Education sees greater value in data capture

While many industries are pushing toward increased digitization of vital documents, one area that has been at least a little resistant to the process has been education. However, those issues are starting to diminish – for at least some aspects of the education sector – because of the sheer volume of paperwork schools of all shapes and sizes have to process on a regular basis.

Many IT experts in the education field say that they find it difficult to assess problems with their systems because they don't have enough crucial data digitized, according to a report from Ed Tech Magazine. In a lot of cases, the reticence to change over to heavy digitization comes because schools or districts think the process will be lengthy and require many man-hours for the necessary legwork. And while these processes can take a long time to ramp up, those that go through them typically say the investment is worth it in the end – because of how much time gets saved on the other side.

One area where this can go a long way is with document capture, which automatically processes any scanned document and files it where it needs to go. Coupling that with automated workflows that direct those documents to the exact people who need to see them can save both a lot of time and money, according to Perfect Forms. It's also important to note that in many cases this type of automation can go a long way not only when it comes to handling student data for registrations, but also for things like grades. There are often dozens of steps involved in either of those processes, and digitizing documents can go a long way toward cutting those down into the low double digits in most cases.

With all this in mind, budget-conscious education decision-makers need to consider the benefits of making such a switch, even if it does come with an up-front cost. The ability to save time and money in the long run with a document management system of this type can be a real boon and provide benefits for years.