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Feb 07 2024

What is a digital mailroom?

By Courtney-Jade Mather, Marketing and Events Co-ordinator

With innovative products and solutions being brought to market, designed to improve our processes and procedures, it indicates there’s almost nothing that can’t be digitalised. And postal mailrooms are no exception.

Created in 2009, digital mail rooms, or inbound mail solutions, are now dominating business communications, taking the, now outdated, manual process and bringing it into the electronic world. But what are they? And how do they work?

WHAT IS A DIGITAL MAILROOM?

A digital mailroom is a solution that is used to digitalise and automate the process of all inbound communications.

It automatically converts any documents into a digital format using a range of skilled processing technologies. For physical mail, this can include intelligent document processing and data capture, scanning and indexing. For digital communications, it can include scanning, indexing and archiving.

From physical paper-based communications such as mail and fax, to digital forms including email, SMS and web submissions, it digitalises all of the information, making it available to be viewed and managed in one convenient and secure place.

This process or procedure is often managed externally by a business, who have partnered with an expert who manages everything for you. The inbound communication management company manage each element, saving you valuable time and money and minimising the risk of human error.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The process is simple:

  1. When a document has been received by a specialist in inbound communication management, it’s scanned and read by secure systems to ascertain what’s in it.

  2. Once the system has clarified this, the automated technology will decipher the classification of the document.

  3. It’s then distributed accordingly within an organisation by the supplier.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

There are many benefits when opting to digitise your inbound communication management, some being:

One place for all your communications – The solution creates a single point for all your inbound communications, aiding convenience and ease.

Reduce human error – Documents are automatically classified using a system that links with your organisation’s line of business systems, without human intervention, reducing the opportunity for human error.

Save time – Digital mailrooms reduce the dependency on staff to carry out the process, which in turn increases efficiency, so your employees can spend their time on other, more important, tasks.

It's cost-effective – As the process removes the requirement of staff, there are significant cost savings.
      
Archive documents - The process can also be used to archive documents, storing them in a secure place, that can be accessed by approved staff, across your business.

Suitable for hybrid working – You can overcome the obstacle of something being sent to the wrong site or a remote worker not being able to collect a physical document with a digital mail room. The automated digital process means that documents can securely be accessed anywhere, at any time, by approved members of your team.

Improve customer service - The electronic management of incoming mail enhances the quality of the service offered to customers by allowing staff to instantly access customer files and answer questions immediately. It also reduces the chances of any physical documents being misplaced, which would result in customer dissatisfaction.

Enhance your outbound mail – Add tracking to your outbound mail to achieve the desired inbound results.

Improve responses and engagement – With a digitalised system categorising each piece of communication, important documents are flagged so that your business can improve their time to response. Better communication with your clients and customers results in higher engagement and customer satisfaction as it highlights you value their custom.

Security for better Regulatory Compliance - Businesses are required to adhere to a number of growing governmental regulations regarding client confidentiality and personally identifiable information. By utilising a digital mailroom, you are able to hide confidential information behind extra layers of security, subsequently reducing the chances of content being lost.

MANAGING THE WHOLE PROCESS: OUTBOUND MANAGEMENT 

Many organisations that offer the digitalisation of inbound communications are now offering outbound management. This takes the process of sending physical letters to an online process, but with the same end format.

One such way is hybrid mail, where users can submit digital orders in a few clicks and the documents are then physically printed and mailed out to the recipients. It can also be done digitally, with solutions such as Digital Document Delivery that sends letters to a recipient’s secure, online account.

This results in a complete 360 approach, where your whole communication processes are managed in-house by one supplier.

HOW CAN I ADOPT A DIGITAL MAIL ROOM?

Are you wondering how you can adopt a digital mail room to increase productivity while streamlining the process and saving money? Then CFH Inbound can help. Supported by intelligent software and top-level accreditations, this secure and innovative offering is the ideal solution to bring your mail room into the modern age.

Find out more about our unique product and how it can support you.

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