Many businesses today still rely on repetitive, time-consuming manual tasks to prepare and send critical transactional documents, like invoices, statements, and more. But most customer communications are not one-size-fits-all. Each piece of customer communication has a set of business rules that need to be applied when preparing documents. This could be pulling exceptions, including special inserts or targeted messaging, or grouping documents by a specific customer. The more complex the business rules, the higher the likelihood of human error.
Mail production is comprised of two stages: preparation and processing. Some businesses have begun to automate the processing stage by investing in a folder inserter. While it seems logical that the addition of a folder inserter would decrease processing time, partial automation (manual preparation and automated processing) poses not only the highest error rate but specifically, the greatest risk of high-impact errors. We explain what this means below.
Accelerated error rate
The above was a key finding in our recent whitepaper, How Automation Impacts Document Workflow: A Pilot Study. In this study, our research partner, AIM Consulting, explored three different mail production scenarios used by many businesses today to assess their impact on employee engagement and business outcomes. The scenarios ranged from completely manual to fully automated. Surprisingly, while the partially automated scenario cut completion time by 34% versus the purely manual scenario, the error rate nearly tripled. This occurred due to the combination of manual and automated tasks. The document preparation phase (where participants sorted invoices into various piles) was manual and thus subject to human error. The manual component of the task combined with the power of the automated component turned one simple human error into multiple or compound errors. Read more about the impact of compounding errors in this blog.
Greater chance of high-impact errors
Not all errors are alike. Errors can range from low-impact, which may cause a customer mild dissatisfaction, to high-impact which could violate compliance requirements, such as confidential information getting into the wrong customer’s hands. A key finding in our pilot study was that high-impact errors were most likely to occur particularly with a partially automated process.
Error mitigation becomes more complex
Most participants in the study did not attempt to identify their errors under the partially automated scenario, which led the researchers to believe the task may have been perceived as too overwhelming. Due to the complex nature of errors created through partial automation, error remediation efforts would erode any gain in time savings.
Opt for a fully automated scenario
The best way to avoid the potential pitfalls of partial automation is to implement a fully automated scenario into your document workflow. This way your folder inserter is enhanced with automation software that provides a safety net that is not available with human processing. Through the use of intelligent bar code technology, the folder inserter places optimal marks on documents to ensure that the right document always goes into the right envelope. The pilot study proved the full automation scenario had the most optimal outcome with negligible error impact when compared to manual or partial automation.
Full automation will help you maximize employee and operational efficiency and deliver the least amount of errors with the lowest impact. The added bonus is eliminating manual tasks, will allow you the opportunity to reallocate skilled employees to higher-value revenue-driving activities, which in turn will create a more engaged and motivated workforce.
To learn more about how full automation can benefit your business, contact us here.
