The morning post and the provider inbox
Every morning an administrator opens the post: annual statements, contract notes, a letter asking for a missing signature, a policy anniversary notice. The provider inbox holds more of the same as PDFs. For each item they find the client, sometimes by plan number, sometimes by name, sometimes by trial and error. They scan, rename and file it, then decide whether an adviser needs to know.
It takes a good part of the day. And the one letter that needed urgent action can sit in the pile until someone reaches it.
Why sorting takes so long
Provider letters are all different. Plan numbers are formatted inconsistently, client names may not match the back office exactly, and some letters refer to schemes rather than individuals. Matching is a small puzzle every time.
The bigger problem is triage. Most correspondence is for information only, but some needs action, and without reading it properly you cannot tell which is which.
- Plan numbers in different formats from those in the back office.
- Letters addressed to trustees or schemes rather than individuals.
- Information-only and action-required items mixed together.
- Files saved with inconsistent names.
- Urgent letters waiting in the same pile as routine ones.
Volume is uneven as well. Anniversary statements and annual packs cluster at certain times of year, and when the pile grows, sorting is the task that gets pushed back. That is exactly when the urgent letter is most likely to be buried.
Different people sort differently, too. One administrator files a contract note under the plan, another under the client, a third in a general provider folder. Months later, finding a single letter means guessing which of them handled it.
What the manual sort costs
| Item type | Risk when sorted by hand |
|---|---|
| Requirement letter | Action delayed while it waits in the pile |
| Contract note | Filed against the wrong plan |
| Annual statement | Filed but values never checked |
| Provider change notice | Not passed to the adviser |
The time is significant, but the real exposure is the urgent letter that waits. A provider requirement with a deadline, found a week late, can hold up a client's case.
The intake we build
- Post is scanned on arrival, and provider emails go to a single intake address.
- Each document is read, and key details are extracted: provider, plan number, client name, document type, dates and any action requested.
- Details are matched to clients and plans in Intelliflo Office, Xplan, Curo or your records, allowing for formatting differences.
- Confident matches are filed automatically with a consistent name. Uncertain ones go to a short queue for a person to confirm.
- Documents asking for action are flagged and routed to the adviser or team who owns the case, with the deadline if there is one.
- Figures from statements, such as values, can be recorded against the plan for someone to confirm.
We do not throw anything away or act on requests automatically. The system reads, files and routes. People decide.
The office afterwards
The administrator starts the day with a short queue of items that need a human eye, rather than the whole pile. Requirement letters reach the right person the day they arrive. Filing is consistent. And advisers stop discovering letters weeks after they came in.
The client record becomes more complete as well. Statements and contract notes land against the right plan every time, so when an adviser opens a client before a review, the documents they expect to find are there, with consistent names and dates.
Recognise your post tray?
- Someone spends much of the day sorting provider post.
- Matching letters to clients involves searching by name or plan number.
- Files are named differently by different people.
- Urgent requirement letters are found late.
- Statement values are filed but not recorded.