5 Top Trends in Small and Mid-Size Business Scanning

Digital transformation is the single phrase most likely to be heard in conversations about growth and productivity, and for good reason. There is no question that the pressure to move into the digital age is a force that is being felt by organizations of all shapes and sizes. By making the transition from paper processes to digital, businesses are better able to secure their sensitive data, a leading concern across all verticals. Further, digitizing paper documents facilitates archiving, search and retrieval of information, boosting productivity. Finally digitizing paper intensive processes paves the way for more advanced document management and automation across the business. Overall, digital document management helps give businesses a competitive edge by reducing waste and improving processes, leading to both greater productivity and a reduction in costs.

Today’s businesses are going well beyond scan-to-email and information capture by using scanning to transform the way they work. We’ve identified three of the top trends in scanning today, and how they’re helping small and mediums size businesses (SMBs) grow and evolve with the times. They also want a better way to manage them.

1. Better Document Capture Processes

According to a recent survey by Xerox Corporation in conjunction with Coleman Parkes, 99% of businesses still report that paper processes are integral to their business. They also want a better way to manage them.

The same study showed that more than 80% of those respondents wanted to improve their current document workflow processes in the coming year. Scanning is the answer. By unlocking the data trapped on paper, your business can streamline its workflows, improving productivity and giving your bottom line a much needed upward boost – and now there is a better way. Until now, scanning solutions have treated the document capture process as an application with dedicated hardware and software that imposed a tedious multi-step work process on users. That process also relied on specific devices and fixed file-based repositories.

Web Capture Service from Xerox dramatically simplifies document scans for users of virtually any web application such as QuickBooks Online, Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps, Workday and hosts of others.

2. Mobility

You can’t achieve successful digital transformation without mobility solutions. Mobile scanning solutions enable productivity for remote workers and ensure that information will flow seamlessly throughout your organization regardless of where your team members spend their day. According to new global research from International Data Corporation (IDC), the landscape for printing, scanning, and document management is in the midst of profound and significant change, and mobile opportunities for document solutions continues to grow1 . Smartphone/tablet users are more likely than non-users to scan a wide range of document types, especially accounting, financial, legal, education, marketing/customer communications, and sales documents. The Xerox® Mobile Link App allows you to scan and fax directly from your phone or tablet device by connecting with Xerox ConnectKey™ enabled multifunction printers. You can also send documents to cloud storage and print from there as well. Best of all, additional options for these machines allow you to scan (or print) from your device without connecting to a network.

3. Security

Scanning is a great way to protect your organization’s information, and is quickly becoming a go-to security strategy. Multifunction printers enabled with ConnectKey Technology® provide end-to-end scan and print encryption. Users have the option to encrypt PDF files with a password when using the Scan to Email service. ConnectKey® enabled MFPs also include secure external email connectivity that encrypts data transfer between multifunction printers and externally hosted mail servers.

4. Sustainability

SMBs are becoming increasingly eco-minded and that shift is being reflected in their business practices. Many SMBs are turning to scanning in order to reduce paper waste, as well as to reduce their use of ink and toner (and the costs associated with that usage). This shift not only benefits the environment; it is also attractive to consumers like millennials, who value sustainability in the businesses they choose to patronize2.

5. 3D Scanning

According to Grandview Research, the global 3D scanning market size was valued at USD 3.32 billion in 20153 . 3D scanning is applied in a number of processes, from producing high-volume customized products to modernizing existing products and capturing lost designs. It also finds itself at home in the manufacturing industry where it has become a vital part of quality control and inspection systems. Based on these findings it is clear that in today’s SMB market there is more to scanning than paper in, paper out.

1. New IDC Research Highlights How Smartphones and Tablets Are Changing the Way Users Print, Scan, and Manage Documents
2. An Emerging Retail Trend is KEY for Attracting Millennials – Business Insider
3. 3D Scanning Market Analysis by Product – Grandview Research

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Xerox Web Capture (Video)

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3 Comments

  1. […] all of our online innovations, 99% of businesses still report that paper processes are integral to their business. They just want a better way of […]

  2. […] important than ever to make sure your paper management and workflows are efficient. According to a recent survey by Xerox Corporation in conjunction with Coleman Parkes, 99% of businesses still report that paper processes are integral to their business, they just want […]

  3. […] all of our online innovations, 99% of businesses still report that paper-based processes are still integral to their business. They just want a better way of […]

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