British parcels and postal operator UK Mail Group has been chosen by Alliance Healthcare, aglobal pharmaceutical wholesaler, to provide delivery of than 6,000 hybrid letters each month to
business and residential addresses across the UK.Alliance Healthcare said it had decided to use UK Mail’s innovative ‘imail’ service tostreamline the mail operation within two of its UK businesses, Alliance Healthcare (Distribution)and Central Homecare, in order to lower overheads, reduce administrative requirements and enhancethe service provided to customers.
UK Mail launched imail as an alternative to Royal Mail’s first class postal service. It enablesusers to send letters and postcards with just a click of the mouse from as late as 3pm for next-dayor 6pm for two-day delivery.
The mail documents are sent electronically to the UK Mail sorting centre closest to thedestination where they are printed, enveloped and sorted for onward delivery.
Alliance Healthcare (Distribution) Ltd is using imail to send up to 3,000 credit notes eachmonth to independent pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Meanwhile, the online pharmacyservice Central Homecare is sending 3,000-4,000 items each month that are made up of statements,invoices and other forms of customer correspondence.
Both companies have previously used traditional postal services, with all items printed,enveloped and mailed manually using internal resources or temporary staff. Through automating themail process via imail, it has been possible to remove internal administrative requirements, whichhad proved to be uneconomical in terms of time and financial costs. Mail overheads could also befurther reduced as it is no longer needed to procure stationery, ink, printers and frankingmachines to support in-house mail needs, UK Mail said.
In addition, the imail system has been integrated with back-office systems through anApplication Programming Interface (API). The submission of mail items has been fully automated witha cut-off time of 6pm for same-day printing so that all customer communications arrive two daysafter posting. This has improved cash flow while also ensuring that all letters are delivered ontime, UK Mail said.
