Digital mailroom benefits include faster processing, reduced handling, enhanced security, and much more

Despite the rise of digital communication methods like email and messaging applications, businesses still receive massive amounts of physical mail. In many cases, this is unavoidable. Even if an organization goes through a digital transformation, it often requires hard copies of essential documents to process claims, maintain compliance, or complete certain tasks.

As a result, many have turned to digital mailrooms to help manage incoming document streams. Here we’ll explore how a digital mailroom benefits your business, from improving access to bolstering security to unlocking additional productivity for your workforce.

How digital mailrooms save time and reduce costs

Traditional mailrooms rely on a complex patchwork of physical systems and processes to correctly route mail to its final destination. Workers gather incoming mail, sort it by department or location, and then hand deliver it either to desks or mailboxes. Sometimes, delivery is as easy as taking an elevator to the right floor. For larger or distributed workforces, employees may need to physically transport mail to the correct location.

These processes require a significant amount of labor and time — time that organizations cannot afford to waste. Plus, if mail is misdelivered, it needs to be re-routed, which can mean the difference between making project deadlines or running behind schedule.

Digital mailrooms can make these pain points a thing of the past. Here’s how.

Reducing manual mail handling

Traditional mailrooms' physical sorting and delivery processes become more efficient by transforming them into digital ones. This starts with scanning incoming mail with document scanners and capture software to convert it into digital files. Then, workflow automations take the digital files and upload them to the appropriate department folders within an organization’s network storage, making this information accessible almost instantly.

Digital mailroom management relies on optical character recognition (OCR) to speed up information gathering and processing. OCR allows an organization’s document management systems to extract text from digital scans and make this information usable within its infrastructure. For example, OCR could pull payment data from incoming invoices. Then, workflow automation kicks in to apply it to your accounting software — no manual entry required. This also works for getting data into customer relationship management platforms, claims processing programs, records management systems, and more.

Did You Know?:Ricoh’s fi Series scanners make document management simple, thanks to high-resolution image quality and accurate OCR software features.

Cutting down physical storage needs

Large businesses often receive thousands of pieces of mail every day. All that information must be stored somewhere when it’s not in use, and physical space is frequently a premium expense. Security of confidential data is also critical, meaning any storage solution must include ways to keep thieves out — lockable cabinets, secured rooms, closed circuit television, security guards, and a way to track who has accessed what information.

With digital mailrooms, you no longer need to worry about finding a place to store data onsite. Scanned mail can immediately be stored on-premise or in the cloud, which can scale as your storage needs demand. Less critical mail can be shredded to save space, while essential data can be archived as needed — making a paperless office more attainable than ever.

Enhancing security and compliance with digital mail management

Just like with physical mail, digital files must be protected from malicious actors looking to gain access to sensitive, proprietary information. Fortunately, digital mailroom management has tools to keep your information secure and compliant.

Protecting sensitive business information

Digital mailrooms rely on a combination of powerful technologies to give you deeper insight into and control over your infrastructure’s security stance.

• Chain-of-custody features help you maintain visibility and accountability for all digitally scanned mail. You can track who scanned and uploaded documents into your network, who accessed them, edited them, and much more. This level of insight allows organizations to uplevel their quality control checks and improve processes with more informed feedback.
• User access management provides granular control over who can access what information. Lock down file groupings or individual pieces of mail by department or user, ensuring that employees only have access to the information they need to do their jobs — nothing more.
• Data encryption prevents unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data.

Ensuring regulatory compliance (HIPAA, GDPR, etc.)

Some industries must align their mail handling policies with state and federal regulations to avoid legal penalties. For example, healthcare organizations must keep their patients’ information secure and private per HIPAA policies and other applicable laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, any organization with a presence in the European Union that processes personal data of individuals within the EU must meet the data protection standards set forth by the GDPR.

Maintaining and monitoring adherence to these standards individually is virtually impossible to do by hand. Digital mailrooms help organizations stay on top of these rules through automated checks and safeguards. They could keep you from accidentally exposing sensitive information, maintain data security during the digitization process, and alert you when processes fall out of alignment.

Did You Know?:If your organization has multiple locations, our remote distributed scanning solutions reduce the need for costly shipments while increasing efficiency.

Industries that benefit most from digital mailrooms

Any organization that processes a significant volume of mail can benefit from implementing a digital mailroom. Here are just a few sectors that often see substantial improvements in data accuracy and worker efficiency.

Law firms and financial institutions

Legal offices operate on tight deadlines. Contracts need to be drafted and signed, evidence must be available before court dates, and records must be filed in a timely fashion. Because manual mail processing is such a time-consuming process, any hiccup can have drastic consequences. Similarly, financial institutions like banks and investment firms are fast-paced, relying on to-the-minute decisions to buy stocks, approve loans, and process transactions.

Both institutions deal with a vast amount of incoming mail, which must often be applied to the appropriate client or customer accounts. Failing to do so efficiently can mean significant delays. At best, that means providing poor service. At worst, that means losing court cases or missing out on the best possible rates or stock prices.

Digital mailrooms help these institutions keep pace with a steady avalanche of incoming paperwork. Lawyers and clients have instant access to critical information, leaving them to worry about managing their hectic schedules and preparing for court. Meanwhile, bankers can quickly process credit applications and other requests to provide a more efficient and reliable service.

Healthcare and insurance providers

Doctors and nurses want to provide the best possible care for their patients. But they can’t always do that if they don’t have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips. Patients often mail in documents about their medical history information, such as prescriptions or surgical history, or request that their previous provider forward this information to their new one after moving. This information gives providers relevant information for making better medical decisions. However, manually entering it into the healthcare organization’s database can quickly become a choke point once patient workloads pile up. Likewise, insurance agencies receive mail-based requests for approvals and mailed checks for payments, along with a wealth of other paperwork necessary for processing claims.

To ease the administrative burden on these critical institutions, digital mailrooms reduce the time it takes to prepare patient information and other documentation for use. They also align with compliance requirements set forth by HIPAA or other applicable laws and regulations, ensuring that patient data remains private and secure.

Remote and hybrid businesses

Modern, cloud-based network infrastructure has unlocked a whole new way of working. Thanks to remote working tools, organizations are no longer limited by the hiring pool of their immediate surroundings, allowing them to find the best employees without forcing new hires to uproot their entire lives. These tools also allow employees to take their work anywhere — on the road, at the local coffee shop, at home, wherever — making for a more flexible working environment.

Digital mailrooms make remote and hybrid workforces much more manageable. Rather than waiting to receive a piece of mail only to send it back to a remote employee, remote workers can simply wait for a digital scan of the file to appear on their network and get to work on it immediately.

Ready to discover how a digital mailroom benefits your organization? We can help

Whether you need to process mountains of mail more efficiently or you want to make information more accessible, most organizations can benefit from implementing a digital mailroom. And if you want to find out if your organization has the infrastructure available to support it, we can help.

Ricoh has decades of experience helping organizations like yours modernize their processes, from digitizing archives to overhauling mailrooms. Through a combination of our powerful digital image and document scanners alongside our third-party technology partners, we likely have a solution that can fit your specific needs.

Ready to make digital mailroom management more efficient? Book an assessment with one of our experts today, and we’ll help you get started.

Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal or financial advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.