UK SME Multi-channel communication survey

UK SME Multi-channel Communication Survey 2014

As the office environment becomes increasingly digitised, the way SMEs are communicating with customers is changing.

From physical mail to email and social media, small businesses are struggling to manage the ever increasing communication channels available to them.

Overwhelmed, these challenges can lead to inefficient processes costing time and money.

Neopost and OpinionWay surveyed 280 UK SMEs to determine how these businesses view and deal with multi-channel communications.

The survey also sought to establish the challenges they face as a result of failing to manage this effectively.

What is the size of your organisation?

2 to 19 employees

20 to 49 employees

50 to 500 employees Business services

Trade

Construction, Manufacturing

Public services, Health, Education

Legal, Finance, Insurance

Private Services

No answer

What is the main activity / line of business for your organisation?

For each of the following, how many items does your organisation generate per month (approx)? (Multiple choice)

General correspondences with clients such as reminders, newsletters

Invoices

Purchase Orders

Quotes / Proposals / Estimates

Pay slips

Contracts

Average of items

Invoices

Contracts

Quotes / Proposals / Estimates

Purchase Orders

General correspondences with clients such as reminders, newsletters

Pay slips

Other

38% 18% 3% 38% 5% 21%

66% 9% 1% 21% 3% 14%

59% 19% 4% 26% 2% 15%

45% 14% 2% 23% 4% 23%

68% 13% 5% 23% 9% 12%

19% 17% 0% 24% 3% 42%

Horizontal %

What are the electronic formats used by your organisation to generate the following documents? (Multiple choice)

Yes 37%

No 63%

Are you aware of specific compliance issues linked to electronic invoicing (e-invoicing)? (Single choice)

Based on the type of document

Based on recipients' preference

Based on the importance of the document

Based on the type of client

Based on your preference

Based on the budget

Based on the time available

DK

TotalFactor N°1

What are your main criteria when deciding between sending a document electronically or by physical mail? (Multiple choice)

Invoices

Contracts

Quotes / Proposals / Estimates

Purchase Orders

General correspondences with clients such as reminders,

newsletters

Pay slips

No archiving

Don’t know

209 77% 13% 9% - 1%

128 73% 11% 13% 3% -

176 62% 20% 15% 3% -

149 63% 17% 12% 7% 1%

197 58% 30% 7% 2% 3%

161 44% 26% 14% 8% 8%

Base

How do you archive your documents? (Single choice per line)

On an internal server

On a separate hard drive

On your hard drive

In your email sent box

In the Cloud

On a shared storage drive

Don't know

When electronically archiving your documents, where do you store them? (Multiple choice)

Wasting time on repetitive tasks

Risk of human errors in the processes of outgoing communications

Spending time gathering information from different systems

Having to re-enter data several times throughout the process

Having difficulty to find or retrieve past communications across communication channels

Having trouble tracking all communications with a given client across communication channels

Lacking visibility and traceability on what your organisation sent to whom and when

Lack of control on the security of the storage of documents

Yes definitely Yes probably No probably not No definitely not

47%

45%

40%

37%

34%

33%

26%

25%

Yes

Are you experiencing the following issues as far as outgoing communications are concerned? (Single choice)

Improving the visibility and traceability of all outgoing communication

Saving time by automating repetitive tasks

Facilitating the access to your archived communications from anywhere & any device

Improving your personal day-to-day efficiency

Facilitating the retrieval of past communications, whatever the channel used or the user who sent it within your organisation

Yes

Saving time on the overall process of outgoing communications

Tracking and archiving all the communications and interactions with clients in the same location

Increasing the security of stored documents

Providing guarantees of authenticity to your documents & limiting fraud risks thanks to certifications and e-signature

Helping to avoid human errors in the process of outgoing communications

Making your documents look more professional

91%

95%

93%

91%

96%

95%

86%

90%

87%

98%

79%

Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Overall this solution would benefit your organisation by…

neoPreference is a multichannel communication delivery and archiving application created by Neopost for businesses like yours. It enables you to simply manage outgoing electronic and physical communications in a couple of clicks.

Discover how this easy-to-use, fast-to-implement solution can streamline mail management for a typical small or medium enterprise.

Improve your productivity and efficiency•Automate repetitive tasks.•Access all business-critical communications•from one single tool at anytime from anywhere

Improve visibility and traceability of your outgoing communications•Benefit from a centralised view of all outgoing communications.•Track when your recipient opens your communication.•Create a robust audit trail for your business-critical communications, such as quotes and invoices.

Learn more at http://www.neopost.co.uk/neoPreference