Scanning is very important for smooth functioning of the accounts section because even today a king part of invoices are in the paper format. These days accounting transactions are accompanied with soft copies of receipts and invoices. This has become a standard now. Earlier these were affordable only by huge companies but now even small businesses can get them at reasonable rates.
The main reason why accountants and companies prefer scanning is that the process facilitates access to documents faster. You don’t have to go through piles of files. With the introduction of tools like Receipt Bank, Entryless and Datamolino etc., you can evenprocess data automatically without manually entering the data. Thus things are more comfortable and swift.
However, the main concern is carrying out this process perfectly and speedily. If you proceed with imaging of documents one by one, the time consumed is really longer and it may even take more time than data entry.
A good scanner can leverage your productivity by saving a substantial amount of time. You should get one of the best scanners for business, and get your documents scanned in batches. This speeds up the process to a great extent, simultaneously scanning all the documents in a batch. When you get a scanner that comes with an automatic feeder, it can save around 2 hours of time for 200 invoices.
On uploading a multi-invoice scan, Datamolino finds the receipt data and relevant invoice, and the file is split into individual transactions. This makes document scanning for accountants simplified and saves a lot of time. The accountants need not scan an invoice for every page individually. Datamolino can deal with all the receipts and invoices scanned in a single file, both single-page and multi-page at the same time. Most of the scanners are capable of sending emails. They will simply email the scanned documents to the Datamolino folder. You can deal with scanning paper documents efficiently in this way.
There are certain factors you must consider before buying an office scanner if you are an accountant or need to perform book and document scanning.
Speed : For time saving, professional service providers and accounting professionals always consider the speed factor
Duplex Scanning : It should be possible to simultaneously both the sides in a single shot
Resolution : The quality of soft copies provided must be high and no software should have to be used, as accounting professionals have no time or may lack the expertise for such things.
Automated Document Feeder : If you have a lot of invoices to process, ADF would suit your need perfectly as there is a paper tray that can hold around 50 pages.
Jam-Resistance : Accounting involves a lot of responsibilities to manage. A poorly designed one can pave way to many issues like missing out pages and wear & tear etc. This can complicate things and hence you must assure that you use adequate technologies to avoid such mishaps.
Compliance with the standard : The drivers need to be available for WIA, ISIS, TWAIN interfaces as well as for Mac and Windows operating systems. These interfaces allow them to get integrated with almost all software and hardware configuration.
Image enhancement : Image enhancement solutions for hardware and software, such as Kofax VRS Pro come with a device scanner and you need not pay any extra charge for it. These applications come with automated routines, that square and straighten images that are crooked, remove dark backgrounds, skip pages that are blank and make the text crispier
Duty cycle : Accountants should understand the benefits of document scanning in business and get the right mechanism. The device should come with a rating to scan the number of pages, that you might need on a busy day
Availability of repair parts : The moving parts of the scanner may have to be repaired or replaced. These parts should be easily available, so that you can get them fixed in quick time.
With technological advancements, document scanning trends are evolving. You should get the right device on your platform to pacify the scanning process.
If you are a gigantic corporate with tons of invoices to process, hiring professional document scanning services of an expert company can help. You must inquire with them regarding the document scanning tools they are using and the OCR technologies they are adept in. You must be confident about their team strength and if possible try to get feedback from their previous and existing customers.
Invoices are meant to be dealt with care and therefore do proper enquires to select the right document scanning service providers.