Electronic document management (EDM) is a great way for workers to not have to spend hours of their work time simply looking for lost/misplaced documents. Its time to upgrade to electronic, which will eliminate any need for filing paper documents as it is all stored in an electronic fashion. An EDM uses several features that include personal computers/file servers, storage, communications equipment, document management soft where, as well as printers. The price range is within most businesss reach as it can be only in the tens of thousands, but can also be larger for larger companies. The EDM allows you to take the information from the paper and store them electronically, also allowing later change if necessary. The documents are also readily available for printing, forwarding, or refilling. EDM can be a necessary tool for any company which uses endless documents. EDM uses programs such as OCR (letter pattern matching), ICR (letter and word recognition), MICR (recognizes magnetic ink characters), and imaging to effectively capture and route the data. OCR and ICR are very dependable as they have an accuracy rate of over 90%, but picture revision may need to be done to some extend depending on how accurate the original is. Scan and display or having OCR or ICR change the key data and imprint it directly on the database are the two options available for imaging. The scan and display involves scanning a document and then having the information removed and placed onto a database, which is the quicker method but involves a higher risk of some failure. It is not difficult for a company to get some sort of gain out of using EDM. Companies receive orders through several different sources including the phone, mail, and EDI. The EDI method takes the orders, translates the orders into an accessible document, and then places them in a order entry form. All other orders can be shaped up once they are in a document form. They can be scanned through OCR and ICR and shaped into a readable document and placed with the orders originally sent through EDM. This takes the pain out of the process, decreases time, and thus, increases accuracy. Images are commonly sent through a COLD system, shaped up, and then placed in the orders. This is a new age, so an EDM system might be the perfect choice for your company.