Scanning Tips: Choosing Small Business Scanners

If you’ve decided to take your business to the next level by implementing document scanning solutions, congratulations–you’re on your way to better organization, smoother communication, and even a happier budget. First, though, you’ll need to take on the task of choosing a scanner for your small business.

Small Business, Big Needs

Small businesses don’t have less work to do just because they’re small. In fact, you’ve got challenges, needs, and goals that look entirely different from the big brand-name Goliaths–so your company deserves a document scanner up to the task. The trick is to find a machine that does everything you need it to do without introducing complexity or frustration into a solution that should be so simple it’s almost fun.

Here’s how to do just that!

#1: Find out what you’re scanning.

Your document scanning needs will determine the type of machine you want. Start by analyzing your goals and deciding exactly what types of documents you’ll be scanning, how many, and how often.

#2: Decide on OCR.

OCR, or optical character recognition, is a scanning tool that allows the machine to “read” your files, understand them, and essentially rewrite them as something you can search, edit, save, and share. It’s helpful if you deal with a lot of text-heavy documents or if you’d like to pull some fancy organization footwork–but it’s not necessarily a requirement, depending on your needs. (For example, if you were exclusively scanning blueprints or marketing photographs, you might not need to worry about OCR.)

#3: Research connectivity.

You want your scanner to play nice with the rest of your business’s software. Make sure to do research ahead of time, so you end up with a machine that fits into your workflow and makes things easier instead of more difficult!

Ready to take the next step in your scanning journey and choose a machine for your small business? Contact us today!