If you’re tired of looking around your office space at piles of paper and storerooms filled with files and think it might be time to outsource your digitization project to a professional document scanning company, knowing where and how to find a trusted service can feel overwhelming.

But don’t let decision paralysis keep your important information from being safe and secure. Handing your company’s confidential information to a scanning partner may seem risky, but it’s not when you partner with a professional and reputable service. And truthfully, converting paper documents into digital files on your own or not digitizing them at all is far more worrisome because it opens your company, clients, vendors and employees to data security threats, like fraud, identity theft and more.

If you’re looking to hire a good document scanning company to help you achieve your paperless goals, read on to learn how to choose a trustworthy service provider.

How To Select the Right Document Scanning Company for Your Business

From financial institutions, law firms, medical offices and consulting services to educational institutions, accounting firms and small businesses, all types and sizes of organizations can benefit from working with a scanning company to digitize sensitive information.

Not only will a good scanning company keep digital data safe, but they can help many businesses save money and office space. They also improve access to information, boost productivity and provide organizations peace of mind by having a disaster recovery plan. The benefits of document scanning are hard to ignore.

When searching for a good vendor to digitize your sensitive documents, here is what to look for:

Document Security Measures

First and foremost, you want to avoid handing your scanning project to just any document scanning service. You want to choose a document scanning company you can trust. If your paper records will be picked up and scanned at an off-site facility, find out what security measures are in place to keep your documents safe. This may include asking questions about their facility’s physical security and their staff’s qualifications.

Secure Chain of Custody

Ensuring a secure chain of custody is of the utmost importance when choosing a document scanning provider. Once your paper records are converted into scanned records, you want to know exactly where your information is for easy retrieval. Not all scanning companies use barcode technology, which is a disadvantage.

Scanning Expertise

Not all scanning specialists are created equal, and you want to keep this in mind when choosing a scanning service to complete your digitization project. Be clear about your company’s needs and inquire if the prospective vendor has experience with your industry or a similar scanning project. It doesn’t hurt to ask for references from their clients as well.

Scan Quality

Converting physical files into digital formats is only worthwhile if the scan quality and file output are excellent. Therefore, when choosing a document scanning company, ask the prospective vendor about their quality control processes to determine if they will be able to meet your organization’s standards and any applicable industry standards.

Scanning Capabilities

Depending on your business and industry, you may have unique requirements for scanning your paper documents. Before researching services, determine how many documents you need digitized and the types of files you need converting, such as large format documents, bound books, sticky notes and oversized drawings. You want to select a provider with the document scanning technology required to successfully complete your project.

Scanning Solutions

Few scanning projects are alike, and each company’s document management needs are unique. You want to choose a scanning service that offers a range of solutions to improve your business processes, such as being able to edit and markup scanned digital documents, locate information using optical character recognition and receive files in the digital format you need.

You also want to consider the type of scanning services you require. Many scanning companies offer:

Back-file scanning: This process converts bulk documents into digital files and is ideal for organizations with high volumes of paper records that require regular access.

Day-forward scanning: This process digitizes newly created documents regularly and is ideal for businesses with large-scale paperless objectives that don’t regularly view historical information.

Scan-on-demand: This process converts documents on an as-need basis and is ideal for organizations that want secure, near real-time access to records without taking on a full or partial scanning project. With this method, employees can request files in storage to be scanned and sent to them electronically.

Scanning Speed

When time is of the essence, you want the assurance that your provider can deliver scanned documents to meet your project deadline. Factors to consider when choosing a company are the number and size of documents that can be scanned in bulk, equipment speed, the number of employees assigned to scan documents and typical turnaround times.

Document Management System

Once your files are scanned, you’ll need to be able to retrieve your digital files. A good document scanning company will provide clients with document management software where they can view, download and share documents easily and efficiently.

Accelerate Your Transition to a More Digital Workplace

If your current system of keeping records in a cramped storage area no longer works for you, consider partnering with Blue-Pencil for your scanning needs. We provide businesses of all sizes with affordable scanning solutions (with no hidden costs) from start to finish.

Our imaging experts handle document preparation and scan your files using state-of-the-art high-speed document scanners. Our quality assurance processes guarantee the readability and clarity of your information, and viewing, downloading, and sharing documents is simple and convenient with 24/7 access using our document management software.

As a 100% Canadian-owned and operated company, you’ll also have the peace of mind that your critical data is scanned locally in a secure facility with trained personnel. If you wish to pair your scanning services with long-term document storage, Blue-Pencil also provides record management services for your important business files.

To learn more about our document scanning services and our proven scanning process, contact our customer service team at Blue-Pencil to discuss your digitization project and request a free quote.