Allowing compliance to catch up to the digital age

Businesses and hospitals have very strict guidelines about saving their records, financial transactions, email and many other documents- all of which can quickly add up if not properly organized. Recently, the Colombus Dispatch argued that the worldwide grip on paper appears to be a more psychological battle than a technological one – people still want the physical presence of a document.

However, companies and hospitals are quickly realizing the benefits of digitizing their records. Document management not only saves space and allows documents to be more accessible, but offers direct financial incentives, as the federal government attempts to break paper's stranglehold.

President Barack Obama's stimulus program included a $30 billion package to hospitals in order to incentivize the digitization of their records. After its introduction, the Bipartisan Policy Center found that two-thirds of hospitals had applied for the program's money with a third already receiving some of the funds.

The benefits are clear – a business can eliminate entire rooms dedicated to saving documents and transform the space into one that can directly generate revenue. Furthermore, the documents are safe from physical theft and destruction. As the benefits for a document conversion service add up, more people appear to be okay with letting all that paper go.