Q&A with Carlo Stivala, ARChives International CEO

BRIEFLY, WHAT DOES ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL DO?

ARChives International provides cutting edge holistic digitisation services whereby physical documents are scanned using state of the art OCR technology which transfers images to digital data. ARChives also offers other functions which are applied during scanning, such as searchability, data capturing, and indexing. We also offer our own DMS (Document Management System) Software which is an important kind of software used to organise and manage document filing.

HOW MANY PAGES A MINUTE DO YOUR SCANNERS COPY?

We invested in high-tech American equipment which scans documents from an average speed of 400 to over 900 pages per minute on dual format at high resolution. ARChives software subsequently generates all foldering and sub-foldering during scanning using QRcodes systems.

HOW DOES YOUR SYSTEM TRANSFER PHYSICAL FILING TO DIGITAL FILING?

Once the documents are scanned using our high-tech scanners and software, physical documents are transferred to digital documents creating meta data onto servers. On the server, extra software add-ons generate the services requested by the client which are performed on the data. InfoScan has carried out projects for the German Income Tax Department, Daimler Mercedes, German public and private hospitals, Bosch, Sparkasse Bank, Fiat Chrysler Automobil, Otis, and VolksBank, to mention a few.

THERE MIGHT BE THOSE WHO WOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF THEIR DOCUMENTS. HOW DO YOU ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS? DO YOU CATER FOR CLIENTS WHO FOR SECURITY AND OTHER REASONS WOULD PREFER TO SCAN THEIR DOCUMENTS AT THEIR OWN PREMISES?

With each client, ARChives International finalises ad-hoc GDPR agreements which will include all terms and conditions regulating data security and confidentiality. In addition, most of ARChives International employees are foreigners, and we implement rigid internal rules whereby no mobile phones or other photographic equipment is allowed on our premises.

ARChivesoffers digitisation services from its premises in Corradino, but it also offers the possibility to scan at the client’s site. This is usually requested by clients who have sensitive information and whose documents cannot be transported. In these cases, our equipment has to be temporarily installed at clients’ premises where the digitisation process will be effected.

ARE YOUR CLIENTS MOSTLY IN THE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SECTOR, OR BOTH?

Both. We offer our services to small and medium sized businesses starting from small shops, audit and accountants, notaries and lawyers, to large industries, banks and government entities.

I UNDERSTAND THAT ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL IS A PARTNERSHIP WITH A GERMAN MOTHER COMPANY. CAN YOU ELABORATE?

ARChives International Ltd is a partnership between a Maltese investor and InfoScan Gmbh which is the leading digitisation company in Germany with over 15 years’ experience. Currently or in the past, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DOCUMENTS ONCE THEY ARE SCANNED, GIVEN THAT SOME OF YOUR CLIENTS WOULD STILL WANT TO KEEP THEM WHILE SOME WOULD NOT?

ARChives offers the possibility to store data on our servers and/or shredding services and/or document storage services. Some of our clients request that their files be returned after digitisation project is affected. We therefore offer the possibility to recompose the files as they were originally handed over to us.