You may have heard the term data capture systems. But do you know what a data capture system can do for your business?

In short, a data capture system can help eliminate the manual entry of data. This is great for businesses that have a lot of paper documents that need to be entered in a digital database.

Data capture systems allow you to save lots of time and money because you don’t have to do hours of manual data entry. Best of all, you don’t need as many employees to get the job done.

Now that you know the purpose of data capture systems, you need to understand how they work. It is a rather simple process. A data capture system consists of three basic parts.

The first part of the system is a scanner. Selecting the right one can be a difficult process. That’s because there are tons of document scanners on the market. When shopping for a scanner, be sure to pay attention to the following:

– Volume Capacity: This refers to how many documents it can scan in a minute.
– Resolution: This has to do with the quality of the image scan.
– Document Size: This covers to the different size documents the scanner can handle.
– Connectivity: This explains to how the scanner is connected to the computer.

Paying attention to these features while purchasing a scanner will help you find the right scanner for your business.

Once you have a scanner, you will need to purchase capture software. This type of software allows you to pull various data points once a document is scanned. For example, if you were scanning invoices, you could pull price, date, product, quantity, etc.

Without capture software, you might as well use standard data entry. Capture software is the heart of a data capture system.

When purchasing capture software, consider the data entry job at hand. This will help you to determine the best capture software for your project. If it’s a big project, you’ll want to talk with a document imaging company. They can help you select the right software for the project.

Finally, you’ll need a computer. This is perhaps the most overlooked part of the process. That’s because you’ll probably already have a computer. If your computer is old or slow, you may want to consider getting a new one.

An old slow computer can significantly slow down the data capture process. When you purchase the data capture software, look at the system requirements. Does your computer barely meet the requirements?

If so, you may want to consider purchasing another computer.

Now that you have a better understanding of a data capture system, you’re ready to start improving productivity at your office. The upfront costs of a data capture system may seem expensive, but if you’re a business that does a lot of data entry, it’s totally worth the cost.

Just be sure to do your research before purchasing any software or hardware and you’ll be fine.

Author Bio: Inception Technologies specializes in data capture systems as well as document scanners and other business technology. Learn more at www.InceptionTech.com.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: data capture systems, data capture system, document scanners, capture software, computers