Organisations investing in invoice scanning usually think first about equipment and software, and the largest available improvement is normally organisational. Scanning once rather than several times, at arrival rather than at processing, and at consistent settings rather than whatever each person chooses, improves both extraction quality and process speed at no cost.
Once
Documents that are photocopied, annotated and then scanned exist in several versions, and the one in the system is not necessarily the one somebody wrote on. Scanning at arrival and treating that image as canonical means everybody is looking at the same document, and annotations become structured notes on the record instead of marks on paper.
Early
The received date is the date the invoice reached the organisation, and payment terms usually run from it. Scanning at arrival makes that date real rather than a guess, and it makes the invoice visible to payables immediately rather than after internal post. The physical copy can then travel at whatever pace it likes.
Consistently
One resolution, one orientation, straight rather than skewed, both sides where relevant. Consistent input beats a better engine fed a mixture, and a short written standard plus an occasional check is all it takes. Where individuals scan on their own devices, a capture app that rejects a poor image at the point of capture pays for itself quickly.
Questions people ask about invoice scanning
Colour or greyscale?
Greyscale is usually sufficient and smaller. Colour helps where stamps or highlighted corrections carry meaning, which is common on delivery paperwork.
Should we scan both sides?
Yes. Terms and remittance details are frequently on the reverse, and their absence surfaces at the least convenient time.
Do we need a document scanner?
For meaningful paper volume it pays for itself in time and consistency. For a handful a week, a phone with a capture app is fine.