Traditional vs Digital Mailroom: Sort Mail Accurately
The Analysis of Traditional vs Digital Mailroom
Traditional vs Digital Mailroom: Mailrooms within businesses have seen considerable evolution in recent times. For years, they were a hive of activity, full of incoming and outgoing posts, stacks of paper, and various sorting areas so that letters and parcels reached the correct department.
Companies are used to the manual sorting process, but as we will explain below, the transformation and advancement of digital mailroom services have exploded, and they are leading the way with efficient and speedy results.
The Barriers of a Traditional Mailroom
For many companies, the traditional mailroom was and still is the hub of the business, but as technology advances, the barriers faced by manual processes can be overcome.
Time Consuming: When mail comes into an office it follows a process of firstly being delivered, then sorted, distributed, making it an often-lengthy process that urgently needs a more efficient solution. Additionally, the physical element is time consuming for the staff member or members responsible for the sorting, which could be spent on other more profitable jobs within the department.
Storage Costs: As many companies downsize their physical office spaces—something that has been the case for the last few years—the cost of storing post, documents, and other forms of paper will be magnified when it comes to budgets and spending. Traditional mailrooms could take up entire rooms or storage units, depending on the size of the organisation. Plus, the archived documents will only grow as the years go on.
Human Error: It is inevitable with large quantities of mail coming in that a percentage may get lost, misplaced or sent to the wrong department.
Security Issues: If a business deals with sensitive (for example financials) then it is always risky when there is a chance post can be misplaced.
The Pros of a Digital Mailroom
Implementing a digital mailroom can revolutionise a business document process system. Digitally managing all posts received in an organisation offers a simple and insightful solution.
Mailroom automation requires research and well thought out plans, but it has a significant number of benefits – but the main bonus is that it offers an easy way to get documents straight to the right people.
Time Saving with Digital Processing: If a company invests in digital mailroom equipment it will then have processes to open, scan and distribute mail to relevant teams – and fast. Additionally, cognitive capture technology makes it possible to identify document types based on content, and takes away even more time from manual handling.
Sustainability: Most businesses, regardless of size, will have some form of sustainability policy in place. Eradicating paper documents is, of course, a great way to achieve the target of going paperless and cutting down on waste.
Less Storage: On the flipside of a traditional mailroom, while an office space may still be necessary, it will be significantly less than the previously required.
Easy Access: Remote employees will receive documents straight to their inboxes without delay.
Cloud Invoice Storage: Cloud invoice processing allows staff within an organisation to access digital documents and mail. Invoices and purchase orders will be handled quickly.
The Shift from Physical to Digital Communication
The digital mailroom concept is more relevant now as communication and documentation have shifted from physical letters to digital formats, like emails. This hybrid solution is important. Here’s how it works and why:
Traditional Mail Handling: Traditionally, businesses receive physical mail that is sorted and distributed by hand to the appropriate departments or individuals. This process involved opening letters, sorting them, and making sure they went to the right person for action.
Rise of General Email Inboxes: In the age of digital transformation, such communication has moved to email. Rather than receiving letters, businesses now get emails sent to generic inboxes such as sales@company.com, accounts@company.com, or info@company.com. These email accounts are today’s version of the physical mailroom, where incoming digital communications are gathered.
Document Collection: Physical Mail: Documents sent through the mail are accepted, unsealed, scanned, and transformed into digital files. These files are then converted into digital formats, such as PDFs, which are suitable for processing by the system.
Digital Mail: Emails sent to general inboxes are automatically captured by the digital mailroom software.
Classification and Categorisation: The digital mailroom uses technology like cognitive capture and machine learning to sort documents automatically based on their content. It can tell the difference between invoices, contracts, inquiries, and other types of communication
Summary
The shift from a traditional digital mailroom format to a digital one will bring many benefits to future businesses. From easy document capture to security and compliance, the best way to shape automated mailroom services is worth considering. With our digital mailroom tailored to your needs, you can better understand what is being received, when, and in which channel so you can make informed business decisions and pursue further automation.
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