What is digital inbox?

From analog letters to electronic mail

A classic use case for digitalization in companies is the incoming mail department. This is where all the threads come together to record and sort incoming documents and forward them to the relevant departments. This is not just about digitizing documents that arrive as paper mail. Files that have already arrived in digital form, typically PDF documents, must also be captured and classified. To avoid this so-called media discontinuity - paper versus digital file - paper documents can first be digitized using a scanner. Of course, this step is not necessary if the incoming mail has already been received in electronic form.

The advantages of digital inbox

The advantages of digital incoming mail are actually obvious: faster processing times, shorter processing paths and the ability to track the processing status at any time are just a few of them. By using individual, electronic workflows, it is possible to track the current location of a document at any time as it makes its way through the company after being received or digitized. Digital business processes ensure that the entire process - from the capture of incoming mail to final archiving in a document management system (DMS) - is always transparent and traceable for all employees involved. And this even after the processing procedure has long been completed.

In general, the use of digital workflows leads to a much faster distribution of mail and significantly accelerated research. This is because digitization completely eliminates the time-consuming copying and distribution of paper-based mail or even the search for a lost sheet of paper.

Advantages of a inbox solution software for your company

  • Enormous time savings through digital processes
  • Easy import of digitized letter mail
  • Immediate availability of all stored information
  • Reduction of costs for processing incoming mail

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Digitize mail

A large proportion of mail is still delivered as paper documents. It is therefore necessary to digitize incoming mail first. This is done using a scanner. In this context, modern software systems are able to read information from a digitized document during the scanning process and use this information, for example, to forward the digital document directly to a department in the company.

Put it on the scanner!

Are you still copying or already scanning?

Today, the modern mailroom works purely digitally. Incoming letters are first converted by scanner into a digital format such as PDF. This is already where our specialized solutions come into play, allowing you to automatically forward the digitized mail to the departments for processing - without having to run there with a paper copy. After processing, the documents automatically end up in the audit-proof windream long-term archive. From the first to the last step - everything digitally and without any loss of time!

More on the topic of scanning 

Using workflow to route digital mail through the company

Once the mail has been digitized, the DMS software transfers the files to a workflow. In principle, these electronic company processes can be individually mapped as a workflow and adapted to the requirements of a company. The workflow handles the entire forwarding process, from capturing the paper documents in the IT system and distributing them to the departments involved through to the final filing or archiving in a document management system or electronic archive.

Digital archiving of incoming mail

Mail that is submitted to the clerks for processing is stored centrally in a DMS. Once processing is complete, the mail can be easily archived digitally and in an audit-proof manner in the DMS. From this point on, it is securely protected against changes or manipulation. You can find out more about archiving documents here.

An important step towards a paperless office: digitizing mail

Digitizing paper is easier than you think. Modern high-performance scanners can convert entire stacks of sheets into files "in one go" and then transfer them to a workflow system. This brings you a lot closer to a paperless office. Find out more about the "paperless office".

Invoice processing - a special case of mail management

In principle, the same procedure applies to invoices as to other types of mail. Nevertheless, the processing of invoices is more complex than other correspondence, especially as they are relevant for tax and financial law and have to be stored for a long period of time. In the field of digital invoice processing, there are therefore highly specialized software systems from providers such as windream GmbH, which are exactly tailored to these requirements. More on the topic of invoice processing.

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