Today's workforce is changing in response to changes in the economy, business and the environment. Rising fuel costs, corporations that are reducing their real estate footprint to cut expenses, the need to attract and retain the best talent in an increasingly competitive marketplace and growing environmental concerns are all driving a new phenomenon in 21st century business: the remote and mobile workforce.

A Growing Trend

More and more companies are implementing remote worker and virtual office strategies. A 2006 Boston Consulting Group survey noted that 85% of executives surveyed expected to increase the number of "location agnostic" workers in the next five years. By 2007, 73% of the Fortune 500 offered "hot desking," or unassigned work stations. Sixty percent introduced "drop in" spaces that year. And, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 20.7 million U.S. workers no longer report to office buildings on a daily basis. An additional 30 million people are expected to work from places other than company offices by the end of 2008.

One of the most effective ways for organizations to meet these challenges is by utilizing a larger remote and mobile workforce that leverages home offices, hotels and customer or partner sites, as well as office environments where employees may stop in for email, telephone and conference purposes while traveling. These approaches offer several significant benefits to both employers and employees. Employers can slash real estate costs and dramatically reduce their carbon footprint. They can attract and retain the best talent without requiring them to relocate. Cutting commute times can improve employees' quality of life while relieving stress on the local infrastructure. Most gratifying of all are the productivity gains, with some companies documenting increases from four to 15%.

But Who Delivers The Mail?

The mail center is one of the biggest impediments to deploying these new workforce solutions. Remote and mobile workers still need to get mail, yet most traditional mail center operations can't accommodate this new workforce environment. Traditional mail delivery practice within most corporations mimics that of the U.S. Postal Service: universal and uniform delivery. In virtual or mobile employee environments, this is a frustratingly ineffective proposition. These workers aren't in company locations frequently enough to make physical mail delivery an effective or economical option. Alternatives such as express carrier-to-home delivery are expensive and limited in their effectiveness.

While management and IT have created secure, remote access to enterprise platforms such as email systems and corporate intranets, employees still need timely delivery of inbound and inter-office physical mail. This has been the last remaining obstacle to realizing the full benefits of a virtual workplace until now.

Virtual Mailstream Management

Companies can now take advantage of Virtual Mailstream Management a structured, comprehensive strategy that leverages the mail center to successfully serve out-of-office workers. Its goal: prompt and efficient delivery of important business and customer correspondence and related documents to employees whose effectiveness depends on it. There are three components to a Virtual Mailstream Management strategy:

1. Digitization Business correspondence mail that requires a prompt response, such as customer communications, sales inquiries and investor and shareholder communications, is of particular importance to remote and mobile workers. Inter-office mail that's sent in physical form is also considered high priority for digitization when it drives a business process or carries a signature.

This type of correspondence is unstructured in format and content, unlike invoices and business forms that can easily be handled in an automated fashion. An operator opens the mail, removes the contents and uses separator sheets to create a set of documents that are scanned and digitized. Envelopes are also included, since they often contain important information such as legal postmarks. Once scanned, the images go to a work station where an operator selects their destination. The scan has automatically dated the correspondence, and the operator enters the postmark date, who the correspondence is from and the subject. With one keystroke, it all is transferred to the recipient's digital mail inbox, which can reside on the company's intranet. Related documents also can be uploaded by end users to facilitate business processes.

A significant shortfall of physical mail is that inbound business correspondence and inter-office mail is not subjected to the same records management policies as other business-critical documents. Regulatory and legal requirements demand consistency in this area for virtually all large enterprises. Digitization facilitates records management compliance.

2. Consolidation For employees who remain in offices, companies should consider consolidating mail delivery. Some firms have opted for bi-weekly delivery to those whose inbound mail volume is relatively low. Consolidated deliveries can also handle hard copy industry publications. Fewer deliveries can include less time-sensitive "Standard Mail" (previously called "bulk mail") for additional savings.

Consolidated delivery can also work for high-value "accountable" mail certified mail, overnight express and courier packages. Companies can utilize parcel lockers for self-service package pickup rather than delivery to desktops or remote locations. Lockers can be located near building entrances so employees can retrieve items conveniently. If companies wish to deliver personal packages as an employee benefit, consolidated locker delivery lowers the cost of this perk.

3. Reduction Many companies have an over-abundance of periodicals, creating distribution and disposal problems, with tons of glossy paper that's more costly to recycle. In some businesses, industry-focused magazines can be replaced with e-subscriptions and supplemented by centrally accessible reading areas. By accessing online versions of these publications, organizations can realize cost savings for both subscriptions and internal distribution and disposal.

In addition to advantages such as cutting costs and lessening the environmental impact, Virtual Mailstream Management can offer significant process efficiencies. Finally, where security is a concern, it can help minimize the risks to employees and facilities, thereby addressing business continuity concerns.

Terrence M. Doeberl is Director, Business Development, Pitney Bowes Management Services. Contact him at terry.doeberl@pb.com.