A Document Scanning Triggers: Office Relocation

While there are many circumstances which can push an organisation to undertake the scanning of their documents and paper files, one of the most common is when it comes to relocating to new offices. This tends to be a time when both office processes and office layout are examined or planned - two elements which highlight perfectly the benefits of having scanned documents made available centrally and on-line rather than dotted around the building in filing cabinets.

It's also a time when the use of course, it’s entirely normal for a company to accumulate paperwork, files and filing systems at an alarming rate - particularly one which is successful and growing. This in turn tends to be stored in filing cabinets in the same way as it has for years and it takes a real effort or trigger to change this. Moving offices can be such a moment, when the realisation hits home of the amount of space that will be required in the new offices to house them - space that a document scanning programme would quickly be able to free up. of space in the office comes under close scrutiny and the amount of room that those 10 / 20 / 50* filing cabinets (*delete as applicable) and other storage units take up becomes all too apparent. Getting files and documents scanned will free up a huge amount of space which can then be usefully employed for other purposes.

Of course, it’s entirely normal for a company to accumulate paperwork, files and filing systems at an alarming rate - particularly one which is successful and growing. This in turn tends to be stored in filing cabinets in the same way as it has for years and it takes a real effort or trigger to change this. Moving offices can be such a moment, when the realisation hits home of the amount of space that will be required in the new offices to house them - space that a document scanning programme would quickly be able to free up.

Fortunately this also offers an opportunity and an incentive to change. Many companies take the approach that rather than transport paper from one place to another - only to be in the same situation in their new offices - it is the perfect time to ring the changes. By scanning all of their key documents and putting in place processes for ongoing document scanning, they can reduce their space requirements and improve their document filing and storage - optimum use of space and an accessible and indexed set of filed information. Now that can’t be bad.

So what are our recommendations:

• Plan ahead so that it’s not a last minute rush alongside all of your over relocation planning
• Decide on the indexing and structure of your new online information system, and get the new processes in place ready to implement
• Have the documents collected well ahead of the move date so that they can be scanned and the online system made ready for your first day in the new office
• Set up the systems ready for new users and training on the system if necessary

Then you can sit back in your new offices and marvel at all the space you never knew you had!