How hybrid records management can save your business money

With homeworking and satellite offices set to become the norm, businesses are looking for ways to cut costs. For councils, authorities, and various enterprises, document management involves physical storage space for hard copies, which can be expensive.

In our fast-paced, tech-led environment, it’s no surprise that business owners are eager to move over to an EDMS. Maintaining physical copies of every document brings costs and difficulties. These include:

• Large amounts of physical storage space. Documents need storing, and renting out physical storage space is expensive.
• Low efficiency. Time spent searching, scanning and copying documents directly affects employees’ productivity.
• Poor security. Physical documents are easily stolen. Protecting sensitive data is difficult with on-site hard copies.
• Difficult recovery. Your business can lose documents for many reasons, including weather or fire damage. If you’ve only got hard copies, it makes recovery much trickier.

All of these issues incur costs. But taking the jump into a fully Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) is daunting for many organisations and not without its challenges.

And yet, because of some regulatory standards, not every business will be able to digitise all their documents at a drop of a hat. So, for those looking to take advantage of the savings digitisation can provide, hybrid records management could be the answer.

What is hybrid records management?

A hybrid records management system means you don’t have to choose between hard copies and digital documents. You get the full benefit of both. Often, companies will choose to keep their hard copies in low revenue storage and digitise as required.

With this in place, you can operate a Scan on Demand, or as we call it, Digital at the Point of Access system. This enables you to digitise documents as you need them, enhancing accessibility and reducing cost all at once.

Essentially, it maximises your cost efficiency. For documents that you rarely access but must retain for compliance, it often doesn’t make sense to scan everything. Having your records in a managed records facility with a Scan on Demand service can sometimes be more cost-effective.

The way into digitisation

Digitising all your documents in one go could result in a large capital outlay. This is where hybrid records management can help.

It’s a cost-effective way to get your digitisation project off the ground, allowing you the freedom and security to keep hard copies if needed. Hybrid records management complements the shift over to digitisation by reducing the costs of storing physical records on-premises.

Many companies strive to be totally paperless. For sensitive documents though, it’s not always possible. Sometimes it’s necessary to have original documents or hard copies for legal or security reasons. Hybrid records management allows you to move towards paperless, while still maintaining physical copies of your most critical documents.

Being better for the planet can also bring cost savings. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year, costing around £200.

However, digitising takes time. There’s going to be a crossover period while you sort, scan and digitise documents. Going paperless can’t happen overnight. During this transition, adopting a full-service hybrid records management system keeps you secure and ensures business operations aren’t disrupted.

If this sounds like the solution to your business’s problems, you’ll need a trusted document management partner to get you started.

Supporting your hybrid records management journey

A full document management service, like that provided by Datatron, will cover you entirely, right down to the papers on every employee’s desk.

There are a lot of steps to take to move to Electronic Document Management Systems, especially if you’ve got a large-scale digitisation project in mind.

However, hybrid records management is the ideal stepping stone to get you underway. And, for those that require hard copies of documents for compliance, hybrid records management is the perfect way to cut costs while maintaining accessibility.

If you’re looking for a trusted document management partner, we’ve got the infrastructure to handle your requirements. We process in excess of one million documents per week for both public and private sector organisations**.**

Whether you need a full EDMS or hybrid option, when you choose Datatron for your records management you’ll get the support you need every step of the way. Book a meeting today.