Case Study: Pacific Northwest Collections achieves paperless operations and $2,000/month savings with Document Locator

Established collections agency goes paperless, improving bottom line for itself and its customers

Pacific Northwest Collections, a family-run debt collection agency in business since 1934, faced a growing paperwork crisis: 1,000 sq. ft. of filing cabinets, a 15-person staff spending hours each day hunting for documents, and strict legal and medical privacy requirements that made paper records slow, costly, and risky. Employees even avoided the cold, crowded back room where essential files were stored—time that could be spent calling payors and clients was instead consumed by filing and searching.

The company implemented Document Locator (with Scanning Module and Microsoft SQL) to scan, index (OCR), and secure records with role-based access and audit logs. The system lets multiple staff retrieve files instantly, supports collections, legal, sales and bookkeeping workflows, and provides daily backups for disaster protection. The result: a streamlined, paperless operation, improved collaboration and compliance, and roughly $2,000 a month saved in paper-handling time as staff focus on revenue-generating calls.

Pacific Northwest Collections

Shannon Puaokalani

Manager