Document Scanners in Ontario: Considerations for Choosing the Right One

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Document Scanners in Ontario Considerations
for Choosing the Right One By Kevin
DArcyVice President of Sales Marketing
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Document Scanners in Ontario

• Document scanners in Ontario deliver major
  benefits to users and continue to grow in
  popularity. Choosing the right document scanners
  in Ontario can be an easy project if you follow
  some simple guidelines. Basically, you need to
  consider your application, expected volume and
  budget.
• New models offer productivity-enhancing
  features at increasingly competitive prices.
  However, this popular technology offers solutions
  in many shapes and sizes. With such a large
  selection, how do you make the best decision?

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Basic Steps in Scanner Selection

• Choosing the right document scanners in Ontario
  can be an easy project if you follow some simple
  guidelines. Basically, you need to consider your
  application, expected volume and budget. 
• The first step in your analysis should
  consider your application. In other words, what
  type of documents do you expect to scan? Are you
  scanning financial documents like checks? Do you
  have extra-large documents like maps or
  blueprints? Or will you need to scan book
  pages? 
• The next step to evaluate is your
  anticipated volume. Will your scanner be used
  for routine tasks on a single-users desktop?
  Or, do you expect an entire department to scan
  documents on a regular basis? 
• Finally, determine your budget
  parameters. Just as scanners address a variety
  of applications and volumes, they come in a wide
  range of prices. Depending on the type, feature
  set and manufacturer, a scanner can cost less
  than a hundred dollars or thousands of dollars.
  Make sure your scanner does exactly what you need
  it to do and improves your work functions.

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A Wide Range of Scanner Choices

• To help narrow your selection for document
  scanners in Ontario, the following list
  identifies the various types available today.
•  
• Workstation Scanners. These scanners
  offer an affordable solution for medium-sized
  applications requiring less than one thousand
  pages a day. Generally, workstation scanners can
  accommodate different paper sizes in either
  flatbed or sheet-fed models.
•  
• In addition, workstation features can
  include basic functionality to more advanced
  capabilities. If you need to scan documents to
  special formats, such as e-mail, pdf files,
  printers or ftp sites, you may have to select a
  more advanced workstation scanner or add
  customized technology.

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A Wide Range of Scanner Choices

• Departmental Scanners. If you require
  higher capacity, youll need a departmental
  scanner. These scanners generally work best
  within larger organizations with greater scanning
  demands. Even with increased performance
  capabilities, many departmental scanners offer
  affordable solutions.
•  
• As with workstation scanners,
  departmental solutions come in flatbed and
  sheet-fed models. They can also scan to e-mail,
  pdf files, printers or ftp sites.
•  
• Production Scanners. As the name
  implies, production scanners address extreme
  capacities up to 100,000 pagers per day. In
  addition to volume, some of these scanners
  perform functions at speeds as fast as 120 pages
  per minute or more. Production scanners provide
  exceptional quality, high capacity and come with
  a wide selection of features.

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More Scanner Choices

• Networked Scanners. Todays
  geographically dispersed workforce requires
  efficient collaboration. With networked
  scanners, organizations can link branches and
  workers across the globe. Users simply load
  documents, access the network, and press a button
  to send a scanned version to another location on
  the companys network.
•  
• Networked scanners streamline document
  management, but they also provide a green
  solution for ecologically-minded organizations.
  No more copying documents multiple times on a
  copy machine and sending paper throughout the
  organization.
•  
• Cheque Scanners. Financial transactions
  take place in a variety of scenarios. In
  addition to banks and retail stores, corporate
  accounting departments process payments from
  customers. Advanced solutions generally scan up
  to 190 cheques per minute.
• .

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Wide-Format Scanners

• Often companies need to outsource scanning of
  large documents such as blueprints, technical
  drawings, sketches and maps.
• Turnaround times can impede productivity.
  And, the expense over time can easily justify a
  wide-format scanner investment in many
  situations.
•  
• These scanners can offer high resolutions
  up to 1200 dpi and speeds up to 12 inches per
  second.
• With easy one-touch interfaces, users can
  scan to a file, printer or network location.
  Most companies requiring this type of scanning
  capability find a favorable cost/benefit
  analysis.

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 Book Scanners

• These user-friendly scanners are targeted
  to libraries and other applications wanting to
  substitute book scanning for copy-machine
  duplication.
• Using a touch-screen interface instead of
  a keyboard or mouse, users can scan pages simply
  by putting the book in a cradle, touching a
  screen button and sending the document to print,
  e-mail or USB device.
•  
• Book scanners save time, money and
  frustration. The technology does away with copy
  machines, supplies and paper-jam fixes. By
  eliminating spine-bending from placing an opened
  book flat on a copy machine, these scanners also
  preserve books in their original condition.
  Finally, book scanners can generate revenue by
  integrating interfaces to swipe cards or accept
  money payments.

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About the Author

• Kevin D'Arcy is VP of Sales and Marketing for
  MES Hybrid Document Systems, Ontario's leading
  document scanning and document management
  supplier. For more information about our document
  scanners in Ontario, visit http//www.mesltd.ca/.