This Police Force serves a community that is home to an international financial and business centre. Road safety and prosecuting speeding offences are essential parts of its operations. In May 2023, the constabulary transitioned to Impress Distribute from Quadient to print and post its speeding notifications, slashing the time staff spend on mailing administration so they can instead focus on completing case files and dealing with offences.
The challenge: to optimise outbound mailing processes
The constabulary’s traffic office issues hundreds of speeding notifications a day. These were manually managed by an administrative team; the Road Safety Unit Manager explains: “We had many staff members spending a lot of their time printing, folding, putting in envelopes, and posting. We only employ so many case workers, and a large part of their day was spent doing that, so we wanted to be more efficient.”
In addition, the team was planning an office move and recognised that space would be at a premium. The equipment needed to manage such a heavy external communications workload is considerable and would take up valuable floor space that could be better utilised, enabling police work.
By using technology effectively, the force recognises it can optimise its working processes. The administration manager says, “The organisation is always trying to be more effective with our efficient use of resources. Streamlining a process, making us more efficient, means we are increasing productivity without increasing staff.”
The process: assessing the need and demonstrating a solution
The senior leadership team visited another police force and discovered it uses offsite printing for external communications. Impressed, they decided to explore the potential of a similar solution to help their Police Force transform its communications management, free up staff time, and release resources to focus on core policing activities.
The constabulary already had a business relationship with Quadient through the franking machines used to add postage to outbound mailings, and the organisation was happy with the existing equipment and service; the administration manager approached Quadient to discuss its aims.
Quadient assessed the requirement, visited the constabulary to present its recommendations and demonstrated what it could provide. The offsite printing and mailing solution would comfortably meet the outbound mailing demands of the busy traffic office and alleviate pressure on the finite office space available.
Before moving to full implementation, Quadient worked with the constabulary to carry out test mailing runs to prove the concept, allow staff to become familiar and comfortable with the new way of working and demonstrate the benefits.
The solution: Quadient Impress Distribute
Quadient Impress Distribute is a cloud-based, multi-channel document delivery solution for communications.
Now, Quadient’s certified mail production facility prints, sorts, inserts documents into envelopes, adds postage, and submits items to the postal system.
Quadient trained the members of staff at the police force who had been identified as the first users of the new system and provided materials that the team could then use to train the remaining staff. The Road Safety Unit Manager says: “When you get new systems, everyone’s a bit nervous, of course, but it’s proven to be very easy and straightforward.”
The results: time saved refocused on case handling
With Quadient Impress Distribute in place, the constabulary has succeeded in reducing the time staff must spend managing outbound speeding notifications. This has decreased from around two hours a day to only around ten or fifteen minutes - a significant time-saving.
Most importantly, the additional time staff have been reinvested, as the Manager explains: “That time has gone back into completing case files and processing prosecutions so we’re able to deal effectively with more offences.”
The force quickly ramped up the numbers of staff trained to use Impress Distribute until everyone who had issued mail manually was using the new system. “The feedback is positive, the system is easily navigated, it has met our requirements, and staff are happy."
Customer feedback
The Road Safety Unit Manager at the Police Force says: “Quadient has always been available, and communication was clear. They understood our requirements and listened to what we needed.”
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