magazine
10
Dictation
Noted!
New Royal Mail Mailmark™
is made simple with Neopost
FOLLOWING
a
£70million investment,
Royal Mail will soon be
introducing the next
generation of franked
mail - Mailmark™.
At Neopost we see
Mailmark™ as an
exciting initiative that
will ultimately make
franking an even more
attractive option.
Royal Mail’s Mailmark™
will be progressively
introduced during
the course of 2014.
So what is Royal Mail
Mailmark™?
Mailmark™ is a new generation
of franking mark that replaces
the traditional ‘town and crown’
die with a 2D barcode that carries
machine readable information on
the user and mailpiece.
Mailmark™ offers the potential
to track mail location and
delivery, improve reporting and
management of tariffs.
Over time all business mail will
carry this barcode. However
Royal Mail will continue to
process existing franking formats
for a period after Mailmark™
becomes available, so for those
that do not want to take up this
new technology there is
no immediate change.
Mailmark™ means smarter
mail for your business
Some of the benefits of new
Mailmark™ for your business are:
• Simplified access to Royal Mail
products
• Increased intelligence gives
potential for new products
and services
• More professional and modern
image helps to add customer
value
• Cessation of ‘posting out of
area’ requirement
With Mailmark™ you
always pay the right
amount for postage
With new Mailmark™ the correct
postage is always applied so you
benefit from:
• No surcharges – avoid
customer dissatisfaction and
extra cost
• Simple tariff update
• Accurate product selection
• Expected tariff differential
• Mailmark™ will always be the
best value tariff in the franking
channel
Who will benefit from
using Mailmark™?
• Retail customers using low
sort, unsorted or meter options
for Letters and Large Letters
• Access customers sending
machinable Letters and
Large Letters
• Business Mail Advanced and
Response Services customers
So what do franking
machine users need
to do?
As the old franking service
remains, there is no need to
upgrade or replace machines
as a result of Mailmark™.
The business case for
replacement will depend on
the volume of mail sent and
the tariff differences. At this
stage the pricing of Mailmark™
versus other Royal Mail
tariffs is unknown.
Other factors to consider when
making this decision are the
productivity, convenience and
cost benefits of a new machine.
Depending on the current
machine, these could include
integrated scales, intuitive touch
screens, print quality and the
capability to reclaim VAT on
eligible Royal Mail postal
services.
Over the coming months
Royal Mail will be releasing
more information and
details on Mailmark™ –
to keep up to speed with
all these developments
you can also register for
regular e-mail bulletins
from Neopost.
Just go to
or call
0800 731 1334
quoting MMCSN1.
Handheld dictation machines are
usually promoted as a good way to
increase the productivity of highly paid
fee-earners and to speed up business
processes. Another benefit that can be
enjoyed by all types of user is the ability
to record notes, entire conversations,
presentations and meetings.
Recording meetings rather than taking
handwritten notes means a) that you
can concentrate more fully on what’s
being said; and b) that you have an
accurate record of a meeting, interview or
conversation to refer back to.
This is important because a new study
conducted by transcription and translation
specialists Global Lingo warns that workers
who fail to take notes properly are costing
the UK economy £3.7 billion a year.
The five most common failings cited
by the 2,378 employees surveyed are:
n
attempting and failing to write down
every word said and not being able to
summarise effectively (58%);
n
keeping notes in different places and
not in order (44%);
n
being too wary or intimidated to ask
colleagues to slow down or repeat
something when missed (32%);
n
failing to make appropriate headings/
sub-headings and forgetting the general
theme/topic of the notes (24%); and
n
not being able to read one’s own
handwriting (16%).
These problems are experienced by
people at every level of an organisation,
not just a small number of dictation users:
62% of workers questioned by Global
Lingo said that they took notes at work,
with 54% claiming they are asked to do
so on a weekly basis. Of these note-
takers, 90% claimed that they regularly
took down notes incorrectly. On average,
each employee spends 32 minutes per
week – or 24.7 hours per working year –
deciphering poorly taken notes.
Olympus voice recorders
Voice recorders are a good way to
overcome such problems. Olympus’s
new range includes models to suit every
requirement, including:
n
The DM-901
, with colour LCD screen
and built-inWiFi. Voice files can be
transferred wirelessly to PCs, tablets or
smartphones and then transcribed using
a free iPhone/Android app. TheWiFi
capability also enables users to control
the recorder remotely via a smartphone.
Photos taken on a connected smartphone
or tablet during a recording can be linked
to the voice file. The DM-901 costs £199.
n
TheWS series
(WS-833,WS-832,
WS-831), featuring a directional stereo
microphone and new Transcription Mode
that automatically adjusts settings for
easier transcribing. A time-saving Voice
Playback function analyses recordings and
skips parts where nothing was said. Prices
start at £79.99;
n
The VN-PC series
(VN-733PC,
VN-732PC, VN-731PC), an entry-level
recorder offering simplicity and value.
It features an expanded choice of
Scene Select modes that automatically
apply the best settings for different
tasks. Including Dictation, Meeting and
Conference modes, plus two new settings,
Telephone Recording for capturing phone
conversations and Duplication for making
copies of old tapes. Prices start at £54.99.
Handheld voice recorders
make inaccurate note-taking
a thing of the past
