For decades, letters and email have been the backbone of formal communication. They carried contracts, approvals, policies, and decisions across cities, countries, and continents.
But today? They’ve become a bottleneck. Business and government communication has evolved, yet the tools many rely on remain stuck in the past. It’s time to migrate to a new system, one that meets the demands of a digital-first, high-security world.
Letters: Too Slow for the Speed of Business
Physical mail simply cannot keep pace. Documents can take days or weeks to arrive. Worse, critical communications are regularly delayed, lost, or damaged in transit.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Royal Mail (UK) and USPS (USA) faced unprecedented backlogs. In the UK alone, Royal Mail warned of delays in over 28 areas due to staff shortages and supply chain issues (BBC News). The cost of such delays for businesses? Missed contracts, penalties, and broken trust.
Mail tracking also remains inadequate. While packages may have tracking numbers, most official letters do not, making follow-up a cumbersome, manual process. The modern business world cannot afford such uncertainty.
Email: An Overloaded, Risky Relic
Email transformed communication in the 1990s—but the scale of modern communication has rendered it unmanageable and insecure. The average office worker now receives between 100 to 120 emails per day (Radicati Group), leading to missed deadlines, overlooked contracts, and constant email fatigue.
Even worse is the security risk. According to the Verizon 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 74% of breaches involved the human element, phishing, misdirected emails, or stolen credentials (Verizon DBIR 2023).
The world has already witnessed high-profile disasters:
- In Poland, senior government officials were caught in a damaging scandal when private emails between top politicians were hacked and leaked (Politico).
- In 2021, multiple European ministries faced public embarrassment after diplomatic cables and government records were leaked due to poor email security (Politico EU).
Email lacks critical features like tamper-proof document verification, version control, and true legal audit trails. The stakes are simply too high to rely on outdated systems.
The tools that carried us through the 20th century are no longer fit for the speed and complexity of today’s world with AI agents, quantum computing, and robotic revolution.
The Communication Gap Is Growing
Organizations today face a lose-lose situation: rely on slow physical mail or chaotic, insecure email chains. Neither approach meets modern demands for speed, security, accountability, and collaboration.
The communication gap leads to:
- Lost revenue from delayed approvals and missed deals
- Operational risk from data leaks and non-compliance
- Damaged relationships with clients, citizens, and partners
Although there are multiple ultra-secure messaging systems available nowadays, they are mostly designed for instant messaging. For B2B communications, there are some tools available; however, for B2C, G2G, G2B, and, more importantly, G2C, there is no proper solution. Patching the system won’t work. It’s time for a complete reinvention.
Final Thought
The tools that carried us through the 20th century are no longer fit for the speed and complexity of today’s world with AI agents, quantum computing, and robotic revolution. Just like the fax machine became obsolete, email and letters are on the same path. Forward-thinking organizations are already embracing next-generation communication solutions.
The question isn’t if this shift will happen. The question is how soon you’ll make the move.
About Letro
Letro is creating a secure, blockchain-backed communication platform for critical interactions and e-signatures, designed for the digital-first world of business and government. Stay connected with us as we continue to lead the way in setting a new standard for formal communication.
