documents enter
an organization), rather than trying to get at critical data downstream (the traditional
document management approach), organizations can take cost and inefficiencies out
of their document-driven business processes, such as claims processing and invoice
routing. But this approach accomplishes something else: it fulfills every company’s
objective to improve customer service and corporate responsiveness by eliminating
downstream exceptions. Going forward, document scanning solutions will continue
to evolve to intelligently and accurately capture as much high quality information as
possible at the point a document enters an organization.
 

Not Just Scanners Anymore
In order to provide downstream applications with the accurate information they need,
in the timely manner it is needed, scanner providers must deliver more than just a
hardware device. They must bundle it with software-based intelligence to improve
image quality, eliminate exceptions, and accelerate turnaround by reducing manual
sorting and paper handling.

As part of this trend, document scanning solutions will evolve from vanilla scan-toarchive
and towards complex data capture, in turn, driving document-driven business
processes.

For instance, the concept of the digital mailroom will take center stage again; the
goal is to take paper, and all of the costs and inefficiencies that go with it, out of the
organization as soon as possible. Many organizations already are talking about socalled
shared services environments, where multiple applications are managed on
the same platform. This approach reduces operating costs, makes better use of IT
infrastructure, and eliminates the data silos that have stymied enterprise information
management initiatives in the past. A shared services approach is particularly
appealing in government processing applications.
None of this is possible with traditional scanners that just take pictures.
 

The Bottom Line
There’s no question that organizations across vertical markets see the value of this
approach.
 

As a result of the recession, organizations know they must do a better job of
addressing the costs and inefficiencies associated with paper documents. And
doing it at the point of capture with intelligent document scanning solutions, rather
than waiting for downstream systems to make sense of the information, will deliver
the process improvements they crave, and a better return on investment on their
enterprise content solutions in the bargain.