Does this scenario sound familiar? At companies where document reformatting processes aren’t in use, valuable time is being spent opening and preparing mail for internal distribution manually. For the reason of the large volume of mail, significant documents are often misplaced, put in unsecured settings, or not delivered on time or to the correct person. If that explains the current state of your mailroom, it’s time to seek the help of a document scanning firm with automated mailroom services.

Why Have Files Scanned in the Mailroom?

To answer this question, simply consider the alternative. When mail is received, sorted and delivered manually, it is often handled by several people before it reaches its intended destination. Inevitably, important mail is often lost or damaged when handled several times.

Safety is an even more significant consideration. Presume a confidential document is opened in the mailroom, extracted from its envelope and left on a table to be read by anyone passing by. Can you afford the risk this type of security breach represents?
Are Outsourced File Scanning Services Cost Effective?

Many workforce hours and financial resources are required to receive, prepare, scan, index and upload documents to a document management system. This kind of labor-consuming back office processing distracts from your company’s key business processes. By delegating these responsibilities to highly-trained document management specialists, you’re free to focus on your own core business offerings.

Factoring in the financial risk associated with a safety breach or the loss of important business documents, outsourcing your file scanning services at the mailroom level makes sound financial sense.

How Does File Imaging in the Mailroom Work?

Here’s an instance workflow for outsourced document management system at the mailroom level:

1. Your mail is sent to a dedicated Post Office box and delivered directly to a secure document reformatting production facility.
2. Document scanning specialists open each piece of mail and set it for scanning.
3. All mail is scanned and indexed based on pre-defined fields.
4. At each stage of production, quality control procedures are followed.
5. The scanned and indexed files are pushed to a safe, web-based document management system and simultaneously pushed to a workflow automation application.

The addition of electronic workflow lets smooth automation of critical business processes. Scanned invoices, for instance, can be automatically routed to the appropriate levels of management for endorsement before being sent to accounts payable for processing.

It is no surprise, then, that companies implementing this level of coordination between document management at the mailroom level and workflow automation report greatly increased efficiency in core business tasks? Costs are reduced, safety is assured and liability is built into each process.

When selecting a document imaging company that also provides mailroom services, look for:

• Best-in-class scanning machinery
• Personalized document preparation
• Ability to scan into multiple formats
• Exacting quality control procedures and document management system
• Certified document destruction

Safe, automated mailroom services bring increased business process efficiency and significant financial inducements. Transfer responsibility for opening and scanning mailed files to your document imaging services provider. This single decision will free your employees to focus on the real reason you’re in business.