Digital mailroom: 8 questions - 8 answers

Question 1: What does the buzzword "digital mailroom" mean?

The term describes the automation of a company's incoming mail at one central point, using software and hardware such as scanners. That brings two main benefits and is a decisive step toward digital organization: first, the paper chaos shrinks immediately and drastically. Second, the overview of the company's document structure improves considerably.

Question 2: What software is a digital mailroom based on?

trisoft is a long-standing I.R.I.S. partner and implements the IRISXtract™ software. Our customers already process close to half a million A4 pages a year with it across Austria, the majority of them incoming documents - invoices and delivery notes.

Question 3: As an IT decision-maker, how do I judge whether a digital mailroom makes sense for my company?

The best way to question the usefulness of such solutions for your own company is to talk to the people currently entrusted with processing incoming documents. Ask them how classification, prioritization and the processes in general work today.

It is safe to assume it will quickly become apparent that a lot of human working time flows into this - time that can be used more meaningfully and efficiently thanks to automated processes. Worth remembering: just because it has always been done this way does not mean it has to stay this way forever.

Question 4: What concrete measures does an implementation project require?

Different channels can be monitored in parallel. For analog incoming mail, the recommendation is to scan the paper as early as possible and focus on the content.

With digital channels such as e-mail or web upload, a basic classification often already exists - incoming invoice mailboxes are an example. In the next step, the invoices are separated from their attachments. These areas are analyzed in detail beforehand to specify them precisely for an implementation project.

Question 5: How can a digital mailroom be integrated into an existing DMS or PDM system?

With PRO.FILE as a DMS^tec you also get the ideal document store for pre-classified documents. The extracted information can be transferred into intelligent structures automatically. For example, based on the design drawing of an externally manufactured part, the delivery note can be linked with the corresponding material certificate and found again. At the same time, a document management system like PRO.FILE always retains authority over documents and ideally passes only metadata and references to the document on to third-party systems.

Question 6: Is a mailroom a suitable solution for an SME as well?

In smaller companies, incoming mail has grown along on the side over time and usually still hangs on individual people in the form of undocumented processes. Introducing a digital mailroom requires documenting and structuring the existing knowledge. Besides clarifying the legal framework, classic letter mail can, for example, be redirected to external partners who turn it into a digital document. In general, the software license models are flexible enough that the investment amortizes quickly even with small volumes of processed documents.

Question 7: Is this a standard software that gets installed?

A standard software that covers every aspect of an incoming mail process grown over years does not exist. Our solution combination of OCR and DMS^tec - text and content recognition combined with secure filing - offers you very good configuration options. A powerful digital mailroom can thus be implemented through consulting and configuration, without custom development.

Question 8: What is the goal of the project?

The digital mailroom solution of I.R.I.S. and PRO.FILE as DMS^tec offers you a highly adaptable software combination that enables faster and smarter work. You keep control over the business-critical documents from the start. Your customers and suppliers will quickly notice your employees' increased productivity. That raises the satisfaction of everyone involved.