Most legal teams rely heavily on documents and communication for their work, and handling all the related operations may not be as simple as you would like it to be. Unless you change your approach to document management and start exploring tech solutions that improve team efficiency.
Automation software has helped many businesses and departments streamline all or most of their operations and improve their efficiency. The same can be done for a legal team.
In this article, let’s focus on the types of automation software for in-house counsel along with some of the top examples.
1. Matter Management
All legal matters require abundant paperwork, such as budgets, forms, reports, and invoices. And in disputes that go on for years, the paperwork can fill up the archives to bursting point.
But weight isn’t the only issue here. How do you know if you’re still on track with the budget, for example, or what the progress on a certain matter is? Without a dedicated tool, you’ll waste a lot of time trying to pull certain information.
In-house legal matter management software, on the other hand, can streamline legal operations because it facilitates the following:
• having one place for creating, storing, and sharing case files that ensures easy collaboration;
• organization of matter details specific to different clients or projects;
• customized reminders to track deadlines; and
• tracking of progress of specific matter-related tasks.
A good example is BusyLamp’s Matter.Space because it acts as a single source of truth for matter-related data, like emails, documents, deadlines, and external advisors. This helps create an in-depth architectural view of your legal activities.
2. Contract Lifecycle Management
Contracts have a lifecycle that consists of several stages including contract creation, collaboration, review, approval, signing, storage and analysis, and obligations tracking.
Without any form of visualization, it’s just a lot of paper and verbal agreements. You won’t be able to keep track of the process at every stage of the lifecycle and do it efficiently. This results in human error, as well as time-wasting and higher costs.
In-house counsel software, on the other hand, facilitates the following processes:
• creation of workflows for procurement, sales, general business contracts, and internal agreements, to name a few;
• saving time on contract creation thanks to pre-approved core contract templates;
• real-time collaboration on contracts among team members and with other involved parties, such as making comments and suggestions;
• providing e-signatures to finalize contracts with remote partners;
• contract history so different versions of a document can be compared and used during negotiation;
• storing all contracts in a cloud so they can be retrieved at any moment, at any stage of the contract lifecycle; and
• evaluating contract performance based on its geography, client, etc.
One such document automation tool is AXDRAFT It allows automating contract management online from drafting to storage, renewal, and analysis. This way, you can save up to 40% of your time spent processing contracts. It’s also perfect for collaboration in-team and with other stakeholders as the tool is web-based.
3. Outside Counsel Management
Outside counsel means outsourcing legal tasks. This can improve time and cost-efficiency as long as your partner firm is familiar with the type of work that you’re trying to outsource, and you can keep track of progress and the hours spent.
How do you know what stage the work is at without a space for collaboration? Sure, you could communicate with email, but that’s hardly the best task manager.
Outside counsel management software facilitates:
• real-time collaboration between in-house legal teams and outside vendors;
• streamlining the administrative processes to improve ROI;
• ensuring accountability of the vendor; and
• keeping track of the task progress and deadlines.
A good example is Dazychain because it can help you find and communicate with outsourcing partners and invoice them.
4. Knowledge and Document Management
An in-house legal document management system helps digitize and store any legal paper that your business produces. Such tools allow you to:
• tag and index information for future retrieval;
• save the history of changes; and
• create legal trails and document who accessed the data.
You could go beyond that and focus on retaining legal knowledge, instead of just documents. Basically, it becomes a company’s legal library in the form of a wiki or database and takes into account legal taxonomies. Such tools facilitate:
• information searches for legal information retrieval;
• collection of data from internal and external sources; and
• evidence discovery in tools that use AI.
Either type of software is far better than the simple scanning and storing in a computer folder. This option is time-consuming, inefficient, and doesn’t offer proper security.
An example of a document management tool is eFileCabinet where you can store and share files, like bills, testimonies, etc. It’s a good option if you need a filing system akin to a Google or OneDrive but that is tailored to organizing documents.
5. Tasks Management
Task management is the process of planning, tracking, executing, and reporting on a piece of work. The software takes on the role of tracking the progress, deadlines, assignees, and sub-tasks.
Without task-management software, the monitoring part is difficult. Who’s responsible? When is the task due? Where do you find the related documents?
The tools help answer those questions by facilitating the following:
• collaboration within the team and with other departments;
• monitoring of progress and deadlines on a task;
• monitoring the progress on a project via timeline and/or calendar features; and
• notification of collaborators in case of any changes in a task, such as comments or when the status or deadline is changed.
There are two great examples – Trello and Asana. Both have free versions and premium subscriptions with a timeline view and reporting options.
6. Reporting and Analytics
Any legal document produces data that can be extrapolated visually in the form of tables and charts. That’s what reporting and analytics tools are for – creating visual representations that can help you analyze the work of your legal team and with further decision-making.
Without reporting and analysis of data, it’s difficult to efficiently plan, forecast, and budget your legal team’s work.
The tools facilitate:
• collection of data across contracts;
• organization of data in an understandable way; and
• building of granular segmented reports for performance tracking.
FAQ
What is an in-house legal team?
An in-house legal team is a group of specialists who are intimately acquainted with the law and your company. Such a team supports a company’s business strategy with advice on ethical standards and legal risks. In some cases, the team can also look for ways to cut corners within the legal boundaries of the state or country where you operate.
What does an in-house legal team do?
An in-house legal team helps solve business problems, close deals, and deals with other matters like tax or employment-related issues.
How do you manage a legal department?
Managing a legal department isn’t much different from managing any other team – you structure the workload, build trust, nurture talent, find ways to improve efficiency, and monitor performance. There are some distinctions, however, and the following KPIs may help:
• how much economic value your legal department generates;
• your current expenses;
• how much high- and low-value work your legal team does; and
• the workload that comes from other departments.
And here are a few more tips on managing a productive team:
1. Use task management software to manage the department workload.
2. Plan, budget, and track success using reporting tools.
3. Collaborate with other parties via CLM software.
Why do companies need a legal department?
Your company needs a legal department to ensure that your actions comply with local and state-wide laws, as well as to protect your business and its partnerships from a legal standpoint. It’s vital for accessing legal risks and your compliance with ethics and regulations, but it also helps out your company when it’s facing trouble within the boundaries of law.
 
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Document management just got a bit easier, as QuickBooks has announced that the accounting software platform will now integrate with PandaDoc.
During the pandemic, business resources have continued to thrive. With more small businesses getting off the ground and other organizations in need of tools that can be used from home, platforms and software like QuickBooks have added integrations, updates, and more to alleviate the strain of hybrid work.
Now, the popular accounting software platform is adding even more functionality, as PandaDoc has announced it will officially integrate with QuickBooks.
Announced earlier this week, PandaDoc will officially integrate with QuickBooks to more easily and efficiently manage documents in the accounting platform. The integration is aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses to consolidate software for simple processes.
“Our integration with PandaDoc is another step towards delivering solutions that fit the specific needs of mid-sized businesses with ease and efficiency,” said Kelly Vincent, Vice President of Mid-Market Small Business at Intuit in a press release. “The flexibility of PandaDoc, coupled with the goodness of QuickBooks Online Advanced, enables our platform to become the single source of truth for document management.”
The integration, dubbed PandaDoc Connector for QuickBooks, should be available right now. Just simply visit the QuickBooks app store, select PandaDoc, sign in to your account, and you’ll be on your way.
So what can this integration actually do to make your document management a bit easier in QuickBooks? You’ll open up a wide range of helpful functionalities when you pair these two platforms. Here’s a breakdown of everything PandaDoc can do in QuickBooks to help your business out:
Simply put, this integration could really open up your QuickBooks Online account to make your business life a lot easier. If you haven’t tried out the popular accounting software, we’ve done some thorough research, comparing it to other QuickBooks alternatives, so you can see if it’s a good fit for your business. Our two cents? It’s one of the best accounting software options out there, so we’d recommend giving it a shot if you’re in need.
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Conor is the Senior Writer for Tech.co. For the last six years, he’s covered everything from tech news and product reviews to digital marketing trends and business tech innovations. He’s written guest posts for the likes of Forbes, Chase, WeWork, and many others, covering tech trends, business resources, and everything in between. He’s also participated in events for SXSW, Tech in Motion, and General Assembly, to name a few. He also cannot pronounce the word “colloquially” correctly. You can email Conor at conor@tech.co.
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AICPA:
National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) Erin Collins formally directed the IRS to take immediate steps toward implementing existing scanning technology to process tax returns filed on paper.
Collins issued the directive, which is dated March 29, under her authority pursuant to a delegation order in the Internal Revenue Manual to mandate administrative or procedural changes by the IRS to improve its functional operation or grant relief to taxpayers to protect their rights or to provide them an essential service.
In an NTA blog post on the Taxpayer Advocate Service website, Collins said the directive was necessitated by repeated warnings that processing paper returns remains a weakness for the IRS. As she said in her 2021 Annual Report to Congress in January, "paper is the IRS’s Kryptonite, and the IRS is buried in it."
She cited recent updates on paper return processing that suggest the problem is not getting better: As of March 18, the paper return backlog numbered nearly 15 million returns, Collins said. Representing processing delays of 10 months or more, the backlog includes 4.7 million original individual income tax returns, 2.6 million amended individual income tax returns, 4.9 million original business tax returns, and 1.2 million amended business tax returns.
"Over the past year, the IRS has not made progress in reducing its backlog," Collins said in the directive, noting that as of a year earlier, unprocessed original individual returns numbered slightly fewer, 4.6 million.
If the IRS is to meet its stated goal of eliminating its backlog by the end of 2022, it will need to adopt new ways of processing paper returns, mostly by implementing scanning technology that itself is hardly new, Collins said.
"If the IRS had implemented scanning technology, it is unlikely the current processing backlog would exist," she said.
Moreover, the current process of transcribing the returns manually by operators typing their contents into a computer is error-prone. About 22% of transcribed returns last year contained data transcription errors, Collins said.
2-D barcoding: Already in limited use
One of two methods Collins recommended, 2-D barcoding, is as time-honored and ubiquitous as most retail checkout lines and the 17 state departments of revenue that used it to process returns as of 20 years ago. Just as scanning a barcode on a retail product brings up all relevant details to a sale, one placed on a tax return by tax preparation software and printed out by the taxpayer for mailing can encode all information necessary for the taxing authority to process the return.
The IRS has in fact implemented 2-D barcoding for certain forms, including Schedules K-1, which are issued to partners of partnerships and shareholders of S corporations, reporting their shares of the entities’ income, deductions, credits, and other tax items.
Yet the technology’s potential for processing an entire return has been stymied by 20 years of dithering by the Service, Collins said. In 2002, when then–National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, citing the example of the 17 states, recommended 2-D barcoding to the IRS, the IRS demurred, saying it could undermine taxpayers’ transition to e-filing.
A year later, however, the IRS began working with tax software companies to implement 2-D barcoding for some tax forms, such as Schedule K-1. The Service asked Congress in 2017 to provide it authority to require taxpayers filing paper returns prepared with software to use a 2-D barcode, which Congress initially included in an early version of the Taxpayer First Act.
But before the Taxpayer First Act’s enactment in 2019 (as P.L. 116-25), "the IRS had changed its position again," ostensibly to give it more flexibility to use other scanning technology, and the provision was stricken from the bill’s enacted version at the IRS’s request, Collins said.
A Program Manager Technical Assistance memo (PMTA 2022-002) in December 2021 advised that the IRS currently lacks authority to require tax software developers to include barcodes, but the IRS can include one on its own tax returns and forms. The Service also can request that the software companies do so, Collins said. She directed that the IRS immediately begin discussing this with the companies in time for the 2023 filing season and, if the companies decline to do so, to ask Congress to mandate it.
OCR: A backup to barcodes
The other main technology used for scanning paper documents is known as optical character recognition (OCR), which interprets the marks on a document and renders them into computer characters. While OCR has the advantage of also being able to read handwriting, it doesn’t always do so accurately, Collins said. Even so, some states use it in tandem with 2-D barcoding, such as when a barcode is smeared or otherwise unreadable, Collins said. She directed the IRS to also develop a plan to use OCR, also by the start of the 2023 filing season or, if not feasible by then, the following season.
The directive asks the IRS to respond to it by May 13, 2022, and state whether it plans to implement the directed actions, plans to implement alternative actions that will achieve the same objective, or declines to take the directed actions. If the IRS indicates it will implement the directed actions, the directive also asks the IRS to provide a detailed plan by May 31 to implement the two technologies for the 2023 filing season.
The AICPA continues to advocate for better IRS services; visit the webpage describing AICPA advocacy efforts to learn more.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Paul Bonner at Paul.Bonner@aicpa-cima.com.

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I’ve looked at a lot of scanners over the years. The Raven Pro I reviewed last year is excellent; but I keep coming back to Fujitsu scanners. The reason is simple: they work. My wife and I have bought four ScanSnap scanners. They range from desktop size to tiny handheld. Our oldest is about a decade old now, and all of them just keep working. We have had to replace some consumables (like pads and pick rollers) as the paper friction wears out the rollers over time. Properly maintained, the scanners just keep working.

Also: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600: Wireless game-changer

So when Fujitsu asked me if I wanted to review their enterprise-class fi-8170, I had to say yes.

Here are the specs of the fi-8170 scanner I’ve been testing:

• Scanning speed: Simplex 70 ppm at 200/300 dpi, duplex 140 ipm at 200/300 dpi
• Optical resolution: 600 dpi
• Output resolution: 0 to 600 dpi, 1200 dpi via the driver
• Output format: Color at 24-bit, grayscale at 8-bit, monochrome at 1-bit
• Document size maximum: 8.5 x 14 inches
• Document size minimum: 1.9 x 2 inches
• Long page scanning: Up to 240 inches
• Paper weight: Thickness from 5.3 to 124-pound stock
• Booklet thickness: 7 mm (0.276 inch) or less
• Plastic card thickness: 1.4 mm (0.055 inch) or less
• ADF capacity: 100 sheets
• Expected daily volume: 10,000 sheets
• USB interface: Supports USB 3.2 Gen1x1, USB 2.0, USB 1.1
• Ethernet: Supports 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T

Scanning performance

With an expected volume of a whopping 10,000 sheets per day, the fi-8170 is a beast, even though it’s almost exactly the same size and shape as the desktop ScanSnap it’s going to replace. Don’t get me wrong: that old ScanSnap still works — it’s just that this is oh, so much more powerful.

8.5/10

Fujitsu fi-8170 scanner

Excellent

 $1,000 at Amazon

Pros

• Way fast
• Flexible material handling
• Lots of document types, thicknesses, and sizes supported
• Drivers for Windows, Mac, and Linux

Cons

• No Wi-Fi or any wireless connectivity
• Clunky Windows-only software application
• Enterprise-grade solution requires pricy add-on licenses

The first is speed. It rockets through pages at 70 pages per minute. That’s sheets of paper through the scanner. If you scan duplex (on each side), it can grab 140 images per minute. Let’s put that in perspective. The book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is 309 pages. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire (the first book in the series) is 694 pages. At 140 images per minute, the fi-8170 could scan both of them in just over seven minutes.

Now, of course, you’re more often going to be scanning in business documents, but that gives you some idea of the pace of the scanner. It’s really, really fast. The automatic document feeder holds up to 100 sheets, so the slowest factor in scanning performance will be how fast you can load more paper.

When scanning in huge stacks of documents at super-fast speeds, there is a problem. On many scanners, the pages sometimes feed together, causing misfeeds. Fujitsu has an interesting technology in the fi-8000 series called Automatic Separation Control. As the volume of documents to be scanned increases, the scanner switches to a stronger torque level. This flexibility helps to ensure documents feed reliably.

feed management in this scanner is very smart. It can identify thicker documents (ID cards, credit cards, folders, envelopes, passports) which help the device prevent misfeeds. And it scans all these document types without any carrier or transport holder.

One feature I found particularly nifty is the overscan protection. Let’s say you’re scanning in a document, and it’s not quite straight in the scanner. On traditional scanners, part of the document might be missed. Typically, those corners have page numbers, dates, and various signatures — all of which are very important and must be preserved when being scanned in.

The fi-8170 detects offset documents and extends the scanning area to grab those image edges. It’s a lot like video stabilization in cameras. The camera grabs a larger area to deliver a stabilised image but then rotates and crops each frame to make sure the video is smooth — the fi-8170 works in a similar way, but one frame (or image) at a time.

Overall image quality is excellent, as is the color presentation. Unfortunately, the fi-8170 only has Ethernet and USB for connectivity. There is no Wi-Fi. After looking at other Wi-Fi scanners and the incredible flexibility they provide (I’m talking about the Fujitsu ix1600 in particular), it was really disappointing to realize you couldn’t set up a central wireless scanning station with the fi-8170. It has to be physically connected to your network or computer.

The software

The software situation is a bit disconcerting for someone coming to the fi-8170 from the ScanSnap line. First, the super-familiar ScanSnap software is nowhere to be found. Instead, the fi-8170 comes with two products under the PaperStream brand.

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TL;DR: As of Feb. 20, a lifetime subscription to the iScanner App(opens in a new tab) is just $39.99 instead of $199, which saves you 79%.
If you’ve ever had to print something out to sign it and the scan it back to send digitally, you know what a hassle it is to not be able to edit PDFs directly online. With a scanner app, that will become a problem of the past.
iScanner(opens in a new tab) is basically like having your own personal digital assistant. It lets you easily scan any document and have edit it on your phone or laptop. It can help to streamline everyday business tasks that normally end up wasting a chunk of your time.
You can scan documents, educational materials, hand-outs, and more and mark them up, edit them, or even sign them as needed. Then, simply send them back within seconds to the person who needs them. In addition to marking them up and signing them, you can even add your own personal stamps to them. 
But this app is so much more than just scanning. It can even help you count up similar objects on the docs and solve math problems and equations just by reading the text that’s presented. It can be a convenient tool for students, accountants, realtors, managers, and lawyers. You can even store your scans as multipage PDF or JPEG files to make it super easy to share with others. Use it to convert ID cards and documents for your clients, share your details for apartment applications, and more. It reads any QR code with your device camera within seconds.
We’ve featured this productivity tool before, and it’s on sale once again for 79% off. You can get lifetime access to iScanner for iOS for only $39.99(opens in a new tab) for a limited time.
Prices subject to change.

More in Apps

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It’s hard to believe more than two years have passed since I began to write this monthly legal technology column. Despite the passage of time, my reason for writing this column has never changed: My goal has always been to help small-firm lawyers make educated and informed decisions about their legal software options.
This is all the more important in light of the current situation, where COVID-19 has forced lawyers across the country to shelter in place and work from home. Lawyers are becoming fully reliant on technology to ensure their businesses run smoothly and, now more than ever, count on cloud-based technologies to keep their law firms afloat despite the uncertain times.
One of the top challenges faced by law firms as they shifted to a remote workforce has been the ability to access case-related information. The accessibility of documents, in particular, has presented issues for law firms. This has become especially pressing in recent weeks as federal and state courts have begun to, out of necessity, mandate the e-filing of digital documents for most legal matters.
As law firms establish processes to create digital documents, they then need to be able to store them online in a location that is easily accessible by all firm employees. That’s where cloud-based document management software created with law firms in mind comes in.
Legal document management software provides a built-in organizational system for documents. Documents can be associated with case files or matters, and access can be limited to certain firm users. More robust systems often include document versioning, audit trails that track user access to documents and a host of other features.
Since I last wrote about legal document management software in February 2018, a notable trend in document management software has been to provide increased document functionality. So instead of simply allowing for the online storage and organization of documents, software companies are building in features that allow users to create, annotate and collaborate on legal documents as well.
For example, document collaboration and sharing features are included in some platforms, making it easy to securely share and collaborate on documents with clients, co-counsel, experts and more. Another feature included in some software products is the conversion of scanned documents into optical character recognition format, which creates searchable, indexed PDFs. Other useful features include annotation tools, e-signature and customized security capabilities.
Note that all of the different document management software tools discussed in this column are cloud-based. That means the software company you choose will be hosting your law firm’s confidential data. And because you have an ethical obligation to ensure client data remains confidential, you will need to ensure you understand how the data will be handled by that company. That ethical duty includes knowing where the servers on which the data will be stored are located, who will have access to the data, and how and when it will be backed up, among other things.
Also important when shopping for document management software or law practice management software with document management tools built in is to ensure that you have a full understanding of the costs associated with more robust features sets. You will find that some companies offer a single price for their software and build features into their software at no additional cost.
Other software companies offer tiered pricing, and certain features, such as e-signature tools, can be accessed only if you pay for the higher-priced tiers. Similarly, some software tools are only available via an integration. In that case, understand that depending on the company’s pricing scheme and how integrations are set up and priced, you may have to pay subscription fees for both the integration tool and the practice management software.
Another notable trend in recent years has been to provide law firms with increased security features. As you’ll learn below, some of the document management platforms now offer a number of different security features, which are customizable depending on a firm’s specific needs.
Which brings me to my next point: Your firm’s document management needs will depend, in large part, on the size of your law firm and the practice areas handled by your firm. Some practice areas are much more document-intensive and thus require more robust document management tools. Other firms may handle particularly sensitive matters or have clients that require increased levels of security and, as a result, will need a document management solution that includes more robust security features.
For most small-firm lawyers with practices that aren’t document-intensive—such as family lawyers, trust and estate lawyers, and criminal law attorneys—a stand-alone document management system is likely unnecessary. Instead, the document management features built into most law practice management systems such as Rocket Matter, Clio or MyCase (note that I am the legal technology evangelist with MyCase) will often be sufficient and more cost-effective than investing in both law practice management software and document management software.
That being said, the document management features offered by the law practice management software platforms aren’t going to be as robust as the feature sets of stand-alone document management software programs. Even so, you’ll find many of them offer an increasingly broad range of interactive document capabilities that can be particularly useful when working remotely, including collaboration features and e-signature tools.
Which brings us to the more complex stand-alone document management systems. Three leading stand-alone systems to consider are iManage, Worldox and NetDocuments. Worldox and iManage have been around for years as premise-based solutions, and now provide cloud-based versions of their software; NetDocuments, on the other hand, has always been a cloud-based solution.
All three platforms provide advanced document management features. In addition, they also include robust document versioning, audit trails, and OCR conversion from scans that permit document indexing and search features. Each also includes email management tools, knowledge management capabilities and other features specific to larger firms, including key integrations with Office 365, e-discovery platforms and more.
The trend of adding functionality to documents is increasingly evident in the stand-alone document management platforms as well. For example, NetDocuments has added a new “layer” to documents stored in its software that includes document collaboration tools, tasks, e-signature and annotation features. NetDocuments also offers a number of different types of security features for documents such as dual custody, where the encryption key is held by the firm and NetDocuments.
Another notable trend is that artificial intelligence (AI) tools are also being built into document management software. For example, iManage now offers iManage Ravn, a tool that uses AI and machine learning to search documents and provide insight into a firm’s documents, and provide the ability to easily locate and extract key information.
The bottom line: No matter which document management solution you choose, when your firm’s documents are stored in the cloud, they’re easily accessible by anyone from your firm with an internet connection, regardless of their location. While this has always been a convenient feature, of late it’s become a necessity in the work-from-home reality we now find ourselves in.
The good news is that in 2020, we have the technology we need to get the job done while working remotely. With the right tools, you can rebuild your brick-and-mortar law firm and turn it into a virtual one, and implementing cloud-based document management tools are the first step toward a fully functional remote law firm. And most important, they’re readily available, affordable and intuitive. So what are you waiting for? Put your firm’s documents in the cloud, and get back to work!
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney, author, journalist and the legal technology evangelist at MyCase, legal practice management software for small firms. She is the nationally recognized author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers and is co-author of Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, both published by the American Bar Association. She also is co-author of Criminal Law in New York, a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes regular columns for ABAJournal.com, Above the Law and the Daily Record, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Follow her on Twitter @nikiblack, or she can be reached at [email protected].

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Ignoring those built into all-in-one printers and the occasional (but not very well-endowed) standalone model such as 2017’s Epson DS-1630 or 2019’s Xerox Duplex Combo Scanner, we haven’t seen many flatbed document scanners lately. (Nearly all, nowadays, are sheetfed designs.) And the flatbeds on the market aren’t updated frequently; HP, for instance, just recently refreshed its family of ScanJet Pro models from early 2016. That makes the Raven Pro Max Document Scanner ($999.85) seen here doubly interesting. A flatbed with the DNA of our recent Editors’ Choice award winner for sheetfeds (the Raven Pro Document Scanner), the Pro Max is much more robust and feature-rich than the lower-end scanners mentioned above. It easily earns its own Editors’ Choice trophy as our favorite midrange to high-volume flatbed document scanner.
Technically, the Pro Max is not an all-new machine. Instead of designing and building a whole new device, Raven designed a flatbed add-on and put the Raven Pro Document Scanner on top of it, as you see in the image below.
Most if not all other flatbed document scanners are simply flatbeds with automatic document feeders (ADF), as seen atop legions of all-in-one printer/copier/scanners.
A drawback to most flatbeds is that they take a fixed, fairly large amount of desk space, unlike most sheetfed scanners with paper trays that can fold up to about a third of their operational size when not in use. The Raven Pro Max is particularly lengthy because of the sheetfed scanner positioned next to the flatbed mechanism.
As you can see in the Raven diagram below, its footprint dimensions are 10.5 by 12.5 by 22.5 inches (HWD), compared to the Pro model’s 7 by 12.4 by 8.2 inches. On the positive side, it’s difficult to find flatbed models as potent as this Raven in terms of speed and capacity.
Some of its current competitors include the abovementioned Xerox and Epson models as well as the circa-2016 HP ScanJet Pro 3500 f1 and 2500 f1 (whose 3600 f1 and 2600 f1 replacements I’ll be reviewing soon). Among flatbed scanners, the seven-year-old Fujitsu fi-7260 is closest in capability to the Raven Pro Max, but it too has been recently replaced with the fi-8270. That scanner is also on tap at PC Labs for review shortly, and I suspect it’ll easily keep up with this Raven.
Like the Raven Pro and the Raven Original, the Pro Max has a control panel built around an 8-inch, Android-powered touch screen. The tablet-like interface not only helps you set up and execute scans, but it offers some basic document-management features such as saving documents to multiple destinations. To get a more complete archiving solution (with the ability to create and manage workflow profiles), you’ll need to use the bundled software, which we’ll discuss momentarily.
As for the flatbed itself, it’s straightforward and easy to operate. You simply lift the cover, place your content on the glass or platen, and let ‘er rip. Like most flatbeds, the Pro Max scans only one page side at a time; you must remove and replace content after each scan. To scan multiple pages, two-sided or otherwise, you’ll rely on the 100-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF). Like the Raven Pro, the Pro Max has a daily duty cycle of 6,000 pages.
None of the other machines mentioned here matches that capacity. The ScanJet Pro 2500, for instance, holds only 50 sheets, and the Xerox Combo’s ADF only 35. The Fujitsu fi-7280’s feeder holds 80 sheets, though the forthcoming fi-8270 holds 100. Except for the two Fujitsus, the other scanners cited are rated at well under 5,000 pages per day.
Between this Raven’s Ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi support, and USB interfaces, it should connect to most types of computing devices. Ethernet is, of course, a wired networking protocol; Wi-Fi supports wireless office networking and also lets you connect to most mobile devices including Android and iOS phones and tablets. With USB, you can connect a single computer to the scanner; a second USB port allows scanning to thumb drives or other USB storage devices.
The other mobile options comprise a huge list, including Raven Cloud, Google Drive, Clio, DevonThink, Dropbox, Box, Evernote, SharePoint, OneDrive, OneNote, NeatFiles, NeatBooks, QuickBooks Online, email, fax, SMB network share folder, or FTP—in single or multiple simultaneous destinations.
You can set up and execute your scans from the control panel or select a workflow profile. Profiles typically contain all the configuration (resolution, file format, type, and so on) and destination properties (local drive, cloud site, FTP, email) of a scan job. To get the most in terms of document management and archiving, you should rely on the supplied Raven Desktop application.
The NeatFiles and NeatBooks formats, of course, export files compatible with Neat, a financial document-management program. NeatFiles is a small-business cloud-storage solution for archiving financial documents, and NeatBooks is a bookkeeping application along the lines of QuickBooks. You can also export to both image and searchable PDF, Microsoft Word and Excel, plain text, and a few other useful formats.
I should also point out that the scanner’s Raven Cloud online subscription is not only complimentary but also unlimited.
Since the Raven Pro Max is essentially the Raven Pro perched atop a flatbed apparatus, the two machines’ scanning speeds are all but identical. Both are rated at 60 one-sided pages per minute (ppm) and 120 two-sided images per minute (ipm, where each page side counts as an image). For comparison, the HP ScanJet Pro 2500 and 3500 are rated at 20ppm/40ipm and 25ppm/50ipm respectively. The Xerox Combo and Epson DS-1630 are rated at 25ppm and 50ipm, as well.
I tested the Pro Max over a USB connection to our standard Intel Core i5 testbed running Windows 10 Pro and Raven Desktop. (I also performed several scans from the control panel, with similar results.) First, I clocked the Pro Max and Raven Desktop as they scanned our 25-page one-sided and 25-page two-sided (50 sides) documents and saved them as image PDFs.
The device scanned, converted, and saved the single-sided document at an average of 62.5ppm, and it scanned and processed our two-sided document at 124.2ipm. Only the Raven Pro came close to this speed, with the Epson and Xerox less than half as fast. (The two HP ScanJet Pros and the Fujitsu fi-7260 were reviewed long ago under different benchmark routines and test documents, making direct comparisons impossible.)
Next, I timed the Pro Max as it scanned and saved our two-sided 25-page document to the much more versatile searchable PDF format. The job took 24 seconds, matching the Raven Pro and coming in, again, at least twice as fast as the Xerox and Epson scanners.
As for accuracy, I’ll start by saying that it’s been quite some time since I’ve had to report poor optical text recognition (OCR) from a document scanner. Like its Pro sibling, the Raven Pro Max converted our Arial font pages to editable text without errors down to 5-point type and our Times New Roman pages down to 6 points. Both the Xerox and Epson flatbeds were mistake-free down to 6 points for Arial and 8 points for Times New Roman, which is more than acceptable (and I’m confident that software updates have boosted both products since our reviews).
I also scanned a couple of stacks of business cards and financial documents to see how well the Pro Max and its software captured, gleaned, and populated the proper fields with accurate data. As expected, the Neat financial software handled receipts, invoices, and the like with grace, and Raven Desktop did an impressive job of scanning and sorting business contact data.
To be sure, the Raven Pro Max costs more than most of the flatbed document scanners you’ll find for sale, but it’s at least twice as fast as its lower-priced rivals. The Fujitsu fi-7260 and its replacement match the Raven’s robustness, but they cost considerably more. (In fact, Fujitsu recently released three flatbed scanners, all of which cost at least twice as much as this one.)
Getting a flatbed with a sheetfed portion that holds 100 pages and scans at 60ppm/120ipm for a thousand bucks is a bargain. So the Raven Pro Max’s value and strong performance are more than enough to position it as our new favorite midrange to high-volume flatbed/sheetfed document scanner. 
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The increased adoption of cloud-based storage and software, coupled with the rise in remote work, is motivating organizations to research and implement paperless office software.
Depending on what’s needed, there are some critical features that organizations need to look for when shopping for paperless office technology. If there are plans to use the software to digitize documents, it needs to have strong scanning and optical character recognition capabilities, according to Will Cannon, CEO of Uplead. Ideally, the tool can work with various scanning hardware to maintain and index documents, integrate with ERP and customer experience management software, and employ a content management system to let users design their workflows and access documents.
Overall, a tool should be easy for employees to learn and use, integrate with other technology in the office and include security features to protect data.
Despite the wide variety to choose from, five paperless office software options have risen to become the most recommended and popular among organizations and featured on review sites such as G2 and Capterra. Particularly noteworthy is that each of these tools is available in a SaaS model, making it easy for employees to access remotely from any device.
The Microsoft 365 suite has several plans to choose from that feature Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and collaboration tools for meetings, file sharing and document management. It offers calendar management, commenting and notes, document generation, reporting and analytics, and templates for different documents and tasks.
Users have called out two features as particularly helpful: the ability to access files remotely and the streamlined collaboration tools. However, users also cite the mobile apps as needing improvement and that the suite is challenging to use without an internet connection.
Pricing starts at $6 per user, per month for Microsoft 365 Business Basic. The other tiers include Microsoft 365 Apps for business, Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Another highly recommended tool is Google Workspace, which includes features to share calendars, notes and documents, as well as the ability to hold meetings and store and manage documents. Google Workspace also lets organizations add custom branding to their workspaces and includes workflow automation tools, reporting and analytics, and customizable templates.
Pricing is divided across four tiers and starts at $6 per user, per month. The tiers are Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus and Enterprise.
Dropbox is a great option for companies that primarily need a place to store and collaborate on files, whether in the cloud — such as those in Google Docs or Microsoft Office — or files stored on a hard drive. Dropbox also includes calendar, contact and task management features and offers offline access to documents.
Users often cite the process for sharing and organizing files, the ability to work on files without downloading them and automatic file syncing after saving as standout features. However, others caution that there can be sync conflicts and that finding older versions of files can be difficult.
For team plans, Dropbox Business Standard pricing is $15 per user, per month, but goes up to $24 per user, per month for Dropbox Business Advanced. Dropbox Enterprise pricing can only be accessed by contacting the sales department.
Notion is a project management tool that includes functionality for note taking, document management and collaboration. Some of its specialized tools include document classification, file recovery, task management and version control for documents. And while it lacks an offline mode, Notion can guide users to create custom workflows and workspaces so that teams can personalize how they handle projects.
Team pricing for Notion is $8 per user, per month, although an Enterprise plan exists with pricing available by contacting the sales team.
For paperless HR departments, ADP Workforce Now includes applicant tracking, benefits management, time and attendance, payroll and performance management. There is also a marketplace for APIs and integrations so that users can employ third-party applications alongside Workforce Now to create a personalized tool to fit their needs.
The benefits tracking has a simplified view to see what’s available to employees, and there are several customization options for reports. However, some users have noted that the interface for requesting paid time off or for other small tasks isn’t intuitive.
Pricing is available upon request.
Before an organization can choose a paperless office software, they need to know what problem they’re trying to solve, said Duniya Moore, CEO of Helastel. That driving force will help guide organizations through the other deciding factors.
The first is mapping the desired user experience and comparing that to the main focus of the software — its features and capabilities. “Let’s say you need to streamline your HR enrollment system to accommodate an increased workload. It may be best to simplify the admin process through integration, or you could look for a system that automates tasks like document reminders,” Moore said. “Once you’ve mapped the user experience, you can use it to work out the key capabilities you need.”
Next is examining the price of paperless office software options. According to Moore, companies need to look at the cost of the software against the amount of improved efficiency. “For example, purchasing an HR software subscription could cost the company $850/month. However, the efficiency savings gained from moving to a paper-free system might free up 16 hours a month from your HR Manager — which could be worth twice that.”
Finally, if the feature list and price of the software match expectations, the IT team will need to weigh in on how it integrates with the existing technology stack. Many companies are moving toward fully integrated software to eliminate siloes and create a single data repository that’s open across the company.
While paperless office software is already part of the technology stack for many companies, organizations can, and should, continue to look for ways to eliminate paper and make it easier for their employees to do their jobs from anywhere.
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How to use the Files app to scan documents to your iPhone or iPad
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Learn how to scan files directly to your iPhone or iPad by using the Files app.
If you need to scan a document to your iPhone or iPad while you’re on the go, you’ll find different apps and options that can scan files to your mobile device, though one easy approach is to use the built-in Files app. With iOS 13 or iPadOS 13, the Files app supports document scanning. You can scan a document by taking a picture of it with your device and then saving it to any of your online storage sites or other locations set up through the Files app.
SEE: Apple iOS 13: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
First, you must be running iOS 13.1 or higher on your iPhone and iPadOS 13.1 or higher on your iPad. On your device, go to Settings and tap General. In the General section, tap Software Updates. You’ll either be told that your software is up to date, or the latest update will appear for download and installation (Figure A).
Figure A

Next, open the Files app. Through this app, you can connect to online services such as OneDrive and Google Drive, network servers and NAS devices, and other locations. You can then access and manage any files stored in those spots. If you’ve already set up online services and other locations through the Files app, then you’re set; if not, follow the steps in our TechRepublic story on How to use the Files app in iOS 11 on iPhones and iPads: 4 productivity tips. Once you’ve set up the locations you wish to access, you can then scan a document to any of them.
In the Files app, tap the ellipsis icon at the top of the Browse pane and select the command to Scan Documents (Figure B).
Figure B

Next, position the document you wish to scan so that it’s within the framing of your device’s camera. At the camera screen, wait until the area you wish to scan is highlighted in blue. You can then leave the Auto option enabled, in which case the camera will automatically capture the scan when the document is lined up properly. Alternatively, you can change the option to Manual, in which case you need to tap the shutter button to take the scan (Figure C).
Figure C

After the scan has been taken, you may see a page asking you to crop the image by dragging the handles at the corners; if so, you can resize the scan. You can also choose the option to Retake the scan if you’re unhappy with the result or tap the option to Keep Scan if you’re satisfied with it (Figure D).
Figure D

At the next screen, tap the button to Save your scanned image. At the next screen, tap the name Scanned Document to change the name of the scanned image. Tap Done (Figure E).
Figure E

Tap the location where you want to save your scan. Depending on which services and locations you’ve set up in the Files app, you can opt to save the file on OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, iCloud Drive, on your iPhone or iPad, or on a network drive or NAS. Choose the location and then tap Save (Figure F).
Figure F

Whether you want iPhone and Mac tips or the latest enterprise-specific Apple news, we’ve got you covered.
How to use the Files app to scan documents to your iPhone or iPad
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