We Know Why You’re Putting Off That Document Conversion Project

You’re well aware of the benefits of document conversion: secure document management, speedy document retrieval, reduced liability, improved sustainability, and smaller office storage area. So why haven’t you done it? For most of us, the problem is time. It takes time to get up to speed on the high-volume scanners, the information management software, the document disposal decisions. And once you know what to do, it takes even more time to execute the conversion.

In most organizations, time is the scarcest resource of all. Nevertheless, there are ways to spend just a little time and still get the job done. A few tips:

1. Attend a Digital Asset Management (DAM) conference and get an overview of what document conversion entails. The Digital Asset Symposium and DAM New York are just a couple of examples of the numerous conferences devoted to DAM, with experts in a variety of industry sectors.  Knowledge is a great anxiety-reducer, and once you’ve educated yourself about DAM, terms like “metadata” and “taxonomy” will no longer be intimidating.
2. Seek out a consultant or service provider with a depth of experience in document conversion. Look for someone who understands the information needs of your type of business and who will design a customized conversion plan.
3. Examine your calendar for opportune times to execute the conversion, in order to minimize any downtime in normal operations. A 3-day weekend? An office move, when you’d be shut down anyway? A normally-occurring slow time in your industry? Those can be great times to make the change to digital, with minimal disruption.
4. Don’t do the work yourself. Bring in a service provider whose crew can move the paper documents through the conversion process quickly and expertly. Your costs to train your own team adequately, and pull them off their usual tasks to execute the conversion, will far exceed the cost of an outside service provider.

Remember that a successful document conversion project has two parts: A well-designed plan, and a well-crafted execution of that plan. Look for a service provider who can offer both, and your conversion project will be seamless.

It’s a well-worn axiom: Time is money. The more time you spend putting off your document conversion, the more money is lost through reduced productivity. Devote a small amount of time now to learning about the process, and you’ll be that much closer to the cost-saving benefits of document conversion.

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