The traditional method for handling document production has been to photocopy the originals, number the copy set, and photocopy a working set of numbered documents.

Using industry standard pricing, this method of document production will usually cost $0.25 to $0.50 cents per page; in a case with 100,000 documents (or more), this is not an inconsiderable cost. The end product is a voluminous collection of paper that will need to be managed and stored.

Document imaging (the scanning of a paper documents) has been utilized by law firms for more than a decade. While recognized as a more efficient means of document production, smaller law firms have resisted its use because they perceived that the cost was prohibitive.

With recent advances in imaging technology, this is no longer the case. Law firms large and small are recognizing that there are tremendous cost and productivity advantages to imaging document collections regardless of the size of the case.