SCANNING: A GATEWAY TO DIGITALISATION
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unwilling to change their traditional ways of working – they may even feel threatened by the new digital technologies. “There are also concerns about data security and privacy when storing sensitive information electronically. Businesses may be worried about the risk of cyber-attacks, data breaches, and unauthorised access to sensitive information. Finally, implementing and maintaining digital systems can be costly and complex.” But, Andrew adds, there is good news as working with an experienced document management specialist and staff training can overcome these barriers. “While the most effective way of going paperless is to use a scanner, sticking with the scanner that was built into your MFP may be a false economy. Modern scanners are packed with features to make scanning quicker and more economical, as customers demand speed, image quality and ease of use. “Dealers are no longer just selling – it’s now important to help and educate the customer about the product benefits, and how it can help their business transition to a digital, paper-less future. “A high-quality, dedicated document scanner is a crucial part of the journey towards digital transformation. Enabling the secure storage of documents in the cloud offers many advantages. Firstly, the business no longer needs to hold a paper copy, saving filing space and eliminating the risk of damage and theft. Secondly, the documents can only be accessed by the correct personnel with the right permissions, and every time the documents are accessed, there is a full auditable trail of who has read what, and what they’ve done with the document. Finally, searching and retrieval of documents can be done instantly, enabling compliance with GDPR and saving time and administration resources.” Evolving demand Jason Rowles, regional sales manager (UK, Ireland & Nordics) at PFU EMEA, adds that customers’ demands for their scanning solutions is evolving. “Customers’ main concerns are efficiency and efficacy,” he says. “In the Quocirca report, 45% of those surveyed stated that speed is the most important factor they consider while purchasing a new scanner. Time is a significant consideration, especially when it comes to scanning a large quantity of documents, since businesses don’t want to waste employee time with administrative tasks. “Also 45% insist on easy integration of scanners into their existing enterprise systems. They want the process of digitisation to be as seamless as possible, interfering very little with other functional elements of their workflow. Image quality and less
ScanSnap
Andrew Cowling PFU (EMEA) Ltd
45% insist on easy integration of scanners into their existing enterprise systems. They want the process of digitisation to be as seamless as possible. “
misfeeds are also highly cited priorities, 44% and 33% respectively.” Jason adds that resellers should be highlighting various facets of scanners to customers in their conversations with them. “First and foremost, customers need their scanners to be reliable. People get very frustrated by misfeeds, paper jams, and rescans – they’re all timewasting issues, in a busy world. “Targeting this issue when selling scanners is a clever approach, as many have experienced these irritating snags and want products that will minimise these issues in the future. In the same vein, downtime of scanners totally halts organisations, and therefore it’s something people really want to avoid. “Another aspect that customers take very seriously is usability, as every employee in the business should ideally have a basic understanding of a scanning unit. While scanners can be highly bespoke, interfaces should be easy to navigate for users of all technical levels.” Gateway to digital transformation Jason adds that scanners can also provide an essential link between paper-based and digital business. “Of those organisations surveyed in the Quocirca report, 44% agreed that scanning is a foundational step to digitisation,” he says. “Scanning and digitisation go hand-in-hand, since digitisation involves not only changing your ongoing practices to the digital format, but also shifting all of the existing data to the digital format. Since many businesses have backlogs of years of paper documents, this can seem an insurmountable task. “However, with scanning technology as advanced as it is today, there is truly no reason to be daunted by the process of digitisation. As business embark on their digitisation journey, the
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Jason Rowles regional sales manager PFU (EMEA) Ltd
pfu.ricoh.com/emea/
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