When we shared a recent
Mail Magazine article concerning scanning technology for the internal
delivery of postal mail, several of our clients requested more
information. Managers are faced with three primary concerns: the
potential of mail contamination disrupting their facilities, increases in
mail volume (and the cost of delivering it) and decreases in labor
resources. The process of scanning postal mail – what Mail
Magazine referred to as “Scan & Deliver” -- can address each of these
issues in a way that is practical, efficient and cost effective.
The use of scanning
equipment to process internal documents is not new. It has been used by
some organizations for many years in litigation management, regulatory
areas, claims processing, collecting and processing client correspondence
and even distributing images of securities by brokerage houses. The use
of scanning systems to process incoming postal mail has also had some
success with several prominent companies. Unlike those earlier systems,
the current technology uses greatly improved scanning equipment (in both
speed and quality) capable of processing thousands of documents while
retaining excellent resolution. The OCR software used to read and index
documents has also been improved with advanced algorithms that have the
ability to learn and correct themselves automatically.
Another major
technological improvement is the availability of larger, mass storage
devices and their much lower cost. In the earliest years of image
scanning, clients needed to purchase an array of storage devices that were
extremely expensive, slow, unreliable and had limited capacity. Today, a
single, inexpensive DVD can store nearly 125,000 pages!
In addition, with the
availability of networked workstations, virtually universal e-mail and
good bandwidth for shared information, no new infrastructure investment is
needed, even at the desktop where mail needs to be used.
A scan and deliver
operation can make an immediate positive impact on an organization. A
secure, digital mail distribution system, like that provided by MailSurity
and distributed by Datamation Systems, has several advantages over
conventional physical mail receipt and delivery
Security
Biological threats are a
problem that may not be in front of us every day, but they simply will not
go away. The level of exposure and threat to any particular organization
cannot be predicted. The anthrax crises of 2007 targeted media, news and
government agencies with collateral affects to postal agencies and the
regions they serve. The cost of business interruptions, delays in
processing mail and employee anxiety reached billions of dollars in lost
revenues, business interruption and clean-up costs. Many organizations
considered strategies to address the problem, including off-site
processing centers, in-house screening, UV treatment and autoclaving
technologies. Each of these methods provided some level of protection but
the only solution that completely protects a company is not exposing the
facility to the physical mail at all.
This is only practical an
appropriate and affordable technology is used to give the organization
access to the information contained in the mail.
A company that uses
scan and deliver technology, in an offsite or environmentally-isolated
facility, will be able to receive incoming mail and open, scan and deliver
it electronically using its existing e-mail system without ever exposing
the facility or its people to a threat of harm. The original items are
indexed and kept in storage should the original documents be needed.
Cost
Savings
The typical employee
handles the same piece of paper three-to-four times, using traditional
manual filing for physical documents and spending a significant amount of
valuable time searching for information. In a typical corporate mail
operation, incoming mail is rough-sorted, fine-sorted, sometimes opened,
researched and delivered. The average handling of each document is only
compounded once the mail is delivered and the recipient opens the piece,
reviews its contents and files or re-routes the document. If the
information needs to be shared, copies are made, reviewed, delivered and
stored.
Companies processing
1,500 - 2,000 pieces of mail -- and using the MailSurity distribution
system -- can realize a sufficient labor savings to achieve a return on
their investment within seven months. These savings are the direct result
of reduced handling and elimination of the delivery of the physical item.
The mail is opened with high speed openers, scanned using an appropriate
digital scanner and automatically delivered to the recipient whose name is
picked up off the scanned envelope. The “mail clerk” does not need to
read the correspondence or make any decisions or pre-sorts, improving
efficiency and reducing errors. The mail center can be smaller and
delivery times are virtually instant.
Another savings is
realized when the document is transmitted to the recipient in a format
which gives him/her the opportunity to read, store, forward, print or
delete. This reduces the number of physical documents that are stored
and manually retrieved. Forwarding is a significant value, creating
instant access, whether in the next cubicle or in another country.
Efficiency
In the above section, we spoke about the improvements in mail
distribution. Another aspect of the “scan and deliver” process is its
implementation within a specific operational group. Several clients have
expressed an interest in using the technology to deliver mail to remote
branches and/or out-of-office personnel. Apparently, these types of
operations require 24-36 hour delivery times as mail is manually processed
locally and re-delivered to outside facilities. By electronically sending
the documents, mail is available to the recipient the same morning it is
received with secure transmissions and access to the original documents,
if needed.
This is especially useful to telecommuters, traveling employees, employees
temporarily on off-site assignments (such as consultant, techs or
auditors), and expatriates. It greatly reduces re-mailing volume, saving
on overnight deliveries and re-mailing delays.
This document addresses just a few reasons why “scan and deliver”
technology will benefit many operations facing today’s difficult
operational requirements. As clients provide us with more ideas on how
they view this technology and find new reasons for implementing these
systems, we will publish additional reports.
If you would like information on
additional resources
for this topic, feel free to drop me an
e-mail or give us a
call.
Dag Gonzalez.
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