15th June 2010, Why Outsource?

- What are the benefits of using a specialist document scanning and data capture specialist?

"The biggest driver for outsourcing is the reduction in management overhead."

"Capacity management is considered another big advantage and bureaus and other outsourcers are handling this well."

- Quotes from Aiim, Document scanning and data capture; local, central, outsource - what'working best?

Document and data "capture" is a term describing the process of taking paper based documents, preparing them (removing staples and files covers etc), scanning the paper into electronic images, image correction and enhancement, recognition of text, barcodes, data fields and marks, and the output or formatting of the electronic images and data for entry into document management systems, forms processing application, workflow applications and other business process management (BPM) tools.

Scanning and data capture on small volumes can be achieved using in-house multi-function devices (MFDs - photocopier/scanner/fax machines), or work-group scanners. But to achieve high volume throughput at minimum cost not only requires technically advanced scanning and capture equipment and software, skilled staff and highly controlled, repeatable and high quality processes - hence the prevalence of service bureaus and outsource companies like SWM Document Management.

Manual keying of data by off-shore companies has been attractive in recent years because of low off-shore labour rates and cheaper communications, but security and control issues have started to become more prevalent in the press where confidential data has been available on the overseas information black market. For instance this article in the Daily Mail titled: Private medical records for sale: Harley Street clinic patients' files outsourced for computer input - and end up on black market, read more at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221186/Private-medical-records-sale-Harley-Street-clinic-patients-files-outsourced-input--end-black-market.html#ixzz0qYF6Xx7Z

"Medical files have been illegally sold to undercover investigators" - Daily Mail article

What are the key drivers for scanning and capture within organisations?

- Improve business ability to find documents (knowledge management)
- Improving productivity through process throughput (data capture/entry)
- Security and accessibility of records, compliance driven
- Time to access records and the impact on customer service
- A reduction in office storage space requirements
- Reduction in the usage of paper, driven by environmental pressures
- Improve business resilience for business continuity
- Reduction in the need to relocate, optimising space

One side-note that we would like to make is that scanning and capture has been available for a few years now, but many people and organisations still consider the technology to only support scan-to-archive, rather than opening up all the possibilities and benefits associated with scan-to process.

Of those organisations implementing scanning and capture projects, "46% are reporting ROI within 12-months, with two thirds seeing returns within 18-months" - Aiim, Document scanning and data capture; local, central, outsource - what's working best?

The most popular capture projects are related to the following document types:

- Account opening forms
- Mail and correspondence
- Invoices
- Delivery notes
- Application forms
- Compliance/consent forms
- Expense reports
- Legal and contract
- Cheques
- Claims
- Surveys and quality data
- HR forms and resumes

The most significant benefits of outsourcing scanning and data capture are;

- No staff management overheads - this is by far the biggest driver for outsourcing
- Reduced cost per scan
- Management of capacity through peaks and troughs
- Access to specialist scanning and capture equipment and software
- No paper storage, handling, or disposal issues

Organisations still consider and implement their own centralised or distributed scanning and capture solutions. These range from local print-room services to major in-bound mail scanning installations. The biggest issues that have been identified in managing in-house services are;

- Demands for faster turnaround times
- The logistics, transportation and storage requirements to support the operation
- Quality of indexing due to lack of process s involvement - this also applies to outsource solution, and mostly depends on the solution providers approach and inclusion of customers at all stages of the process.
- Cost of equipment, software, training, processes development and management
- Handling peak traffic
- The overall cost of running an in-house/centralised facility
- Monitoring quality levels and achievement of SLA targets
- Lack of flexibility on document types/processes
- Recruiting and retaining staff
- Equipment reliability and replacement cycles.

We would like to thank and recognise that much of this information was made available through the Aim, "Document scanning and data capture; local, central, outsource - what's working best?" report.