Category: Scanning & Digitisation

Now, more than ever before, organisations of all sizes are adopting new methods and procedures in order to streamline the way in which they work. For those that didn’t already know, one of the most prominent developments within the last decade is the digital mailroom. Also known as electronic mailroom, this system will revolutionise not only your in-house postal functions but also streamline the ways in which teams and departments collaborate. Below you will find insight in to just a few of the benefits of using a digital mailroom.

Reduces Environmental Damage

As one would imagine, adapting your business processes and practices so that you are now a predominantly digital organisation will do wonders for your carbon footprint. Having excessive incoming mail can lead to an increasingly large quantity of paper simply being disposed of in general waste, which is extremely harmful to the environment and an information security risk. Physical mail is often read once, and then discarded without a moment’s hesitation. By adopting a digital mailroom solution, you are able to format all of your electronic information with ease, and you can do this without needing to waste paper documents.

Increase Overall Efficiency

There is an age-old saying within the business world that remains relevant to this day – time is money. Should you continue to use the older method that revolves around paper, you will have to delegate a number of employees to spend countless hours sorting through the documents. This manual process is extremely time consuming and takes time away from skilled individuals that could be focusing on other core business tasks. If you are looking for a cost-effective solution for receiving high volumes of letters, look no further than a digital mailroom.

Improved Service for Clients

One of the most important factors that contribute towards a company’s success is the ability to consistently provide top-tier client care. This is imperative should you wish to remain competitive within your industry, after all, client satisfaction tends to be reduced when queries are left unanswered. A huge difference between paper and electronic mail is that when things are in digital format, it is not only easier to read, it is also significantly more convenient to respond to.

Better Regulatory Compliance

Regardless of the industry, organisations across Europe are required to adhere to a number of growing governmental regulations regarding client confidentiality and personally identifiable information (PII). Identity fraud has become an increasingly prevalent issue in recent years, so the storing of information must be closely monitored. By adopting the method of document scanning and digital ingestion utilising a digital mailroom, you are able to hide confidential information behind extra layers of security, subsequently reducing the chances of content being lost. In the long-term, this is an excellent way to reduce costs.

Departmental Collaboration

There is a reason departmental collaboration is the last point in our list, this is because it is the most overlooked benefit of utilising a digital mailroom. More often than not documentation received by a business or organisation needs to be reviewed by multiple departments or teams. Individuals may be on different floors, in different buildings or even different countries. Unlike traditional post, which needs to be reposted or scanned and emailed, digital mailrooms allow users to assign to individuals or other team queues for review. Not only does this save time and money, and remove the risk of a data breach, it also helps build interdepartmental relations.

About OASIS Group

Are you looking for a digital mailroom solution but unsure of where to start? We believe that we can provide an incredibly beneficial service. We have decades of experience providing records and information management services to organisations of varying size and industry. We also have over 1,700 Team Members committed to providing outstanding support to our clients.

If you would like to speak with one of our specialist team to find out more about the services we provide, including digital mailroom, please complete our online quotation form.

What is Digital Transformation?

When you read the phrase ‘Digital Transformation’ it likely means something different to you than it does to your suppliers, your clients and potentially your colleagues. This is because digital transformation will look different for every company, furthermore departments within the same organisation may view this differently.

There is no one right answer for what your digital transformation journey should look like. Even if two companies share the same eventual goals such as; going paperless or reaching digital business maturity, the touch-points within the journey will be established through your internal processes and policies.

Who should implement a Digital Transformation Strategy?

With digital technologies driving innovation Digital Transformation is impacting on businesses of all sizes, across all industries. In today’s technology driven world it is now, more than ever, possible for SME’s to share in the technological benefits once afforded to large corporations. In fact, at OASIS we have BlueChip and SME clients using the same technologies and gaining similar levels of efficiencies and return on investment.

Simply put, every organisation must implement a Digital Transformation strategy to sustain their business. Research suggests that organisations have changed their attitudes towards digital processing and are now putting this at the forefront of their business strategies.

81% of organisations believe that ‘Digital Transformation’ is ‘important’ OR ‘very important’ to their organisation

AIIM, 2018

Where should I start?

Before starting your digital transformation, it is important that you first identify your end goal. Does your organisation want to free up employees’ time by automating certain processes? Or is your goal to streamline existing processes to better serve your clients? Your desired outcome will define your digital strategy so it’s important that you set it early on.

Collaborate with other departments, whilst it is unlikely every department has the same goals it is possible that similar business functions have aligned strategic goals. An example of this could be your organisations Accounts Payable department and Accounts Receivable department. Both may require a system that integrates with a shared accounting system such as Sage.

Misconceptions about Digital Transformation

One of the biggest misconceptions we hear about Digital Transformations is that it is a substantial project that needs to be implemented all at once. This is not the case! In fact, we recommend that many of our clients take a phased approach. There are many reasons for this, and again it is dependent on the client’s needs, with the most likely reason being the sheer number of paper documentation an organisation has.

For instance, 2018 AIIM research indicates that many HR organisations are still mired in paper-based processes. When asked, “What is paper usage in the following processes?” The percentages answering, “A lot of documents are processed as paper documents” were;

• Recruiting and selection = 35%
• Employee onboarding = 48%
• Employee file management = 53%
• Policies and procedures administration = 32%
• Employee separation = 48%

Whilst a percentage of organisations have the budget and staff available to undertake a large-scale project, more often than not projects such as Digital Transformations are put on hold because these required resources are not available. It is in this instance that we work with clients to put together an implementation plan that takes in to consideration their; resources, budget, timescales and volume of archive.

This is not to say that volume of paper documentation is the only concern, when migrating from an existing EDRMS or ECM platform organisations often need internal IT time to export digitised documentation. This can also cause delays depending on their availability.

Which technology is best for my organisation?

The first and foremost thing to ensure with any technology decision is that it is user-friendly, we always suggest that an end-user is involved in the decision-making process where possible. Engaging end-users in this process not only ensures that you have a system that best meets your needs but also allows a smooth transition process.

There is an ever-increasing number of emerging technologies that present tremendous opportunities for your organisation. Technology such as; Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Capture, eDiscovery, Repetitive Process Automation and Automated Data Recognition has become part of our daily lives. These new technologies are allowing organisations to do more than capture data, instead organisations are leveraging the capabilities of machines to understand and analyse the data they receive.

With a greater insight in to what information your organisation holds you are able to better comply with industry and governmental regulations such as GDPR and ETW.

The OASIS Solution

We offer a number of services that can help you, no matter where you are in your digital transformation process. Whether you are looking for Cloud services, digital imaging, workflow, automatic document recognition, Artificial Intelligence & machine learning or more we have a solution to help you.

Get in touch through our online form or email info@oasisgroup.com