Digital Mailroom Benefits in a Hybrid Work Environment

a laptop computer with envelope icons coming from the keys to represent a digital mailroom

Over the past few years, hybrid work environments have become commonplace throughout the public and private sectors. Executives of these companies and organizations have realized and taken advantage of the many benefits of a partial or fully remote workforce.

However, having a portion of your employees working remotely can present several challenges regarding physical mail. Some businesses will have an office admin individually open, scan, and send each piece of mail to its intended recipient. Other companies will simply wait a few days and then drop all mail into a big envelope and send it to the worker’s remote address.

The problem with these two solutions is that neither is a practical long-term strategy. 

6 Digital Mailroom Benefits

ILM can help your office transition from cumbersome paper mail to a more automated and digitized solution that will benefit you now and well into the future. 

Read on to learn more about the benefits of a digital mailroom and how it can improve efficiency, security, and productivity in a hybrid work environment.

1. Improved Efficiency

Manually processing mail—whether forwarding by snail mail or having an employee open, scan, and email—is a highly inefficient process. An office admin worker has to take time out of their day to perform several sequential steps to ensure in-office and remote workers get their mail.

Outsourcing your mail processing to a digital mailroom will help streamline the entire process. When mail arrives in a digital format, it’s much easier to manage than dealing with a stack of paper. You can also store it digitally for easy retrieval at a future date versus having employees implement access control measures—especially inside their homes.

2. Faster Turnaround Times

On average, it can take several days to a week for remote workers to receive their physical mail. This delay can negatively impact important and time-sensitive communications. When the mail arrives in the digital mailroom, it’s immediately scanned, uploaded, and sent off to the recipient via a secure internet connection.

3. More Efficient Payments

A digital mailroom can also remove a significant portion of the accounts receivable department’s workload through lockbox services. The client or customer will mail their check to the physical address of the digital mailroom (or a pre-designated P.O. Box). 

Once the check is received, the money is deposited into your account, and then a reply method of your choosing is processed. Lockbox services can significantly improve efficiencies in your AR department.

4. No Need for a Mailroom 

Mailrooms take up precious space and have an ongoing annual cost of supplies. With an automated mailroom, you won’t need to hire an employee to sit there all day while sorting and delivering mail. This lowers office costs that could be better used elsewhere.

5. Centralized Document Management

A digital mailroom can employ cohesive access control measures that allow executives and managers to look at every piece of mail that comes through the office. In addition to providing several layers of security and accountability, you can now locate, search for, and view all documents in a centralized online location.

6. Improved Accountability and Data Security

When it comes to the security of your company data, paper mail can easily be pocketed, copied, or carelessly thrown into the trash can without a thought. Companies lose billions of dollars every year due to data breaches and IP theft resulting from lost or stolen physical mail. 

A digital mailroom creates an online paper trail that enables you to see the entire chain-of-custody—from the moment the email was received to the moment it was forwarded to another email address.

Benefits of Working with ILM

ILM has over 15 years of experience servicing public and private sector clients with our timely and secure digital mailroom, lockbox, and payment processing services. Learn more below about the value you’ll get out of a digital mailroom from ILM.

5 Tips for Outsourcing Digital Mailroom Services