In our current digital age, it is crucial for a company to assess which computer solution is best for their operational and management needs. The most important computer question facing businesses is whether to go with software, hardware or both? Below is an explanation of software and hardware and which solution best suits your business.
Software: Software can be defined as the non-physical (hardware) components of a computer. Software consists of a collection of instructions that enables a user to interact with the computer. Also, Software is a program that enables a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the system. Examples of software include: Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Quickbooks and iTunes.
Hardware: Hardware is defined as physical devices that are required to store and run the software. Examples of hardware include printers, scanners, hard drives, CDs/DVDS, and modems. Hardware serves as the delivery system for software solutions.
Document Management Solutions: Document Management Solutions include a variety of both hardware and software solutions. Hardware solutions include scanners that let you digitize your paper documents to view them online, in the cloud. Printers will also let you get a physical copy of your digital document. With Document Management, there are also a number of software solutions that will help you to manage your digital documents. Software solutions will help your company to become paperless and to achieve workflow automation.
Verdict?: Both! For document management solutions that deal with a large volume of documents it is sometimes best if hardware and software are used together co-dependently. You may need software to manage your documents, but you are also going to need hardware to help run the software. Scanners, monitors and printers will be needed to handle your physical documents while software will manage your digitally converted documents. Using both Hardware and Software solutions will let you achieve the most effective Document Management Solution for your organization.