Posting business documents needs to become a thing of the past!
It wasn’t so long ago that people used just two key forms of communication to keep in touch – landline phone and posted letters. Fast forward 20 years and a large number of people now use their smart phone to keep in touch – how times change!
With electronic communication commonplace in all walks of life, you would have thought that few businesses would be posting letters these days. However this is far from the reality.
Despite the tide of communication being firmly in cyber space, many businesses still rely on the postman to deliver documents. More than two billion letters are sent in the UK each year and the majority of Royal Mail’s daily postbag of 62 million items is business mail. If this continues, proposed changes to postage rates will soon be hitting businesses hard.
Reports suggest Royal Mail might soon be allowed to charge as much as it likes for a first-class stamp and prices could be as high as £1 (see further reading, below). Ofcom also wants to do away with caps on service charges to help the postal service steer clear of ‘an inexorable spiral of decline’. These figures illustrate that, while change might be necessary to help cover ever-increasing costs, many businesses will suffer a huge rise in postal prices. At a time of economic turmoil, an expected rise in postal costs – potentially as early as spring next year – would create untold damage.
Business leaders must think carefully about their continuing requirements for snail mail. Many businesses still send financial and payroll documents, such as invoices, purchase orders and payslips, by post. Proposed increases in postal fees suggests that relying on traditional, slow methods of document delivery could be a costly mistake.
The automated delivery of documents by email allows firms to send documents quickly and cheaply and without the huge levies associated with hand-delivered mail. Automated delivery systems can also email out thousands of documents all at once, significantly cutting time-consuming administration. Other benefits include greater transparency, no ‘lost’ documents and improved efficiencies. By integrating document management with existing IT systems such as accounting, HR and payroll systems, the cost and efficiency benefits are magnified.
So, when postage costs are hiked up in the spring of 2012, will your business take the hit or will you consider smarter ways to deliver your documents? The future of mail really is electronic.
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