2010 - News & Articles
News articles & Press releases.
A convincing case for document management
Even though a 100% paperless office might not be a realistic possibility, using document scanning and digital storage should be the goal for every business from both an efficiency and eco friendly standpoint. Document scanners allow for the storage of data and conventional paper records with NO physical and expensive floor space requirements; an important consideration with today’s high sq ft office rentals Many offices have entire rooms devoted to paper file systems and in some cases, such as legal offices, the original document is the only one that matters. But in any office all documents can be stored digitally and be instantly accessible at the PC.
Document scanners can be used for sending faxes by email or over the internet. When used in this manner, the fax may be scanned from a paper document, sent electronically, read by the recipient, who stores that information on their computer without the need to produce a paper copy. Because so many people carry PDA's today, many documents can be scanned and made available to employees even when they are away from the office.
Directly scanning a document to be saved electronically, stored and retrieved at a later time, is a super efficient method of retaining copies of documents for information and archival purposes. This storage method can result in huge savings for businesses each year in paper costs, actual storage space within the office, and in time spent by employees handling paper documents through the process of filing, retrieving, and later re-filing once a task is complete.
Click2Scan.co.uk, specialists in document scanning and document management provide services and solutions for business's, organisations or individuals who need to capture large amounts of paper documents and then convert them to a digital format such as PDF.
Click2Scan’s founder Martin Peirce said: “By using our document scanning services, office staff can call up an image of any document with a few key clicks and put it away with even fewer clicks.
With the huge hard drive and CD storage space available today it makes sense to keep digital copies of documents even if you still prefer to keep the hard copies on site. Alternatively Click2Scan can handle the entire process for you, collecting documents, scanning to disc and even managing the secured destruction with the necessary certification paperwork. For more information on how Click2Scan can help your business, please visit www.click2scan.co.uk, or telephone 0845 873 8600.
2010 snow storms cost UK business £3 BILLION!
(If only someone had told them about document management!!)
For the first time in living memory all bus services in
One in five workers failed to get to work costing
Tube train cancellations added to the chaos in the Greater London area where 10 of the 11 tube lines were out of action.
All
In just one hour of prime commuting time a 53 mile tailback built up between an 11 junction stretch of the M25 and at one stage it was estimated that there were more than 1,000 miles of tailbacks right across the
Motoring organisations said accidents on
All of this in a 2 week period that has already gone down as the most damaging in
Now transport yourself 3000 miles west from
CONTACT US ON 0845 873 8600 FOR AN ENTIRELY INFORMAL CHAT about the benefits that intelligent Document Management can bring to your business.
HIGH FLYING LAW FIRM APPOINT CLICK2SCAN & MOVE CLOSER TO THE PAPERLESS OFFICE
As a rapidly expanding law practice with 5 offices and an impressive growth in excess of 1000% during the last 10 years, Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors produce more than their fair share of documents of all shapes and sizes. Finding somewhere to securely store and reference this ever increasing mountain of paper became a crucial element in the firm’s expansion plans. Filling 14 industrial containers in secure accommodation off site in archive boxes was just no longer time or space efficient.
In late 2009 Bonallack & Bishop’s Practice Director, Jane Bishop, completed a root and branch overhaul of the company’s document management, establishing some ‘must have’ performance criteria.
“Solicitors have a considerable overhead in keeping old files - some of which have to be archived for as long as 15 years. I determined that the only expandable solution would document scanning and securely storing the information contained in paper documents, making them immediately accessible by everyone at their computers. Ultimately I wanted to remove the need to maintain 14 industrial containers to store our archive files at an annual storage cost of £14,000 and create a far more efficient system. In due course the electronic storage of all those documents will mean we no longer have that cost -- nor the considerable cost of dedicated manpower in actually retrieving and re-archiving those documents. ”
Following lengthy consultation Bonallack & Bishop awarded the project to document scanning & management experts Click2Scan, based in Mere, Wiltshire. Director of Click2Scan, Martin Peirce commented, “While the promise of a truly paperless office may not be 100% achievable, electronically managing the vast quantities of paperwork that we are obliged to archive is not just a dream but a far reaching reality” “Having met the clients brief perfectly there are real cost saving benefits too and working together with this forward thinking law firm has been a real pleasure”
Using advanced and user friendly file retrieval software Bonallack & Bishop will soon be accessing archived documents in a few seconds, not days. It would certainly seem that the future of efficient document management is literally just a mouse click away.
Jane Bishop of Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors can be contacted on 01722 422300
www.bishopslaw.co.uk
Martin Peirce of Click2Scan can be contacted on 0845 873 8600
www.click2scan.co.uk
SCANNING LEGAL DOCUMENTS, WILLS & EPA's
IS A SCANNED IMAGE OF A WILL OR EPA LEGALLY ADMISSIBLE?
CAN I COPY A WILL AND THEN DESTROY THE ORIGINAL?
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO STORE ORIGINALS OF WILL's and EPA's
CAN I STORE CERTAIN OTHER LEGAL DOCUMENTS PHOTOGRAPHICALLY OR ELECTRONICALLY AND DESTROY THE ORIGINALS?
WHAT IS THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF A PHOTOGRAPHICALLY OR ELECTRONICALLY STORED DOCUMENT WHERE THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN DESTROYED?
CAN I DESTROY DOCUMENTS ONCE I HAVE HELD THEM FOR THE RELEVANT PERIOD?
IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON appoint Click2Scan for major scanning project
Imperial College London provides world class scholarship, education and research in science, engineering, management and medicine.Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research their requirement was for a highly secure and professional outsourced scanning solution for intellectual property rights documentation.
Click2Scan were appointed after a lengthy consultative process and given the task of scanning and indexing highly complex documentation contained in 250+ large archive boxes. With a variety of paper formats ranging from printed matter and handwritten notes through to sketches and drawings the work needed a systematic approach and a high degeee of labour intensity to ensure a 100% effective solution.
Click2Scan used the latest document scanning equipment and rigorous preparation to guarantee the brief was met head on and delivered on time. All documents were 100% reliability scanned to PDF 417 which is a stacked linear barcode symbol format which can be used in a variety of applications, primarily transport, identification cards, and inventory management.
For further information on our industry leading document scanning services please call us on 0845 873 8600 or email geoff.shilton@click2scan.co.uk
FileHold Document Management Software welcomes Click2ScanLtd. as a Value Added Re-seller in the UK
Wednesday June 9, 2010
FileHold Systems Inc. www.filehold.com document management software is pleased to welcome Click2Scan Ltd. a document scanning specialist, and document management software solution provider as a Value Added Reseller of FileHold software in the UK.
Click2Scan Ltd. www.click2scan.co.uk with offices in Wiltshire and London is one of the fastest growing document management specialists in the UK with a list of clients ranging from small business to household names. Click2Scan are experts in all technologies related to document scanning and imaging. The company provides a range of services and solutions including a scanning service bureau, scanner hire and fully supported document management software implementations.
Martin Peirce, Director of Click2Scan, said; “We have noticed that certain vertical markets; including the accounting and the legal profession, are seeking document management solutions. These users demand a very flexible system that can be configured exactly to their needs with just as much emphasis on archiving electronic documents, (emails and attachments) as scanned material. We set out to find a powerful but affordable solution that will work well in the UK. After a thorough evaluation we feel FileHold software meets our requirements. We are delighted to be UK partners at such an exciting time.”
Larry Oliver, President of FileHold said; “The benefits of eliminating paper are obvious but the technical difficulties of managing all of the resulting electronic information can be daunting. FileHold software makes electronic information secure and manageable and gives users access to documents, via the web, from anywhere in the world. As organizations “Go Paperless” they will need excellent guidance on how best to convert their paper to electronic form and how to structure and organize workable hierarchies of information. We believe Click2Scan can provide this guidance. We are delighted to have their industry expertise and customer commitment available to work with FileHold customers in the UK.”
About FileHold Systems
FileHold, www.filehold.com is a privately owned, Microsoft Gold, manufacturer of affordable document management software with over 7,000 seats in production throughout the world. FileHold software; the fast track to the “Paperless Office”, is easy to use, easily interfaces with third party applications and is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office and SharePoint. FileHold empowers workers to store and find their important documents, including e-mail, while maintaining tight version control and managed workflow. For a free public demonstration of document management software: http://www.filehold.com/business/sign-up.htm
For further information contact Larry Oliver at 604-734-5653 loliver@filehold.com .
For further information contact Martin Peirce at 0845 873 8600
Click2Scan awarded highly sensitive Whitehall Government Scanning project.
The head of a major national government department was tasked with finding a professional document scanning bureau with a checkable track record, able to offer extremely high security monitoring and work standards to scan vital paper records off site. After carrying out a robust due diligence process Click2Scan of Mere, Wiltshire were awarded the project based on their quality of work and technical prowess in answering the customers brief exactly. The work necessitated security clearance for collection and subsequent delivery and expanded over a period of 3 months. High on the list of criteria was secure and alarmed storage prior to document preparation, checkable history of scanning staff and hand to hand collection and delivery with Click2Scan staff and transport i.e. no couriers, however secure they professed to be. The project was finally completed on time in early June 2010 and to budget. Due to the sensitivity of the department and the nature of the document scanning we are unable to elaborate further but are delighted to have full met the clients exacting brief and delivered a quality solution that exceeded their expectations.
For any projects of a similar sensitive nature please contact Martin Peirce on 0845 873 8600
Click2Scan. From humble beginnings to 1000 + customers.
When Click2Scan Managing Director Martin Peirce decided to break away from the Corporate jungle in 2007 his vision was to create a small but profitable niche business concentrating largely on offering a photo scanning service direct to the consumer. With targeted market research estimating over a billion photos tucked away in boxes and drawers all over the UK the service offered customers the ability to scan these precious memories to CD or DVD for viewing on PC or TV. Working from a purpose built office above his garage the business soon became very successful and virtually overnight became the UK market leader and to this day still maintains a page 1, number 1 ranking on Google. The business soon expanded its portfolio to include negative, artwork and 35mm slide scanning plus a VHS to DVD conversion service. These extra services were very well received and the business quickly outgrew its home based roots necessitating a move to premises in Martin's home town of Mere, Wiltshire where they still operate from today, although an additional London based office was added a year ago.
Taking his ethos of quality, attention to detail and cost effective pricing, and with a background as a senior manager for global electronics manufacturer Canon, Martin looked to broaden his horizons and capitalise on his professional experience and natural entrepreneurship within the wider business fields of document scanning and document management.
Now, just 3 years on and the group of Click2Scan companies offer solutions for everything scanning related, from the original photo scanning through to document scanner sales with official dealerships for document scanner market leaders Canon, Kodak and Fujitsu, a document scanning service, document management turnkey solutions, document management software, document scanner hire and full technical support. The company operate on a UK wide basis offering rapid response in all areas of the business, often delivering complete solutions within 24 hours.
Clients are representative of every business category imagineable within the public and private sectors, varying from small one person enterprises through to major global corporate bodies, NHS, Police forces, local and National Government, schools, private colleges and universities.
Martin Peirce commented " We believe that no company has the conscripted right to growth, particularly in these difficult financial times and Click2Scan continues to buck the current recessional trend by asking our customers what they would like to see from us and responding accordingly, quickly and with price and quality as our main considerations. We offer 5* products and service but will still not be beaten on price alone. From the outset we decided we would operate a UK wide service and this has only been made possible since the introduction of high speed internet services to the Mere area 5 years ago. Being in a rural location meant that we weren't a high priority in the eyes of the internet providers. We are heavily reliant on the internet for our marketing and sales and without the introduction of internet communications technology to Mere, our business would not have taken off in the way that it has. Another important reason for our success of course is the quality of our staff and we were fortunate in sourcing all of our employees from within the Mere area. I'm proud of our achievements to-date and look forward to building on our reputation as a local & national success story"
Contact Click2Scan on 0845 873 8600 or email martin@click2scan.co.uk
Click2Scan wins 5 million page document scanning hire project.
In the face of fierce competition Click2Scan successfully competed for a prestigious scanner hire contract with Essex based Recall UK. The brief was to supply fast document scanners and provide total support from initial install through to completion of the 3-6 month project. With the UK's largest independent scanner hire fleet Click2Scan drew on their experience in the scanner market to provide ten of the latest Canon and Kodak scanners to fulfill the order. Back up and support will include an 8 hour response and 8 hour fix for any breakdowns, ensuring Recall UK experience little to nil scanner downtime. In the last 12 months Click2Scan have more than doubled their scanner hire fleet which in turn has seen a 250% increase in scanner hire business over 2009 levels. They plan further additions within the fleet and expect to grow it by 50% during the next 12 months.
Click2Scan grow 2010 YTD Scanner Hire business by 325%!!
In late 2009 Click2Scan Managing Director and CEO Martin Peirce, undertook a root and branch business tune up of all Click2Scan core products and services. The business had grown rapidly since inception in 2007 but not being one to rest on laurels, Martin explored ways to grow the business still further without negatively impacting cashflow or investment funding. The outcome of his exhaustive research was to concentrate on measurable Marketing to promote the companies bureau scanning services, scanner hire, scanner sales and document management solutions.
At a time when most business owners were slashing overheads and reducing marketing spend, Martin invested in a full time Marketing Manager and worked closely with that individual to compile and deliver his vision for growth. These plans included increased internet marketing activity, improving Google page ranking by writing fresh and unique content for the various Click2Scan websites, creating effective customer calls to action, giving away free online, industry relevant information packs, producing much improved website landing pages and generally providing Click2Scan customers with a more efficient and pleasureable service which would underline Click2Scan's reputation as Document Scanning Industry Experts.
This trackable and highly targeted activity has produced great results and YTD 2010 business revenues have seen a 43% overall increase with some spectacular results coming from document scanner hardware & software sales and document scanner hire, up by 226% and 325% respectively.
Martin commented, "Whereas the increased activity has undeniably worked very well in producing tangible growth we still rely heavily on some unchanged basic business principles. For example, all incoming calls are answered within 3 rings and internet enquiries are answered within the hour. Our business ethos is to under promise and over deliver. We ultimately achieve that via the cost effective delivery of document scanning solutions that exactly match or exceed our customers expectations. 2010 is well set to be another record year for Click2Scan"
HOW DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT WILL INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY.
Over 85% of the the Fortune 500 (Top 500 listed global companies) use document management and they use it for 2 simple reasons. It improves productivity and therefore profitability. Having said that, only 15% of global business in total use or have ever considered implementing an electronic document management system. WHY?
The answer is simple, lack of understanding coupled to resistance to change. Resistance to change is fine if you don't understand the benefit of making that change but KNOWING that altering the way you access and reference documents will reap massive time and cost benefits and STILL not making the change is reckless and illogical. If a recognised business guru, someone you really trusted, someone with a faultless track record told you that by changing a physical filing system to an electronic version would improve paper handling productivity by as much as 45% you would probably listen and then do something about it. After all, who would not want to improve productivity by that much. No one serious about improving their business that's for sure.
There are knock-on benefits too, not least of which is freeing up expensive office space. The National office of statistics tell us that for every desk in UK offices, 3 filing cabinets will be keeping that desk company! With office rents in the major cities running at record levels it can be as expensive to keep a filing cabinet as it is to keep a junior employee!
So in brief the benefits of at least looking into electronic document management make a compelling argument. Save time, money, space. Increase productivity, profits, customer response times and gain a significant competitive edge.
A one hour consultation is something most document management companies will agree to if they are serious about their work so take advantage of that and go check out document management, the future of filing.
Click2Scan love talking to potential clients and one hour consultations are the norm here. No obligation to buy obviously but if you are serious about adopting document management and would like to talk to real industry experts do call or email us.
Document Scanning & Management for the small business user- The Benefits.
Document scanning and document management i.e. the ability to file and retrieve documents electronically, has long been recognised by major corporations as the only way to effectively manage the vast paper mountains that they generate on a daily basis. Smaller businesses however can also benefit from all of the advantages that big business enjoys. So what are the benefits and why should a new or small business consider adopting electronic document management?
1. Viewing documents at the PC without the need to visit the filing cabinet. Think of the time saving alone here!
2. No lost or misfiled documents, so often the case with physically filed originals.
3. Higher levels of security as access to important documents can be limited by password.
4. HMRC no longer require original documents as proof and are happy to take scanned documents as documentary evidence.
5. The ability for multiple users to view documents at the same time. e.g. sharing access to electronically scanned invoices with your accountant or bookkeeper.
6. More space efficient. Storing documents electronically frees up valuable office space that would otherwise be taken by filing cabinets.
7. A basic system can be purchased for a few hundred pounds making adoption of document scanning a very cost effective solution.
8. Expandable and scalable system to cope with growth.
There are many proprietary systems available on the market today ranging from conventional data which is saved to disc or hard drive through to cloud computing solutions where your company data is uploaded to a remote secure server.
The choices are mind boggling for those with no experience or knowledge of document scanning or document management and I would recommend doing some research to establish the credentials of an independent document management expert, either locally or nationally Ask for testimonials and obtain 2 or 3 different quotations/proposals.
Explain clearly what documents you wish to manage and think carefully about the information you need to extract from the page. For example, you may want to cross refer an invoice with a delivery note either by date order or by customer name or order number. This process is called indexing and every business has different requirements.
Ensure that whoever you decide to place your business with has a good track record and have been in business long enough to have a high level of specialist industry knowledge. Ask them for written undertakings of software updates or licenses and establish that these will be provided either free of charge or at cost effective pricing levels.
Finally, don't get drawn into long contracts, there is no need for this and any business who asks to tie you in to a year long contract or 6 month cancellation clause have no faith in their ability to keep you consistently happy.
Thanks for reading and I hope this basic guide to document scanning and document management has been useful. We would be delighted to discuss your document management challenges with you and would recommend taking advantage of our FREE online demonstration with no obligation.
Outsourcing your archive scanning. Save space and time whilst improving efficiencies.
Have you considered outsourcing your archive for document scanning?
Nearly every medium to large size business in the UK has a document storage problem. Accessing filing cabinets for important information that may have been misfiled or misplaced or just plain missing being one of them. There are an estimated 3 million filing cabinets in the UK taking up an average 6 million square feet!
That is great news for manufacturers of filing cabinets but not such good news for those businesses who would rather use the space for more productive purposes i.e. revenue producing staff.
There IS a better and far more efficient way to store documents than this archaic, time honored method. Document scanning to disc or server gives instant access and retrieval with no danger of misfiling.
Some businesses we talk to have far too many filing cabinets or archive boxes containing historical files going back many years in certain cases. They want to store them electronically but taking the time to unpack all of these files and scan is a daunting task, taking up valuable labour resource, further needing serious chunks of time to get right.
Imagine how much simpler this could all be if you could outsource this. At the same time as just scanning your archive you could also improve the way they are referenced or indexed. e.g. A customer file when physically accessed requires the person viewing to find the relevant delivery note, invoice, letter, note or dispatch advice, usually meaning a trip to a filing cabinet or area. By indexing these sections electronically when they are scanned, you can pull up many different reference points at the click of a mouse whilst still sat at your desk, or anywhere in the world for that matter! For example, you may want to see all handwritten notes by a certain manager or author, all relevant technical drawings for a specific building or project or all invoices for a given month or specific supplier. Indexed electronic document scanning via searchable PDF's, will allow you to do all of this.
Of secondary but very important consideration is security. With physical storage you have no protection against unwanted eyes. Perhaps competition or a disgruntled employee. Electronic Document Management can contain layers of varying access to prevent those without a need to know, not to know! We can work to your brief and build in this security at scanning source.
Finally, at the end of the outsourced scanning project you decide whether you want the originals back or, as in most cases, simply destroyed, freeing up all of that valuable space that was taken by the ubiquitous filing cabinet(s) A certificate of destruction will be provided to show the audit trail and HMRC no longer require originals but are happy to see scanned copies so in very few cases do you actually need to keep the originals. Exceptions to this are the originals of legal documents such as Wills or EPA's which must be kept for a minimum 100 years.
If you are keen to move into the paperless world then outsourced scanning is a good start and highly recommended as a massive improvement over conventional filing methods.
Call us today on 0845 873 8600 or email info@click2scan.co.uk. WE COLLECT DOCUMENTS FREE OF CHARGE ON THE UK MAINLAND.