Enric Aranda León has joined the MailTecK & Customer Comms group as Head of Legal Communications Development in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. Aranda is a Technical Architect from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. With more than 20 years of experience in sales, he has worked in the commercial department of companies such as Riso or Unipost. In the latter, Enric specialized in burofax products, being responsible for the company’s main accounts. Enric talks about the future of the burofax and legal communications in general.
What advantages does PostaMail have over other electronic communications processing and distribution platforms?
At present, there are other companies that professionalize a communications distribution service through their own platforms, but print and ship through other companies. For example, there are companies that print the burofaxes in the courier office itself. In these cases, security is non-existent and data protection is non-existent. However, our platform protects us from the transit of the information to others and the subsequent deposit process at the Post Office, since we work directly with them. It should also be noted that our platform has a unique print central. In addition, we are a trusted service provider and are ISO 27001 certified. The latter guarantees the confidentiality and integrity of our customer data processing processes, based on effective information security management.
Does it offer the possibility to access the process traces?
The platform facilitates the traceability of the total process. In addition, in services with traceability such as the burofax, this tracking is done from our platform, we do not have to go to the postal operator’s own website. And not only can we record traceability, we also certify the content. We have a backup copy of all shipments made to each user. Each copy is stored and can be used, both by the user and the administrator, in case the contents need to be verified.
Companies are aware of the usefulness of the bureaufax, but they also recognize that the tool is becoming more expensive. Can we speak of malpractice in justifying the use of this communication?
Yes, there are bad practices. There are cases where the burofax has been used automatically for communications that did not require it. This increases costs, and other more economical communications, such as registered letter or certified email, can be used.
Electronic communications, and especially electronic notifications, have acquired a special prominence within certified communications. How has email security and inviolability evolved in recent years?
This whole world of electronic communications is catching on because they are much faster, some people prefer them and value the fact that their shipments arrive in this way, and their cost is much lower than paper shipments.
Will its validity and probative value be equal to that of the burofax?
Probably, but we cannot be sure when. It is quite a complex issue, because it depends on the law. At the moment, in case of taking into account the legal validity of the sending in case of a possible legal problem, normally the burofax is used more; but it depends on what you want to communicate, how you want to communicate and what need we have to demonstrate that probative value.
The Customer Experience is something that Marketing takes into account when sending its communications. What happens when these are purely legal?
Nowadays there are still companies that send their burofaxes as if they were telegrams, with a huge handwriting, sometimes without logo, in black and white, etc. We have now reached a point where legal communications will require a “marketinian” vision. It is necessary to find a way to reconcile purely legal communication, whether positive or negative, and at the same time not to show such a harsh image of the company issuing the mailing. We want the customer to receive our burofax in the friendliest possible way to increase the acceptance rate. We are already working on it. For example, we are the only supplier in the Spanish market to offer a color bureaufax solution.
Another issue that has been discussed in shipping is multichannel. How is this aspect currently being worked on?
In recent years, there has been talk of going paperless. However, it will never be completely eliminated. Companies are working on optimizing communications. That doesn’t mean they will discard the role. Our platform allows the client to avoid processes prior to shipment, reducing a series of costs: printing, handling, transport, shipping to the post office, etc. Our job is to digitize the company’s correspondence management. This saves the company significant time and, therefore, increases its productivity. In addition, we are moving towards a multichannel communication where the company can decide which type of channel is the most interesting for each communication, even automatically using a second channel if the first one has not worked. This optimizes all communications and facilitates the companies’ control over them. We look for the best channel to reach each customer.
What are the new challenges facing this type of integrated communications management services in an era of technological innovation?
I think that the biggest challenge has already been addressed, which is the impact of electronic communications around the world; but we have to be prepared for the new communications that will be generated. Who’s to say we won’t work with the burofax via certified SMS! We have to be open to other types of challenges and, above all, be the first to detect and implement them.