Virtual Mailroom Creates Competitive Advantage

Today, Oct 2004 by Gingrande, Arthur

SWT, the fastest growing document and data capture software company in Europe, has been focusing, for the last three years, on its R&D resources for the processing of semi-structured and unstructured documents in mailroom environments.

The software b-Wize(TM) answers the automatic classification, routing, indexing and data capture needs of companies wishing to digitize and process incoming mail, including documents such as invoices, bills, PO's, remittances, records, applications (for HR, or universities, or bank loans, ect.), claims (eg. medical or dental), EOB's, legal documents (e.g. mortgage), and correspondence (even handwritten). In North America, the b-Wize Dispatcher(TM) "plug-in" is already integrated by major document capture and forms processing software vendors and system integrators.

The Image-Enabled, Virtual Mailroom Creates Big Savings for American Businesses

Despite an overall trend away from paper-based communications toward electronic transactions via e-mail and Web-based activities, digital documents still represent less than one quarter of the bulk of documents, at 16% e-mails and 8% Web forms. In fact, after two decades of computerizing the workplace, companies are still reporting a rise in the number of paper documents they receive. Today, companies on average receive three million items per year, with the cost of manually processing incoming mail estimated at between $0.15 to $0.25 per document. Industry experts report that handling, opening, sorting, and preparing the mail for departmental paperwork amounts to somewhere between 40% and 80% of all mail transaction costs. In 2003, 400,000 organizations in America representing 600,000 mailrooms spent $5.3 billion on running their mail operations. So much for the once-heralded paperless office!

The mailroom is a vital nerve center of the modern corporation - a labor intensive, initial point of contact/handoff for all paper documents received by that company. Accordingly, problems and delays in the mailroom cause a negative ripple effect that becomes increasingly magnified on whatever processes occur downstream. As mail volumes continue to grow exponentially, driven by business growth and the increasing proliferation of mobile work forces, companies struggle more and more to keep up with the growing mountain of paper that daily consumes most American businesses. Medium-sized companies on average now process 100,000 pieces of mail a month and service over 200 departments.

The trouble is, most contemporary mailrooms are using one-piece-at-a-time visual identification and manual sorting methods that were originally developed over a century ago by Benjamin Franklin. Identification, sorting, and delivery of inbound mail relies in most cases on human memory and labor. At best these mailrooms operate at an efficiency rate of 200 to 500 pieces-per-hour to achieve basic mail sorting.

The problems created by America's growing paper glut were exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attack. Post-9/11 compliance legislation imposed severe penalties on U.S. corporations for losing track of critical financial information - or for not reporting it in a timely manner. Additionally, biological threats caused by Anthrax found in the U.S. Mail quickly became a vital concern to all U.S. companies. As a result, investing in "virtual mailroom" technology that mechanically opens the mail and then uses document imaging technology to automate the process of reading the mail, managing paper flow, and streamlining business data, became a top priority for U.S. businesses almost overnight.

Benefits of the Virtual Mai I room

Virtual mailroom technology can dramatically affect a company's business processes. It immediately notifies mail recipients of a document's arrival at their company. Employees can access document images and data files in record time, regardless of where the documents physically originated. Mail-driven tasks can be carried out very rapidly, according to their level of urgency. Because the virtual mailroom facilitates the efficient exchange of company information, it also enables collaborative activities around specific documents, allowing quicker and more accurate decision-making. Moreover, budget savings are realized not only by reducing the human labor of distributing the mail, but also by eliminating costs associated with the resending, loss or deterioration of documents that are addressed incorrectly or never delivered to their final destination. Of course, storing files and images is less expensive than storing paper documents.

By scanning and indexing incoming mail documents on the fly, companies not only acquire firmer control of their internal mail processes (through increased efficiency, closing gaps in document control, and eliminating document loss) but also gain the opportunity to offer new and improved services to their customers and business partners. By implementing a virtual mail room as a centralized platform for capturing information, organizations can accelerate their business processes and enhance customer relationship management - improvements that boost productivity and assure a competitive advantage in today's customer-focused work environment.