I spent a couple of years working for a document imaging company that catered to lawyers, the mounds of paper work that had to be scanned in and documented.   First the project was counted, we would scan and in insert into computer folders, this could easy be hundreds of folders and tens of thousands of sheets to scan in per project. Each document scanned could would have unique name, and sorted in order in the folder. Once the project is finished the the documents were burned on a cd or dvd depending on the size of the project.  It was a good experience, I learned a lot.

Just when you are trying to save the forest for all the paper work the government introduces something else to keep the paper work flowing, and having you to use a Document Scanning Service in regards to the  Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called SOX or Sarbox; is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002 in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom.

The legislation establishes new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms. It does not apply to privately held companies. The Act contains 11 titles, or sections, ranging from additional Corporate Board responsibilities to criminal penalties, and requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rulings on requirements to comply with the new law.  Complying to the new law, businesses are faced with the increasing costs of storing, using a Document Scanning Service, which will enable you to locate and distribute large amounts of documents across multiple company locations and departments.

One of the biggest issue is sharing paper records across locations and departments. Once a document is in an electronic format, pdf works very well and can be read across different computer systems, they are easily shared across a  network. You can also send documents via email instead of postal mail or overnight delivery for further cost savings. I am in for saving costs.

Cheers