The Value of Integrated Business Solutions for Print


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Integrated Business Solutions for Print



Print marketing, including the wide variety of print usages, which are often underutilized, is far more reaching than most people realize or notice. For example, aside from digital printing for mail, transactional documents, direct mail marketing, event programs, banners, postcards, and brochures, there are numerous printed materials in use all around us. Walk down your favorite city street, and more than likely, you will encounter city signage attached to various locations promoting an event, services, or tourist destinations. When you are online eyeballing a celebrity, musical talent, sports figure, politician, or even a live event such as the Grammys, Oscars, or other entertainment-types, the backdrop the notables stand or speak in front of is a printed piece. Recall the moments when you have seen or attended a forum with a backdrop containing information and photographs. Or the sporting event where you're given a program in full color along with your ticket stub. In nearly every aspect of life, there is the integration of a print solution.

Integrated print solutions are more multifarious than the applications above. The digital transformation of print technology has improved vastly over the last several years. With the addition of IT applications and data management, a whole new era of print solutions are available. Solving problems often requires new customized solutions, and brands can integrate print technology into most scenarios.

We've all heard of on-demand printing; now, marketers can integrate print technology into on-demand marketing requirements. Numerous situations require statement processing with multiple data type files from a mix of mainframes across the country. Document lifecycle management that requires outsourcing, storage, and automation solutions for tracking, returns processing, and reporting feature prominently in integrated print solutions.

That is just the tip of the iceberg regarding print's integrated business solutions capabilities. Naturally, one would have to find a print vendor with the experience and infrastructure to create custom solutions. Part of the infrastructure would include the following attributes and tools:

• State-of-the-art digital printing presses
• The ability to scale based on job requirements
• Data Management and cleansing experience
• Warehouse Square footage
• In-house USPS mail clerk
• Automated barcode presort
• Automated mail sorting
• List acquisition
• NCOA processing
• Variable digital printing
• Lettershop & Fulfillment
• Documents on Demand
• Electronic delivery & logistics
• International mailings
• IT Integration


And those tools are just a tiny representation of commercial digital printing vendors' capabilities that enable the ability to create customized solutions that seamlessly integrate into challenges the business community continually faces.

Integrated Business Project Challenges

Whether it's today or at some time in the future, every business will face complex challenges that will either boost or destroy a company's progress.  That said, the following examples demonstrate and showcase how a full-service commercial printing vendor partnered with, met, and solved challenges requiring a customized solution-based approach, which could apply to various levels of business operations.



On-Demand Marketing Support

A marketing agency searched for a reliable partner to print and mail advertising collateral on demand. Sounds pretty simple, right?  You probably have similar examples of yours, which may seem pretty straightforward on the surface.  So let's continue by citing the need for an integrated project solution that requires printing and mailing collateral, on-demand, synonymous with employing variable data printing, aka VDP.  This job request also needs big data to integrate the resulting data points into a digital press.  However, here's where the tried and true diverges.

The marketing agency will need various data files to be automatically input from several cities multiple times a day.  In this scenario, it is not unusual for project response times to be on a 24/7 cycle, with operational capability to be present throughout the life and scope of the job.  Most notably, this data capture and response process to all incoming data requires machine learning technology tools working in concert on a 24/7/365 timeline.


 

A commercial print vendor with the experience and capability to create and implement these solutions can deliver on various challenges with a creative, customized integrated business solution. In this instance, the vendor developed custom applications to automate data cleansing in conjunction with the collateral composition requirements.  The trick is to have the tasks automatically perform several times a day in this scenario.

 In addition, this fully operational vendor also created a complex bar code solution and integrated it directly into the document workflow. This solution implemented matching collateral before inserting it into mailing envelopes.

Further, this vertically integrated print and mail vendor could run multiple shifts, which solved another challenge requirement of adhering to strict deadlines and SLA guarantees.  So, in a nutshell, this challenge solution request enabled data to be captured, cleansed, composed, fulfilled and delivered with personalized collateral 24/7. Automation, skill, and experience made a complicated project simple!

Statements Processing

Many Fortune 500 companies, including insurers, retailers, and banks, require a print & mail vendor to print statements and notices for their services & logistics departments.  In one notable instance, a systematic data collection for financial services containing secure, confidential information was on the challenge table.  Therefore, data security was of utmost concern.

 The challenge plot became thicker, with the additional requirement to manage 20+ file types, incoming daily from four mainframes across the country.  The Fortune 500 organization's challenge was selecting a vertically integrated print and mail solutions provider to automate data processing, printing, and mailing.

 As a result, the required solution brought to bear customized processing software complete with a corresponding user interface tied to a comprehensive XML-driven file processing system. The integrated print and mail solutions provider solution created a process that incorporated the applications with third-party automated software.

In addition, the provider also ensured that alerts, audits, and set-up reports would be managed to reduce downtime and facilitate process improvements. In this example, the document composition platform tool provided composing, printing, and mailing statements within 3 hours. This customized solution also supported just-in-time deliveries, which benefited several stakeholders, not to mention retail, financial, and the customer. As the chosen integrated print and mail solutions provider, Dove Direct utilized transactional and transpromotional services to meet the requirements.

FCRA Document Lifecycle Management

Background check vendors face multiple types of challenges. In this example, an extensive background check provider manually created, distributed, and archived various letter types, forms, and compliance documents. The manual approach to keeping numerous and different document types secure impeded workflow and reduced margins due to heavy caseloads. 


The background check provider opted to outsource and automate the process in an effort to minimize dependencies, which included the complexities of integrating periodic changes.


 The chosen vertical integrated print and mail solutions provider created a document lifecycle management solution. This solution needed to address tracking returns processing and reporting, as those FCRA regulatory compliance functions were critical requirements for the project solution.

 

The resulting solution was managed by the provider's analysts and developers, who worked with the client's product managers to analyze documents processing workflow to include FCRA regulatory compliance requirements.


 The outcome of this challenge brought forth a customized design that had a solution built upon the print and solutions provider's document composition platform. This platform solution also provided a capability to manage the lifecycle (from composition to archival) of all the documents created within the client's business model.  The document array was composed of letters, compliance forms, background reports, and more.
 

Since Dove Direct streamlined the solution, the background check provider could consolidate printing and mailing operations into a single vendor platform, reducing costs and risks. This example serves as yet another reason to ensure that you partner with a vertical print provider who can offer print integrated business solutions.


Solution Based Business Integration

These integrated business solution examples represent the far-reaching value of a vertical integrated print and mail solutions provider and the understanding of how the print world offers the art of streamlining workflows through creative and customized solutions. As you can ascertain from these examples, a solutions-based provider offers enormous benefits towards any organization's bottom line and profitably expectations.  IT, machine learning, and automated technology push the envelope much farther than merely the digital expectations of data compilation.  Print integrated business solutions can often become a game-changer for minimizing costs, leveraging resources, and saving valuable time when it comes to simultaneously reducing customer churn while improving new business numbers.



The Net-Net

It should now be easier to comprehend how and why a robust print integrated business solution provider can aid various business outcomes.  Retaining customers and reducing churn in a failing brand-centric world continues to be more challenging by the day.  The art of simplifying messaging can lead to cost reductions, with the ability to prioritize accounts benefiting clients that are leading the charge. By the way, consumers are now equally as important and influential as the brand.  As more mergers and buyouts enter the equation, it is even more critical to partner with a responsive and capable print integrated business solutions provider.  In that case, it may be time to rethink how the benefits of partnering with such a provider can positively change your profitability structure. We trust that this article sheds light on the subject, and thank you for reading "The Value of Integrated Business Solutions for Print." 



Let's have a conversation about integrated business solutions and how they can help grow your business, change behavior, and improve the customer experience.  Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop, and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct does have an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices that will save you time and money. We can even create a demo file for you. 

For more information, call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 







Dove Direct, your Atlanta based print and mail solutions provider, offers organizations end-to-end data, printing, and mailing solutions:



• Data Management
• Variable Digital Printing
• LetterShop and Fulfillment
• Digital Mail Scanning Services

• Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau
• Marketing and Production Management Support
• Secure Data Life Cycle Management




If you don't want to wait, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or using the Contact Form.