DCA News Blog
Outsourced, Distributed or Centralized Scanning?
Posted on 12/7/2010
Improving technology has made recognition software more user-friendly, efficient and cost effective. As scanning and capture technologies become more widely utilized across organizations, it is important to evaluate the various strategies of capture. Outsourced scanning, centralized in-house scanning and distributed scanning each have proven benefits as well as drawbacks.
A 2010 independent study by AIIM evaluates the decision criteria of a selection of 65,000 respondents when deciding which capture strategy to implement. They found a significant increase in the preference for both centralized and distributed capture, and only a small increase in outsourced scanning.
The study shows that larger organizations were more likely to outsource scanning, with 55% of large companies outsourcing as compared to 32% of midsized and 22% of smaller organizations. The primary driver for outsourced scanning is reduced cost, followed by the desire to keep the workforce focused on core tasks. An impressive 88% of respondents were satisfied with the service provided by their outsourcer.
Centralized in-house scanning was preferred when security and physical transportation of documents was a concern. Issues with this model can be limited storage space and logistical requirements. Centralized scanning may yield better quality entry and indexing due to the greater process knowledge of in-house staff.
When working across multiple locations or departments, distributed scanning often delivers the greatest benefit. Rather than shipping documents to a central location for imaging, departmental scanners and MFP’s may be utilized by remote staff to capture documents. This sometimes presents a quality control issue, as training is often limited due to the larger number of scanner operators.
DCA is a provider of both on-site and off-site scanning services and has a proven track record of maintaining the highest level of security, confidentiality, and professionalism. Our years of conversion experience in some of the most heavily regulated environments have yielded an offering to conversion services that should address virtually any client concerns. Our scanning associates are made up of dedicated professionals who can quickly set-up a high-speed, client specific scanning environment to meet the specified goals and budgets to just about any project. For more information, please call DCA at (908) 735-0393 or contact us online.
For the complete AIIM study, please click here.
Tags:
centralized scanning
scanning services
distributed capture
in-house scanning
outsourced scanning
document imaging
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