If your business is one of the few that has not adopted the process of scanning documents, you may be missing out on many benefits that can save you time and money and make you more efficient. Below are 5 consequences of not scanning documents and how your business will suffer if you keep failing to do so.

1. Costly

When your documents are stored in hard copy form you are wasting a lot of money. Employees tend to print excessively, wasting paper and toner and using printers and copiers more than they need to. This forces you to spend more on machine repairs and maintenance. Keeping hard copies also requires you to spend money on filing cabinets and maybe even more staff to file documents.

When you scan your documents, they are stored electronically. This means that employees will likely only print them when absolutely necessary. You can save money on storage facilities to keep the documents and avoid larger office spaces that would cost you more in rent.

2. Lack of security

Technological advances have made life easier for many. However, they have also given rise to cyberattacks, viruses, and data breaches. These issues can be a nightmare for companies and as such you need to do everything you can to protect yourself.

Failing to scan documents means having important information available in plain sight and employees whose access should be limited to it is not. Scanned documents are more secure because they can be password-protected and encrypted. Databases that hold scanned copies can also keep track of who accessed each document and what they did with it, ensuring certain information does not fall into the wrong hands.

3. Operational inefficiencies

As the head of a company, you want your employees to work as efficiently as possible to serve customers and in turn sustain healthy profits. When documents are used in hard copy form, it can be difficult for employees and teams to find the ones they need. This can lead to delays that can upset customers who will then take their business somewhere else.

Storing documents electronically means having a method to keep all of them together for easy access. Instead of hunting down what is needed, an electronic database holds all document with employees being able to find any document with a simple search. Scanned documents can easily be distributed to employees who need them and they can often be accessed even off-site.

4. Poor office space

Hard copies of documents cause clutter in an office. This results in employees tripping over themselves and the office looking messy and unprofessional. As mentioned, file cabinets are needed to store documents and this can greatly reduce the amount of useable office in your area.

Scanning documents definitely results in a tidier workplace as only the documents needed will be printed. This greatly reduces the paper that is visible in the office. File cabinets can be avoided, giving you more space for other things and this is especially helpful if you expand your operations and need to hire more people.

5. Harm to environment

People are concerned with the condition of the environment more so now than ever before. If you do not concern yourself with this as well and adopt greener practices, your business will suffer because people want to do business with people who are mindful of the environment.

Scanning documents, or using document scanning services, means that employees will print less and this means less paper used. As a result, less will be wasted and sent to landfills and the amount of trees needed to produce paper will be reduced.