Hey there, that's a really practical question a lot of offices are facing right now. The short answer is that it truly depends on your specific workflow and volume.
For large, consistent volumes of paperwork—think hundreds of pages daily with similar sizes—a dedicated, high-speed document scanner is still king. It’s built for endurance, can handle automatic feeding (which is a huge time-saver), and often comes with software that helps with sorting, OCR, and batch processing. The scan quality is consistently high, and it reduces wear and tear on staff compared to using a phone camera for every single page.
That said, if your scanning needs are more occasional, varied in document size, or if your team is often on the move, modern scanning apps are incredibly capable. They can produce excellent quality, offer instant cloud uploads, and are essentially free aside from staff time. For a hybrid approach, some offices use a centralized high-volume scanner for bulk work and empower staff with mobile apps for one-offs or remote work.
Consider your pain points: Is speed and uniformity your priority, or is flexibility and cost more crucial? Also, think about where those scanned documents need to go—if they feed directly into a specific document management system, check compatibility first. A good middle path might be to invest in one or two robust departmental scanners for heavy lifting while keeping mobile apps as a versatile backup.