Innovation in Document Communication
The market for document communication has already existed for many dozens of years, if not hundreds or thousands. In essence communication via spoken or written language is centuries old. Cave drawings and hieroglyphs are probably the most ancient forms of document oriented communication. In the course of time the market for document communication has developed into the present information overload. The rise of internet, competition between organizations, the changes on social level – they all influence how communication takes place today.
Commercials as such are not a recent phenomenon. In Pompeii they already had sign boards. The middle ages featured the town-crier who loudly proclaimed his messages. Advertisements first appeared in 16th century newspapers. Advertising as a means for boosting sales has grown into a complicated process since the beginning of this century. Advertising is brought to us in many different ways. Estimates vary but on an average we, as consumers, are bombarded with a few thousand commercial messages every day. Via radio, TV, bill boards, mailings, internet and SMS we are informed about products, special offers and services. In order to distinguish from others in the abundance of messages the supplier’s market is convinced that mass communication must be replaced by one-to-one communication. The recipient must be addressed personally. The message must be aimed at the receiver’s profile.
In the last 20 years the market for supplying products that can get a personal message across has developed vigorously. Many products have been developed during the mid 80s of the last century; products that had the intention of converting a standard message to a message with a personal touch. In the early days “personal” probably meant nothing more than adding “Mr.” or “Mrs.”
Document communication still is very much a paper matter. On the whole communication on paper is still not decreasing; we can still see a growth. The increase is not as fast as before the internet era. It has been proven that paper communication still is the recipient’s favourite by far. A “personal” note will generate more attention than an e-mail with identical contents. A shift from paper to electronics can best be observed in the documents such as transaction overviews, invoices and newsletters. To the document generation, however, it makes little difference whether a document is designed for paper distribution or e-mail. The document communication products market (also called the variable data design and production, customer production management, document composition and one-to-one marketing) is still a healthy market with a reasonable number of active suppliers. A rough estimate for the 2007 revenue in document composition software is € 150 million in Western Europe; the growth figures range somewhere between 10% and 15% on a yearly basis.
Document communication therefore is a serious matter that receives more and more attention on a corporate strategic level. The question of how to employ document communication effectively and efficiently for the support of yielding business results is still very high on the agenda.
Want to know more contact; Oscar.Dubbeldam@DocsTalk.nl or go to http://www.docstalk.nl/pageID_6503014.html (Dutch language).
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