In today’s business climate, threats to your people and brand can come fast, unexpectedly and from a multitude of sources. Perhaps it’s simply a proposed name change that generates unprecedented volumes of hate mail. Or an unwittingly controversial social media post that has made an executive a target. The very nature of your business could be putting employees at risk of dangerous letter or parcel attacks from a malicious individual or volatile outside group. Few public-facing businesses are immune to threats coming into their corporate mail centers.

With so much at stake, it’s natural for business leadership and employees to worry about the sufficiency of mail center systems and processes. For IT and security leaders, the burden falls on you to make sure mail services tools and expertise keep pace with mail threat levels and types. Your company could be experiencing rapid growth, a surge in high-profile work, employee turnover or any number of other circumstances that increase threat exposure. If so, you may need to bolster the protection of your employees and consider engaging a trusted business mail services provider.

Is your inbound mail safe for all of your employees? Do you feel confident that if someone in your company becomes a target, there won’t be a catastrophic event due to a screening failure? If you’re not sure, it’s time to reassess. Perhaps you should provide specialized staff training or beef up systems to handle more volume. It may be time to add the advanced technology, protocols and expertise required to detect and protect against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) threats.

One global technology company first engaged on-site services from Canon to manage mail screening operations with a trained staff that employed both visual and x-ray screening to monitor mail pieces. When an assessment indicated the need to mitigate higher-level CBRNE threats, Canon extended solution services to include biological and chemical screening (with isolation chambers and automatic HVAC shutdown systems) to protect employees, including the CEO and executive staff.

When should you engage help? Generally speaking, you’re in dangerous territory when you’re no longer able to manually screen all of your incoming mail. The volume threshold varies by company and capability, but if a hate letter can make it all the way to your CEO’s desk, that’s not safe. Another flag is when your day-to-day mail becomes more heavily weighted to public-opinion letters than correspondence related to your actual operations. That’s a trigger to re-evaluate your existing systems.

Working with companies at this stage, a mail screening partner will typically conduct a risk analysis of current screening processes to determine what type and level of help is required. If you already have a robust system in place, you may only need to augment that with a layer of CBRNE protection. If a sudden spike in mail volume or heightened threat level overwhelms your current resources, your partner can provide immediate help with a comprehensive solution that integrates all necessary people, technology and best practices.

What functionality do you need? The best solution for you depends on your protection goals, your risk profile and your investment capacity. Mail services experts can help you develop a customized strategy for security procedures that takes into account all unique-to-your-business factors. For example, Canon works with clients to determine the optimal mix of their own and Canon-provided resources, including technology, process and data elements. Canon services can include:

• Risk analysis and return on investment (ROI) projection
• Technology, workflow and building design and optimization
• Safe mail transport from the post office
• Expedited mail and package delivery to internal teams
• Chain-of-custody capabilities for safety, visibility and improved reporting of mail and package handling and delivery
• Real-time inspection
• Digitization of mail for improved review and searchable text
• Threat notification
• Post-threat stand-downs

Do you have weak links in your screening and security? Every element of your mail screening and protection structure should be optimized. Canon considers its own role to be that of an optimizing partner — that is, we push the boundaries of possible solutions to find the best means to optimize every element for safety and efficiency. One of the biggest obstacles for businesses that require CBRNE processes is the upfront financial cost. Canon can analyze solution ROI and, in many cases, identify areas for improved efficiencies and cost savings that bring the desired solution into reach.

Canon recently strengthened a client’s mail services with the development of an off-site facility for complete CBRNE screening, including the purchase and installation of military-grade equipment. Among other benefits, this more sophisticated detection technology helps the company avoid costly false-positive screenings. Additionally, the new screening process does not require consumables, representing a monthly savings of thousands of dollars and enabling equipment cost recovery within just a few years.

Canon brings to every mailroom and mail security screening program an exceptional depth of experience to make sure clients’ investments in mail screening and mailroom security services pay off — in people and brand protection, efficiencies and that all-important peace of mind.

To find out if your company can benefit from Canon Mail Security and Mailroom Outsourcing services, call a Canon solution analyst at 888-623-2668. Your employees are your greatest asset. Their protection is vital to your success. Call today to schedule an onsite assessment.