Six Considerations In Choosing A Scanner

Choosing a scanner to deploy with your software solution can enhance the overall solution and success of your paperless project.

As your organization can move toward producing a less-paper environment, one of the key items in achieving this goal is converting paper to electronic documents by choosing a scanner to fit your needs. The key piece to making this process as efficient as possible along with producing documents that are true reproductions of the original is the scanner. This article will offer the factors used to determine which device is best for your solution.

Considerations for Choosing a Scanner

The primary criteria for scanner selection fall into the following categories in no particular order:

• Centralized or De-Centralized Scanning; Centralized or De-Centralized scanning will primarily determine the class or size of the scanner to select.
• Document Type; When considering a scanner you must review the types of documents you will be scanning. The document characteristics need to be matched to the scanner capabilities.
• Cost/Speed/Size; When selecting a scanner it is important to consider the number of pages per day/week/or month you will be scanning.
• Imaging Quality; Look for a scanner that offers the ability to enhance image quality at scan time either with add on software that comes with the scanner or with built in image processing functions.
• Software Compatibility; Whatever scanner you end up selecting, it must work with the imaging/document management software deployed in your organization. Most every software capture product will either support an ISIS scanner driver or a TWAIN driver.
• Service Cost/Ease of Service/Warranty; Many of the quality scanning hardware will have easily replaceable wear items such as rollers and pickup pads that can be changed by the end user. Many of the quality scanning hardware will have easily replaceable wear items such as rollers and pickup pads that can be changed by the end user.