Partnering with CFH to manage and send large bulk communications since 2016, Surrey County Council required a means of sending daily communications and ad-hoc letters from every department across their organisation.
The solution needed to be adaptable, easy to use and would require an efficient rollout and integration to ensure that each department could use the solution to deliver cost and time savings.
After a discussion with CFH, it was decided that the hybrid mail solution, Docmail, would meet the county council’s specific needs. This also meant that Surrey County Council would continue to have one trusted partner that managed, produced, and dispatched all of their paper communications, making for a more organised process overall.
Docmail hybrid mail is the secure online print and post solution that allows users to create, send and manage communications from their desktop or PC. The solution is easy to use, saves time and provides the ability to send printed communications at reduced rates.
The solution offers a corporate structure for larger organisations who may require monitoring and management of department usage and spend, under one account. The hybrid mail product remains scalable and adaptable for all print and post communication requirements.
With security and compliance absolute priorities, CFH provided early assurances that dedicated account support and access to a helpful team would always be in place for the council. Council representatives were also able to reassure users that the system was secure and would meet rigorous procurement requirements.
Following an initial meeting, a plan was agreed to introduce the system to the council employees. The Docmail platform and print driver were gradually rolled out as part of a phased approach to suit Surrey County Council’s needs.
The solution was set up with 5 accounts and a corporate structure within each, creating a hierarchy of directorates, departments and teams. Users with varying account permissions were then added to each account.
Each time a new department came on board, a bespoke training session was arranged. These sessions allowed an in-house Docmail expert to demonstrate the capabilities of the platform, providing an opportunity for any questions to be answered.
The Council have access to the Docmail support team as well as a dedicated support representative who is on hand to answer any questions via phone or email. This is in addition to training resources, including a regularly updated online help centre and videos that can be accessed at any time.
Users of the solution simply create their mailing and use the Docmail ‘file-print’ functionality to send the document for processing via the print driver. Alternatively, users can upload a template and data file to the Docmail web portal.
All mailings are produced on 100gsm paper with a high-quality print finish, and dispatched to Royal Mail for final mile delivery. The solution offers a range of product output, including personalised printed envelopes and inserts, as well as mono and colour mailings, providing a secure solution for the creation and management of bespoke resident communications.
In addition to this, Surrey County Council utilise two other products supplied by CFH to help them engage with their residents. These are:
CFH Managed: The secure IT print process that allows organisations to send documents through CFH’s secure STFP connection, whilst being managed expertly by a dedicated account manager. This process enables the Council to manage and send mailings with a bespoke requirement including specialised documents or campaigns - including cheques and payslips on an ad-hoc or scheduled basis.
Docstore: The online archive system, where documents are stored on a recipient-by-recipient basis. Allowing users to log in through a secure system, Council staff can retrieve any documents that have been sent to a single recipient through the Docstore solution. The Council actively uses this platform to manage and record items sent.
Docmail has been rolled out across the whole of Surrey County Council with over 77 departments and teams now using it to send and manage their postal communications. From transport, parking, planning and children’s services to trading standards, technical support and pensions, Docmail has become a daily solution that has formed a part of the Council’s everyday ways of working.
The solution is secure, efficient and supports resource allocation within the Council to ensure budgets are managed while providing one single solution that is adaptable and scalable depending on department requirements. The solution supports flexible working, removing the requirement for in-house resources and manual office processes offering a streamlined way of managing and sending communications.
Docmail is efficient and provides an effective alternative to sending and managing bulk mailings to residents, allowing the council to continue to optimize the use of post for driving engagement and sharing information.
In total there are currently over 1,100 users across the organisation, with over 1 million documents having been sent through Docmail since the beginning of the partnership.
This represents a saving of 33,313 work hours or 1,388 days, in comparison to producing the 1 million documents in-house over the 7-year partnership. On average this equates to a time saving of 4,759 hours per year.
Although the price of sending printed letters has increased throughout the partnership with the price of the stamp rising, impressive cost savings have been generated for Surrey. It is estimated that Surrey County Council have saved over £1.84 million by working with CFH to send printed letters.
Aligning with their agile working policy and representing significant time and cost savings, the process has allowed the council to redeploy resources and streamline their way of working, as well as launch new projects and initiatives to increase engagement with their residents.
Collectively CFH have managed and sent over 2 million documents for Surrey County Council through both their hybrid mail and Managed Service offering, as well as storing over 1,136,260 documents in Docstore secure archive system. The partnership is expected to grow further as new departments adopt Docmail, as well as their other communication solutions on offer.
Working with CFH to send printed communications provides us with an efficient, time-saving process when engaging with our residents. Their solutions are perfect for sending both individual and bulk mailings, through an easy to manage process. It allows our teams across the business to engage with our residents, no matter where they are based whilst having access to reporting functionality and budget control.
Chris is always on hand to provide support and answer any questions when needed, including during the mailing process. We would recommend the use of the Docmail service to any local authority, who have a range of teams who utilise print and post.
Operations Manager, School Admissions Team,
Surrey County Council
