4. How to choose between in-house scanning system and out-sourced imaging services?

Outsourcing continues to be a strategic consideration for more and more business applications. The obvious reason for this is because organizations - any size and industry, for profit or non-profit, etc. -will employ proven methods to hold down costs if performance and operational quality can be guaranteed.

As we move toward more technology-driven operations, more applications for outsourcing are emerging. One application in particular is in the area of document imaging. Document imaging projects involve a healthy variety of considerations and challenges, and for these reasons outsourcing lends itself well to moving forward with such an undertaking. Unless an organization has available in-house resources and expertise and can secure both for the duration of an imaging project, outsourcing provides a timely and potentially cost effective answer.

5. What is better - Online Document Repository or Client Software?

Gartner study says that 80% of business applications will be Internet based by 2008. Why the trend? IT professionals and businesses are tired of purchasing software, paying ongoing software support fees, managing upgrades, and dedicating IT resources to software applications.

The traditional document imaging system requires client software to be installed on a network server and/or PC's. In most cases today document imaging software is installed as a browser based application for easier installation and single point of technical support.

In the last few years there has been a shift towards web hosted secure online document repositories. Some key reasons are that there is no software to purchase, no on-going software support fees, and no capital expenditures involved. Since there isn't any software to manage there are very little IT resources dedicated to managing the scanning project. In most cases since there are no software licenses online document repositories are typically unlimited to the number of authorized users that can be on the system at the same time accessing documents via an Internet connection.