choosing between a mail service and a mail house

WHITE PAPER
Esker on Demand
MAIL SERVICES
CHOOSING BETWEEN
A MAIL SERVICE AND
A MAIL HOUSE
www.esker.com
CHOOSING BETWEEN
A MAIL SERVICE AND
A MAIL HOUSE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...................................................................................... 3
Process Automation
versus Process Outsourcing............................................... 4
Comparing Mail Services with Mail Houses............ 5
Esker Mail Services..................................................................... 7
Customer Success Story: ED&S....................................... 9
About Esker....................................................................................10
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House
Esker on Demand
INTRODUCTION
For most businesses, running large mailroom operations is anything but a core competency.
Instead, it is a bottomless money pit of constantly rising costs and inefficient resource
consumption. Anyone on the front lines of business processes who relies on postal mail knows
this all too well.
Postal Pain
After all, expenses for equipment leasing and purchase, maintenance, supplies, and labor only increase year after year. And,
many companies have no dedicated mailroom staff, pulling employees from their duties in other departments or hiring
contract help to perform low-value tasks like printing, sorting and inserting documents for daily, weekly or monthly mail runs.
Not to mention underutilized infrastructure resources dedicated to mailroom operations, which often sit idle until the end of
the month when mail volume peaks.
Overall, the mailroom remains a fixed asset that burdens organizations with intensive manual processes while bringing no
value to the business. In fact, manual processing of mail restricts the ability of a company to improve business processes and
cut costs.
Effective Relief
For the foreseeable future, a certain percentage of a company’s customers will continue to want to receive their business
documents by postal mail. So, what is the best alternative to the internal mailroom — using a mail service or an external mail
house?
On the surface these options may seem virtually the same. But deeper examination reveals important differences between the
two that businesses will want to consider in their efforts to address the cost and inefficiency of traditional mailing operations.
As a leader in document process automation and a pioneer in on-demand solutions for postal mailing, Esker offers this white
paper as a resource to help business and IT professionals understand those differences and make an informed decision about
the best way to relieve postal pains.
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Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House | 4
Esker on Demand
PROCESS AUTOMATION VERSUS
PROCESS OUTSOURCING
When considering a solution to replace an internal mailroom, one of the biggest questions a
business must answer is: Do you plan on actually automating the mailing process or simply
outsourcing the problem? It’s a fundamental decision that can have heavy implications on an
organization’s mailing operations moving forward.
Addressing the Core Issue
In working with a broad range of companies to automate postal mail processes, Esker has found that offloading to an external
mail house does not necessarily address the underlying issues associated with delivery of business documents by postal mail.
In fact, it can create new problems. For example, using an external mail house typically requires companies to produce large
batches to be cost-effective. This can limit a company’s reactivity and visibility.
CONVENTIONAL MAIL PROCESS
MANUAL PROCESS
Sorting
Folding and inserting
Customer
Stamping or
metering
Postal network
Business
Applications
Printing
Manual Touch Point
Distribution
Post office
delivery
Automated
folding
Automated
stamping/metering
SEMI-AUTOMATED PROCESS
Challenges
§ Labor-intensive mailing procedure
§ High dependence on production equipment
Expenses
§ Printers
✓ Paper and envelopes
§ Folding machines
✓ Equipment purchase and maintenance
§ Franking machines
§ High production and delivery costs
✓ Printer supplies
✓ Mail preparation time
✓ Reprocessing time
Value of Automation
By automating the process rather than simply passing it off to someone else, companies benefit from increased speed and
accuracy as a result of eliminating the inefficiencies of paper and bringing new levels of control to the process. An automated
solution works together with a company’s business applications, providing visibility to see what is happening throughout the
process and where it can be improved.
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House | 5
Esker on Demand
COMPARING MAIL SERVICES WITH MAIL HOUSES
What’s the Difference?
Mail house
Mail houses, also known as lettershops, are commercial operations that perform mail preparation functions (printing,
formatting, folding, insertion, franking) and transfer mail to the postal service. Today, there are many companies specializing in
mail preparation, but very few offer on-demand printing and routing on a daily basis.
Mail service
A mail service like Esker Mail Services takes a software as a service (SaaS) approach to document process automation.
Companies quickly, easily and reliably submit their documents from any business or desktop application to an Esker mail
production facility. Esker takes care of all production and processing functions and mail is handed off to the local postal
service within 24 hours of being created.
Price
While many mail houses offer competitive pricing, Esker Mail Services is priced per page with none of the extra expenses
of mail houses, such as costs to calibrate mail processing machines for each project. You only pay for what you use. Esker
Mail Services also offers the same depth of postage discounts as mail houses for first-class mail. And for documents sent
to recipients outside the U.S., Esker Mail Services delivers additional savings through least-cost routing of mail to local Esker
production facilities in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Capacity
Mail houses typically impose minimum volume requirements, which may be as high as 10,000 pieces for a one-shot mailing.
Esker Mail Services has no such constraints. Companies can send batch or transactional mail with no minimums — small
volume mailings or tens of thousands of documents per day. A key advantage of this is, a company can mail invoices as soon
as they are generated to receive payment faster, and then use the service as needed to send documents such as collection
letters and business correspondence.
Flexibility
Because of the need to plan project schedules and recalibrate
machines, mail houses may not be able to respond to urgent
demands. With Esker Mail Services, mailing is done on a
continuous basis without delays. Documents submitted to
the service before noon are processed and handed off to the
postal service within 24 hours. Esker Mail Services is always
available and each mail piece is processed as it arrives, so
businesses benefit from improved reaction time since there is
no need to allow time for delays.
Key advantage of real-time mailing
§M
ail documents within 24 hours of being created
§ Pay for what you use
§ Shorten business cycles without delays
§ Send one or several thousand documents
§ Track mail jobs with document-level feedback
§ Preview before processing
File Transfer
One of the most common challenges for companies in working with an external mail house is compatibility with back-office
systems and difficulty meeting specific format requirements for transfer of files via methods ranging from text to CD and
FTP. Esker Mail Services can accept mail in any file format directly from core business applications, using multiple transfer
mechanisms. In contrast with passing files to a mail house, Esker Mail Services can simply pick up a company’s existing mail
print stream.
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House | 6
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Tracking
The functions of most mail houses do not include real-time tracking of mail jobs. Esker Mail Services provides status notification
and feedback at the individual document level. By adding a bar code to each page of a mailing as a unique identifier, Esker Mail
Services provides online access to information about the status of every mail piece at any stage of processing. Staff can log in
and quickly check the status of mailings.
Storage
Mail houses typically store physical documents, which can create the risk of document loss and the difficulty of manual
retrieval. Electronic storage with Esker includes four levels of security and real-time backup in two separate locations, plus
additional backup archiving on digital media. Archived documents are readily available for viewing online.
Format and Personalization
Although a mail house may offer advanced mail customization features for envelopes and paper, many companies find that
the benefits of custom formats do not outweigh the associated cost and processing delay in comparison with Esker Mail
Services. To minimize production delays and maximize postage discounts, standardized printing with Esker eliminates the
machine calibration necessary for different paper weights and sizes. Additionally, personalization is easily managed through
integration with mail merge functions, which is not always the case with mail houses. Esker Mail Services manages widow and
orphan character issues (space adaptation for insertion of custom field based on the number of characters).
In contrast with mail houses stocking pre-printed letterhead and envelopes, Esker Mail Services supports change control and
helps to prevent waste by providing page background and management functionality as well as flexible use of double-window
envelopes and cover page options. Companies can save the cost of discarding obsolete stock when there is a change in
corporate identity, such as a new logo, phone number or address.
Quality Control
Mail house processing typically involves numerous manual operations that create the potential for errors due to the human
touch factor. As a result there are constant concerns about quality control. With Esker Mail Services, companies benefit from
controlled quality and process integrity with bar code, laser and ultrasonic technology. Integrity is verified by scanner before
documents go into envelopes and at the end of the folding and insertion process. Bar code identification allows the correct
number of pages to be included in each envelope, with automatic double-sheet detection. Final production of mail is verified
against the original submission.
For end-to-end tracking of mail status, the bar code added to each page of the mailing allows traceability. And while waiting
for delivery of a final proof from a mail house causes delays in processing and delivery, Esker Mail Services offers an electronic
version of a final proof. Preview before processing eliminates delays in expedited processing of critical business mail.
Esker Mail Services delivers high print quality on every document, with no interruptions to calibrate equipment. Prospective
customers can test Esker Mail Services with their own documents to verify the quality of printing.
Additional Services
Esker offers added value by supporting transition to electronic delivery of business documents like invoices. As part of a
complete solution for customer invoice automation, Esker makes customer invoicing 100% electronic for the sender while
allowing customers to receive invoices via their preferred methods. Customers can choose to continue to receive invoices by
mail and switch to receiving invoices via fax, email or Web at their own pace.
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House | 7
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ESKER MAIL SERVICES
Esker Mail Services allows organizations to mail business documents directly from their
applications for worldwide delivery to postal services in less than 24 hours. Without hardware
or software, mail is processed and handed off to the postal service nearest to the recipient
from any of Esker’s global mail facilities, making traditional business mail completely electronic
for the sender, from start to finish.
Leveraging Document Process Automation
Built on a standardized platform for quick reaction times, Esker Mail Services processes millions of documents each month
for organizations around the world, and seamlessly integrates into ERP solutions with no need to modify existing applications,
and pay-as-you-send billing provides cost predictability and control.
The result is minimal delay from submission to postal service hand-off, with high quality and operational continuity. Available
options include backup and archiving of submitted documents for up to 11 years, as well as additional media including fax,
email, SMS, supplier portal and Web publication.
AUTOMATED MAIL PROCESS
Automated
archiving
Fax
envelope
Business
Applications
DATA CENTER
Printing
MAIL PRODUCTION
FACILITY
Inserting
Postal
Network
Customers
Post office
delivery
Distribution
Stamping/Metering
Benefits
§ Quick mailing procedure
§ No manual intervention
Expenses
§ No dependence on production methods
x Paper and envelopes
§ Processing and delivery costs reduced by 45%
§ Mail production cost reduced by up to 98%
x Equipment purchase and maintenance
x Printer supplies
x Mail preparation time
x Reprocessing time
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House | 8
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Reliability and Performance
Mail is processed at industrial-strength Esker production facilities designed for dependable and confidential data
processing, and equipped with high-capacity digital printers and state-of-the-art folding machines. In combination with its
meticulous security policies and procedures, Esker uses the strongest encryption technologies to protect customer data and
communications — including 128-bit SSL certification and 1024-bit RSA public keys.
All data passing through the production centers remains protected and secure. Esker on Demand servers are located in
facilities with effective controls demonstrated by attaining SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402 Type 2 compliance. Esker also offers
companies considering Esker Mail Services the opportunity to conduct their own audits.
How Esker Mail Services Works
Automation in every phase of mail processing
SUBMIT
PRINT
FOLD & INSERT
STAMP & DELIVER
FOLLOW
Mail is sent from front-office or back-office applications through a secured connection, and is received by the Esker data center
where it is converted to a PDF format and bar codes are added. Relevant data about the mail pieces (e.g., format, number of
pages, postage, envelops, etc.) are contained within the bar code, which is read by optical laser to prevent any potential errors
of format or of number of pages. The created documents are then transmitted to an Esker production facility in the U.K.,
France, Spain, Belgium, the U.S., Singapore or Australia.
Secure
connection
https
PDF
Conversion
Secure
connection
https
USA
UK
BELGIUM
FRANCE
SPAIN
SINGAPORE
Bar code
Addition
AUSTRALIA
From receipt of mail at the Esker production center through processing according to your specific requirements, status is
available to users in real time through an online interface.
With Esker production capabilities at their service, companies benefit from practical knowledge and experience in processing
business mail with minimal delay at the lowest postage cost and highest print quality for any volume.
Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House
Esker on Demand
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
ED&S is part of Honeywell’s Environmental Controls and Combustion (ECC) business
unit, itself a division of Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions (ACS), a diversified
technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide.
Challenge: Automate the Order to Cash Process
ED&S had already successfully worked with Esker to automate their sales order process, improving the accuracy and speed
of the order entry process to enhance customer service. ED&S hoped to extend Esker capabilities to its accounts receivable
process and automate the invoice delivery with the same level of success.
Previously, ED&S was using large amounts of paper within its invoice process which meant that there were specific areas
that could be improved by eliminating the paper such as: automating manual effort, modernizing internal processes, lowering
costs, reducing delivery errors and accelerating cash collection.
When orders were placed with ED&S, the invoices would be printed out, manually sorted and batched, folded, stuffed into
envelopes, and finally sent for delivery by postal mail. This meant the whole invoice delivery process, from the time it took to
produce the final document to the time it was received by the customer, was very slow.
Solution: Esker Mail Services
ED&S used Esker Mail Services (part of Esker’s Accounts Receivable Automation solution) to improve the processing of its customer
invoices. Esker proved an attractive proposition as its simple pay-as-you-go model allowed ED&S to avoid the high costs of
implementing expensive in-house applications or having to take up vital resources of existing staff in order to deliver the business
critical documents to their customers.
Esker has given us the ability to reduce the bottom line costs of our supplier invoices by around
30%. This has been achieved through the time saved from eliminating 100% of the paper in the
process, leading to minimal errors being made.
Customer Service Development & Operations Manager
Benefits
Performance improvement
§ Reduced bottom line costs of the whole invoice process by 30%
§ Eliminated processing errors which reduced invoice disputes and improved supplier relations
§ Saved time by relying on automated batch processing rather than manual sorting
§ Accelerated payment cycles and reduced DSO via faster delivery time
§ Consolidated IT infrastructure
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Choosing Between a Mail Service and a Mail House
Esker on Demand
ABOUT ESKER
Esker is an industry leader in document process automation solutions, helping organizations of all sizes
Quit Paper™ and improve how their business information is processed and exchanged via one unified
and integrated automation platform. Esker’s suite of automation solutions, offered on-demand or onpremises, help customers around the world reduce processing time and costs, increase their competitive
advantage, gain significant operational efficiencies, and realize measurable ROI in as little as three to six
months.
Global Expertise
Founded in 1985, Esker has more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker operates in North
America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.
U.S. Headquarters:
Madison, Wisconsin
World Headquarters:
Lyon, France
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Madison, WI 53717
Tel: 800.368.5283 | Fax: 608.828.6001
Email: info@esker.com | Web: www.esker.com