Paper2Digital Blog

When a law firm determines it wants to get serious about scanning (the onset of Scanbition), it generally has an initial and a long term objective. For long term objectives we hear of ambitions to ‘Go paperless’ in the practice areas or ‘Eliminate offsite records storage’. Initial objectives are more grounded in practicality, such as ‘Start scanning closed matters instead of sending them offsite to records storage’ or ‘Start scanning all incoming paper for the IP Practice Group.’

‘Start’ is the key word. ‘How do we start?’ How do you move from tedious, one-document-at-a-time scanning, to scanning all the paper? When the only scanning experience has been casual scanning at the copier, best practice enterprise scanning is a big leap forward. It must fit the culture, the workflow, and the operational future of the Firm. Enterprise scanning requires a Plan, considering:

–          What are our specific goals for paper document scanning?

–          What volume of incoming paper will we need to address with this project?

–          How does the paper arrive, and get managed?

–          Can we receive and manage it so that our scan capture workflow is sure to get it all?

–          Who profiles the documents into the DMS? Who scans?

–          How do we apply security, process integrity and QC to the overall job?

–          How do we intersect with Records policy?

–          When do we engage the Records staff?

–          Do we shred? How? When?

–          How do we measure our productivity in the project?

–          How do we measure ROI?

–          What staffing, infrastructure and application resources are required?

–          Who owns this new operation?

To tackle these constructive questions, and others, you must develop an approach to the project that marries the overall objectives with the firm’s culture about paper, with the ROI targets, and investment resources. To jump start the approach, DocSolid offers our Scanbition Frameworks. These frameworks put your project into an operating context, based on your objectives. How do you start? Pick a Scanbition Framework!

1. Scan and Retire File Room
2. Target Image Enthusiasts
3. Scan and Maintain the File Room
4. Scan and Shred Closed Matters
5. Start with Accounting

Our upcoming blogs will detail each Framework.

Scanesthesia is the latest addition to our Scanthology dictionary of scanning terms. Scanesthesia is a common condition in law firms, characterized by a sleepy acceptance of the relentless accumulation of paper,  despite the general availability of scanning. So, almost all law firms have casual (walk-up) scanning at their copiers and mfp’s, and this type of scanning has been in place for years. Yet paper burdens continue, taking up space in offices, hallway boxes and file rooms. Growing the mountain of offsite storage. Straining the attorneys and staff with slow, unreliable and un-automated paper file retrievals. This is about a big cost that can be reduced. This is about productivity drain that can be eliminated.

Our 2013 ILTA Roadshow addresses Scanesthesia head on, explaining why we have it, and what we can do about it. In addition to case studies on enterprise scanning – as a best practice, we’ll pass on tips about:

• How to wean attorneys from paper file dependency
• How to get the staff to go ‘all-in’ for scanning
• How to incorporate paper document destruction in your records practices

And we are accumulating tips on these topics from our audience, and assembling a summary Field Report at the end of the Roadshow.  Or write to me at sirons@docsolid.com with your Field Report!

Watch this video from ILTA as DocSolid’s president Steve Irons talks about how law firms are getting serious about scanning.
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Scanbition is an ambition and a plan for scanning. In part one of the presentation series, we learned that scanning alone is not the answer to reducing the paper burden at your firm. In part two, we present two case studies of firms with scanbition and real world results.
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‘Attorney at Work’ is an excellent site providing small firms “One Really Good Idea Every Day.” Here’s our article posted with them providing tips for smaller firms who want to implement best practice scanning.

We’ve had some interesting discussions already in the first two cities of this year’s ILTA Roadshow, “What’s Your Scanbition? Scan with a Plan.“  Scanbition is our latest coined word from DocSolid, intended to challenge our thinking about why the legal industry is still overburdened with paper, despite having a scanner on every corner. Scanbition is a specific plan for firm-wide scan capture. Scanbition is hard to find. In Cleveland, the audience generally agreed that their firms didn’t have an implemented or stated Scanbition. So the question was asked:  Why not, you knuckleheads? (more…)