Though often associated with digitizing images, for storage and use on a computer, document scanners can play numerous roles in your business. These can include converting paper documents to digital formats and scanning receipts into spreadsheets for your accounting department.

Backup and Storage

It is a simple reality that materials and space cost your business money every day. Losing important files can be detrimental to your business's operation. By scanning your paper files into a digital format and saving them in multiple locations, including as an offsite server, you can eliminate the wasted space of paper files while backing up important documents.

Transmitting to Colleagues and Customers

Getting information into the hands of your employees, customers and other business contacts quickly can mean the difference between landing your next big account or losing it to your competition. Many copiers and scanners with network connectivity can scan and e-mail documents in a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format at the time of the scan.

Integrate With Your Office Software

Products such as Microsoft Office have built-in functions that allow you to scan information directly into document and spreadsheet files. By activating the Optical Character Recognition tools, characters on paper documents, receipts, order forms and work orders may be transferred to the program of your choice to eliminate the need for separate data entry.

Digitization and Preservation of Print Photos

One of the most common uses for a scanner is its ability to scan and save print photos into digital formats such as JPEG or GIF. While digital cameras are widely available and a common feature on devices such as smart phones, tablets and portable video game devices, a scanner can convert printed photos to a digital file for use on your company's website or to create a backup file.