Automated Digital Postrooms – getting more from your Mailroom Solutions
Many organisations have implemented an automated digital postroom, typically scanning incoming documents within the postroom and routing the electronic images to recipients’ desktops as emails and attachments.
But what is the difference between a Digital Postroom and an Automated Digital Postroom?
A Digital Postroom, as generally understood, is where post is scanned on entry to an organisation, and then delivered electronically to an appropriate department or process. Only post items that contain business value are processed, which will predominantly be documents such as forms, orders, invoices, delivery dockets and correspondence. In many situations, particularly in consumer or citizen-facing businesses, it will also include hand-written letters, application forms, change of details, supporting certificates, etc. Circulars, brochures, magazines and junk-mail are not typically scanned.
Automated Postroom solutions build on this by applying increased intelligence to include identifying what document type has been scanned e.g. an order, an invoice or a completed form. This can then trigger a process to extract key information from the document and match against a customer name or some transactional data within the back-office systems.
Additionally, the document can then be routed to the appropriate department, triggering further workflows as required.
Automating your digital postroom is the next logical progression to bring further business advantages.
This Checklist may be helpful when evaluating Automated Postroom options
1 – Multi-Channel Capture; does your business need to capture all documents from every source, including email and mobile traffic?
2 – Self-Learning ability; does your current working practice increasingly reduce exceptions and ensure a low cost of system maintenance?
3 – Using Priorities; based on the type and content of documents, are priorities established to ensure high-value transactional documents are processed first?
4 – Full Automation; does your system give you straight-through processing for recognised ‘IGO’ (In Good Order) documents?
5 – Alerts; does your solution alert you in good time that there are issues and exceptions that need rapid investigation – ‘NIGO’ (Not in Good Order)? Exception handling can only ever be as good as the speed of resolution.
Why use Automated Digital Postroom solutions?
Modern and forward thinking businesses depend on fast, accurate information; the ability to transform inbound documents and data into useful digital information – automating onward processing effectively across the business. Organisations with the challenges of corporate compliance and accountability are increasingly looking for consistent and secure mailroom processes which can also result in productivity gains and improved customer service.
Despite popular beliefs, net paper volumes are on the increase making the Postroom an important start point for automated processing. AAC’s Automated Postroom Solutions transform your complex inbound document sorting and distribution into highly efficient business processes. Any volume of inbound paper and electronic information (Email, Fax, Mobile, XML) can be efficiently managed through our solutions.
How we can help
At AAC Systems we have delivered cost-effective post room automation systems to many organisations throughout the UK, enabling them to convert high volumes of inbound daily data into accessible digital information.
To find out how we can streamline your post processing cycle, contact our digital post room specialists here or call us now on 01628 421569.
You might also be interested in the following blogs:
Shared Service Mailrooms – why go digital?
