F5 Works - Software and Web Development

ABOUT

ViaPost is a new innovative company offering an alternative mail service that allows individuals and businesses to send physical post direct from their PC. By making the software fee for customers to download, ViaPost allows the transmission of letters electronically to a print hub near where they need to go. At the printing hub, all customers' post is printed ready-sorted and bar-coded for delivery by Royal Mail the last few miles. Because ViaPost eliminated the carriage and most of the mechanical sorting, they are in a position to deliver each letter for just 27p+VAT, including printing, stationery and delivery.

REQUIREMENTS

ViaPost requirements were to produce a range of software drivers to assist their innovative new concept for allowing businesses and individuals to send physical post to any UK address, directly from their computers.

All software needed to be secure, of the highest quality and incorporate a confidential way of printing and posting that saved both time and money.

SOLUTION

• In conjunction with ViaPost, F5 Works came up with three particular solutions; the ViaPost print driver, the Web Portal and the API. All three drivers offer different solutions for different user types.
• The ViaPost Driver, which is a free piece of software that installs on a clients Windows computer.
• Ideal for lower volume mailings (less than a thousand letters at a time), the ViaPost Driver acts just like a print driver. The client, simply selects "Send it ViaPost" from their printer list instead of printing to their local inkjet or laser printer.
• The ViaPortal allows bulk upload of a document and a list of addresses from any computer connected to the web, including Macs.
• All documents are sent to all the addresses in the clients list, with full mail merge functionality.
• The ViaPost API integrates with the clients IT systems and allows their current enterprise software (Sage, Oracle, SAP, etc.) to send documents direct into the ViaPost system without any user intervention. This is intended for higher volume users for whom the print driver may not be the best route.
• All drivers now allows individuals and businesses to send physical letters to any UK address simply by pressing print from within any Windows application.