If your file room or archive looks something like this, it might be time to apply some spring cleaning to it. And we’re not talking about clearing out the cobwebs and dusting some shelves. We’re talking about getting your documents and archives in check, under control and useful. Sound like a pretty massive undertaking? Well, it might not be the chore you assume, thanks to latest technologies in microfilm scanners.
Whether your archives and stored files are paper, microfilm or microfiche, the good news is they can be digitized. Digital docs have multiple advantages, of course, not the least of which is reducing the physical storage needs of what probably started out as an organized collection but grew into the collection that led you to neglect it all this time.
Digital documents also provide the advantages of access and convenience. The pace of today’s world demands that information be available quickly. In many cases, instantly. Digital files provide this advantage over stored collections, which require you to find the right document and then convert it in order to share or transmit it. Digital documents can be sent, shared, or stored “in the cloud.”
Security is another advantage of digital documents. They can be saved with customized access levels. Provide access to those you want, keep out those you don’t. It’s a bit different from a physical storage room, where security is less reliable.
By converting your old files to digital docs, you’re also protecting them from physical destruction. Fire, water damage, human hazards – these are all threats to physical files. Creating a digital backup ensures none of these factors permanently destroys the information held in your documents.
Finally, digital docs provide a more “green” alternative to storing all those paper files, which can be recycled once they’re in digital form if there’s no relevant need for the originals.
Apply some spring cleaning to your document storage, and with all the extra space you have after clearing out those boxes and folders could make room for something fun, like a ping-pong table or foosball table.
As we alluded to earlier, digital conversion isn’t the challenge it used to be. The cameras, sensors and technology in today’s conversion scanners have made it a task that can be done on-site, at your own pace and securely under your own discretion. As an example, the e-ImageData, ScanPro® All-In-One™, provides a complete solution when converting paper or microfilm images to a digital format. The All-in-One offers the benefits of both a roll film and fiche conversion unit and an on-demand unit all within one machine that can fit on a standard desktop.
Once you’ve tackled your document storage spring cleaning, you can move on to something really scary, like cleaning out that break room refrigerator.