Postal and communication strategies within local authorities.

Postal and communication
strategies within
local authorities.
A White Paper from Neopost
Cut Costs
Improve Productivity
Communicate more effectively
Manage the mail process
©2012 Neopost
Page 1
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Introduction
Following the 2010 Spending Review, in which Chancellor George Osborne
announced public sector cuts of £81 billion, central and local Government
have come under great pressure to save money and make existing operations
more efficient.
At the same time, they are being encouraged to shrink their carbon footprint
as part of a wider, legally binding commitment by the Government to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by 80% (from 1990 levels) by 2050, with an
interim target of a 34% reduction by 2020.
The scale of the financial and carbon savings involved has forced managers
to re-assess all aspects of their operations, including postal communications,
an area already undergoing significant change due to the rise of electronic
messaging, the decline in postal volumes and the emergence of new service
providers following liberalisation of the postal market in 2004.
Mail is a significant area of government expenditure: the Government
Procurement Service (GPS) has calculated that the wider public sector spends
more than £650 million each year on postage and postal services and that
smarter procurement could cut these costs by between 9% and 30%.
Despite its many qualities and effectiveness as a communication medium,
physical mail is also a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Mail is a
significant area
of Government
Using mailing equipment and software to make mailing processes more
efficient and less wasteful can clearly help public sector organisations with
their cost- and carbon-cutting agenda. But to what extent is investment in the
post room being integrated with these wider aims?
expenditure...
Postal & Communications Strategies Surveys 2012
Earlier this year, Neopost commissioned the Government Policy Hub (GPH) to
carry out a series of surveys to build a detailed picture of the current state of
postal & communications strategies within local authorities and to gauge the
opinions of those whose job it is to develop and implement them.
The first of these, published here, focuses on postal and communication
strategies within local authorities, which account for almost one third of the
public sector's total annual expenditure on mailing.
In March 2012, GPH developed a 21-question survey which it sent to 5,000
A, B and C-level executives in more than 480 organisations throughout the
UK. This generated a total of 248 complete responses from 38% of the local
authorities targeted. All responses were reviewed and consolidated to produce
the findings published in this white paper.
Page 2
©2012 Neopost
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Postal & Communications Strategies Survey 2012:
Local Authorities
Executive Summary
Cost cutting is at the top of the agenda for local authorities, but the failure
of many to develop a comprehensive postal and communications strategy
could prevent them from making the most of opportunities to save money and
increase the effectiveness of postal and digital communications.
More than half the respondents to the first Neopost Postal & Communications
Strategies Survey 2012 have reduced their postal budget in the last 18 months
and 60% expect further cuts in the next year and half.
In addition, a majority of respondents plan to reduce volumes of both incoming
and outgoing mail over the next 12 months.
These developments have serious implications for how local authorities
communicate with the public. Yet, fewer than one in five has a written postal
and communications strategy to help manage the transition to an integrated
communications infrastructure that will be necessary as local authorities
encourage people to switch from postal communications to digital channels in
line with Digital Britain’s 2020 vision.
This is despite the fact that local authorities are already integrating mail
processes with the broader information and communications technologies (ICT)
infrastructure. Ten per cent of respondents have already centralised postal and
electronic communications and more than half (54%) are either in the process
of doing so or are actively gaining an insight into the subject.
Fewer than one
in five has a
written postal and
communications
strategy...
Carbon reductions
A similar pattern is evident in local
authorities’ approach to sustainability
and carbon reduction strategies.
Highlighting the impact that
communications choices can have on
greenhouse gas emissions, 70% of
respondents plan to eliminate waste
from mailing processes and a similar
proportion expect to reduce mail
volumes Yet, just 4% of respondents
said that they had aligned postal
communication services to meet carbon
reduction targets, with another 4% in the
advanced planning stage.
Working in isolation
Local authorities regularly engage with suppliers
to find out about new mailing solutions, but still prefer
in-house knowledge to external expertise when developing a postal and
communications strategy: just 6% of local authorities have enlisted external
advice when creating a strategy, with a further 5% planning to do so. This
raises the question of whether local authorities could work more closely with
suppliers to ensure that targets for efficiency savings and productivity gains
are met.
©2012 Neopost
Page 3
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Postal Communications Strategies
Fewer than one in five local authorities (17%) already has a written postal
communications strategy, despite the National Audit Office’s recommendation
that all public sector bodies should work towards developing one. Even so, the
survey findings suggest that awareness of the benefits of having a strategy is
increasing: half of existing policies have been written in the last 12 months and a
further 12% of local authorities are currently in the process of creating one.
In-house knowledge is preferred to external expertise when developing a postal
communications strategy, with just 6% of local authorities having enlisted
external advice when creating a strategy and 5% expecting to do so. This raises
the question of whether more organisations would have written policies if they
made more use of external expertise.
Q. Have you developed a postal communications strategy?
No: 111 (45%)
Yes: 42 (17%)
Not yet written: 29 (12%)
Don’t know: 66 (26%)
Q. If yes, when was it written?
Under a year ago: 22 (9%)
1-3 years ago: 21 (8%)
Over 3 years ago: 4 (2%)
Don’t know: 201 (81%)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Q. Have you or will you use external expertise to prepare the strategy?
Have used: 14 (6%)
Will use: 13 (5%)
Don’t know: 152 (61%)
Will not use: (28%)
Page 4
©2012 Neopost
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Postal Services Budgets
Despite the rising cost of postage, local authorities have seen significant
reductions in postal budgets over the last 18 months. Less than a quarter of
respondents said that their budgets were unchanged, compared to 30% that have
seen cuts of at least 10%. As many as 6% have had their budgets reduced by
more than 35%. This trend is set to continue over the next year and a half, with
28% of local authorities anticipating reductions of 10% or more. Just 12% have
no plans to reduce postal budgets over the next 18 months.
Q. B
y how much have you reduced your postal services budget
over the last 18 months?
Not reduced: 43 (22%)
1-5%: 15 (7%)
5-10%: 27 (14%)
10-20%: 38 (19%)
20-35%: 11 (5%)
More than 35%: 12 (6%)
Don’t know: 53 (27%)
0
5
10
15
Q.By how much do you expect to reduce your budget
over the next 18 months?
20
25
30
20
25
30
No plans to reduce: 23 (12%)
1-5%: 17 (9%)
5-10%: 42 (21%)
10-20%: 34 (17%)
20-35%: 18 (9%)
More than 35%: 5 (2%)
Don’t know: 60 (30%)
0
©2012 Neopost
5
10
15
Page 5
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Mail Volumes
Local authorities depend on the post to communicate with residents and
businesses. More than one third of those surveyed send more than 200,000 items
each year and almost one in 10 send in excess of one million items. However,
almost three quarters (73%) of local authorities expect to send fewer items over
the next 12 months. More than half (57%) expect to receive less incoming mail,
too, as the public choose to communicate by electronic methods. Despite the
importance and cost of mail to local authorities, almost one third of respondents
don't know how many items of mail they send each year.
Q. How many items of mail do you post on average per year?
Less than 10k: 6 (4%)
10-50k: 14 (9%)
50-100k: 20 (12%)
100-200k: 15 (9%)
200-500k: 29 (18%)
500-1M: 13 (8%)
More than 1M: 14 (9%)
Don’t Know: 50 (31%)
0
10
20 mail over
30 the40
Q. D
o you plan to increase or decrease
outgoing
next 12 months?
Increase: 6 (4%)
50
Don’t know: 37 (23%)
Decrease: 118 (73%)
Q. How many items of post do you receive on average per year?
Less than 5k: 6 (4%)
5-25k: 14 (9%)
25-50k: 6 (4%)
50-100k: 14 (9%)
100-250k: 19 (12%)
250-500k: 9 (5%)
Over 500k: 18 (11%)
Don’t know: 75 (46%)
0
10
20
30
40
Q. D
o you plan to increase or decrease incoming mail over the
next 12 months?
Increase: 5 (3%)
50
Don’t know: 65 (40%)
Decrease: 91 (57%)
Page 6
©2012 Neopost
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
The Post Room in Local Authorities
Post rooms in local authorities are still largely operated and managed in-house.
Despite the trend for outsourcing non-core services, such as print, and third
party providers’ promise of efficiency and cost-savings, just 3% of local authority
mail rooms are fully outsourced, compared to 77% that are run internally.
However, there is evidence of some flexibility, with more than one in 10 post
rooms run either as a shared service with another organisation (4%) or as a
partially outsourced operation (8%). The fact that four out of 10 local authority
post rooms serve five or more sites may be a contributory factor to growing
interest in the digitisation of incoming mail (see page 9).
Q. How many sites does your post room service?
1-5: 76 (49%)
5-10: 17 (11%)
10-15: 7 (4%)
More than 15: 37 (24%)
Don’t know: 18 (12%)
Q. How many staff are employed
room?30
0 in the
10 post20
40
50
60
50
60
1-5: 83 (54%)
5-10: 33 (21%)
More than 10: 17 (11%)
Don’t know: 22 (14%)
Q. What best describes the status of your postal service?
0
10
20
30
40
Shared service: 6 (4%)
Outsourced: 5 (3%)
Run internally: 120 (77%)
A combination: 12 (8%)
Don’t know: 12 (8%)
©2012 Neopost
Page 7
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Postal communications & the environment
Mindful of the need for more sustainable and cost-effective business practices,
seven out of 10 respondents say that they are making efforts to reduce waste
from mail processes. Perhaps due to the small number of organisations that have
a written postal communications strategy, few have aligned such efforts with
formal carbon reduction targets. Just 4% of respondents claim to have done so
and a further 4% are in the advanced planning stage. Even so, awareness of
the need to so do is high, with four out of 10 respondents either actively gaining
insight into the issue or recognising that more planning is needed.
Q. To what extent has your postal communications service been aligned
to meet upcoming legislation targets around carbon reduction?
Not yet: 42 (28%)
Gaining insight: 28 (19%)
More planning needed: 30 (20%)
In advanced planning: 6 (4%)
Fully aligned: 6 (4%)
Don’t know: 37 (25%)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Q. Are you exploring ways to reduce controllable waste further?
No: 9 (6%)
Yes: 105 (70%)
Page 8
Don’t know: 35 (24%)
©2012 Neopost
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Mail & Digital Communications
Recognition of the economic and productivity benefits of integrating physical
and digital mail and offering customers a choice of communication method
has made it a key focus for local authorities, with just 3% of respondents
stating categorically that they would not centralise physical and digital mail.
Although just 10% of respondents have already completed the process, more
than half (54%) are either in the process of centralising postal and electronic
communications or are actively gaining an insight into the subject. Similar takeup levels are recorded for the digitisation and electronic routing of incoming
mail: a quarter of respondents have already implemented or are in the process
of implementing scanning in the mailroom, with a further 47% exploring its
possibilities.
Q. H
as your organisation completed or are you looking into the
centralisation of both physical and digital mail?
Yes, completed: 15 (10%)
In process: 29 (19%)
Gaining insight: 52 (35%)
No: 9 (6%)
No, will not centralise: 4 (3%)
Don’t know: 40 (27%)
0
Q. H
as your organisation completed
or 10
are you 20
looking30
into the40
digitisation of mail?
50
Yes, completed: 7 (5%)
In process: 26 (18%)
Gaining insight: 68 (47%)
No, probably not: 15 (10%)
Don’t know: 30 (20%)
0
©2012 Neopost
10
20
30
40
50
Page 9
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Procurement
Framework Agreements are the preferred method of procuring mailroom
equipment and services, cited by 58% of respondents. Yet awareness of
individual professional buying organisations is low, perhaps reflecting their
regional nature. Pro 5, a partnership of the largest public sector buying
organisations with a combined purchasing power of more than £2 billion per
annum that aims to create national framework agreements for local authorities
and the wider public sector across England and Wales, is recognised by just 7%
of respondents.
Q. W
hich providers have you talked to in the last 18 months with
reference to innovations?
FP Mailing: 19 (8%)
Neopost: 52 (23%)
Piney Bowes: 44 (19%)
Royal Mail: 68 (29%)
Don’t know: 48 (21%)
Q. Please select all the Framework
Agreements
of.
0
5
10
15you are
20 aware
25
30
35
ESPO: 51 (22%)
GPS: 72 (31%)
GPS – Hybrid Mail: 33 (14%)
Pro5: 15 (7%)
YPO: 17 (7%)
None of the above: 45 (19%)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Q. W
here available, are Framework Agreements your
preferred procurement route?
No: 7 (5%)
Yes: 83 (58%)
Don’t know: 52 (37%)
Q. If no, why?
They don’t offer value for
money: 3 (43%)
Not aware of any
frameworks: 2 (28%)
Prefer other routes: 2 (29%)
Page 10
©2012 Neopost
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Mailroom Technology
The potential of modern mailroom equipment to improve productivity and cut
costs from every aspect of the mailing process, from the opening and processing
of incoming mail to the use of franking machines to maximise postal discounts,
is reflected in local authorities’ investment priorities for the next 18 months.
The desire to speed up the processing of incoming mail, integrate it with
electronic records and reduce the amount of paper circulating around a business
is generating great interest in the digitisation of incoming mail (cited by 55%).
This might also explain the high reading for mail scanners (51%), if respondents
confused document scanners and mail security scanners. Franking machines,
folder-inserters (enveloping systems) and address data verification all scored
highly, as did secure email, which combines the trustworthiness of a posted letter
with paperless, electronic distribution.
Q. P
lease select from the list, solutions you will be looking at over the
next 18 months.
Address data verification: 29%
Address printers: 14%
Digitisation: 55%
Downstream access: 22%
Franking machines: 37%
Enveloping systems: 29%
Letter openers: 15%
Mail scanners: 51%
Secure email: 28%
Shredders: 16%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
What Next?
To help local authorities identify how they can improve their mailing
process, Neopost offers free, no obligation audits, from which we are
able to develop bespoke communications solutions and strategies.
For more information, please contact Antony Paul on 01708 714576
or email antony.paul@neopost.co.uk.
About Neopost
Neopost is the UK’s and Europe’s number one supplier of mailing solutions.
Our products and services are sold in more than 90 countries and in 2011 we recorded
sales of 1 billion euros.
With expertise in traditional and digital communications, Neopost supplies the most
technologically advanced solutions for franking, folding/inserting, addressing, logistics
management and traceability, plus a full range of services, including consultancy,
maintenance and financing solutions.
We are the only manufacturer from the postal solutions industry to have served local
authority purchasing consortia, central government and the wider public sector on
successive framework agreements for 15 consecutive years.
Neopost is an approved supplier to Pro5, a partnership of the UK’s largest local
authority professional buying organisations (CBC, ESPO, NEPO and YPO) with a
collective spending power of £2 billion per annum.
To find out more, please visit www.neopost.co.uk/public-sector
©2012 Neopost
Page 11
Postal and communication strategies within local authorities | White Paper
Survey Participants
Neopost and Government Policy Hub would like to thank the following
organisations for taking part in the Postal & Communications Strategies Survey
2012: Local Authorities, with special thanks to those who took the time to offer
additional insight through extra comments and observations.
Aberdeenshire Council
Adult Social Care, Wrexham CBC
Armagh City and District Council
Ashfield District Council
Ashford Borough Council
Babergh District Council
Ballymena Borough Council
Basildon Borough Council
Boston Borough Council
Bournemouth Borough Council
Bradford Council
Brent Council
Brighton & Hove City Council
Bristol City Council
Broadland District Council
Bromsgrove Borough Council
Broxbourne Borough Council
Bury MBC
Cambridgeshire County Council
Camden Council
Canterbury City Council
Castle Point Borough Council
Central Bedfordshire Council
Centro
Cheshire East Council
Cheshire West & Chester Council
Chichester District Council
Christchurch Borough Council
City & County of Swansea
City of Bradford MDC
City of Lincoln Council
City of York Council
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar
Conwy County Borough Council
Cookstown District Council
Corby Borough Council
Cornwall Council
Council of the Isles of Scilly
Coventry City Council
Craigavon Borough Council
CW & C Council
Dacorum Borough Council
Daventry District Council
Derby City Council
Derbyshire County Council
Devon County Council
Dundee City Council
Durham County Council
Ealing Council
East Cambridgeshire DC
East Hampshire District Council
East Hertfordshire District Council
East Northamptonshire Council
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
East Sussex County Council
Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastern Facilities Managament
Solutions
Eastleigh Borough Council
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council
Erewash Borough Council
ESCC
Exeter City Council
Falkirk Council
Fenland District Council
Fife Council
Gravesham BC
Greater London Authority
Hastings Borough Council
Hertsmere Borough Council
High Peak Borough Council
Hinkley & Bosworth BC
Improvement & Efficiency WM
Improvement East Kent County
Council
Kirklees Council
Lancashire County Council
Lancaster City Council
LBBD
Leeds City Council
Leicester City Council
Leicestershire County Council
Lewes District Council
Lincoln City Council
Liverpool City
LB Barking and Dagenham Council
LB Barnet
LB Bexley
LB Bromley
LB Hammersmith & Fulham
LB Harrow
LB Havering
LB Hillingdon
LB Hounslow
LB Islington
LB Richmond
LB Sutton upon Thames
Maldon District Council
Malvern Hills District Council
Manchester City Council
Mid Devon District Council
Mid Suffolk District Council
Middlesborough Council
Midlothian Council
Neath Port Talbot County BC
New Forest District Council
Newport City Council
North Ayrshire Council
North Dorset District Council
North East Derbyshire DC
North Hertfordshire DC
North Lincs Council
North Warwickshire BC
North West Leicestershire DC
Nottingham City Council
Oldham MBC
Perth & Kinross Council
Purbeck District Council RBWM
Redcar & Cleveland BC
Renfrewshire Council
Rochford District Council
Royal Borough of Greenwich
Rugby Borough Council
Runnymede Borough Council
Rutland County Council
Sandwell MBC
Scarborough Borough Council
Sheffield City Council
Shepway District Council
Shetland Islands Council
Slough Borough Council
Somerset County Council
South Ayrshire Council
South Kesteven District Council
South Lanarkshire Council
South Norfolk Council
South Somerset District Council
South Staffordshire Council
S Yorkshire Joint Secretariat
S Yorkshire PSE
St Edmundsbury Borough Council
Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire Moorlands DC
Stockport MBC
Stoke on Trent City Council
Suffolk Coastal District Council
Swale Borough Council
Swindon Borough Council
Tamworth Borough Council
TfGM
Three Rivers Council
Thurrock Council
Wakefield Council
Walsall Council
Warrington Borough Council
Warwick District Council
Warwickshire County Council
Watford Borough Council
WCBC
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
West Berkshire Council
West Oxfordshire District Council
West Somerset District Council
Western Education & Library Board
Wigan Council
Wiltshire Council
Winchester City Council
Wirral MBC
Woking Borough Council
Wokingham Borough Council
Worthing Borough Council
Wrexham County Borough Council
Wychavon District Council
Wyre Borough Council
Wyre Council
Neopost House
South Street
Romford
Essex
RM1 2AR
Tel: 0800 731 1334
Fax: 01708 726361
www.neopost.co.uk.
Page 12
©2012 Neopost