Document management for members association
The world’s oldest specialist co-operative members association supplies its member-shareholders (corporate organisations and individuals) with more than half a million cases of luxury items per year. The society maintains a call centre, employing 45 member services operators and support specialists, a showroom for visitors to browse and select goods, and a range of promotional events across the UK. Orders are placed by phone, post and online, and many deliveries are made by the society’s own van fleet.
Overloaded with paper
Before Document Manager, the filing of orders and other paper communications and enquiries at the association was entirely manual. Orders and documents processed ready for filing, such as pre-printed order forms mixed with letters in various formats and sizes, and printed emails, would be delivered for sorting and filing. Backlogs could occur at peak times, just when the business is under the greatest pressure – for example, Christmas, when order volumes are typically four times greater than normal levels, and often more complex.
Choosing Document Manager
“We were keen to improve the business process and the quality of service to members of the association, while containing costs,” says the society’s Finance Executive.
“A number of systems were looked at, varying widely in scope, cost and maintenance overhead. We took advice from a leading independent specialist who recommended that we concentrate on finding the most user-friendly and scalable solution to meet both our initial requirements and future needs in terms of volume and functionality. Document Manager met all our expectations.”
Benefits of Document Manager for Co-ops
1. Reduction in use of paper
2. Seasonal backlogs have been reduced.
3. Better response times for customer enquiries
4. Improved staff efficiency
5. Greater security for information storage for compliance with privacy regulations
6. Better access to information
7. Improvement in the quality of records and service
The Document Manager Members Association Solution
Document Manager has made a significant improvement in the quality of the member association’s records and service. The reduction in backlogs and file searching helps them to meet and maintain high service targets. The time taken to manually sort and file paper documents has been cut dramatically, and the 30 hours per month previously spent on manually thinning down over-sized files is no longer necessary.
Around the business, printing of outgoing correspondence for filing has been superseded by the ability to drag and drop documents, such as letters and emails, electronically into members’ folders, which eliminates the need for printing and double handling. The society also estimates a saving of around 13 hours a month on callback times.
Document Manager has improved the availability of information, generated greater confidence in the quality of data, and therefore improved reaction and service time.
Elimination of hard copy files cleared nearly 80 square yards of office space – enough to accommodate six staff. Document Manager underpins the society’s compliance with data privacy laws, with built-in redaction and automated data retention and purge.