GPSJ Autumn 2024 ONLINE - Flipbook - Page 22
GPSJ
DATA & COMMUNICATIONS
Aiming to go 100% digital to cut rising
postage costs? Think again
Substantial Royal Mail
price rises have seen
organisations accelerating
digital transformation. Yet, as
Datagraphic’s public sector
expert, Gemma Tappenden,
explains, going 100% digital
with citizen communications
remains challenging for many.
So, are there other costmanagement innovations for
instant budget relief?
Making citizen
communications 100%
digital
Citizen take-up of digital-昀椀rst
communications is rising, but it
can be slow and fragmented, with
varying barriers, making 100%
digital engagement rare.
Digital data – email addresses,
mobile numbers and contact
information – can be missing or
outdated in legacy systems or
managing Accessible Standard
communications like braille and
large print formats.
Finally, there is the challenge of
engaging hard-to-reach groups.
According to the Digital Nation
Report 2024 by the Good Things
Foundation, 1.5 Million UK adults
do not have a smartphone, tablet,
or laptop. How do public service
teams that need to engage with
everyone, support groups like this
with a digital-only approach?
Thinking multichannel with
your current data
Gemma Tappenden, Public Sector Solutions Consultant at Datagraphic
In the 5 years to December
2024, widely used 1st and 2nd
Class Letter rates for Royal Mail
Mailmark® Franked Mail and
Business Account Mail have seen
list prices rise between 95% and
109%, and more increases take
e昀昀ect in April 2025. Although
Royal Mail’s operational cost
challenges are well known, the
pressure of its increases makes
managing already stretched public
budgets extremely di昀케cult.
Faced with this 昀椀nancial
pressure, many public sector
teams are pushing forward digital
transformation projects to improve
e昀케ciency and cut costs. However,
many barriers remain despite
the availability of technology and
savings potential.
22
siloed in departments, and gaining
buy-in for extra data cleansing
resources can be hard.
For some teams within councils
and police forces, getting citizens’
digital information is especially
di昀케cult – with little incentive for
digital contact if the result is a bill
or 昀椀ne in their inbox. Plus, where
contact is only needed annually
or infrequently, there’s often
uncertainty about the accuracy of
digital contact data held.
In healthcare, where citizens
often want to receive medical
correspondence quickly, digital
adoption is growing. Still, little
evidence exists of public health
settings being 100% digital.
Moreover, the 昀椀nancial challenge
can shift as digital take-up
increases, and teams then see
higher unit costs for mailing
smaller daily quantities and
To deliver savings quickly while
working through the barriers,
adopting a holistic multichannel
approach is key. Be digital-昀椀rst,
but embrace technologies that
use your existing data to deliver
innovation and value from printed
and posted communications.
A multichannel approach means
concurrent digital, print and post
transformation projects. Ideally,
migrating to one solution like
Aceni Mail – Datagraphic’s hybrid
mail service – to reduce data
sharing and supplier management
across communication channels.
However, where multiple
suppliers are desired, consider
opting for system-agnostic and
interoperable solutions. For
example, in hospitals, Aceni Mail’s
APIs talk daily to several digital
patient platforms to collect letters
for printing and posting. It also
seamlessly checks if patients have
received/engaged with digital
communications to automate
printing and posting copies where
needed.
Use technology to cut
printing and postage costs
Taking a multichannel approach
means quickly identifying
communications that can be
switched to digital and using
insights from technologies for print
and postage optimisation.
For example, with one council
using Aceni Mail, a saving of
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2024/2025
over £105,000 was identi昀椀ed
by switching just 20% of their
physical mail to digital envelopes.
Using insights from the same
solution, the council could also
identify detailed departmental
spending for the 昀椀rst time. They
found examples of 1st Class
postage used where it was not
needed – which traditionally cost
them up to 57% more than 2nd
Class. A previous lack of visibility
and control meant ine昀케ciencies
like this were consuming budget.
Aceni Mail’s insights enabled the
council to work with departments,
retraining sta昀昀 to be more
accountable for their mailing
choices to ensure resources are
used e昀케ciently.
In another example, one council
believed it had done everything to
optimise postage costs, having
worked with numerous printers
and hybrid mail suppliers. They
accepted – due to poor Royal
Mail Postcode Address File
(PAF) validation of their contact
addresses – they must pay a
higher Unsorted Mail postage
rate. When they switched to
Aceni Mail and started to use the
advanced validation built into the
solution – the council achieved a
98% PAF validation rate, without
any changes to their contact data,
enabling them to qualify for the
most cost-e昀昀ective Sorted Mail
rates.
Practical Steps to Reduce
Postage Costs
So, to conclude, the answer to
driving down costs is to embrace
a multichannel mindset.
Use an advanced hybrid mail
solution to centralise mail
production, enabling digital
delivery that reduces physical
mail costs and brings insights to
reduce departmental ine昀케ciencies.
By adopting smart, data-driven
solutions like this, teams can
optimise mailing processes,
control costs, and deliver better
value for their budgets.
