Four-in-ten (40%) respondents to a new study¹ by EDM Group believe that a digital mailroom would improve the overall performance of their business.  Just a quarter (26%) thought that a digital mailroom would have no impact at all.

The study by EDM, a leading provider of information and business process management technology and services, found that just 16% of respondents believe their organisation always meets its mail service levels.  Around a third (30%) said that mishandling mail has a negative effect on their performance or reputation while two fifths (39%) stated that mishandling mail has a negative impact on customer service levels.

The EDM research into use of digital mailrooms comes at a time when many UK firms are focused on how digital technologies can help transform and improve their businesses – not just by increasing efficiency and customer focus but also by developing data-driven insights and meeting increasingly strict regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which enters into application in May 2018.

The research found a quarter (23%) of UK businesses receive more than 5,000 items of inbound mail every month, while three fifths (60%) still receive faxes into their mailrooms.  Just 19% of UK business use some form of mailroom automation to manage their post and in-bound communication.

Digital mailrooms allow organisations to achieve cost-savings and business process improvements by digitising paper documents and incorporating them into a single platform.  Paper-based communications such as in-bound mail can be absorbed into digitised processes alongside email, web forms and other communications formats.

Spencer Wyer, Group Chief Technology Officer at EDM Group, said: “Mailroom automation is the bridge between the paper-based processes that companies will always deal with and the demands to digitally transform business models.  Digital mailrooms are highly efficient, cost effective ways for businesses to digitise their customer communications – dramatically improving data capture and information management as well as enhancing customer service and compliance.

“As indicated by regulations such as the GDPR, businesses need to get a lot smarter with regards to information and data – the risks of not doing so are becoming significant, including the real threat of financial and reputational losses. Implementing a digital mailroom and automating key processes are major steps any business can take towards addressing these demands while creating competitive advantage.”

EDM Group, which has pioneered the use of digital mailrooms since 2004, operates digital mailrooms for companies and large organisations in the UK and US. Clients include HMRC, Nationwide, Legal & General and many of the UK’s NHS Trusts. The firm has a proven track record of transitioning and transforming complex services and offers the flexibility to scale up and down as required. Its solutions are certified to the highest levels of compliance: ISO9001 / ISO27001 / BS10008 / PCIDSS / ISO14001.