Virtual office
Virtual Office Software for Address and Mail Handling
Turn an address into a managed mailing service. Every item photographed on arrival, client is notified and then decides - scan, forward, shred and recycle.
- Photographed on arrival
- Client chooses what happens next
- Mailroom carries out instruction
The workflow
From Delivery to Decision to Instruction
Five steps to delivery
Photograph it & Notify Recipient
Mailroom staff scan the item in on a phone or tablet and photograph it while it is still sealed. The photograph lets the recipient decide what to do next, without anyone opening the envelope.
Traizr notifies the recipient
The item is linked to a recipient account and they are notified that they have new mail.
The recipient receives a notification
A notification is received in app, via email or SMS, with the photograph attached. The client can act on it from anywhere.
They choose what happens next
Scan, forward, shred or recycle (or a combination of these) selected in the app. The request is sent back to the mailroom for action.
Mailroom carries out instruction
The instruction is completed and recorded. A scan is attached to the item in Traizr if requested.
Find out more with our virtual office management guide.
Four things a recipient can request
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Scan it
The item is opened and the contents scanned.
RecordedWho opened and scanned it, when they did it, and the file itself, stored against the item. -
Forward it
The item is posted on to a real address.
RecordedThe destination address, the date it was sent, the person who sent it, and the postage cost. -
Shred it
Secure disposal for anything carrying a name and an account number.
RecordedThat the client asked for destruction, which member of staff carried it out, and when. -
Recycle it
Ordinary disposal for marketing post, which makes up a large share of everything arriving at a business address.
RecordedThe client's instruction and the date it was carried out, so an item is never simply missing from the record.
Each action is recorded rather than just done, because a virtual office holds other people's correspondence. When a client asks what happened to an item, the answer needs a name and a time attached to it. That is the same principle as internal proof of delivery, applied to mail that never enters a building.
All Virtual Office systems include . . .
All included as standard. No feature tiers, no per-user fees, and no dedicated hardware to buy.
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Photograph at receipt
Every item is photographed as it arrives, so the recipient sees the item first hand.
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Client mail accounts
Each client has their own account, instructions, forwarding address and history.
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Automatic notifications
App, email and SMS alerts as soon as an item is logged, with reminders for anything still waiting on an instruction.
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Scan to file
Contents are scanned and attached to the item.
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Forwarding with postage
The destination address and postage cost are captured when the item is sent.
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Shred and recycle requests
Disposal is an instruction with a name and a timestamp on it, which is what makes it defensible later.
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Usage per client
Items received, scanned and forwarded, per client, over any date range.
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More than one address
Run several virtual office addresses from one platform, each with its own recipient list.
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Collection in person
Recipients can arrange to walk in and collect the item.
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Searchable history
Find any item by client, sender, reference or date.
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Role-based access
Allow only certain mailroom staff to carry out certain roles.
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Thirteen languages
Clients read notifications in their own language.
Who runs a virtual office
Anyone can. You can turn any address into a virtual office.
Running it by hand against running it on Traizr
The manual version works. It just does not scale, and the places it breaks are predictable.
| By hand | With Traizr |
|---|---|
| A message saying post has arrived | A photograph of the item, sent automatically |
| Instructions by email, text and phone | One request - One action |
| Scans emailed and then lost | Scan stored against the item permanently |
| Forwarding address from the sign-up form | Held on the client record and kept current |
| Postage absorbed as an overhead | Captured against the client when it is sent |
| Monthly billing reconstructed from notes | Usage per client over any date range, exportable |
| No evidence an item was handled | Every action named, timestamped and searchable |
| Post for closed accounts processed anyway | Flagged rather than quietly handled |
Frequently asked questions
What is virtual office software?
It is the system that runs the mail side of a virtual office. Clients pay to use your address, but what they are buying is the handling: someone receives their post, tells them it has arrived, and does what they ask with it. Virtual office software makes that repeatable. Each item is photographed and logged on arrival, the client is notified, they choose what happens next from their phone, and the action is recorded against their account.
Can clients see their mail before deciding what to do with it?
Yes, and it removes most of the phone calls. The envelope is photographed when it is logged, so the client sees the sender and the format before choosing. Most items are obvious from the outside. A client who can see that something is junk will recycle it without asking you to open anything.
What actions can a client request?
Scan, forward, shred or recycle. Scanning opens the item and returns the contents as a file. Forwarding posts it on to a real address. Shredding is secure disposal, and recycling is ordinary disposal. Every request is timestamped, carried out by a named member of your team, and closed off on the record.
Can Traizr handle billing for virtual office clients?
Traizr records what you handled and what you did with it, per client, over any date range. That gives you the figures a virtual office is normally billed on: items received, items scanned, items forwarded, and the postage attached to each forward. Traizr does not raise the invoice itself, but it removes the guesswork about what goes on it.
How many clients can one address handle?
There is no limit in the software. Each client is a record rather than a separate installation, so the practical limit is your own capacity to handle the post. If you run several addresses, multi-tenant mailroom software covers how those are kept apart.
Can we run this alongside a physical mailroom?
Yes. Many business centres do both, with a virtual office client list alongside tenants who are physically in the building. It is the same platform and the same app. Staff scanning the morning post do not need to know which category an item belongs to, because the recipient record already says.
What happens to mail for a client who has left?
The account is closed, and anything arriving afterwards is flagged rather than processed as normal. This matters more than it sounds. Post for a departed client is the most common way a virtual office ends up holding something it has no instruction for, and the usual result is a pile in a drawer that nobody has the authority to open.
Is there a limit on how long records are kept?
No. The history stays available for as long as you need it, and scans stay attached to the item they came from. That matters when a client disputes whether something arrived, because the answer is a search rather than a conversation.
Do clients need to install an app?
No, although most prefer to. Push notifications are faster than email, and the QR code used for collection in person lives in the app. Clients who would rather not install anything can be notified by email or SMS and respond the same way.
How is this different from a PO box?
A PO box holds post until someone collects it. A virtual office acts on it. In software terms, a PO box needs a pigeonhole and a virtual office needs an instruction workflow, which is why the two are not really the same product. See PO box management software if the pigeonhole model is closer to what you run.
If you also handle post for people inside the building, mailroom management software covers the wider picture.
Other things the platform does
Same system, different capability. These are the ones virtual office operators ask about most.
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Multi-tenant mailroom software
Many tenants on one platform, each seeing only their own mail, with a superadmin that creates and configures all of them.
Read the page -
On-premise mailroom software
Install on your own infrastructure or in a container inside your network, and run the mailroom with no outbound connection at all.
Read the page -
Multi-hop mail routing
Send an item onward through postrooms, buildings, campuses and countries, with one person accountable for each leg.
Read the page -
In-app support from real people
Ask a question from inside the product and get an answer from someone who knows it, not a ticket number and a queue.
Read the page
Ready to Simplify Secure Speed Up Optimise Your Building?
Bring your client list and the way you bill for it, and we will walk one item from delivery through to a closed instruction. About 20 minutes.
