Improve Your Competitive Standing by Transitioning to a Paperless Mailroom:

Three Components that are Critical for Success

By Sylvia Feldman, Corporate Writer, Optical Image Technology, Inc.

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If your organization is like most, you are constantly assessing process improvements that will allow you to maintain a competitive edge. And again, like most businesses, a conversion from paper processes to electronic is probably one of your foremost priorities. Successful organizations recognize that reducing or eliminating paper helps to cut costs, and at the same time, facilitates exceptional customer service. Transitioning from paper eliminates the incidence of lost, misplaced, or duplicate files. It also eliminates storage challenges, and allows authorized staff to access customer information with the click of a mouse.

As you evaluate the benefits of a transition to electronic document management (EDM), consider the impact that it would have in your mailroom. Organizations often make the mistake of implementing EDM software to take advantage of paperless files, but fail to develop controls to reduce the flow of paper coming into the office. Ironically, even after going paperless, they find that they are handling more paper than ever.

The ability to capture information as it enters your system ensures that it is available immediately and can be accessed and processed by staff members simultaneously, even from remote locations. A paperless mailroom provides your organization with the privacy and security that is mandated by compliance directives, consigning sensitive customer information to an electronic storage reservoir that can be accessed only by authorized staff. Most importantly, eliminating paper at the source allows your organization to take advantage of automation technologies that will allow you to process more information without having to add additional staff. Read on to learn about three essential factors to consider in a conversion to a paperless mailroom.

Automated capture and storage

The foundation of a paperless mailroom is an organization’s ability to automate the capture and storage of information. Incoming forms, checks, invoices, applications, photographs, and other associated material can be scanned and stored, making them accessible immediately and eliminating the clutter, disarray, and delay that are often associated with paper-based processes. A robust EDM system has the flexibility to offer capture options that will address your organization’s unique needs, or to integrate seamlessly with software that provides these capabilities. Whether your business needs optical character recognition (OCR), intelligent character recognition (ICR), barcode recognition, or a combination of capture technologies, the ability to digitize your information at the point of entry will have a profound impact on your organization’s ability to shorten turnaround time.

As your mailroom evolves, your EDM system can also incorporate electronic forms and email messages into your storage reservoir. Customers and staff can submit electronic forms securely via the Web, making them available immediately to expedite processing. Email messages, electronic images, fax messages, and other types of documents can also be stored and managed by your EDM system.

Indexing throughout your enterprise

Electronic storage is useless without an efficient retrieval strategy. Prior to your transition, it is imperative that you examine your organization’s architecture thoroughly, and determine an indexing scheme for your documents. Departments frequently index information differently than individuals. Developing a logical consensus about indexing can be one of the most challenging phases of your deployment; consequently, it is important to choose a document management vendor with an experienced professional services team in the event that you discover a need for guidance with this process.

Factors to consider when determining an indexing scheme include document type, lifespan, source, retention/destruction needs, security, and other associated information. Conduct an exhaustive examination of your business processes prior to implementing an indexing scheme. Take advantage of your document management vendor’s experience and ability to analyze the interrelationship between your infrastructure and your processing abilities. Eliminating paper in your mailroom has implications for your entire enterprise. Involving staff from different levels and from different departments will ensure that document retrieval will be consistent as well as successful.

Workflow

With automated workflow, organizations increase their processing abilities exponentially. Workflow forwards information electronically, ensuring that the right information is routed to the right person at the right time for processing. Workflow integrates your entire electronic document management system, allowing disparate silos of information to communicate and enabling your business to leverage its existing investment in technology.

Workflow allows capture and storage technologies to reach their fullest potential by allowing you to automate and streamline your processes. Upon their receipt, invoices can be routed simultaneously to every person who needs to approve them, without the need for manual intervention. Work can be distributed to staff electronically, so that it is processed with optimal efficiency. Workflow’s monitoring tools allow your company to oversee your processing efficiencies, and to make changes in your work distribution if you find bottlenecks or slowdowns. The technology enforces consistency as well as accountability, allowing you to see who has viewed, changed, or processed documents.

Without automated workflow, electronic storage does little more than duplicate your paper processes electronically. Workflow helps to transition your mailroom into the twenty-first century. It provides the consistency and efficiency that you need to improve your competitive standing, decrease turnaround time, and improve customer service.

To find out more about workflow and a transition to a paperless mailroom, or to learn more about Optical Image Technology’s DocFinity software products and services, please contact us (http://www.docfinity.com) at 814.238.0038 or email info@docfinity.com.

 

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