AIIM, the content management association, did a study recently which found that most businesses keep paper documents because they believe that they are necessary for legal reasons, however the cost of lost documents, according to Price Waterhouse Cooper, is almost $150 just for filing and searching for them. That doesn’t include the cost of lost time and recreating the documents that have been lost. For this reason and many others, using electronics like laptop scanners, business card scanners, and portable scanners is just one way to streamline your company’s efficiency. Some of these digital filing systems use a single computer to store all of their data, while others use cloud computing in order to allow off site access. Cloud computing should be worth $150 billion in the coming year, as estimated by Gartner.

A digital filing system, first of all, does not preclude the existence of a paper filing system for your company; it simply allows for these important documents, business card, receipts, and the information they hold to be backed up, consolidated, and easy to access. It may help to reduce your expenses, as a cloud computing system or other electronic record filing system does not require everyone to be on site to access the information. It will also make your employees more productive; the information is at their fingertips, and they no longer have to shuffle through folders, business cards, and piles of paper.

Some businesses are wary of the cost of implementing these strategies, but it doesn’t cost too much to purchase on of these portable, laptop, or business card scanners. The cost of purchase, installation, training, and transferring records will easily be recouped by the time saved when searching for information. The convenience of using these types of electronics will make your employees’ jobs easier and your customers’ experience better. There are, of course, a number of options when looking at any type of scanner. For example, business card scanners come in two varieties. The first will take an image of the card and save it to the computer, and the second images the card and extracts the pertinent information to be stored in a database. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of business card scanner, but you can always find a scanner that fits your businesses’ needs!