woman worker sitting at a clean tidy desk looking zen and stress free

Marie Kondo has sparked an urge for minimalism, and it is a trend that has infiltrated every area of our daily lives. From sparkling, organized closets to clearing shelves of clutter, many of us have embraced the adage that less is more. Why not bring this concept to life in your office, by allowing the magic of scanning services to clear your desk and usher in a whole new you?

One of the most apparent advantages of scanning services is the space they allow you to save. Digital documents are compact, sleek files that will enable vast swathes of data to be stored in a single hard drive. But what are the other advantages to order and clarity in the workplace? Read on, and you may be surprised!

And when you’re convinced of the magic of a tidy desk and how document scanning services can help you achieve that goal, reach out to River City Data for a free quote. We can help you get your clutter under control!

What Benefit Does a Clear Desk Offer?

Taking advantage of scanning services comes with several bonuses for businesses and staff. In addition, the mere act of organizing can also have some unexpected perks.

From reducing stress to boosting productivity, there are several advantages to clearing your desk (luckily, we mean literally, not metaphorically!). Some of the more unexpected bonuses can really improve the general overall working environment and offer benefits to all workers.

Reduce Stress

Research has proven that a clean, ordered environment can have a positive impact on our stress levels. The visual effect of a clutter-free desk can leave you feeling calm, zen, and ready to work. In turn, this helps to generate a soothing and stress-free working environment. A clear desk really can be a clear mind!

Save Time

Reducing the clutter in your space can also be a real time saver. Scanning services help remove physical debris and make files easier to locate, meaning that you can immediately access the data you need. As an added bonus, the office will be easy to keep clean if you are not continually moving obstacles.

Improve Health

It may seem unexpected, but keeping your desk clear of clutter can have advantages for physical health, in addition to mental wellbeing. The increased ease of cleaning means that germs and bugs are less likely to build up and spread. Easier, more effective cleaning can minimize staff illness and reduce the spread of coughs, colds, and viruses.

Keeping spaces and areas clear and accessible also helps to reduce the chance of accidents in the workplace. Slips, trips, and falls can also cause serious injury, putting employees and clients at risk. Keep walkways clear from towering piles of paperwork, and make sure heavy files do not impair visibility.

Boost Efficiency

In a similar vein, streamlining information via scanning services also allows you to use your time more efficiently. There will be no more lost invoices or misplaced documents to hunt thorough; users can simply log on and access what they require. Not only is this record management better for staff, but it presents a more efficient and reliable service for clients and customers.

All interactions can be made faster and more effective, communications streamlined, and facts checked in no time. Employees will be able to archive old projects without issue and retrieve them if required at a moment’s notice. Productivity will also rise; everything you need to proceed is right there on hand, and this allows you to get on with the prioritized job.

Professional Image

There is nothing less professional than visiting someone who is hidden behind a mountain of paperwork. Presenting a clear desk to the world helps you appear capable, in control, and organized — a much better message to send to your clients!

Appearances matter, and a busy, messy desk indicates that you do not care about your job or are too lazy to care. Neither of these makes a great impression, and the added stress of scrabbling around for files only reinforces this. Get organized, get professional, and get results.

What Are The Benefits Of Scanning Services?

As well as keeping your office clean, clear, and productive, the benefits of scanning services can be seen in other areas of your working environment.

Security

Digital files help to preserve the security of your data; they are far less accessible than their physical paper counterparts. Document scanning helps transfer the details from the physical to the digital realm.

Unlike traditional filing systems, using scanning services allows you to protect sensitive information with passwords and codes. You will also be able to control access, blocking certain colleagues or staff members from accessing data.

Security can also be assured in the event that your office is struck by a flood, fire, or natural disaster. In these instances, paper files would be destroyed, and the information and data you rely on gone forever. By going digital, however, you can help to ensure that the information is safely backed up on a server, allowing you to carry on no matter what.

Transfer of Information

Scanning services allow files to be transformed into a digital format, which makes the exchange of information more manageable. Documents and data can be sent instantly to anywhere in the world, without having to worry about the uncertainty of post or fax. This also makes it easier to have improved conversations with colleagues and clients; you can relay them documents they need without delay.

How Can We Help?

Here at River City Data, we have a wealth of experience in the world of document scanning. Our team of experienced professionals has worked with businesses and clients across the globe in a range of niches and industries.

Our goal is to help you streamline and simplify your business, taking advantage of the rise in technology and scanning services available. With our help, you can boost efficiency, increase productivity, and enjoy the benefits of a clear desk. Document scanning can transform the way you do business — for the better.

Interested in taking the next step? Why not get in touch with our friendly team today, and talk through the options available. You will be Marie Kondo in your workspace in no time and enjoying the significant benefits which follow!

two people floating in a sea of papers on life rafts

Does your business depend on files and documents; customer, client, or patient information; or essential records? If the answer is yes, a disaster recovery plan is critical for your business.

When disaster strikes, the last thing you want to worry about is recovering all the paper files and records necessary for the business to proceed. If there were a flood or fire, you’d also be working to replace computers and office equipment, and finding a new work location.

Even if the disaster was theft or a small localized flood or fire that only damaged your files, the less time you can spend recovering information is more time you can spend on other aspects of your company.

That’s where River City Data can help. When you trust us to handle your data, you can rest assured knowing we protect it throughout any disaster. Contact River City Data to keep your company’s records, files, and other data safe, secure, and accessible through natural disasters, and cyber-attacks.

What is disaster recovery planning?

Many companies make efforts to construct a disaster recovery plan to resume operations in their business as soon as possible in the event of a disaster.

Catastrophic events, such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and technological equipment failure, can lead to downtime for any business. That downtime can lead to lost revenue, or worse if it threatens valuable client or patient data.

A 2015 study found that downtime that lasts for one hour can cost small companies $8,000, mid-size companies $74,000, and large companies $700,000.

Having a disaster recovery plan in place, you can reduce downtime and speed when business operations can resume.

Large tech-based corporations may have entire teams dedicated to disaster recovery. For smaller businesses, having such a group can be cost-prohibitive.

Some smaller companies try to add disaster recovery planning responsibilities to an existing employee’s task load. This shortcut often backfires, as the employee may be too busy to adequately plan for disasters or not appropriately trained in how to do so.

Hiring a data management service like River City Data can help your business prepare for the worst without placing the burden on current employees. Your employees can focus on their areas of expertise and responsibilities. The data management experts at River City Data handle the disaster recovery plan for your company’s data and records.

Whether you decide to hire a document management company to help with your disaster recovery plan or choose to forge your path, there are a few ways you can better prepare for a disaster.

Create a Priority List

Before disaster strikes, you can prepare by creating a priority list. Consider every single thing your business needs to operate.

Once you’ve listed everything, identify each item as Priority 1, Priority 2, or Priority 3.

Priority 1 items are those that are essential for your business to be up and running again. This group might include computers and specific apps that you use daily.

Priority 2 items are those that you need in a day. They aren’t the most urgent for business operations to resume, but they’re necessary for smooth sailing in the short term.

Priority 3 items are things that you can do without for at least a few days. Breaking down your business to the essential items for the operation will let you focus on a backup plan that prioritizes replacing those things.

Create a Disaster Recovery Team

This step is another that should occur long before the disaster hits. Think about the vital roles your company will need in the case of a tragic event or natural disaster.

For example, you might consider creating a disaster recovery team with the following:

the person who relays updates to internal employees
the person who gives updates to vendors or clients
the person who removes all salvageable material items from the workspace
an IT recovery director or team who is responsible for all technology
an insurance point person, who communicates with the insurance companies
a media (or social media) spokesperson, if warranted
a legal liaison, if needed

It is also a good idea to assign each integral role a backup person if the primary employee is on vacation or has left the company.

Creating a structured system in which each employee knows their responsibilities expedites a swift return to business operations. The best way to help your team cope with the disruption of a disaster by being as prepared as possible.

How River City Data Can Help With the Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Business

The best thing about reaching out to River City Data for help with your disaster recovery plan? The burden you’ll feel lifted from your shoulders when you can focus on the part of your business you love instead of planning for the worst.

You can trust our team at River City Data because we’ve been in the business of protecting business records for over 40 years. We use state-of-the-art software to scan documents and have the equipment to deal with high volume records and large formats.

We also index the data using any parameters you prefer. You then choose where that indexed, searchable data is stored — and if you choose the cloud, you know that it will be accessible wherever you can access the internet.

Cloud storage is the perfect choice if you’re concerned about losing the information contained in paper records in the case of a disaster. You can control which employees and clients access what data and when. Your business will be back up and running in no time!

If you’re ready to take the first step in preparing your business for an emergency, Contact River City Data today. Ask about disaster recovery planning and sleep easy tonight, knowing your business’s crucial data is safe.

businessman scanning documents for a company

Since we are a document scanning company, we bet you can guess which way this article might lean. When you have a scanning project, it’s natural to wonder if you can handle it yourself. Follow along with us as we outline several criteria you should consider when deciding whether to outsource your document scanning.

At River City Data, we’ve seen and managed nearly every type of scanning and conversion initiative. We scale our services from singular clients with small (but crucial!) conversions, to the most massive corporate scanning projects.

Contact us today to set up an honest, transparent quote for any size scanning job. Our clients have known, liked, and trusted us for forty years and counting. We deliver quality, secure, accessible results every time we scan for you.

Project Size Matters

Perhaps the primary determinant of whether to DIY your scanning project is the size of the task. If you have a few conventional sized paper files to digitize, scanning them yourself may work just fine.

Most office or home scanners can handle digitizing paper records in letter, legal, and even some specialty paper sizes. Further, your staff hours required to oversee the document management would be minimal in this scenario. If converting to digital documents takes one person a few hours to complete, DIY is a perfect fit.

However, if you have hundreds or thousands of paper records to scan, index, file, and store, consider outsourcing your project to a scanning company you trust. Why? Document scanning companies specialize in large-scale scanning projects.

Your scanning company partner will ensure a speedy and accurate finish time, without sacrificing quality or details paramount to your data integrity. Professional scanning teams are efficient and laser-focused on doing one thing well: preserving your data for ease of use, security, and other business related goals.

Special Equipment Is a Hassle

As in the above example, conventional records like letters and legal-sized documents may feed easily into your office or home scanner. However, for items that don’t conform to standard sizes or color schematics, it’s wise to select specialized equipment designed to handle scanning “curveballs.”

Maps, artwork, photographs, blueprints, and schematics do not always reproduce well on conventional scanners. Yes, you can purchase software that could allow you to scan your large docs in pieces, but we don’t recommend it.

If your company routinely scans large documents, you might consider purchasing a specialized scanner for digitizing non-conventional data and images. However, get ready for sticker shock.

Though scanning equipment comes in every variety for all the “unicorn” scanning projects under the sun, you’ll pay considerably more for the specificity. It’s smart to consider carefully how much you’ll use any scanning equipment you purchase.

Having a high-quality conventional scanner in businesses like law offices and medical clinics makes sense. Spending half your annual office supply budget on a photo-quality large doc scanner may not be the most practical choice.

Outsourcing your non-standard or large doc scanning projects saves you time, frustration, and expense in the long haul. It’s better to offload the investment of equipment purchase to a specialized scanning partner in these cases.

Document scanning companies have the proper equipment to handle large-scale and non-conventional projects.

Assess Your Indexing Needs

Digitizing and filing a few converted paper records is fast and straightforward. A few digitized records here and there can quickly pile up into a document management nightmare if not properly indexed.

After all, the purpose of scanning documents is to get them out of bulky manilla folders and cabinets. Instead, you want a cluster of files you can easily categorize, archive, and access whenever you need them.

When your digital document piles become too high, definitely enlist the help of an experienced document scanning company. Getting help indexing your digital files can prevent crucial data loss and customer privacy concerns.

Document Indexing is the process of categorizing your data by the criteria you choose that fits your business model. Common indexing structures include:

Customer account numbers
Order numbers
Name
Birthdate
Region or address
Client industry or sector
Sales funnel position

Plus, you can customize your indexing fields to include relevant keywords or phrases that help you know where to look for the information you need. For example, a law office might index data based on case type, and a dental office may categorize files by services performed.

Having a variety of useful indexing fields can enable you to use your data for many different analytics that can help drive your success. Plus, with strategic help, you can craft or revamp your document management system in ways that flex with your evolving business and help you grow.

Competently scanning and converting your documents, when done correctly, expands your capacity for success and increases office efficiency over time.

Document Security Is Crucial

Once again, scanning a few documents with non-sensitive data is a total DIY green light. However, if you must keep your data secure, how will you ensure that happens if you DIY?

Enlisting help from a document scanning company can ensure your documents remain safe under virtual lock and key. By providing you access via a secure log-in channel, the professional scanning team can provide a secure harbor for sensitive client information.

Further, if you’re required by law to maintain client or patient privacy, it’s best to outsource your document scanning projects to a specialist. They’ll have relevant HIPAA certifications to guarantee safe handling and storage for all private information.

River City Data: The Clear Choice for a Trusted Document Scanning Company

Your data matters to us at River City Data. We understand you’ve built your business, client trust, and customer loyalty on the data you’ve collected in a variety of formats.

Scanning and converting your paper documents to relevant, accessible, and secure digital formats is what we’ve done for over forty years. Our history of excellence speaks for itself.

Many of our clients have hired us after failed DIY scanning attempts, or when a less experienced company could not deliver desired results.

Contact us today to set up a free project quote. We’ll clearly outline our strategy, procedures, and fees so you get the data integrity you need from all your digitized documents.

young engineer with a computer and hardhat on a construction worksite

Life would be so much easier if every document came printed on 8.5 by 11-inch paper. But that’s not reality! In actuality, scanning large documents presents a challenge most businesses should not undertake without expert help.

It may be tempting to allocate more physical space for document originals like blueprints, maps, legal-sized records, photos, schematics, and other non-standard originals. However, scanning large documents so you can swiftly access and utilize them is possible with the right help.

This week contact River City Data for a quote on scanning large documents and storing them in a usable digital format.

Scan Large Documents: Do Not DIY

Conventional office scanners have several limitations. They only scan the most widely used document sizes, such as letter, legal, and A3 paper designations.

When you have a record that doesn’t fit those measurements, you have to get super creative to scan your large document accurately on your own.

Much like stitching together panoramic images with a Polaroid camera, scanning a large document onto multiple pages is risky. Your results will be clunky at best, and completely non-functional at worst.

If you DO succeed in scanning all parts of your large document, you’ll need access to quality scanning software that can integrate the pieces of your record into a readable “whole” again. Plus, you’ll need the experience and expertise to effectively navigate the software for a finished, storeable, indexable, accessible file.

Wasting person-hours, money, and often frustration is not the way to go when simpler large document scanning options exist. Especially if large documents don’t encompass the majority of your records, it’s smart to ask for help from a dedicated scanning service provider.

Should I Buy a Large Doc Scanner?

Though specialized equipment is one way to go in large document scanning, the investment in a quality large document color printer can be prohibitive.

Plus, you can’t stop at a printer purchase. You must also commit to buying software and sometimes server space to convert, store, manage, and index your large document files.

Pile on top of that training it takes to become proficient at large document scanning and conversion, and you may have more than you bargained for in a scanner purchase for your company.

It makes sense to outsource your large document scanning to an experienced and trusted partner, whether you produce one large document per week or thousands.

Scanning: Combining Art and Science

Entrusting your large document scanning to a team of professionals is a smart choice for any company. Architects, surveyors, legal firms, government agencies, artists, and photographers are several sectors and companies that need large document scanning capabilities on small and large scales.

Though business and organizational leaders are likely meticulous in many of their job functions, some elements of superior document scanning practices may fall through the cracks if it’s not your full-time job to ensure they happen.

Scanning your documents accurately is only a small piece of the scanning process.

Here’s what happens when you start scanning a large document.

1. Document Prep: All staples, clips, and other hardware must be removed from the document, a sometimes tedious and time consuming effort, especially with multiple pages. Seals must be embossed, and you must select the correct grayscale or color parameters from which to work.
2. Repair: Bent corners, torn edges, water stains, holes, or worn segments must all be assessed and fixed where possible.
3. Enhancement: Once scanned, a professional may be able to enhance the image quality, sharpness, or color to ensure the best quality finished scan.
4. Digitization: Choosing the correct file size and type for your scanned document is crucial to ensuring its continuing integrity in a digital format.
5. Storage: Once you’ve scanned your document, you must decide what you’ll do with it. Will you store it in-house, or send it off-site to a dedicated server for archival? How will you retrieve it? Can you be sure your file is secure? What do you require of your document once it is digitized?
  Your answers to these questions determine your large document storage needs. Of course, digitizing your large documents saves physical space and all the financial investment associated with it like rent, upkeep, security measures, and staff hours.
6. Indexing: Stored documents are useless unless you can quickly access the information or images at a moment’s notice. Indexing provides you with a way to organize your digital files based on keywords, phrases, or identifying fields like customer or purchase order number, client birthday, or other personal information. Outsourcing your large document scanning gives you more flexibility in document access and storage with proper indexing protocols.

Finding a trusted scanning partner offers several advantages in large document scanning. Here’s why you should outsource this end of your business.

Why Outsourced Large Document Scanning Makes Sense

Regardless of how many large documents you need digitized, outsourcing this service offers you several benefits:

Save time and money on the lengthy and detailed process of scanning
Ensure proper indexing of your documents for easy and ongoing access wherever and whenever you want it
Secure your documents with encrypted access unique to an individual or organization
Save space and financial waste by archiving your digital documents in a dedicated, off-site server
Receive guaranteed image quality on all scanned documents, color or black and white
Enjoy superior work quality with nuanced methodology developed over decades of experience

River City Data: Your Trusted Partner in Scanning Large Documents

We’ve seen nearly everything in document scanning in our more than 40 years in operation in New London, MN. Our small town values translate to big company efficiency and excellence for every scanning and conversion project we manage.

We’re excited to deliver excellence, security, and accessibility to our clients. We know you run your business based on the trust you place in your data. River City Data understands your data integrity is paramount to your success.

We’re experts in what we do, whether your documents come to us on conventional-sized paper or the largest maps and schematics producible. Contact us today for a project quote, and we’ll be in touch to tackle whatever sized document you want converted.

person working with documents for microfiche conversion

Adaptability. This skill is vital for both businesses and individuals. Access to your data from remote sources is crucial now more than ever. That includes microfiche conversion.

Enter River City Data to the rescue. Do you know where your data is?

If your data lives as a physical entity in a physical location, you could find yourself behind the times very soon.

You could even find yourself out of business. Do not let this happen to you. Let River City Data help your company out today if you still need microfiche conversion.

River City Data will transfer any form of media you have into digital format. Whether physical paper records or analog media, such as microfiche, or obsolete digital, River City Data will transform your data into more mainstream formats using state of the art conversion technology services.

We use AMI View but will work with your existing ECM software to provide the highest quality digital data you need, right at your fingertips. River City Data services include converting both microfilm and microfiche to digital. We specialize in conversion projects.

Both forms of media require bulky, specialized equipment typically available in a library, federal building, or other remote sources. Why is that an issue?

Since both entities have been closed since COVID began (some facilities may have opened after this article was written), the data is not being used to its fullest potential.

River City Data will take care of transferring your old data into digital images, giving it the capability to be accessed anytime, anywhere, crisis or not.

What are Microfilm and Microfiche?

You likely remember using them in school or work. They were tiny little squares that housed countless hours of research reading material. Sometimes information was stored on reels that you watched like a movie.

Though split into two forms now, both microfilm and microfiche were once called under the unified name, microform.

An English scientist invented microform in the late 1830s. Early microforms were used in the 1870s during the Franco-Prussian War to transport messages via carrier pigeons. However, they weren’t widely accepted as a useful form of data storage until the 1920s when George McCarthy made them more mainstream.

In the late 1930s, microforms were then progressively split into two types of formats, microfilm and microfiche. Microfiches were usually single-square boxes, while microfilms were on reels.

Since the Eastman-Kodak company was involved in their creation, people believed microfilm reels were more efficient. But that wasn’t the case. Microfiche was still widely preferred due to its compact size and ease of use.

Each microfiche can house up to 98 tiles, providing readers and researchers alike countless hours of knowledge at their fingertips. And up until recently, companies and individuals equally preferred these versions of data storage also. Why?

The smaller size and analog nature of microfiche helped save companies unnecessary costs. Without the need to print every document or retain every receipt, companies could save storage space. The best part? They were helping the environment back before it was a known thing.

By using River City Data’s conversion services, your old microfilms and microfiche can transfer to digital format. You can free up wasted space and wasted employee hours searching for past data using our microfilm scanning and microfiche scanning services.

This means you can focus more of your resources on building your business instead of trying to simply remain afloat. And, you’ll help to reduce your carbon footprint. It’s a win-win!

Digital Media is Everything

Even though microfilm and microfiche are still used and useful today, they are very outdated forms of information storage. The digital age has brought about an entirely new way of life.

What took countless hours of searching is now accessible in mere seconds via a smartphone.

To think, people actually waited in line to get access to information!

Not only is digitizing your records advantageous for ease of access, but once done, the data will never disappear. The infinite cloud storage space will never get damaged by flood, fire, or other acts of God, and will never fade.

You don’t need a big bulky piece of equipment to read it, either. A simple click of any internet-connected device, and you can have full access to your data. River City Data will convert your documents into two types of formats:

Tiff (Tagged File Format) and PDF (Portable Document Format). Tiff is the method certified by the National Archives and Records Administration, but isn’t widely used by the public.

PDF is the preferred format since it is most user-friendly. Thankfully the PDF has been gaining more acceptance by the records industry in recent years.

Need Microfiche Conversion?

How can River City Data help your company succeed and thrive? Some businesses might think they are saving money by not converting old records. Others have tried scanning their old files using employee resources and scanning equipment.

But in reality, they are wasting both time and money by not using River City Data. Don’t let this be your company.

Our precise microfilm conversion machines allow our operators to adjust for image quality, specs, and skew. This ensures your data is as good or perhaps even better than the original. In addition, you don’t incur any more wasted employee resource hours doing mundane work.

River City Data’s Advantage

River City Data has been in the data conversion business for over 40 years. Our stellar reviews from clients prove we do great work and have adapted well in an ever-changing industry. We strive for excellence and continue to adapt to meet our customer’s needs.

Based in New London, Minnesota, but accessible to anyone, River City Data is here to help your business succeed. By transferring your old document images into digital, you can ensure your data will be secure for life. Contact us for a free estimate today!

Are you considering digital document imaging as a way to efficiently manage your paperwork and conserve resources? Contact River City Data to take advantage of their over 40 years of data conversion and document management experience.

If you’re not sure digital imaging is right for your organization, here are some things you should know.

Think You Have Too Many Documents? Don’t Worry About It.

River City Data can help you or your business back scan boxes of documents by the hundreds and even thousands. River City Data has the capacity for high-volume document conversion. We’ll also come to you; our trucks and trailers keep your information secure in our care from beginning to end.

A Document Preparation Process Tailored to Your Needs Is Important

Before you prepare your documents for digital imaging, you will need to choose a digital storage system. You should store your data in a searchable way, and that allows you to retrieve documents as needed quickly.

Storage systems can include external hard drives, SSL, or cloud hosting. Talk it over with document imaging professionals to determine which kind of storage works best for your business or organization.

Once you know what kind of digital storage you want, you are ready to begin preparing your documents. A dedicated document management service like River City Data, will work with you to discuss your organization’s needs. Knowing an organization’s unique requirements helps document imaging professionals determine how to index and prepare their paperwork.

Attention to Detail Saves Organizations Time and Effort

Document preparation can include such detail-oriented tasks as identifying and disposing of unnecessary pages. Document imaging professionals will work with organizations to identify and purge papers that are irrelevant, unwanted, or unneeded.

There are other intricacies that document imaging professionals oversee, which would otherwise suck up time and attention from your business. These specifics include straightening out creases, removing staples, and repairing rips and tears.

A third-party document management service takes on this painstaking, time-consuming labor, freeing up an organization’s employees to do their jobs.

Attention to details such as tears and paper folds may seem small or excessive to most people. However, the presence of these imperfections can affect accuracy when digital imaging professionals index your documents.

Store Your Documents Digitally to Avoid Lost Time and Prevent Frustration

Once your organization scans and stores its documents digitally, mislaid documents will be a thing of the past. Additionally, digitally-archived records are indexed, and searchable. This new system will help you quickly find and retrieve what you need.

Document imaging makes searchability possible through a process called Optical Character Recognition (OCR). OCR recognizes in images text characters that it converts to readable, searchable documents.

Decide on a Format for Your Documents

Document imaging services can scan your paperwork into a variety of popular formats. These formats include PDF, JPEG, PNG, and BMP.

Don’t worry if you aren’t sure what each format is or what difference (if any) each would make for your organization. Even if you do know, this is an important determination that can affect your business’s data for years to come. Decide on digital document formats in cooperation with a document imaging service for peace of mind.

Document Imaging Storage Should Be Secure

Once they are in the hands of a document imaging service, your records and paperwork should be stored securely. Ensure that the employees who will be handling your organization’s records are vetted and have completed background checks. If necessary, verify that they are HIPAA certified.

Find out whether the digital imaging service you plan to will destroy original documents for you.

River City Data employees are vetted: they have completed background checks and have HIPAA certification. River City Data will also destroy originals or return them safely to your organization, depending on your preference.

Image Your Organization’s Records and Paperwork and Prevent Disaster

Facts and figures, client information, and patient records take years to accumulate. In a disaster, they can disappear in an instant. You don’t have to worry about what will happen to essential knowledge and materials in the event of a catastrophe.

When you archive your imaged documents in the cloud or an external server, you protect them from damage. Floods, extreme weather, and fire can all wipe out physical copies of valuable information. Digitally image your documents to protect your business or organization’s records.

Scan-As-You-Go

Up until now, most of the items for consideration on this list assume large amounts of existing records to scan. You don’t need an extensive catalog of documents or paperwork to begin digital imaging your hard copies of things. Alternatively, once you have back scanned your organization’s papers, you can start scanning as you go.

Whatever your organization or business needs, River City Data can help you determine the right digital imaging solution for you. We are equipped to handle a high volume of documents.

Digital Imaging: Save Time, Space, and Money

Save human resources, work hours, and space in your office area by digital imaging and archiving your documents. You will save money and paper when you switch to digital imaging.

River City Data understands the need for businesses to use their resources responsibly. We are a local business ourselves, based in New London, MN, for over 40 years.

We work with clientele of all kinds in Minnesota and elsewhere. If you want a locally-based, community-oriented business that understands your business’s needs, you need River City Data.

River City Data for your Digital Imaging Needs

River City Data offers a variety of services beyond document imaging. We convert microfilm and provide document hosting and archiving. We also assist with disaster recovery and e-book conversion.

When you are ready to free up your business’s space and resources, River City Data is standing by to assist you. Contact River City Data for an experienced, dedicated team that will help you scan and store your data. Our representatives will be able to give you information on our services and answer your questions about pricing.

Files floating into computer Illustration

It doesn’t matter if your company is large or small; they tend to collect paper. Whether this is for legal purposes, accountability, or one of many other reasons, companies need their documentation.

Accessibility to those documents and assurances that they are accurate are what usually come to mind whenever the topic of getting organized is brought up at the weekly staff meetings. Having less clutter, being more space-efficient, but still being able to access records quickly, are all desired outcomes of getting organized. Digitizing those documents is an excellent way to achieve those objectives.

So, you could budget capital dollars for expensive scanners and equipment. And, you could invest significant person-hours into writing scanning processes, training staff, and then actually scanning all those documents.

Or you could outsource this project for an efficient and successful transfer of data. Using an outside source for your document scanning services is a resourceful and cost-effective step for a company drowning in paper.

River City Data will work with you to create that most cost-effective and beneficial data transfer project. They are just one phone call away at 877-723-3181.

Here are just 3 of the reasons your company needs to hire a service to scan those documents.

Clear copies and less paper

Say you had your documents scanned, and the digital copy is unreadable? When the original document was used, did it get filed back in the right place? Did it get smudged, spilled on, torn, or damaged in any other way. You can imagine the time that will be spent, the time you have to pay for, trying to find or replace that paper copy.

Avoid this blunder by using a reputable company that will follow your company’s policies to the letter. The whole point of outsourcing is to make the day-to-day inner workings run smoother, while still maintaining, if not improving, your bottom line, of course.

The scanned document needs to be as clear and legible as the original for you to trust your new digital data. At River City Data, we ensure the digitized copy of your document will look just like the original.

River City Data scans documents of all types and converts them into a format chosen between you and an advisor. With clear electronic copies available, in some cases, you may be able to destroy those paper copies when complete. That was one of the objectives as well, wasn’t it — save space?

Who can say no to the possibility of recycling thousands to millions of sheets of paper? Well, you can, until you and your River City Data advisor have agreed that is the correct step to take based on legal requirements, tax guidelines, or industry best practices.

2. Save time

Time is money – as the saying goes. Start choosing how you spend your time and money by outsourcing your document scanning service needs.

How much time will a document scanning service save you? It depends on how many documents need to be scanned and organized. The more data there is to input, the more time the service can save you in the long run. A couple of hundred documents may not seem daunting, but how about thousands or tens of thousands?

In addition to converting your documents to digital copies, we will also collaborate with you to find the most efficient method available for you to retrieve those same documents. We will determine the best way to store and transfer your documents.

Once the optimal storage format is defined, we also determine the best way to index these records to match your business processes and allow for the quickest data retrieval possible–the quickest way to get data in and quickest way to get data out.

Time is money, and the times they are a-changing. Making these changes to your document storage is converting time wasted into time well spent. To keep your business processes ahead of the competition, you will need to accommodate digital data increasingly, and this is the first step.

3. Save on training

The time and effort needed for training can be simple to not so simple, depending on the skill being taught. It may be easier to train someone how to file in a cabinet, but paper filing is more time consuming and often done wrong.

Large scale scanning equipment needs specific training and experience, coupled with the instruction to operate the computer and its software. Training someone on scanning and indexing documents may take some more effort, but it will save you time in the long run.

There is another option. Turn those documents over to those that are already trained in converting paper documents to digital. Then take those training dollars and allocate them to another critical area within your company.

To Be Clear

Clean copies, less paper, less time, and saving on training are some of the reasons to outsource your document scanning services. In time you will come to realize if you haven’t already, the importance of digitizing your documents to increase efficiency within your company.

Leave it to the trained experts, and your digital copies will always be clean and right where you left them. Handling those documents will require less time for storing and retrieving.

Document Scanning with River City Data

Document scanning is a time-eating task that requires not only the appropriate staffing levels but expertise and the right equipment. River City Data staff has the training, knowledge, and scanners capable of handling a wide variety of document formats.

In addition, we have in-house dedicated trucks and a large facility to accommodate all your documentation. We remain in control of your documents from pickup through scanning and beyond–putting all your concerns regarding transportation and security at ease.

At River City Data, you may find our services to be just the ticket to take that next step in moving your company forward into the digital era. Call River City Data for your new scanning service.

Cluttered Desk? Let Scanning Services Help You Keep Your Desk Tidy