Digital mailroom: restoring postal order

Editorial Type: Opinion Date: 2021-02-01 Views: 2,300 Tags: Document, Covid-19, Workflow, Compliance, Strategy, Storetec PDF Version:
Amy Wright of Storetec argues that the potential benefits of a digital mailroom can vastly outweigh the factors that may have prevented organisations from looking at automation in the past - especially in the current business climate of increased home-working

As we're faced with another national lockdown, it would seem that some businesses have failed to learn from mistakes of the past and are still to go paperless. Employers are still facing the difficulty of sending staff to the office to collect office post and the odd bits of paperwork to assist with day-to-day queries.

Whilst this may seem like a 5-minute task, the time taken to travel to the office in addition to the hours spent self-sorting and scanning the post, makes this a very inefficient way of working. For departments with post arriving frequently such as accounts who process sensitive and confidential paperwork, weekly or even daily trips may be required. Furthermore, employers are risking the health of individual employees by asking them to visit the office amid the height of the pandemic.

Stepping into the world of automation can seem a scary step, but the internal rewards of efficiency and utilised resources makes the transition key for business improvement.

REDUCED OPERATIONAL COSTS
With quick, efficient access to incoming mail, your business can drastically reduce operational costs whilst allowing employees to focus their time on more important tasks. By tailoring each digital mailroom project to suit the needs of the business, we can optimise processing and deliver high-quality scanned mail for enhanced workflow.

INSTANT ACCESS TO INCOMING MAIL
With every digital mailroom project, we will guarantee incoming mail is scanned and accessible the very same day. With flexible, remote access to your post, you can respond to customers quicker and accelerate important business transactions. Employees working remotely also have the guarantee they are not missing critical incoming mail, which in today's climate is of key importance.

ENHANCED VISIBILITY AND SECURITY
Businesses will have the ability to review mail entering the business in real-time and guarantee confidentiality by restricting employee access. Storetec's cloud-based document management system, FreeDocs, facilities such access allowing managers determine access levels. Furthermore, the digital mailroom solution eradicates the risk of accidental loss, damage and confidentiality breaches.

HOW DOES DIGITAL MAILROOM WORK?
Storetec's dedicated project management team will handle all aspects of your ongoing digital mailroom service, from setting up a PO box to hosting scanned mail on a secure document management system. We understand that every project is bespoke, which is why we're more than happy to tailor the project to suit your exact needs.

Following the arrival of mail items, Storetec's processing team will prepare all documents (opening envelopes & removing paperclips) and scan the documents into an electronic format such as PDF. All documents are scanned in full compliance with BS10008 ('Evidential Weight and Legal Admissibility of Electronic Information'). Scanned documents will be indexed with any metadata required; for example, the date the mail arrived, the name of the individual the mail item was addressed to, or what the record pertains to (i.e. invoice, credit note etc).

All scanned mail will be electronically transferred to the business the same working day via SFTP. Alternatively, we can create a cloud-based mail receipt platform such as FreeDocs, into which we will upload mail items on a daily basis. Authorised employees will be given individual logins determining their level of access within the database.

For example, access can be restricted so that specific employees can only review scanned mail items addressed to themselves. As the system is cloud-based, employees can access scanned mail items whether they are working from home or the office.

FreeDocs enables you to access digital mail items 24/7, whether working remotely or in between meetings. You can also:

  • Guarantee confidentiality with employee-level file restrictions
  • Review and sign contracts on-the-go with e-signing integrations
  • Increase visibility and control with detailed audits logs on file & document level
  • Ensure critical mail items are protected behind data & password encryptions

We understand it is a difficult time for every business, however, if we can be of assistance with digital mail solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us. It cannot be stressed enough that automating the mailroom process alleviates one less worry for businesses to address during these strange times.

We will ensure all projects of this nature remain a priority, alleviating any stress businesses may face over implementing and maintaining remote working.

More info: www.storetec.net