BSB Steuerberatung GmbH goes completely digital and digitizes its file archive: with one (and then two) SCAMAX® 6×1.
The long-established BSB Steuerberatung GmbH is sitting on a mountain of files containing around 120 million sheets of paper – and countless new documents are added every day. In order to quickly reduce the overflowing archive and save expensive office space, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH is installing a central scanning station. The centerpiece: an InoTec SCAMAX® 631cd document scanner. And because it works just as reliably as it does profitably, the company does not hesitate for long to buy a second one.
The new central scanning station with the InoTec SCAMAX® 6×1: so convincing and profitable that a second device was purchased immediately to double the positive effects.
The project at a glance
Customer: BSB Steuerberatung GmbH – Landwirtschaftliche Buchstelle
Project: installation of a central scanning center for the digitization of the daily mail and approx. 250,000 file folders
Scope: first one, then two SCAMAX® 631cd with SCAMAX® scan+ and service package
Challenges: old documents from the 1960s, document separation according to OCR criteria, student scanning staff
Project period: four weeks from initial contact to delivery
The BSB Steuerberatung GmbH head office in Münster
The initial situation:
Decentralized digitization with workstation scanners. Immense storage space required for old files.
As Westphalia-Lippe’s leading tax consultancy for agricultural and forestry businesses, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH receives thousands of contracts, agreements and notices every day. These are received at the 24 main and branch offices and must then be digitized, indexed and stored in the DMS according to specific criteria. Numerous workstation scanners from different manufacturers are used for this purpose. The employees do the scanning themselves. In accordance with the 10-year retention obligation, the documents are then filed, expanding a file inventory of over 250,000 full folders with documents from 1960 to the present day on a daily basis. This file inventory extends across all offices and occupies expensive office space.
The problem:
Workstation scanners waste an incredible amount of resources. And the paper archives keep growing and growing.
The decentralized scanning approach with numerous workstation scanners does not in any way meet the demands placed on file digitization by those responsible. This is also reflected in the acceptance of the solution among BSB Steuerberatung GmbH employees, whose willingness to digitize is decreasing noticeably. Five points of criticism are particularly significant:
- Insufficient throughput: Employees scan too little. The susceptibility to errors is too high at workstations where a lot of scanning takes place. Too few documents are digitized per day. As a result, documents are often not available in digital form on time.
- High costs per scan: The inefficient processes and low-throughput devices require too much staff for too long. This is reflected in high costs per scan. In addition, there are constantly recurring technician costs and new purchases.
- Unreliable paper feed: The workstation scanners are sometimes unable to cope with the mixed paper qualities. The different formats and grammages lead to double feeds and jams. A3 documents cannot be processed on the workstation scanners.
- Poor image qualities: The different workstation scanners produce widely varying image qualities. As a result, the downstream processes suffer.
- Lack of features: The workplace scanners lack important functionalities. Recurring work steps cannot be automated and many have to be carried out manually.
“The decentralized digitization of the ongoing volume of files was sluggish at best, and our stock of old files grew and grew. Both these factors were costing us money every day. So the only solution was to set up a central scanning center with a real document scanner and thus kill two birds with one stone: firstly, to reduce the costs per scan in day-to-day business. And secondly, to create the conditions for the replacement mass digitization of the millions of old files that were no longer subject to the haptic storage obligation, but were clogging up our offices and taking up expensive rental space.”
Karsten Janßen, IT/EDV, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH
The scanner requirements profile:
High throughput. Simple operation. Reliable processing of heterogeneous stacks.
In the course of designing the central scanning station, the project managers develop a detailed requirements profile for the document scanner, which is to form the heart of the future scanning solution: It should have a high throughput and easily scan 200 documents or more per minute in top image quality. It should also reliably scan and process difficult and heavily mixed paper qualities and formats: in particular business cards, till receipts, handwritten notes, tax office forms with heavy coloration, construction drawings in DIN A3(plus), 160 gram cardboard paper as well as old, crumpled and partially damaged documents from the 1960s. In addition, the scanner should be intuitive to use and offer clear user guidance so that it can be operated and, if necessary, also be unjammed and maintained by student assistants without scanning training. The scanner should sort scanned documents using QR codes, barcodes, patch codes and word recognition, add digital imprints to them and, if necessary, process them so that downstream processes run optimally.
“After some experience with scanning stations in the mid-price segment, we didn’t just want the next best document scanner. We wanted a first-class, robust professional device that scans productively, reliably delivers top results and also performs smoothly and trouble-free in demanding two-shift operation. And: we not only wanted a premium scanner, but also a premium service: available, competent, German-speaking. And, if the worst comes to the worst, quickly on site.”
(Karsten Janßen, IT/EDV, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH)
The scanner search and the testing:
A Google search (“Scanner Street”). A phone call. And an extensive test under near-real conditions.
At the beginning of their scanner search, the persons responsible have no experience with premium scanners. However, their clearly defined requirements allow for a very specific Google search. They quickly land on the InoTec SCAMAX® production scanners from DATAWIN GmbH. Just one consultation call later, a demo appointment is arranged, during which the IT/EDV managers test the three InoTec SCAMAX® models extensively. They test the scanning characteristics and handling of the scanners using particularly demanding stacks of documents they have brought with them. In the end, they chose the SCAMAX® 6×1 in its most powerful version. The purchase decision is made within a few days.
“In addition to the flawless results in all test runs and the simple operation of the SCAMAX® scanners, we were particularly impressed by two aspects of the purchasing process: InoTec/DATAWIN’s unconditional Made-in-Germany philosophy for hardware, software and service; and the excellent and sincere advice in which it was clearly explained to us that the SCAMAX® 6×1 was perfect for our purposes, although we would also have been prepared to invest in the significantly more expensive SCAMAX® 8×1.”
(Karsten Janßen, IT/EDV, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH)
The hardware solution:
The document scanner throughput sensation SCAMAX® 631cd
With the SCAMAX® 631cd, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH opts for one of the most powerful and user-friendly desktop scanners in the world. The scanner is TR-Resiscan-capable, scans in color and provides the best image quality (according to FADGI 3-Star and ISO 19264-1, B). Its paper-friendly belt transport guides even difficult documents safely through the scanner, while the NoSCRATCH glass guides prevent device failures due to scratched guides. It is operated via an 18 cm color touch display with an intuitive user interface and clear full-text messages.
The perfect solution for the scanning needs of tax consultancies and tax firms: the document scanner SCAMAX® 6×1 from InoTec
The software solution: SCAMAX® scan+
In order to optimize the user-friendliness of its scanning solution and achieve the best results, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH opts for the InoTec scanning software SCAMAX® scan+. The multilingual program interface in Office design offers easy-to-understand icons, a freely definable toolbar and individual shortcut settings.
The scanner installation and scan training:
Ready to scan in just a few hours
Less than three weeks later, the SCAMAX® production scanner is delivered to Münster and installed within a few hours. The experts from InoTec set up the required scan profiles. The students are then trained to operate the scanner and the scanning software in teams of two to three people. After just four hours, the students are able to operate the scanning system independently. The experts from InoTec provide some valuable advice on scan preparation and scanner maintenance, and the “digitization mission” can begin.
“We were impressed by how quickly our student team was able to scan highly productively on their own. This is where the high user-friendliness and intuitive operation of the SCAMAX® scanners and software really come into their own. Usually, one assistant prepares the documents – i.e. removes paper clips and staples and replaces the paper registers with QR codes. The second assistant then files and scans the documents. This allows us to run a real two-shift operation with four to six students.”
(Karsten Janßen, IT/EDV, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH)
The customer résumé:
„We bought another SCAMAX® straight away.“
“The SCAMAX® has been in continuous use since day 1 and is convincing across the board. The working time we save with it is enormous: with just one device, we can now scan in an hour what used to take us a day. The traffic light system and full text messages make operation very easy. And the shortcut settings for recurring tasks on the scanning PC are also a great relief. The reduction of our paper archives is progressing so quickly that in some places we have already been able to reduce the archive space to a fifth. Especially when renting new office space, we save significantly on rental costs. In short: the scanner performs so convincingly and so profitably that we immediately bought another one to double the positive effects.”
(Karsten Janßen, IT/EDV, BSB Steuerberatung GmbH)
You can download the complete case study here as a PDF.
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