Forget paper – DataScan provides electronic solution for document management


14 Oct 2010

DataScan is aiming towards making more offices paper-free with their document management services.

Established in 1993, the family run business is an ISO registered company with 60 employed at its office in Dublin.

DataScan provide solutions to data management issue by concentrating on scanning documents and holding them online for clients, to reduce the clutter that physical records make.

“The difference between us and general records management companies is that we focus on the electronic end of it,” said business development manager Orla Cafferty,

“We’re not interested in just building up boxes and boxes of records that don’t move and costs money over the years.”

The document management system sees the company collect the client’s documents and scans and quality checks them. The documents are then either securely stored or recycled based on the clients wishes.

They can then be accessed to browse and print from datascan.ie.

The company also provides data capturing services, which processes over 1.8 million data records per week, providing high speed bar coded data capture. Clients include Independent News and Media and The Irish Times.

DataScan has an accounts payable processing service, allowing companies to automate the invoice approval process.

The company has a strong focus on security. Padraic Cafferty, who established the business, was also the president of the Irish Security Industry Association.

Many security precautions within these services include transport vehicles with in-built video surveillance, storing files in security sealed boxes and needed to pass a metric fingerprint scanner in order to access the document management area.

The benefits of making physical documents are manifold, said Cafferty. It makes the office a much more green-friendly environment, reducing paper waste. She also said it was a much more efficient way of storing data too.

“Having all your records in electronic workflow makes them a lot easier to find and distribute,” said Cafferty.

She recalls travel agency clients working after the Icelandic volcano eruption blocked flights for a long duration of time earlier this year. The sheer quantity of insurance calls the agencies received meant that providing an electronic solution for pulling up claims as quickly as possible to process them.

Cafferty also notes that, for companies with a huge quantity of physical files, it can cost more in terms of finding room for them, as such, providing an electronic solution can save space and money.