The essential guide to Hybrid Mail

At CDS, we live for simplifying complex business challenges. So, whenever we’re asked by public or private sector organisations about how they can improve the efficiency and lower the costs of their outbound communications, we will frequently recommend that they consider using a Hybrid Mail solution. But what is Hybrid Mail and is it right for your organisation?

In this article, we’ll outline the reasons for this and cover the essential things that you need to know about Hybrid Mail, including how it:

• Reduces mailing costs by up to 50%
• Allows mail items to be printed remotely
• Saves time in printing, enclosing, franking, and sending mail
• Is GDPR compliant and secure
• Is flexible and can be automated to suit your needs

What is Hybrid Mail?

Hybrid mail is a secure digital mail service that enables you to send physical letters like invoices, notices, or statements directly from your computer.

There’s no need for you to print or frank any items, all you’ll need is the internet to upload your mail items from the office or a remote location.

Whether you have hundreds or tens of thousands of staff operating remotely in response to COVID-19, hybrid mail can be scaled to meet your needs and consolidate your organisation’s mail into a single channel.

Once received, your letters or items are printed, inserted into envelopes and posted. The letters will then be delivered to your customer by Royal Mail as quickly as posting them yourself but at a much lower cost to your organisation.

How does CDS’ Hybrid Mail solution work?

Any member of your team can use Hybrid Mail from home or the office. All they require is a computer with an internet connection and the file they wish to print and mail.

We offer two main methods of sending a file to print, which are:

• Print Driver – Used for daily or Ad Hoc printing, using this service CDS’ printing services are added to your device’s list of printers allowing you to send your print job directly from within your files.
  
  
• Bulk Upload – Used for higher volume weekly, monthly or annual communications, simply upload your print-ready files via SFTP and our teams will work to process them. Our team of experts can also help you automate these processes saving you even more time.

Once received, your mail items will then be checked over by our expert teams and processed at one of our GDPR compliant UK-based processing centres, which have a range of accreditations including:

• ISO27001 - Information security management
• ISO9001 - Quality management system
• ISO14001 - Environmental management
• BS 10008 -  Evidential Weight and Legal Admissibility of Electronic Information

Our services are also covered by Cyber Essentials Plus, meaning you can depend on us to ensure effective cybersecurity measures to protect your files.

Please follow the links to see a full list of CDS’ approved public sector procurement frameworks and our certifications.

What can I print using CDS Hybrid Mail?

Our UK-based processing centres have the following capabilities for your needs:

• Print and post letters in mono or colour (1-45 pages)
• Inclusion of business reply envelopes and inserts e.g. forms, marketing collateral, etc
• Standard outer (C5 or C4 envelope) or bespoke outer on brand envelopes
• Ability to receive Customer data in many formats (print-ready PDF, CSV, XML & more)

What are the key benefits of Hybrid Mail?

If you’re researching how to make a business case to make the switch to CDS’ Hybrid Mail services, here’s a quick list of benefits that you can share with stakeholders:

• It’s a secure service (GDPR approved, ISO ISO27001 compliant and Cyber Essentials Plus)
• Reduces overall costs by up to 50% vs. traditional mail
• Reduced wastage
• Reduce environmental impact by eliminating the collection of mail
• Flexible, scalable solution to meet changing business requirements
• Mailing processes can be fully automated
• Ability to recall or cancel mail items on the day of submission
• Transparency of mailing utilisation and insight into costs

Summary Table:

Is Hybrid Mail cheaper than traditional mail?

Yes. We typically charge 0.45p per letter making it possible to generate cost savings of up to 50% for organisations who are currently traditionally printing and posting their mail by:

• Reducing or eliminating the pressures on the traditional post room
• Saving time on processing mail to free staff to focus on core business activity
• Reducing or eliminating spending on consumables
• Reducing CAPEX spend on printers, enclosing machines and franking machines:

Working together to make a positive difference

We’re proud to supply print services to some of the UK’s leading organisations, including: