01 May 12 A Few Questions to Help You Tame the Mess of Financial Papers

We all pile up a lot of financial documents over time. From receipts to bills to invoices to statements to tax documents, they contain really important information that we don’t want to lose. But keeping around all of those piles of paper is a pain.

The answer, as a growing number are discovering, is to make the documents electronic.

Luckily, there are many solutions out there that can help us do this. A number of companies make scanners, which can be used to create digital images of our documents. And a number also make special software that reads those images and turns them into text which can be organized and stored in various programs.

There are many payoffs to digitizing in this fashion. However, before you can gain them, you need to decide which products and services to go with.

Below are 3 questions that you will confront in the course of coming to firm conclusions about that.

1. Scan my own documents or outsource the job?

You can hire a firm to carry out all of the labor needed to get your financial data into digital form. Doing so can be very nice. You avoid the stress of doing it. You avoid the need to invest in buying a scanner or a bunch of software. You can rest assured that your information will be recorded accurately since these companies make a point of checking that and checking it again. Outsourcing the process means you can, for all intents and purposes, simply skip over questions 2 and 3.

Still, for a variety of reasons, some people much prefer to do their own scanning. And for them – and you, if you fall into this category – there are two more queries to consider.

2. Big stationary scanner or small portable scanner?

Desktop models are bigger, but also usually quicker and have more robust features and functions than mobile scanners. However, mobile scanners are nice to have because, with them, you can scan in financial documents when traveling right as you obtain them.

There is no right or wrong answer here. In fact, the best choice, if you can afford it, might be to get both a stationary and a mobile scanner and use them each when called for.

3. Save the graphics and data on my own computer or on someone else’s hosting?

You can maintain the pictures and data created from your documents on your computer drive. Or, instead, you can have a company maintain them for you offsite in its storage system. The offsite choice has some advantages in terms of things like diverse methods of accessibility and security from loss of data.

Yet, it’s quite possible to incorporate such features even when storing data locally if you know what you’re doing. Ultimately, it comes down to preference and comfort level.

While these choices can make you think, just remember that, as long as you go with a secure option, you can’t really go too wrong. Anything beats the insecurity and frustration of heaps of papers on the table, desks and floor. So just make the decisions that seem best to you and I’m sure you’ll look back and be glad you did when you experience the relief of digital finances.

In the market for software to make finances electronic? Check out Jack’s blog for more tips and information.

Tags: accounting, Business, digital finance, efficiency, equipment, Finance, information technology, IT, money, organizing, productivity, receipt scanning, scanning, Software, Technology