CHICAGO, Jan. 24 -- Oce, a global leader in digital document management and delivery solutions, today announced a strategy to develop a digital solution that automates mailroom activities in tandem with digital document and records management solutions. The Oce solution includes a scanning system at the incoming end of mail activity coupled with software for recognition, distribution and retention. Mail systems are integrated with digital printing and copy hardware with password protection. The solutions are united through a records management policy that ensures all mail and company documents are retained according to regulations and best practices. "Say goodbye to sorting charts, mail carts and pigeon hole sorters that trace back to Ben Franklin's day," said Michael Field, Director of Technology, Oce Business Services (OBS). "Tomorrow's digital mailroom consists of high- tech scanners and software that deliver mail straight to an employee's computer. In the digital mailroom, physical mail, fax and email converge in an electronic format that saves time and money, and even allows hard copy mail to be searched like email." The OBS digital mail strategy includes the following process: -- Digital mail is opened with state of the art, automated equipment -- An image of each mail piece is captured using high-speed scanners and converted to text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software -- Mail files are made searchable by indexing with time and date -- Mail is routed and delivered to the addressee by extracting delivery information from the text produced by the OCR software. This information is matched to a list of validated employees, departments and locations, including forwarding instructions, in an enhanced database. The software is sophisticated enough to recognize mail stops, department names, and to resolve employee names despite misspellings, abbreviations, nicknames and suffixes -- Mail is distributed using intelligent routing software as an email attachment or as a hyperlink into the database -- A records retention policy and schedule enforces the shelf life of electronic and hard copy mail "Managers often fail to realize the costs for handling and processing mail," said Field. "Industry sources estimate that each piece of mail costs $.40 to $1.00 per letter for opening and delivery. Factoring in copying, forwarding, filing and retrieving, and the cost shoots to $20 for each document. Digital mail and office systems unify these processes and eliminate the lost productivity in mail delivery or searching for poorly classified files down the road. They also save time by making mail available instantly, even to off-site employees."