When a manager or department head needs information, or when an employee needs to have a question answered, the appropriate HR department staff member can retrieve the entire employee file in seconds. There is no waiting for a file to be located and pulled, no searching for missing files, no wasted time. Providing a quick and easy way for authorized staff members to find the information that they need means that they will have more time to do the more important parts of their jobs. By reducing the amount of filing and re-filing that must be done, imaging also reduces the number of file clerk positions that need to be maintained. In fact, being able to expand the workload of the department and not hire one additional clerical staff member can pay for the imaging system all by itself.
Security is an important part of a good imaging system.
This comes in two forms. It is just not practical to store a whole second set of documents. Should a fire, or flood, or an earthquake occur, some or all of the paper files could be lost. All it takes is for the fire sprinklers to go off, or for a pipe to break and files can be lost. Imaging prevents any loss by providing a complete, environmentally secure copy of all documents.