More cities, towns see the value in paperless future
Municipal governments of all shapes and sizes now recognize the increased flexibility, savings and certainty that comes with adopting document management services. That, in turn, is leading to a significant shift for major cities and small towns alike.
One of the biggest issues driving demand for bulk scanning services for municipalities across the country is that many – especially smaller cities and towns with limited resources to expand government facilities – are simply running out of space to store old physical documents. According to the Huron Daily Tribune, that's certainly the case in Huron County, Michigan, where the Board of Commissioners are considering a transition to paperless document management services.
A closer look
The problem for the county is that it is running out of space for storing those documents, but state law requires that it maintain documents on an ongoing basis, so the idea of simply destroying older files is not feasible, the report said. It has been recommended to county officials that they consider a multi-faceted document management approach, utilizing remote scanning, hard drives and databases, with everything backed up in the cloud.
As a means of keeping the cost of the transition – which many seem to recognize as important, if a bit expensive at first – officials have recommended the use unpaid interns as part of the document conversion effort.
A bigger effort
Meanwhile, even larger cities see the value in making such a transition, and Orlando, Florida, is among them. Over the next few months, the Orlando Permitting and Construction Division will go through the process of digitizing hundreds of thousands of documents as a means of increasing both the security of those files and creating more efficiency within the PCD. Robotic process automation will be a big part of the department's document management going forward, making it easier to access files on an as-needed basis.
The fact is that many municipalities are reaching a sort of event horizon at which point they must make the determination to pivot to digital document management. The sooner they can begin laying the groundwork for such efforts, the better off they are likely to be in the long term.
