I have had a hectic week dealing with clinics that lost my information ages ago. The doctor claims he doesn’t know where he put my card a few years ago, and now I can’t get him to write a report for me. This bothered me and got me to write this post. It is about the benefits of digital records and how my week could have been easier if the doctor had digitized all his records.
- You can Digitize Traditional Records
Even if you have your current records on paper, digitizing them is as simple as photographing or scanning them. Some applications are capable of handwriting recognition, which will ease the process of converting your existing records into digital form.
Also, the migration process to digital records is much simpler, and you do not have to worry about losing any of your information. Additionally, digital records are much easier to manage and organize. The secretary at the clinic spent more than 15 minutes perusing through paper records that were in the form of cards. These dates up to 5 years back, and to be honest, she did a lot of work for a single record.
Were the records in digital form, it would have taken less than a minute to search my name and bring up my medical history notes. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and it even turned out that the card was missing from the pile she was searching through. Converting traditional records into digital formats is easy, and you can even carry the scribbles and doodles that you had made on the paper records.
This means that notes, side notes, and annotations you made will be preserved, and you can use this for better context from your information. Digital records are easy to form from your mess of paper records, and you can store the paper documents away once you have converted them into digital form.
2. Digital Records Take up Less Space
Digital records are stored in computer storage, which means they occupy significantly less space than traditional paper records. This is a huge benefit that you should not take lightly. You only need a flash drive to hold millions of records with digital records.
Additionally, these records can easily be backed up to resources such as cloud storage for redundancy. The fact that digital information uses up less space means that the doctor’s office would be more organized and less cluttered with heaps of clinic cards tied up like bank notes.
It was a mess, to be honest, and this is space that could have been left for the free flow of air in the clinic. Working with digital records makes space for cleaner offices, which many clients want. A clean, organized office will attract more investments and partnerships, while a dirty and cluttered office will turn customers away.
3. Backing Up is Easier with Digital Records
When working with digital records, it is pretty simple to back your information to a secure place like the cloud. You can also store it in flash storage, where you can refer from when you need the information.
These backups are essential and will ensure the continuity of your business even when you relocate to a different city block. As a business, digital records ensure the survival of your business regardless of the surrounding circumstances and conditions which means that you will be able to stay profitable and in business for long.
If your business intends to grow and scale up in the future, digital records will be easier to work with. You can migrate the information to different information systems and work with them in this format in any way you like.
You will also be able to gain critical analytics and insights into the information, which means that no matter where your business is, you will still be able to work with the information. The information will also enable your business to expand to multiple locations since the information can easily be replicated across offices or stored in a central server where all your offices can access it.
No matter what business you run, digital records can enable you to work better and become more productive. You will also impress your customers and other businesses with your effectiveness and the efficiency with which you can deal with information.
4. Digital Records are More Organized
Searches through digital records only take a fraction of a second and bring back millions of results, sorted and neatly arranged for you. The algorithms working in the background will be able to take your search terms and bring results that are most relevant to your search. The records are also more organized in the database, making for more productive and fruitful operations.
Your records can provide insight that you can use to improve your business processes and even offer better services to your customers. With digital records, you will not have to waste time sorting through piles of records which saves you time and enables you to focus on your core business.
Organized information means you can get more done, and the services you render to your customers will be a notch higher than what traditional businesses currently offer. Your customers will be happy, and you will retain a considerable portion of them for repeat business.
With the power of information within reach, you will be able to give each of your customers what they need, and they will be happy about it. The services you offer will be also significantly different from what they get from other companies, and you will be more competitive. As such, digital records can help your business thrive and sustain itself no matter the prevailing conditions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, digital records bring a sense of saving time and doing more with your information. You can also use digital records with several software products, which makes the information much more valuable than when it was on paper. Besides, the transition is easy, and your benefits with such an upgrade are what your business needs to thrive in a competitive environment.
