The Importance of Government Electronic Records Management
Local governments and county clerks are responsible for processing and storing a vast amount of data and documents on an annual basis. Many of these documents may need to be stored indefinitely, while others are bound by specific retention policies. An Electronic Records Management (ERM) system enables the government more organization during the life cycle of business records without interfering with your line of business. With an ERM, processes boost in efficiency, and compliance is upheld in confidence.
Why Implement Electronic Records Management (ERM)
There are many capabilities and benefits to a solid ERM solution for local and county government:
- Enforce compliance with established retention policies
- Increased document security by improved control and visibility over government records
- Improved organization of records and avoidance of misfiling or lost documents
- Better ability to serve the public by making records more easily accessible and retrievable
- Protection of records against disasters, such as flooding, fire, or theft. While paper records decay over time, digital records ensure that your files are preserved for the future.
- Time and money savings due to easier records management and retrieval
- Reduced record storage footprint in government offices by eliminating filing cabinets
- Improve decision-making processes within your organization
How Does InStream Help with ERM for Government?
InStream provides a variety of tools and services that help local governments and county clerks process and store millions of documents with expert efficiency for electronic records management needs.
In this post, we will look at three game-changing record management solutions InStream offers for local governments and county clerks:
- Document scanning and conversion
- Specialized scanner hardware
- Document management software and eForms
Document Scanning & Conversion
Birth, marriage, and death records… building permits… court documents… land records… deeds… Local governments are responsible for a staggeringly high number of documents, and these documents take up space.
InStream can help organizations save space (and therefore money) by providing local government document conversion services. Broadly speaking, this may include three types of scanning and conversion services:
- Paper Document Scanning. InStream offers document scanning services for virtually every type of paper document, including wide formatted papers. In providing this service, we can either come to you and perform scans on-site, or we can securely transport your paper documents to our own facilities for file scanning.
- Microfilm. Many offices continue to have archives that exist on microfilm and microfiche. While most local governments and county clerk offices may no longer actively use microfilm, many do still have essential information stored in these formats. InStream provides microfilm conversion services that usher these reels into an immortal 21st-century format!
- Fragile Historical Records. From large survey maps to bound books, our expert scanning team is equipped to preserve fragile historical records by scanning them into a digital format.
Specialized Scanner Hardware
In addition to offering scanning services, we also sell specialized scanning equipment and hardware directly to local governments and county clerk offices. This option allows organizations to perform their own scanning in-house if they would prefer to take on the task themselves.
Our hardware offerings for local governments include the sale and maintenance of scanners and wide format printers, which are used for replicating historical documents and printing building plans and maps.
Document Management and eForms
As organizations increase their usage of digital documents, many of our customers have become more interested in software solutions that allow for the management of documents and eForms.
Local government document management software makes it possible for employees to rapidly search and retrieve documents. This can be a significant improvement over current processes, which may require employees to manually search through filing cabinets. Additionally, local government offices that take advantage of our electronic document management services can free up physical office space and storage costs.
Once an office is storing documents digitally, there’s often a motivation to start generating all new documents digitally, as well. eForms allow organizations to enter all kinds of information, from vehicle registrations to building permits, in a digital format, and process them through electronic workflow routes. This paper-free process may reduce workflow friction while also making it easier than ever to remain in compliance!