Innovation In Document Communication
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Innovation in document communication is a subject that may result in various interpretations. The official description of innovation in document communication is: “the exchange of written and printed evidence in an innovative manner”. There are several ways to explain or interpret innovation. One person might think innovation can be found in the process, the other believes that innovation is all about using the latest communication techniques such as internet, blogs and wikis.
Innovation in document communication is a much-discussed subject. Organizations are targeted from different angles with the possibilities. Printer suppliers are very active in promoting colour printing. The document composition software suppliers want you to explore the potential of personalising documents. With respect to the internet possibilities such as personal web pages, web analysis, web shops, customer portals, etc., will be brought to your notice. It is not an easy job for an organization to make the right choice. Which method will yield the best output and how do I implement it in my organization?
Document communication is still primarily a paper business. Electronic channels such as e-mail, fax or internet are booming but as recipient we still prefer paper to communicate with each other (in a B2B or B2C situation).
In a B2B or B2C environment document communication is mostly supported by document generation applications. The business process will at some point trigger the generation of documents, such as invoices, bank statements, policy conditions, mortgage quotations and share overviews. Some twenty years ago the first applications to convert business process details to documents that could be printed were marketed. The documents were designed in a structure that was readable by the recipient and met the corporate image. In the course of the years these applications have been further developed with functionality so that it became possible to design heavily personalized documents and to distribute them to printer, fax, e-mail, website, etc.
There are different ways to execute innovation in document communication within the various industries. The insurance sector is one of the leading industries. Document oriented processes are constantly being innovated. The possibilities of electronic distribution, a personal touch, process optimization and structured interactive communication are being used to the fullest. Another appealing sector is the graphic arts industry. The innovative examples of document communication are countless. They mostly are niche applications but very successful in execution and results. The photo album that can be designed at home and then printed stirs the imagination most. Entirely your own layout, with your texts, background and neatly bound as well.
The social trends that influence document communication are:
□ Thinking green. Conscious use of the resources, so preferably less or no paper.
□ Globalization and internet influence the product marketing promotion. Promotion must now take place via a diversity of media channels for which the messages have been geared to one another. When one advertisement in a national newspaper used to suffice in order to reach an audience of millions we now find it necessary to publish the advertisement in several media to achieve the same goal.
□ Costs and contracting. Making major investments is a rarity. Especially when it concerns non-critical business processes. Contracting and flexible pricing are also items that must be supported by the document communication suppliers.
□ More and more document communication is regarded as a strategic means to support yielding trading results. The suppliers must be able to provide sufficient advice while formulating a document communication strategy.
The innovations in document communication that on the one hand support the trends and on the other contribute directly to the business results are:
□ Personified communication. Instead of a general low-response mailing to a large audience, a tailored mailing that addresses people personally and yields a higher response to a selected audience.
□ Integrated Marketing Campaigns. A marketing campaign that uses the available technologies to the fullest. First an e-mail to trigger the initial response. Then the respondents receive the more expensive paper quotation. The ones that do not respond will be approached by the contact centre.
□ Promotional Transaction overviews. There is a great deal of documentation about changes in transaction documents such as the credit card statement or the mobile phone invoice. Transaction overviews must be used to fully employ marketing. Based on the profile and transactions marketing messages will be added. Reality shows that transaction overviews are not yet being used as such. There is an interest however, but the consensus between the several parties concerned to make the first move is lacking.
□ Structured ad hoc communication. Many organizations send out enormous heaps of correspondence; mostly designed with the help of the word processing application, whether or not supported by templates and macros. Creating this type of correspondence by means of a structured process has many advantages with regard to corporate image, compliancy, authorisation processes and management. Direction of change takes place by the department and not by IT.
Several document composition applications are available to create such pioneering document communication utilizations. Selecting the right application depends on a number of factors, such as the type of business process, the demands and wishes in the field of layout, distribution and technique. The document composition application is no stand alone. Links with the CRM, ERP and CMS systems and the legacy applications are necessary for an innovative approach. There is also common ground with the marketing agency, the corporate image guidelines, the printing centre, IT, records management and the company goals.
Integration with document management architecture has been booming since last year. The document management integration takes place in two areas. On the one hand document management environment is being used for input. Text elements are controlled within the EDMS environment and used for document compilation. On the other hand the documents that originate from the document composition application are being filed directly in the EDMS application. That way the electronic customer file is instantly updated.
The final selection process for the technique that is to be used does not just comprise software. Hardware is a complicated matter as well. For an optimal and efficient distribution process you also need the right choice of printing equipment, finish equipment and process control. For software there are also several criterions. What is the type of document that needs processing, what about integration, where does the data come from and where should it be transported to? Final question is whether to set up the organization within the company or outsource to an external provider or a commercial printer.
Innovation in document communication from the supplier’s side is always a simple process. The technique is available, the examples show that innovation pays off and the implementation should be fairly easy. Innovation on the user’s end (organizations) occasionally poses some problems. Interviews with the organizations and a survey summarize the current state of affairs concerning innovation in organizations. The results of the interviews and survey are amongst others:
□ To 53% of the respondents direct sales and documents such as quotations are the most important communication channels in acquiring new clients.
□ 74% has a marketing strategy; a mere 21% also has a document communication strategy.
□ 84% has a CRM application, 32% uses a document composition application for personal communication, and another 32% also indicates that the available client information is sufficient for personal communication.
□ To over 50% paper communication is important to vital in achieving company goals.
□ Innovation is mostly related to new techniques, electronic delivery of documents and personified documents.
As a reference for innovative document communication implementations there are practice reports from the following organizations:
□ ABN-AMRO – Wholesale Credit
□ Achmea – Media output
□ CZ – Actief in Gezondheid (Active in Health)
□ Klomp Grafische Communicatie (Graphic Communication)
□ Postbank Insurance
□ Van Lanschot bankers
For support when selecting a shortlist of document composition suppliers, profiles of the suppliers mentioned below have been included:
□ AIA Software
□ EMC Document Sciences
□ Exstream
□ GMC Software
□ Inventive Designers
□ ISIS Papyrus
□ Objectif Lune – PrintShop Mail
□ Pallas Athena – Modus
□ Pitney Bowes Business Insight – Doc.1
□ PrintSoft – PReS
□ Sefas Innovation
□ StreamServe
□ XLPrint
The selection will be supported with several (Excel based) matrices which will indicate which suppliers (two till four) best suit the type of business process or innovation.
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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