Why the Digital Mailroom Is a Smart Investment

Are you looking for a way to kickstart your digital transformation and optimize business processes for better ROI?

According to Entrepreneur, one of the best places for an organization to start digital transformation is where documents first arrive: the mailroom. On-premises mailrooms are slow and error-prone, and require too much labor and valuable real estate—not to mention they cannot support today’s new way of working.

A virtual P.O. box helps streamline many of the manual tasks associated with handling paper and electronic mail. This blog post discusses why digital mailroom services are a smart solution to optimize business processes and improve ROI.

Physical mailrooms are workflow-stalling dinosaurs

Although still familiar, a paper-based physical mailroom’s manual processes and infrastructure have no place in today’s business environment. IDC estimates that inefficiencies cost companies 20% to 30% in revenue annually.

Think about every piece of mail that enters your business. For small companies, that may be as few as a dozen daily items. Larger firms may process dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of pieces of mail daily. Either way, the traditional method of handling this incoming mail isn’t saving companies time or money.

How an organization approaches the management of its incoming mail directly impacts its core business processes. Contracts, invoices, purchase orders, expense reports, and client communications are just a few types of business information received in volume every day.

To address the issue, innovation and workflow automation are required.

Benefits of mailroom automation

Businesses that employ digital mail services enjoy several significant benefits, including:

Increased ROI. Automate and streamline your business processes to reduce cycle times, improve predictability, and cut costs.

Improved customer service. Digitized documents provide a faster and more efficient way to handle customer inquiries.

Reduced reliance on paper. One content management system combines your incoming paper mail and email into a single, searchable archive with advanced document retrieval options.

Enhanced information visibility. Paper-based information is organized so everyone can easily access the data they need to make quick decisions.

Increased workgroup productivity. Squeeze every drop of efficiency out of your mailroom, making it easy for all users to do their jobs and work remotely.

Mobile access to business documents. A virtual mailbox will streamline your paper-based processes and eliminate duplicates by centralizing and digitizing all communications into one location that can be accessed anywhere on any device in real time.

How the digital mailroom automates workflows

The digital mailroom is not a futuristic vision. It is here now and offers a streamlined system that enhances the manual handling and sorting of mail—delivering better productivity and financial results.

Combining document scanning services, OCR technology, and automation, virtual mailrooms scan and capture incoming mail, apply selected processing rules, and then route it to the appropriate recipients. At the same time, they automatically merge critical processing data into other business workflows, such as your ERP system.

Making the transition

When you partner with experienced document management companies, automating your mailroom can amplify business process optimization.

Our VitalScan digital mailroom solution works like this:

1) Scan and extract. Every business day, your mail is opened, securely scanned, and digitized with crucial data points to allow searchability and routing to intended recipients.

2) Organize and index. Our imaging specialists utilize advanced capture software to identify, classify, and prioritize critical documents such as invoices, contracts, and other business-related correspondence.

3) Send. We deliver digital images and documents directly to the intended recipient as a PDF or email attachment—providing a seamless flow of information throughout your organization.

Our VitalScan solution is perfect for any business looking to streamline its cash flow process. Our document capture technology lets you quickly and easily scan checks to make direct deposits into your company’s bank account. Plus, we provide a corresponding accounting report for your records so you can easily keep track of all your financial transactions.

With VitalScan, you can save time and money while ensuring all your financial transactions are secure and accurate. Our solution is customizable, so you can tailor it to fit your specific business needs—whether you’re a small business or a large corporation. Learn more about our workflow automation solutions.