It is crucial today for businesses to produce faster, smarter customer communications while also reducing costs. Many companies want to improve their cost bases for manufacturing print and mail communications, but most organizations either don’t know where to start or aren’t prepared to invest in devising their own process integration solution, especially when they’re working hard to get mail out the door for their clients.
A new software product from Pitney Bowes streamlines the entire production process. The Production Intelligence application integrates print and mail processes. Costs are reduced while adding value to customer communications, says Kevin Marks, VP of marketing for document messaging technologies at Pitney Bowes.
“For many years, producing transactional and promotional mailings meant assembling all sorts of different pieces, different manufacturers, and different vendors. Then mailers had to bring in IT and pay for all those resources too,” says Marks, whose background includes time in commercial print factory management. “We all know that’s not an efficient or cost-effective way to do business, yet no one woke up today saying, ‘Let me work hard at creating an efficient manufacturing process.’ Everybody’s too busy serving clients.” He said Pitney Bowes’ view was to start from scratch and “develop a manufacturing process that revolutionizes these processes.”
Marks says linking print and mail processes offers organizations many benefits. Here are four of the advantages he’s always eager to mention to customers.
Create operational efficiencies to reduce costs
Marks says that integrating print and mail processes eliminates the hodgepodge of multiple processes and vendors, while creating efficiencies and reducing costs. Workflows are also consolidated, eliminating duplicate steps and labor expense, and managing more work per shift. “The overall results include improved operational performance, enhanced productivity, and streamlined business operations, all of which bring about greater profitability,” he explains.
Outperform the competition
Running a lean manufacturing operation gives marketing services providers a distinctive edge. “The traditional approach of discrete functions of print and mail will not cut it anymore,” Marks says. “You’re competing with companies that have figured out that by really tightening the belt and linking it all together as a single manufacturing flow, they can extract substantial improvements that mean more profit.”
Produce more mail faster
With Production Intelligence software integrating and driving the manufacturing process, Marks says companies can deliver more accurate, complete, and relevant communications on time, every time. For marketing services providers, that means capacity increases that drive additional revenue. For mailers, it means better business results. And, for marketers, a speedy process means it takes less time to launch and generate revenue from new campaigns and product launches.
Gain full visibility across print and mail operations
Accuracy and transparency increase when the number of vendors involved in the manufacturing process is reduced, Marks says. Those factors are especially important for regulated organizations such as banks, insurance companies, and government agencies. “If the wrong statement goes into an envelope, what happens next?” he says. Marks said the danger is that there is a potential for regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission penalties. “Not to mention the loss of customer trust,” he adds. “The only way to deliver defect-free communications is when the process is end-to-end and integrated.”
Marks says Pitney Bowes’ proprietary integration solution also drives the company’s IntelliJet Printing System. IntelliJet is an innovative, high-volume, color inkjet printing system that produces complex transactional statements without comprising speed or quality. “Together, these two tools provide a complete, end-to-end solution for mail companies and other marketing services providers seeking to reduce costs and improve profitability,” Marks says. “Our customers — whether they’re in-house operations or providers of marketing services — are all realizing a powerful competitive advantage with this solution. Others have a choice: Catch up or be left behind.”
