For most law firms, the most powerful thing that scanning your paper archives can do for you is give you the ability to search some or all of your old documents for specific words or phrases.  We can do this for you in a two-step process.  First, we digitize your paper files, enabling them with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).  Second, our tech team builds out and tailors a software solution for your specific needs that will ultimately lead to a completely searchable library of electronic documents.  You will be able to search for words or phrases in a specific documents, in your entire library, or within a subset or range of your documents.

For firms that work on a flat fee basis, the value here is astronomical.  You and your support staff will immediately be able to find similar old cases and simply duplicate the documents for your new clients, changing just names, dates, and other information rather than recreating the wheel from scratch.  For firms that work on an hourly basis, there is still value in searchability – you will be more productive, quickly moving on to your next tasks and delivering results to your clients more quickly than before.

To learn how our hybrid scanning/search products can help you and your firm, please call or email today.

As part of our service, we typically make the text of your documents searchable through Optical Character Recognition (OCR).  This means you can use the standard CTRL-F search to look for words or phrases within that document.  This is a very powerful tool that allows you to quickly find and, if necessary, duplicate parts of your archived documents.  Of course, there is only value if you know what files to search.  What if you don’t?  What if you want to search your entire archive for a phrase?  What if you can’t remember the past client’s name for whom you handled a similar issue?  Well, we can now offer the option of enhancing search capability so that you can search as much or as little of your entire library as you wish for specific words and phrases.  If you are a law office, that means you can search for phrases or even the names of esoteric cases that may have come up only a dozen times in years of practice.  This is yet another way you can use our service to enhance your productivity.  No more time needed to reinvent the wheel!

For more information about this or any of our scanning or information cataloging capabilities, please call us at 212.545.0818 or email us at either of the addresses above.

To many, document scanning looks like a cost.  It is, to be sure, but it is also an opportunity for investment.  Moving towards a digital office can make your staff more productive and it can open doors to new marketing opportunities.  These examples are taken from our experience with law firms, but we’re sure they are likely to be applicable to any business.

Staff Productivity

A clean, paperless office improves staff morale.  More importantly, you and your staff will be more productive because you will be able to quickly find and duplicate documents when working on future similar client matters.  A large office’s file room is a really a vortex of wasted time; people stop work, go look for files, and hopefully eventually they find what they’re seeking.   If your office works on a flat fee basis, as many do, staff productivity is of paramount importance.  A productive staff takes less time to finish the tasks they need to.  That type of staff doesn’t waste time looking for files.  In a large office, this may mean not only a staff that is able to perform more billable services, it could also mean you may eventually be able to trim your staff costs by one person.  We’re not suggesting you start cutting your staff loose, though you certainly may choose to do so.  Instead, we are simply saying that a large practice will have some turnover, hiring a handful of support staff people each year.  If your files are digital, your existing staff will be so much more productive that you may not need to replace one of those people when the digitization is completed.  In either case, a more productive staff which is able to close more billable matters than before is a huge financial benefit for any business.

Marketing

I will start by saying that we have done what I am about to explain for immigration attorneys, and I can put you in touch with them if this sounds ‘too good to be true.’  Many types of cases involve dates years down the road that allow for new revenue streams; often attorneys forget this.  When your files are digitized, you will be able to easily track dates for these things and you can reach out when your clients have dates or deadlines on the horizon.  These targeted marketing efforts can bring in repeat business within months! 

In addition, you will be able to develop mailing and email lists of former clients, which can be appended to your current emailing list.  Some former clients may have new needs or they may be able to refer you to friends or associates who have such needs. 

In either scenario, you are able to keep your name fresh in the minds and memories of former clients who will contact you if they need your services.  And, remember – these are people with whom you have an existing relationship, so you will not need to sell them on your capabilities; this is ‘low hanging fruit,’ so to speak.  We want you to be happy, we want you to make money off of us scanning your documents.  We will only be satisfied if we can do those things for you.

In sum, we believe scanning, when done and leveraged properly, can become more of an investment in your practice than a direct cost for a business with many years of experience.  It is an opportunity to invest in your business in a way that will generate additional revenue streams that you previously thought impossible and streamline and increase efficiency in operations (and save you money on space each month, as discussed at length previously).  Our experience tells us this is not only possible with our service, but almost guaranteed, if you are able to adequately adapt to the changes a paperless office brings with it.

Call us at 212.545.0818 for more information or to get started today.

Especially in the legal and medical fields, there’s often reticence to scan and archive documents because people are unsure how or if they will be integrated with their existing file or case management software system.  Merging scanned documents into an existing system is usually a lot easier and faster than you think.  The process is really more about data entry than anything else.  In many cases, we’re talking about a simple three step process.  First, the file is scanned and PDF document is created.  Then we take the client’s or patient’s information (name, case number, internal code, etc.) and create a new entry in your case management software; of course, this step is not always necessary if that entry has already been created.  At that point, the PDF document can be dragged and dropped or somehow otherwise associated with the newly created client entry.  And then you’re ready to go!  While it takes a bit of extra time (and, thus, will naturally raise the price you pay slightly), merging scanned documents into an existing software system is really not something that should hold you back if you want to scan and digitize your paper files.

To learn more, please contact us with any questions or comments.