Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 - (Page 22)

Productivity and Optimization As companies look for new ways to maximize their existing mailing and printing infrastructure investments, they increasingly seek to extend the functional lifespan of their owned equipment instead of acquiring replacement machinery. Similarly, eﬀorts to optimize productivity within current staﬃng levels have gained favor in lieu of hiring additional workers or running additional shifts to increase output. An ADF is an attractive approach in both of these areas. By virtue of print-job and mailpiece tracking, supervisors gain the ability to visualize and analyze production workﬂow in real time and plan workloads according to immediate processing demands. They can also analyze the eﬃciency of every employee and system and identifying areas for improvement. As a result, organizations make more pointed and proﬁtable decisions regarding productivity, staﬃng and equipment. Flexibility and Interoperability Making the most of existing investments, important for any organization, is often crucial for companies that have recently been through mergers, acquisitions or industry aﬃliations. Several vertical markets are experiencing broad consolidations of players — with restructuring eﬀorts often sparking signiﬁcant concerns over redundant functions, incompatible systems and outdated equipment. Indeed, one leading objective of any merger or acquisition is to simplify and streamline how acquired organizations process information. As a result, printing and mailing operations often work with a range of applications and equipment, with mixed shops and specialized document attributes interfering with factorylike integration eﬀorts. Companies faced with this situation should consider moving toward an ADF model as a way to gain ﬂexibility and interoperability and for facilities to repurpose documents and equipment to meet the changing needs of the organization. Personalized Communications Despite the predicted demise of printed documents, surveys indicate that a majority of consumers still prefer direct mail over other types of customer marketing. According to Infotrends: The Future of Direct Mail, Transaction and Transpromotional Documents, printing and mailing continue to be cornerstones of customer communication, but info-age consumers are typically no longer seduced by campaigns relying on simple mass communications. Personalized one-to-one documents are required to eﬀectively target customers. Increasingly, companies ﬁnd that ADFs can help them communicate with customers in highly personalized ways. Automated and customized documents decrease the amount of time and money required to attract new clients, while deepening the proﬁtability of established customers. With the advent of digital printers and advanced database systems, formerly static documents are transformed into transpromotional documents with signiﬁcantly greater abilities to cross-sell and up-sell, dramatically improving customer response. And the use of electronic communication channels are also enabling a document to satisfy additional delivery preferences as well as leveraging the power and ﬂexibility that the Internet has to oﬀer. Critical ADF Considerations The time is right for organizations to revisit the advantages and beneﬁts of an ADF. Pressures associated with cost containment and regulatory compliance, combined with the bottomline need to sustain and improve mission-critical documents, make a next-generation ADF solution more appealing, and more practical, than ever. However, several factors should be considered before moving toward an ADF model: 1. Protect Your Investment — An ADF solution must be able to work seamlessly with a variety of systems. Many organizations operate with long-tenured mailing equipment and legacy printing systems, sometimes long after they have fully depreciated. A viable ADF solution must be able to bridge the gap between disparate systems and provide new value to existing technology investments. 2. Be Open and Flexible — An ADF solution must not be hindered by diﬀerences in print platforms, barcode technologies or data formats. Most enterprise organizations own multiple document composition tools, operate using several computing platforms and support a variety of native programming languages and print protocols. Service bureaus are particularly challenged by the varieties of graphic formats that they must handle in order to accommodate customer demand. An ADF must therefore thrive in a mixed environment, bringing unity to the complex pockets of capability that would otherwise run in isolation from each other. 3. Modular and Cost-Eﬀective — Many organizations were reluctant to adopt the monolithic and expensive early ADF solutions. The strength of next-generation ADF technology is in the cost-eﬀective modular design approach. Companies evaluating an ADF should do so as a modular implementation — adopting pieces and capabilities that make sense and are aﬀordable and setting the stage for expansion and growth into a more fully integrated ADF strategy at their own pace. 4. Moving Forward with an ADF — Companies can no longer aﬀord to build strategies in isolation from their documents and the systems that create, produce and deliver them. By delivering the power of personalized documents and the ability to provide superior levels of customer service, an ADF model can transform document production from an expensive corporate liability to a vital and proﬁtable enterprise. 61% 63% of consumers prefer direct mail over other customer marketing. of consumers have a preference for personalized documents. Infotrends: The Future of Direct Mail, Transaction and Transpromotional Documents The vision may have been ahead of its time, but with the recent maturation of ADF technologies, the dream of a truly integrated ADF has become reality. The modular structure of next-generation solutions has opened the door to small- and medium-sized organizations and bridged the gap between proprietary third-party systems. An ADF can provide the structure and capability needed to optimize the performance of your documents and the systems used to create, produce and distribute them. Mike Maselli is Executive Director of Business Management for BÖWE BELL + HOWELL. Contact him at Mike.Maselli@bowebellhowell. com, or visit www.bowebellhowell.com. 22 MAY-JUNE 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.bowebellhowell.com http://www.mailsystemstechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Peer to Peer It’s an Inside Job Greening Your Mail Center Adopting an Automated Document Factory Intelligent Mail and Address Quality 7 Steps to Combat “Do Not Mail” A Successful Resolution Q&A with Dan G. Blair, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission The Intelligent Mail Barcode Developing High-Performance Teams Simple Strategies to Save You Money A Powerful Social Network With Change, Comes Opportunity Increasing the Deliverability of Mail Kate’s Slate Products & Services People of Distinction Advertiser Index Sho Time

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

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