Should we do this conversion project ourselves

or Outsource?

 

One thing to consider when starting to think about a conversion project is whether you should do the work in house or send it out to be done? Below are some guidelines to help you determine which is best.

 

Note: A company that provides both conversion services and systems for organizations to do conversions themselves is in the best position to help you determine which is best for you and their opinion should be unbiased.

 

Advantages of outsourcing:

 

You can start faster

With no infrastructure to purchase and setup and no employees to train, you can get started as soon as you've decided what services you'd like.

 

No capital expenditures to get started

Your Service Bureau will have everything needed to get your project done correctly, on budget, and on time.

 

Enables you to handle volume fluctuations with ease

Service Bureaus have capacity many times greater than any one client and can therefore adjust to temporary fluctuations or permanent changes in volume.

 

Service Bureaus are less expensive than in-house operations

Legitimate service bureaus have production-level hardware and software which is faster and allows for more automation.

 

Service bureaus typically have lower overhead costs - Lower cost per square foot. Lower insurance costs.

 

Service bureaus get better pricing on supplies and equipment. If your service bureau also sells scanners for people to do conversions themselves they may have a service department that maintains their own equipment. Not only does this lower their repair costs but it also helps ensure that their equipment is maintained well and repaired quickly when a breakdown occurs, further lower costs and increasing speed.

 

Service bureaus typically have higher production standards. This is all we do, were bound to get the hang of it sooner or later.

 

Allows you to focus on your core business and your employees on more value-added tasks

As you know, focusing your employees as much as possible on revenue-generating, cost-saving, and customer service enhancing tasks is critical today. By sending routine, back office tasks out to be done, your employees can focus solely on on using the end result of that work to your advantage. 

 

 

 

 

 

Doing your project In-house may be best if:

 

Your documents will need to be accessed frequently during the conversion

If your documents will be very active during the conversion process, an in-house conversion may be best.

Note: Service Bureaus should provide you with 24/7/365 emergency access to your documents while they're away and should fulfill "file requests" typically within one hour during their standard working hours and a reasonable or pre-determined amount of time off hours.

 

Ongoing scanning that requires extreme speed

If you have scanning that is ongoing (as opposed to a backlog scanning project) where documents are captured quickly and needed immediately (like medical records in a hospital), in house conversions may be best.

Note: Service bureaus should work with you to meet your time requirements. For ongoing projects, such as Accounts Payable typically, they should be able to have the images and data to you within a few hours of receipt.

 

You have staff with free time

If you have staff that is sometimes idle and can keep up with your volume and quality requirements, an in-house conversion may be best.

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