3 Steps to Digitize your Documents

I am always looking for better ways to accomplish everyday tasks for small biz owners and individuals. One problem that many face is how to keep, and organize important documents so that they are readily available when needed. Thanks to technology, we can now digitize our documents and keep them in the clouds thus making our desk space clean and clear of clutter. Here are three steps to take the documents from your desk to the clouds:


1. Start using or purchase a scanner – Scanners have come a long way since the days of the basic flat bed (although one of those would still work). Scanners have better image quality, are faster, and come with more features than the early years. Scanning your documents allows you to keep a digital image of the documents and save it for later use. Depending on your needs, there are multi-purpose machines, or scan only machines for those who will have larger paper workloads.

2. Save documents to the cloud – By saving your documents in the cloud, you have another level of protection in the case that your hard drive is stolen, corrupted or destroyed due to a disaster. Again depending on your needs, there are quite a few vendors that offer low-cost or even free cloud storage services.

3. Use Smartphone apps – If you are a small business owner or individual that is away from your office a great deal, Smartphone apps are one of the best ways to track your expense receipts and make digital copies of important documents. With these apps your can save digital copies of your receipts and convert them to PDF’s for later use. Check your app store for these apps.

These are just a few ways to digitize your important documents. Be sure to do a needs assessment before digitizing your documents and taking them into the clouds to ensure that your current and future needs will be meet with the technology that you choose.

The Tech Accountant