Outsourcing of incoming mail processing - IRIS ECM
Outsourcing of incoming mail processing - IRIS ECM
Outsourcing of incoming mail processing - IRIS ECM
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<strong>Outsourcing</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> <strong>processing</strong><br />
With Docutec technology arvato direct services manages the <strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> <strong>of</strong> a private<br />
customer bank in Essen<br />
The outsourcing <strong>of</strong> services to external companies has become a strong trend within the<br />
concentration on core competencies during the past five years. Large and medium-sized<br />
companies are increasingly adopting certain areas <strong>of</strong> their business, mainly in<br />
administration, into the responsibility <strong>of</strong> third parties to corporate and optimize<br />
structures and processes economically. The goal is to create certain products or services<br />
no longer in their own companies, but to transfer them onto a service, which requires<br />
the needed services more economically than the company itself could.<br />
In general, any business that doesn’t belong to the core business <strong>of</strong> a company, can be<br />
outsourced. However, there are certain fields, where experts companies have<br />
established. Besides areas such as taxation and accounting, these are mainly the areas<br />
<strong>of</strong> customer relationship management, document management and <strong>processing</strong>.<br />
Document management - especially document capture - was and is also the area in<br />
which a well-known retail bank in Essen wanted to outsource to a service provider. In<br />
summer <strong>of</strong> 2007 it was decided to get the <strong>processing</strong> and acquisition <strong>of</strong> the whole<br />
<strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> outsourced in a middle-term. It should be started with the collection <strong>of</strong><br />
loan applications from the retail business. Here the bank had recognized that the<br />
collection <strong>of</strong> up to 6.000 loan applications per day binds enormous resources and costs -<br />
which should be reduced by outsourcing.<br />
When searching for a suitable provider the bank from Essen discovered arvato direct<br />
services GmbH from Gutersloh. arvato direct services belongs to the Bertelsmann group<br />
and is the leading service provider in the management <strong>of</strong> customer relationships in<br />
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Europe and the European markets. Its core competencies include the settlement <strong>of</strong><br />
claims and ordering processes <strong>of</strong> all kinds, customer communications and the <strong>processing</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> Incoming customer’s requests. This demonstrably high level <strong>of</strong> competence <strong>of</strong> the<br />
service provider in connection with a vast experience and a global cooperation in the<br />
back have brought the bank to the decision to give the application to arvato direct<br />
services.<br />
For this interesting new order from the financial sector arvato direct services needed a<br />
partner to give them the needed technology platform for collecting, classifying and<br />
indexing the many thousands <strong>of</strong> documents. When searching for a suitable technology<br />
partner, the decision was made in October 2007 for Docutec AG from Aachen.<br />
Docutec is an expert for the digital <strong>mail</strong>room and <strong>of</strong>fers with the solution platform<br />
Docutec Xtract for Documents the ideal base for the new application <strong>of</strong> the arvato direct<br />
services. Both companies had previously shared projects in the field <strong>of</strong> account cards<br />
and formulary capture. arvato direct services is one <strong>of</strong> Docutec’s service partners since<br />
several years and pr<strong>of</strong>its from the know-how <strong>of</strong> the company in the area <strong>of</strong> document<br />
classification and extraction. Since November 2007 Docutec is a member <strong>of</strong> the I.R.I.S.<br />
Group and occupies the competence areas <strong>of</strong> invoice <strong>processing</strong> and digital <strong>mail</strong>room.<br />
I.R.I.S. is a leader in Intelligent Document Recognition and Document Management.<br />
"We have a several number <strong>of</strong> reasons why we went for Docutec," says Andreas Nolte,<br />
division IT manager at arvato. "Of course, the core competence in document and <strong>mail</strong><br />
classification was in the centre. Docutec has exactly the solution and the know-how for<br />
this important project. Moreover, it was important for us that we work directly with a<br />
solution manufacturer. Only in this way we can work quickly and flexibly on the<br />
individual right solution for each customer. We as a service provider have to be fast and<br />
flexible by handling the order. The same, <strong>of</strong> course, we expect from our partners. That<br />
Docutec is exactly the right company for us was confirmed during our visit to the<br />
Docutec booth during DMS 2007 in Cologne”.<br />
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However, the decision for Docutec as a technology partner had not only project-related<br />
character for arvato direct services, but is also <strong>of</strong> strategic nature: Since the successful<br />
project implementation the Docutec platform Xtract for Documents applies as a set<br />
system for the "Digital <strong>mail</strong>room/inbox classification" in the Bertelsmann Group for the<br />
future.<br />
"The classification <strong>of</strong> the <strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> for companies as a service is an important<br />
component <strong>of</strong> our service range. With the solution <strong>of</strong> Docutec we are now in a position<br />
to develop this area actively”, Andreas Nolte says.<br />
Digital Mailroom with Xtract for Documents<br />
The electronic handling and <strong>processing</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> in a company is a very complex<br />
process. You have to classify, to read and to process an extremely high number <strong>of</strong><br />
different documents with the highest degree <strong>of</strong> precision and certainty.<br />
With Xtract for Documents Docutec commands a flexible product platform, that solves<br />
all tasks in the field <strong>of</strong> digital <strong>mail</strong>room most efficiently and cost effectively. The<br />
essential component is the quick and safe working classification method “Docutec<br />
XClassify”, which allows the intelligent use <strong>of</strong> different document properties (layout,<br />
words, phrases, regular expressions, complex properties). The system only uses the<br />
features that are needed for the precise distinction <strong>of</strong> the defined classes. Docutec<br />
XClassify is based on a combination <strong>of</strong> complementary classification procedures (rulebased,<br />
statistical and graphical methods), which complement one another and lead to<br />
an unmatched security <strong>of</strong> classification. The system independently determines which<br />
procedures have to be used for the different documents groups, and automatically<br />
selects the most effective and low priced method. Moreover, with the means <strong>of</strong><br />
“Docutec XClassify” the system can automatically be trained for new classes and<br />
adapted to new business processes. During the training the system gives direct feedback<br />
on the quality control and assurance.<br />
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First stage: loan applications<br />
Medium-term, arvato direct services will take over the classification and <strong>processing</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
all <strong>incoming</strong> <strong>mail</strong> <strong>of</strong> the retail bank. Launch was in 2007 with the <strong>processing</strong> <strong>of</strong> loan<br />
applications from the retail business. Since then, all loan applications along with other<br />
important documents such as salary pro<strong>of</strong>, a copy <strong>of</strong> the identity card, etc. are<br />
addressed to a <strong>mail</strong>box <strong>of</strong> the bank that is supervised by the arvato-division in<br />
Schortens/Wilhelshaven. The requests usually come from either private clients or free<br />
credit shops/agencies on behalf <strong>of</strong> the bank.<br />
The applications will be collected, scanned, classified and indexed at arvato and then<br />
sended to the bank for <strong>processing</strong>.<br />
From a few too many classes <strong>of</strong> documents<br />
Today the Docutec system at arvato is “fed” with about 6.000 credit documents per day,<br />
which aren’t a particular challenge for the classification, because only very few<br />
document classes with required little training are needed. If in the near future all<br />
<strong>incoming</strong> documents <strong>of</strong> the bank are processed by arvato, it is necessary that up to<br />
50.000 documents in up to 100 classes have to be sorted.<br />
But Docutec Xtract for Documents even copes with such challenges successfully.<br />
Sophisticated product components such as Docutec XMailWorkflow provide an easy<br />
definition <strong>of</strong> document classes and workflow rules for the classification and extraction <strong>of</strong><br />
any document disposition. It is the upstream <strong>of</strong> the actual classification process with<br />
Docutec XClassify and <strong>of</strong>fers an interface for all necessary steps regarding an optimal<br />
classification. Also a definition <strong>of</strong> the process steps for an automatic document<br />
separation on a PC is possible.<br />
"Our customer is more than satisfied with the quality and speed <strong>of</strong> the <strong>processing</strong> and<br />
can’t wait to expand the performance on other areas <strong>of</strong> the <strong>mail</strong>room," Andreas Nolte<br />
<strong>of</strong> arvato says. "The decision for Docutec and its platform Documents Xtract has been a<br />
resounding success."<br />
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Press- and company contact:<br />
Docutec AG<br />
Désirée Müller<br />
Tel.: 0241-92035-83<br />
Fax: 0241-92035-50<br />
E-Mail: desiree.mueller@irislink.com<br />
http://www.docutec.de<br />
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