Comments Off on The Economics of Document Scanning: Long-Term Cost Savings In today’s digital age, businesses are constantly seeking ways to optimize processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. One area where significant savings can be achieved is in document management. Traditional paper-based document systems are not only cumbersome but also expensive to maintain. Let’s take a look at the costs associated with paper record storage vs. outsourcing document imaging to a service bureau such as Micro Com Systems.
Initial Investment:
Paper Documents: The initial setup costs for paper-based document systems include purchasing filing cabinets, storage boxes, and other physical storage equipment. Additionally, there are expenses related to printing, copying, and distributing documents.
Document Scanning: Rather than the expense of document storage or even an in-house scanning solution, Micro Com Systems has made the investment in high speed scanners, computers and software. Our staff is fully trained and has the experience in converting a paper based system to a digital system.
Storage Costs:
Paper Documents: Storing paper documents requires physical space, which comes at a premium in office environments. Businesses must allocate space for filing cabinets, storage rooms, and off-site storage facilities, all of which incur ongoing rental or maintenance costs.
Document Scanning: Digital documents take up minimal physical space and can be stored on servers, cloud storage platforms, or external hard drives. The cost of digital storage is significantly lower compared to physical storage, especially as cloud storage prices continue to decline.
Retrieval and Access Costs:
Paper Documents: Locating and accessing paper documents can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Employees may spend valuable time searching through filing cabinets or requesting documents from off-site storage facilities. Additionally, there are costs associated with physically transporting documents between locations.
Document Scanning: Digital documents can be easily retrieved and accessed with a few clicks, saving time and improving productivity. Employees can quickly search for specific keywords or phrases within documents, eliminating the need for manual searches. The associated costs are minimal compared to the labor and time savings achieved.
Security and Compliance Costs:
Paper Documents: Maintaining the security and compliance of paper documents poses significant challenges. Physical documents are vulnerable to loss, theft, and damage, leading to potential data breaches or compliance violations. Businesses may incur costs related to implementing security measures such as locks, alarms, and surveillance systems.
Document Scanning: Digital documents can be encrypted, password-protected, and backed up to ensure data security and compliance with regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA.
Long-Term Cost Savings and ROI:
Paper Documents: Over time, the costs of maintaining paper-based document systems accumulate due to ongoing expenses for storage, retrieval, security, and compliance. These costs are often unpredictable and can increase as the volume of paper documents grows.
Document Scanning: While there are initial investments in document scanning solutions, the long-term cost savings are substantial. Businesses can reduce or eliminate expenses related to physical storage, retrieval, security, and compliance. Additionally, the improved efficiency and productivity resulting from digital document management contribute to a positive ROI over time.
Comments Off on A Sense of Normalcy It has been a tough two years for us all. People working from home have had a trickledown effect for companies such as Micro Com Systems. With employees not working out of the offices, paper documents have been a forgotten commodity and the retention and preservation had been put on hold. Now, with people going back into the workplace, we are seeing a renaissance of sorts. Organizations that have not dealt with document retention are now sending us files and drawings once again. I’m seeing requests for proposals where for two years there have been none. I’m feeling optimistic once again about the return of normalcy.
Seattle Document Scanning Services – Let Us Help You! Bring Back Normalcy
Comments Off on What Is Your Time Worth? Document Scanning
Document Scanning Company in Seattle
With labor costs constantly rising it is important to reevaluate what the total cost is for handling your
organization’s documents the “old fashion way”. Paper really isn’t very efficient. Only one person at
any given time can have possession unless it is photocopied and that creates its own type of headache.
While that one person has a file another has to wait until it is available. If you have to distribute a
document to a number of folks located in another facility you have the added expense of copying and
shipping the files. Again, work halts while in transit. And what if someone misfiles pages? They are as
good as lost and hours can be wasted trying to track them down. Document imaging can help to
minimize these issues.
Digitalizing Your Company’s Documents – Keep Them Secure
Digital files have many benefits but some key advantages are its durability and distribution. Let’s say
you have all of your files scanned into a PDF format with Word Searchable Text. Once that digital file is
created it is never misfiled. Name the file for a unique name or number such as a company name or
contract number and place them in electronic folders by year and type of record and you will be able to
drill down to what you are looking for. Use the Word Searchable feature and you can find files based on
content. Easy to find and always there.
You need to distribute a file? Attached it to an encrypted email, Dropbox or secure FTP and it is
instantly in their hands for fast collaboration! Because PDF files can be viewed on Mac, PC and mobile
devices, it has become the de facto standard for digital records.
I was recently invited by Christy O’Flaherty, the City Clerk for the City of Tukwila, to attend a city council meeting. It was during this meeting that Ms. O’Flaherty presented to the Council and Mayor a report about the GET-IT program that was coming to fruition.
GET-IT, which stands for ‘Government Electronic Transparency Initiative’ for Tukwila, brings together information about Tukwila’s development – from 1958 through the present – by combining varied components and media formats into a complete, digitized permit and land use files, enabling 24/7 access by staff and the public to these frequently requested records.
We Scanned Over 1.2 Million Images for the GET-IT Program
Over 1.2 million images were captured and indexed using the permit number to tie the related documents and drawings together for easy access by staff and the public. MCS scanned aperture cards, 16mm and 35mm rollfilm and drawings as well as providing the metadata required to match these documents with their database.
Ms. O’Flaherty stated “GET-IT is successful thanks to in-house technical and records expertise along with continual multi-department collaboration, ensuring the components would be accurately integrated. No other agency has been identified that offers full permit documents, plans and maps available online.”
All of us at Micro Com Systems are very proud to have been of assistance to the City of Tukwila on this project. GET-IT is an excellent example of how an image management project is developed and implemented.
Contact MCS Seattle for Your Document Management Services
We would like to introduce you to Joe Bryant, the general manager for Micro Com Systems (Seattle). Joe started in the document imaging business back in 1975 as a courier for Cascade Microfilm in Seattle. As the years went by Joe learned many facets of the business including copy flo printing, onsite filming and darkroom printing before moving to equipment repair. After working for a couple of years helping clients with their printers and microfilm readers he moved upstairs (literally) into equipment and services sales.
Cascade Microfilm was purchased by Ford Graphics which opened up a new type of business for Joe to learn; reprographic services. After two years of reprographics Joe realized he missed the microfilm business so he left Ford to work in sales at Microfilm Service Company. A number of years later he, along with some other MSC employees, left to begin a startup company named American Microfilm. Two years and 100 years of experience later, he moved on to Alpha Information Management.
It was at Alpha that Joe began to learn about digital services and how they could spawn a revolution in the document management industry. Leaving sales, Joe transitioned to digital services support, assisting the sales staff and clients with moving toward this new technology.
In 2000 an opportunity arose to purchase the assets of Alpha Information so Joe contacted his good friends Craig Hollingum and John Ford with Micro Com Systems Ltd. suggesting that this would be a good business opportunity for MCS. They agreed and tagged Joe to be the general manager for the Seattle branch of MCS.
Joe is a staunch Seattle Sounders supporter having season tickets with his wife Debbie since 2009. In his spare time he likes to watch foreign movies, cook and make homemade wine. Joe and Debbie also love to travel whenever possible. He is the proud father of two adult daughters who still live in the Seattle area and a dog named Chavo.
Contact MCS Seattle for Document Scanning Services
Next time you are rummaging through the storage closet and you come across a roll of old drawings, think about preserving the history. It’s easy and inexpensive to save these drawings before time takes its toll.
Comments Off on Legacy Microfilm and What to Do About It So, you’re cleaning out a storage room and hidden behind a mop bucket you find dozens of rolls of legacy microfilm. Further review determines that the information on those rolls is important to your organization. The question is, what now? There is no longer a microfilm reader, let alone a printer in your office.
We capture the images either in bi-tonal or grayscale depending on the quality of your images. They will be ready to import into your information management system or just store them on your PC, ready to access! If you need metadata to go with those images, Micro Com can help you with that as well.
Microfiche printing
Or perhaps you get the occasional microfiche that you want to have prints of. MCS can assist you with printing microfiche as well. We can produce paper copies up to 11” x 17” in size from all types of microforms.
Contact MCS Seattle for Microfilm Archiving Services
When I started in the document management business 40 years ago, microfilm was king. What better way to securely backup paper records? It was inexpensive, duplicates could be easily created and it was an exact representation of the original paper document. Really, the only real issue was the cost of the equipment needed to view and print.
Years later, digitizing of paper records became the norm. It cost about the same as microfilming but the real savings were the easy distribution of the images and the fact that everyone had a PC on their desktop which allowed for easy access to the information.
Microfilm still has its place
Still, microfilm has its place in the information and image management business. It provides an eye-readable form of the original information. This is important if your organization is required to archive data with a state or the federal government. The other benefit is the longevity of the microfilm media itself. If properly processed and stored, microfilm will last well over 100 years.
Converting digital images directly to microfilm
It doesn’t make sense to scan the film directly from the paper files so our industry, seeing this need, created cameras that would convert digital images directly to microfilm. This service is available for both regular digital files to 16mm film and the conversion of large format drawings to 35mm. This way the benefits of both digital and microfilm can be realized.
Next time you have some scanning done, ask your vendor about the option of having film generated from your images.
Contact MCS Seattle for Microfilm Archiving Services
Comments Off on Go paperless for 2016: Seattle Records Management Solutions
A New Year, A New Solution
By Joe Bryant, General Manager
As 2016 quickly approaches, it is a good time to think of business solutions that we can benefit from the most. I would like to suggest that getting a handle on your records management would be a great start!
We all know that company records are difficult to organize and store. Paper is naturally difficult. It is duplicated, shoved in a drawer, stacked on a desk or just plain lost. Why not digitize those records thus making them secure, organized and easy to distribute to all who need them? Let the nature of digital images organize your paper files.
A document imaging service bureau (such as Micro Com Seattle, of course) can be a wonderful resource. A site visit can be the first step where the imaging consultant will find out what your needs are, review the documents and then tailor an imaging solution to meet your specific needs. This valuable information is generally available free of charge. How often can you get so much information just for the asking?
All scanning projects are unique. It is for this reason that there are no set prices or solutions. Take advantage that an information service bureau can give you. Get 2016 off to a good start!
I just celebrated my 40th anniversary in the document imaging business. Now, I’m not looking for presents or cake (although each would be accepted with grace and aplomb) but rather I’m reflecting on the changes since those early days in this profession.
Back in 1975
Back in 1975 I hired on as a delivery driver but soon was moved indoors as a Copyflo operator. The Copyflo machine was a huge contraption that produced a continuous roll of paper prints from roll microfilm. Once the roll was complete a person (me!) would sit at a trimming board and slice each page to create single sheets of prints. This required a dedicated room with ventilation as it got very hot. Now days, anyone with a printer can create paper copies right from their desktop.
Another one of my early jobs was to travel around the Pacific Northwest with a portable microfilm camera, creating the film that would eventually be run on the Copyflo. This camera broke down into two large cases and really was an engineering marvel created by the Kodak Company. Now days if we need to capture images at a remote site we need to pack up a PC, monitor and scanner at a minimum. I think in this case the old tech might actually be a better setup than the new tech, at least as far as portability is concerned.
My Prediction, 20 Years Ago
I remember talking with someone at a trade function a couple of decades ago and we were discussing the possibility of paper being digitized rather than captured onto an analog media such as microfilm. I made the bold statement that this would someday be the norm but that it wouldn’t be “in my lifetime”. Little did I know that I would be so wrong! The acceptance of digital document imaging took off like a rocket shortly after my ill advised prediction and the only time we see microfilm is when a client wants us to digitize it.
From Microfilm to Digitization
Document imaging has made great strides over the 40 years and I’m curious and excited to see what the industry will come up with leading up to my 50 year anniversary.
Joe Bryant
General Manager
Contact MCS Seattle for Document Mailing Services
For Document Mailing Services you can count on, or if you have any questions on our wide range of scanning services in Seattle, contact MCS Seattle today!
Comments Off on Document Mailing Services
Shhhh. I’ve got a secret for you. Besides providing the best Document Management and digitizing services in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Micro Com Systems supports the local title companies and county government with document mailing services as well. How’s that for serving our clientele?
Since 2002, Micro Com has taken the real estate documents recorded at Snohomish County Auditor’s Office and mailed them back to the owner of record. Just last month MCS was awarded the contract for performing the same mailing services for King County. This contract will be keeping us busy for the next 5 years!
When we get the documents into our shop the first thing we do is sort them by alphabet. Once that is completed we sort by address and from there the documents are boxed up or enveloped and ready for mailing. It is a very manual process so you can understand why our customers want to send it off to be handled by us.
What this shows is that MCS is willing to step out of the “safe zone” and fulfill our customer’s needs, no matter what it may be. We are here to make it easy for our clientele.
Contact MCS Seattle for Document Mailing Services
For Document Mailing Services you can count on, or if you have any questions on our wide range of scanning services in Seattle, contact MCS Seattle today!
Micro Com Systems
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Micro Com Systems Washington Ltd. Does not discriminate in employment or the delivery of services and resources on the basis of age, sex, race, creed, color, sexual orientation, or national origin, or the presence of any physical, mental or sensory disability.
Shhhh. I’ve got a secret for you. Besides providing the best 
