By Greg Brown, Marketing Director, Melissa Data
A recent Aperture Research Institute study reported upwards of 70 percent of organizations have adopted a green initiative of some kind. While those companies should be lauded for their efforts at environmental stewardship, bad days on Wall Street and for the economy have seen some companies abandon or scale back their green initiatives as they tighten their belts.
Now is the time to take a realistic look at your company’s green initiatives and ask whether or not the practices undertaken are “evergreen” – promoting not only environmental sustainability, but also sound business practices and solid return on investment so as to be sustainable in good economic conditions as well as bad.
For instance, over six million trees and more than 300 million pounds of paper are wasted each year on undeliverable-as-addressed Standard class mail, as reported by UAA Clearinghouse. It costs the Post Office over 2 billion dollars annually to process this true “junk mail”. And the cost to mailers is even more dramatic – undeliverable mail costs direct mailers over $6 billion dollars a year.
So, is Postmaster General Jack Potter’s call to reduce UAA mail by 50 percent by 2010 a green initiative designed to decrease global warming and unnecessary environmental waste? Absolutely. But it’s also a common sense business initiative that will save both the USPS and mailers a tremendous amount of money – money better spent on job creation, product development, and effective marketing.
Here are 10 steps you can easily implement to save money as you green your mailings – reducing waste, while improving deliverability, effectiveness and response to ensure you stay in the black, even as the economy sees red:
1. Correct your mailing
2. Update your mailing
3. Dedupe your mailing
4. Suppress your mailing
5. Target your mailing
6. TransPromo your mailing
7. Connect your mailing
8. Downsize your mailing
9. Sustain your mailing
10. Recycle your mailing
Has your organization had success with any of these strategies?
Showing posts with label digital mailroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital mailroom. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Kofax Enhances Capture Products
By Mark Brousseau
Kofax is seeing traction among small and medium-sized businesses for its Kofax Express solution. Now, the vendor hopes to continue this momentum with the release of Version 2.0 of the product.
Kofax Express is an all-in-one scan-to-archive software package for image capture applications.
Kofax Express 2.0 offers incremental enhancements, including an improved user experience and ease of use, extended support for PDF and PDFa, and upgrades in the way users input documents, Andrew Pery, chief marketing officer at Kofax, told me during a product briefing yesterday afternoon.
"The traction for Kofax Express is coming through our channel," Pery said. "They are focusing on the small to medium-sized segment of the capture market." Kofax resellers are seeing interest across vertical markets, Pery explained, including healthcare, manufacturing, and local governments.
"Even though data capture technology has been around for a long time, there is still a lot of paper in smaller enterprises. Companies recognize the value of utilizing data capture to take costs out of the business," Pery said, predicting single-digital growth for Kofax Express. "Kofax Express is moving capture into the mainstream. This allows us to move down market and defend our market position."
In the higher volume market, Kofax has made significant improvements to the ease of administration and deployment to its Kofax Capture 9 solution. Kofax is positioning the product as the enterprise standard to support multiple instances. "Over the last eight months, we have seen increased adoption of Kofax Capture 9 an enterprise standard," Pery said. "For instance, we're seeing a renaissance in mail room automation. Companies are trying to take significant costs out of the business."
Companies also are looking to streamline downstream business processes. The goal is to address the intricacies of capture enterprises to improve customer service and strengthen customer relationships. "If you take a look at invoice processing, the only thing that matters is exceptions processing," Pery explained. "That's where the cost is. That's where the service issues are. Once companies have addressed downstream business processes, there are significant strategic advantages," he added.
Kofax is seeing traction among small and medium-sized businesses for its Kofax Express solution. Now, the vendor hopes to continue this momentum with the release of Version 2.0 of the product.
Kofax Express is an all-in-one scan-to-archive software package for image capture applications.
Kofax Express 2.0 offers incremental enhancements, including an improved user experience and ease of use, extended support for PDF and PDFa, and upgrades in the way users input documents, Andrew Pery, chief marketing officer at Kofax, told me during a product briefing yesterday afternoon.
"The traction for Kofax Express is coming through our channel," Pery said. "They are focusing on the small to medium-sized segment of the capture market." Kofax resellers are seeing interest across vertical markets, Pery explained, including healthcare, manufacturing, and local governments.
"Even though data capture technology has been around for a long time, there is still a lot of paper in smaller enterprises. Companies recognize the value of utilizing data capture to take costs out of the business," Pery said, predicting single-digital growth for Kofax Express. "Kofax Express is moving capture into the mainstream. This allows us to move down market and defend our market position."
In the higher volume market, Kofax has made significant improvements to the ease of administration and deployment to its Kofax Capture 9 solution. Kofax is positioning the product as the enterprise standard to support multiple instances. "Over the last eight months, we have seen increased adoption of Kofax Capture 9 an enterprise standard," Pery said. "For instance, we're seeing a renaissance in mail room automation. Companies are trying to take significant costs out of the business."
Companies also are looking to streamline downstream business processes. The goal is to address the intricacies of capture enterprises to improve customer service and strengthen customer relationships. "If you take a look at invoice processing, the only thing that matters is exceptions processing," Pery explained. "That's where the cost is. That's where the service issues are. Once companies have addressed downstream business processes, there are significant strategic advantages," he added.
Friday, March 27, 2009
95% of Utility Bills Still Sent Through Mail
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Utilities continue to incur high costs due to distributing 95 percent of their bills through the mail, according to Chartwell's survey of 94 utilities. Bills sent through the mail are more expensive than bills delivered electronically.
Some utilities have seen success in decreasing the percent of customers receiving paper bills. One utility with more than 300,000 customers enrolled about 20 percent of its customers in paperless billing through promotions on almost all of the material produced by the utility. This utility also incentivized employees to enroll customers. Another utility company, Arizona Public Service, donated $1 to the Tree Research and Educational Endowment every time one of their customers signed up for paperless billing over a three month time span. Arizona Public Service was able to switch almost 17,000 customers from high-cost paper bills to low-cost electronic bills.
While consumer marketing has been successful in decreasing paper bills mailed out, many utilities are looking to cut costs by delivering bills through secure email. In an effort to reduce the costs of distributing bills, 40 percent of utilities are planning to offer or are considering delivering bills through secure email, Chartwell says.
Utilities continue to incur high costs due to distributing 95 percent of their bills through the mail, according to Chartwell's survey of 94 utilities. Bills sent through the mail are more expensive than bills delivered electronically.
Some utilities have seen success in decreasing the percent of customers receiving paper bills. One utility with more than 300,000 customers enrolled about 20 percent of its customers in paperless billing through promotions on almost all of the material produced by the utility. This utility also incentivized employees to enroll customers. Another utility company, Arizona Public Service, donated $1 to the Tree Research and Educational Endowment every time one of their customers signed up for paperless billing over a three month time span. Arizona Public Service was able to switch almost 17,000 customers from high-cost paper bills to low-cost electronic bills.
While consumer marketing has been successful in decreasing paper bills mailed out, many utilities are looking to cut costs by delivering bills through secure email. In an effort to reduce the costs of distributing bills, 40 percent of utilities are planning to offer or are considering delivering bills through secure email, Chartwell says.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Mail Days May Be Cut
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Below is an article from the Associated Press on the Postmaster General's request to Congress to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week.
Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 29, 2009; 2:41 AM
WASHINGTON -- Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week. If the change happens, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.
Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Postmaster General John E. Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, over 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history.
And, despite annual rate increases, Potter said 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines.
"It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "I reluctantly request that Congress remove the annual appropriation bill rider, first added in 1983, that requires the Postal Service to deliver mail six days each week."
"The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks. I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge," Potter said.
That doesn't mean it would happen right away, he noted, adding that the agency is working to cut costs and any final decision on changing delivery would have to be made by the postal governing board.
If it did become necessary to go to five-day delivery, Potter said, "we would do this by suspending delivery on the lightest volume days."
The Postal Service raised the issue of cutting back on days of service last fall in a study it issued. At that time the agency said the six-day rule should be eliminated, giving the post office, "the flexibility to meet future needs for delivery frequency.
A study done by George Mason University last year for the independent Postal Regulatory Commission estimated that going from six-day to five-day delivery would save the post office more than $1.9 billion annually, while a Postal Service study estimated the saving at $3.5 billion.
The next postal rate increase is scheduled for May, with the amount to be announced next month. Under current rules that would be limited to the amount of the increase in last year's consumer price index, 3.8 percent. That would round to a 2-cent increase in the current 42-cent first class rate.
The agency could request a larger increase because of the special circumstances, but Potter believes that would be counterproductive by causing mail volume to fall even more.
Dan G. Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, noted in his testimony that cutting service could also carry the risk of loss of mail volume. He suggested Congress review both delivery and restrictions it imposed on the closing of small and rural post offices.
The post office's problem is twofold, Potter explained.
"A revolution in the way people communicate has structurally changed the way America uses the mail," with a shift from first-class letters to the Internet for personal communications, billings, payments, statements and business correspondence.
To some extent that was made up for my growth in standard mail _ largely advertising _ but the economic meltdown has resulted in a drop there also.
Potter also asked that Congress ease the requirement that it make advance payments into a fund to cover future health benefits for retirees. Last year the post office was required to put $5.6 billion into the fund.
"We are in uncharted waters," Potter said. "But we do know that mail volume and revenue _ and with them the health of the mail system _ are dependent on the length and depth of the current economic recession."
He proposed easing the retirement pre-funding for eight years, while promising that the agency will cover the premiums for retirement health insurance.
At the same hearing the General Accounting Office agreed that the post office is facing an urgent need for help to preserve its financial strength. But the GAO suggested easing the pre-funding requirement for only two years, with Congress to determine the need for more relief later.
Potter noted that the agency has cut costs by $1 billion per year since 2002, reduced its work force by 120,000, halted construction of new facilities except in emergencies, frozen executive salaries and is in the process of reducing its headquarters work force by 15 percent.
Below is an article from the Associated Press on the Postmaster General's request to Congress to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week.
Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 29, 2009; 2:41 AM
WASHINGTON -- Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week. If the change happens, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.
Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Postmaster General John E. Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
Total mail volume was 202 billion items last year, over 9 billion less than the year before, the largest single volume drop in history.
And, despite annual rate increases, Potter said 2009 could be the first year since 1946 that the actual amount of money collected by the post office declines.
"It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable," Potter said. "I reluctantly request that Congress remove the annual appropriation bill rider, first added in 1983, that requires the Postal Service to deliver mail six days each week."
"The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks. I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge," Potter said.
That doesn't mean it would happen right away, he noted, adding that the agency is working to cut costs and any final decision on changing delivery would have to be made by the postal governing board.
If it did become necessary to go to five-day delivery, Potter said, "we would do this by suspending delivery on the lightest volume days."
The Postal Service raised the issue of cutting back on days of service last fall in a study it issued. At that time the agency said the six-day rule should be eliminated, giving the post office, "the flexibility to meet future needs for delivery frequency.
A study done by George Mason University last year for the independent Postal Regulatory Commission estimated that going from six-day to five-day delivery would save the post office more than $1.9 billion annually, while a Postal Service study estimated the saving at $3.5 billion.
The next postal rate increase is scheduled for May, with the amount to be announced next month. Under current rules that would be limited to the amount of the increase in last year's consumer price index, 3.8 percent. That would round to a 2-cent increase in the current 42-cent first class rate.
The agency could request a larger increase because of the special circumstances, but Potter believes that would be counterproductive by causing mail volume to fall even more.
Dan G. Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, noted in his testimony that cutting service could also carry the risk of loss of mail volume. He suggested Congress review both delivery and restrictions it imposed on the closing of small and rural post offices.
The post office's problem is twofold, Potter explained.
"A revolution in the way people communicate has structurally changed the way America uses the mail," with a shift from first-class letters to the Internet for personal communications, billings, payments, statements and business correspondence.
To some extent that was made up for my growth in standard mail _ largely advertising _ but the economic meltdown has resulted in a drop there also.
Potter also asked that Congress ease the requirement that it make advance payments into a fund to cover future health benefits for retirees. Last year the post office was required to put $5.6 billion into the fund.
"We are in uncharted waters," Potter said. "But we do know that mail volume and revenue _ and with them the health of the mail system _ are dependent on the length and depth of the current economic recession."
He proposed easing the retirement pre-funding for eight years, while promising that the agency will cover the premiums for retirement health insurance.
At the same hearing the General Accounting Office agreed that the post office is facing an urgent need for help to preserve its financial strength. But the GAO suggested easing the pre-funding requirement for only two years, with Congress to determine the need for more relief later.
Potter noted that the agency has cut costs by $1 billion per year since 2002, reduced its work force by 120,000, halted construction of new facilities except in emergencies, frozen executive salaries and is in the process of reducing its headquarters work force by 15 percent.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Value of Business Intelligence
Posted by Mark Brousseau
An interesting article from ComputerWeekly.com on the value of document management:
Information management to deliver real value to businesses
Author: Joe O'Halloran
Posted: 14:32 11 Aug 2008
Topics: Data Management Business Intelligence Compliance
Information management (IM) solutions are moving to the centre of IT strategies as a way of driving IT and business alignment and delivering real and visible value to the business, according to a recent survey from Forrester research.
The market analyst believes that the driver for such a move is the fact that wherever there is a hot growth market in IT, there will be plenty of IT consultants, systems integrators, and managed services providers to help architect, plan, implement, and manage the solution.
After surveying vendors of both IM software and services to assess the size of the IM services market, Forrester expects the global information services market to grow from its present value of $7.9 billion to $10.9 billion by 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2%.
Business intelligence (BI) and business performance solutions will likely dominate this spend, although Forrester adds that the information strategy segment will see the fastest growth throughout the forecast period.
Data warehouse services should also witness strong growth over the next two years as with greater interest in and deployment of BI and BPS solutions, the requirements for data warehouses to store all of the data should also grow commensurately. On a long term basis, data warehouses will likely start to take over some of the functions typically found in the data management segment and also require more consulting and integration services.
Forrester also thinks that content management and portal services should witness high growth in 2009. It says the content management market has consistently underperformed the high expectations set for it and that even though the promise of enterprise content management (ECM) solutions has never really been delivered by the software providers, in those cases where heavy ECM solutions have failed, portals are beginning to deliver. Some organisations are beginning to use portals as their ad hoc ECM solution, and Forrester predicts that this trend will accelerate in 2009.
Forrester advises firms to define clearly and information management services strategy and adhere to it, ensuring that it can take the company forward, should the current focus segment start to merge with another. It adds that firms should assess core competencies as part of the strategic due diligence in defining a strategy, put them into context with the total market opportunity, and balance a portfolio of new areas and old areas.
Are business intelligence intelligence solutions playing a more central role in your enterprise IT planning? Post your comment below.
An interesting article from ComputerWeekly.com on the value of document management:
Information management to deliver real value to businesses
Author: Joe O'Halloran
Posted: 14:32 11 Aug 2008
Topics: Data Management Business Intelligence Compliance
Information management (IM) solutions are moving to the centre of IT strategies as a way of driving IT and business alignment and delivering real and visible value to the business, according to a recent survey from Forrester research.
The market analyst believes that the driver for such a move is the fact that wherever there is a hot growth market in IT, there will be plenty of IT consultants, systems integrators, and managed services providers to help architect, plan, implement, and manage the solution.
After surveying vendors of both IM software and services to assess the size of the IM services market, Forrester expects the global information services market to grow from its present value of $7.9 billion to $10.9 billion by 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2%.
Business intelligence (BI) and business performance solutions will likely dominate this spend, although Forrester adds that the information strategy segment will see the fastest growth throughout the forecast period.
Data warehouse services should also witness strong growth over the next two years as with greater interest in and deployment of BI and BPS solutions, the requirements for data warehouses to store all of the data should also grow commensurately. On a long term basis, data warehouses will likely start to take over some of the functions typically found in the data management segment and also require more consulting and integration services.
Forrester also thinks that content management and portal services should witness high growth in 2009. It says the content management market has consistently underperformed the high expectations set for it and that even though the promise of enterprise content management (ECM) solutions has never really been delivered by the software providers, in those cases where heavy ECM solutions have failed, portals are beginning to deliver. Some organisations are beginning to use portals as their ad hoc ECM solution, and Forrester predicts that this trend will accelerate in 2009.
Forrester advises firms to define clearly and information management services strategy and adhere to it, ensuring that it can take the company forward, should the current focus segment start to merge with another. It adds that firms should assess core competencies as part of the strategic due diligence in defining a strategy, put them into context with the total market opportunity, and balance a portfolio of new areas and old areas.
Are business intelligence intelligence solutions playing a more central role in your enterprise IT planning? Post your comment below.
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