What are Outsourced Digital Mailroom Services?

Imagine if your back-office staff had more time to focus on growing the business and delivering an exceptional customer experience.  Outsourced digital mailroom services make that vision a reality. 

Outsourced digital mailroom providers relieve organizations of the burden of receiving, processing, sorting, routing, and archiving incoming paper and electronic mail and documents.  Outsourcing the handling invoices, contracts, correspondence, and other documents that arrive through the mail frees staff to focus more time on fulfilling, higher-value activities like analyzing data, collaborating with stakeholders on revenue-generating initiatives, and building stronger relationships with customers. 

The global market for outsourced digital mailroom services is valued at $12.6 billion with North America representing the largest market, according to IDC.  What’s more, that market is expected to grow to $20.4 billion by 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.27 percent.  

The banking and financial services industry is the largest end-user of outsourced digital mailroom services, followed by the government and healthcare sectors, IDC reports.  

This article provides an overview of outsourced digital mailroom services and the benefits of the service and details the types of organizations that can use outsourced digital mailroom solutions. 

Overview of outsourced digital mailroom services

Outsourced digital mailroom services providers use digital technologies and trained personnel to handle incoming paper and electronic mail and documents on behalf of organizations.  

Some of the services that outsourced digital mailroom providers offer include:  

• Scanning.  Outsourced digital mailroom providers convert physical mail received on behalf of an organization into digital images.  Some digital mailroom providers also collect and process documents received electronically via email, mobile, and secure file transfer.
• Capture.  Outsourced digital mailroom providers use optical character recognition (OCR), barcode recognition, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies to extract important data from documents.  The documents are indexed using the captured data for fast retrieval.
• Sorting.  Incoming mail and documents are automatically classified based on the captured data and other document characteristics, and electronically sorted by the sender, department, content type, urgency, and other predefined criteria or business rules.  
• Validation.  Outsourced digital mailroom providers ensure quality data by automatically validating captured data against information residing in databases or other legacy systems.
  
• Routing.  Sorted mail and documents are digitally routed to the appropriate individual or department based on pre-defined business rules such as the approver or the location.
  
• Archival.  Documents and data are securely indexed and stored in a centralized cloud repository.  Authorized users can instantly retrieve documents from any location, at any time.
• Control.  Outsourced digital mailroom providers use permissions, tracking of all actions taken on a document, and real-time monitoring, to safeguard sensitive information. 
• Integration.  Leading outsourced digital mailroom services providers seamlessly integrate with any legacy system to speed the exchange of information and eliminate rework. 
• Disposal.  Some outsourced providers will securely dispose of physical mail. 

These services streamline the way that organizations handle incoming mail and documents.

Who needs digital mailroom services? 

Outsourced digital mailroom services are beneficial to a wide range of organizations. 

• Large enterprises.  Outsourced digital mailroom services make it easier for large enterprises to handle significant volumes of invoices, correspondence, contracts, and other documents.
• Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).  By outsourcing the handling of incoming mail and documents, SMBs can access best-in-class technology for handling the mail, focus their staff on growth-generating activities, and avoid the need to hire more staff as they grow.
  
• Remote staff.  The cloud infrastructure used by outsourced digital mailroom services is ideal for remote work.  A central repository enables authorized users to instantly access documents and data from any location.  Multiple users can simultaneously collaborate on documents and exchange data.  And staff don’t have to go into the office to receive electronic documents.
• Financial institutions.  Outsourced digital mailroom services ensure secure handling and storage of sensitive financial documents while maintaining compliance with regulations.
• Law firms.  Outsourced digital mailroom services streamline the handling of large volumes of documents related to legal cases and improve collaboration among legal professionals.
• Healthcare.  Hospitals, clinics, and medical offices can use outsourced digital mailroom services to maintain patient privacy and enhance data accessibility for authorized personnel.
• Government agencies.  Outsourced digital mailroom services streamline the handling of citizen inquiries, legal documents, administrative communications, and other documents, enabling government agencies to improve their decision-making and responsiveness.
• Education.  Digital mailroom services help schools, colleges, and universities manage student applications, financial aid paperwork, and administrative mail more efficiently.
• Real estate firms.  Digital mailroom services simplify the organization of property documents, contracts, and client communications to make them accessible to relevant parties.
• Nonprofit groups.  Outsourced digital mailroom providers can assist nonprofit organizations in managing donor communications, grant applications, and administrative mail. 

Any organization that receives a significant amount of incoming mail and documents can benefit from outsourcing the task to a digital mailroom services provider. 

What are the benefits of outsourced digital mailroom services? 

There are several benefits to outsourcing mail handling to an outsourced digital mailroom provider. 

• Reduced costs.  Outsourcing mail handling eliminates the need for organizations to invest in mailroom infrastructure, mail opening equipment, physical document storage, and staff.  And most digital mailroom services providers offer a pay-as-you-go payment model.
• Improved efficiency.  Digital mailroom services relieve organizations of the burden of sorting, scanning, distributing, and storing physical mail, freeing staff to focus on other tasks.  For instance, accessing documents from a cloud archive is faster than searching file cabinets.
• Less risk.  The data storage and access controls used by digital mailroom services providers reduce the risk of data breaches and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.  Digitized documents also are less susceptible to damage or loss due to natural disasters.
• Remote access.  Digital document routing and seamless integration with legacy systems speed the delivery of information to downstream users and systems.  And documents stored in a cloud repository are instantly accessible to authorized users, regardless of their location.
• Enhanced customer experience.  The faster an organization can process incoming mail and documents, the better customer experience that it can deliver.
• Scalability.  Outsourced digital mailroom services enable organizations to quickly scale their operations to meet changing business requirements, without impacting staff or infrastructure.
• Focus.  By outsourcing the handling of incoming mail and documents, businesses can redirect their staff and resources to focus on core competencies and growth-generating tasks. 

These are some of the reasons that organizations outsource their digital mailroom. 

Conclusion

Outsourced digital mailroom services offer organizations of all sizes and across all industries with a way to modernize their handling of incoming mail and documents quickly and cost-effectively.  As organizations continue to adapt to the evolving digital landscape, outsourced digital mailroom services will become an increasingly indispensable aspect of an overall business strategy.