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Top Document Scanning Trends of 2010

Scanning Project

Record Nations, a national network of document scanning services, has released the results of the top scanning trends for 2010. The company handles hundreds of scanning services requests monthly. The data was used to create an overview of the records management industry. They have extrapolated the top four trends in scanning for 2010.

The study shows the biggest change in the industry is the volume of scanning done at medical offices. They are increasingly digitizing their offices to Electronic Health Records (EHR). The trend can be partially tracked to the grants in the economic stimulus package. Doctors are looking for solutions to comply with the new Medicaid payment requirements for EHR compatibility.

  • The rate of medical record scanning grew 22% in 2010

    • The second biggest trend that Record Nations observed was businesses looking to recover space. This covers all the storage closets that are filled with records boxes. During this economic downturn, many small business owners have opted to store their documents internally rather then spending money on off site record storage or scanning services. Now, as companies look to expand they need the space back to grow.

  • Scanning requests to get space back were up 11% for the year.

    • The third trend from the Record Nations study was a response to the poor economy. “Unfortunately, we saw a large number of scanning requests from businesses that are closing,” says Steve Hastert, President of Record Nations. “The officers know that they have to store the business records for seven years, and they are looking for a cost-effective solution."

  • Requests from closing businesses increased 8% in 2010

    • The fourth trend according to the Record Nations study, points to the influence of the “green” movement. Historically more businesses wanted to scan their records for efficiency reasons. Now, there is more interest in scanning to make the office paperless so it is environmentally friendly.

  • Requests due to “environmental” considerations showed a 4% increase

    • The overarching trend continues to be a move away from paper records to digital ones. “It will be decades but the march towards the true paperless office continues,” says Hastert. “I would contribute the move to be mostly about the average age of the workforce. Younger workers prefer electronic records to paper.” He calls the change more of an evolution than a revolution.

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