All posts by Caroline

Caroline is a Director at Digital Print Management, a leading print management company specialising in providing print and mailing solutions. Having spent 25 years in the transpromo industry she is one of the UK's leading expert's in print and mail solutions.

In my last blog I used examples from a customer that highlighted some of the points that should be considered when moving from paper payslips to e-payslips.

How can an organisation encourage the take up of electronic payslips?

An autocratic decision would be to adopt electronic payslips and then tell employees that as of a specific date they will no longer receive paper payslips.

However, you can increase the take up of e-payslips by adopting some or all of the following:-

Use the current payslip to promote the idea of moving to e-payslips and provide a feedback forum which makes employees feel they have a say.
Use the paper payslip to promote the idea of where they can read it. Unlike paper payslips, employees have to wait until they receive the payslip to view their take home pay and deductions. E-payslips can be read anytime anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.
Employees don’t need a computer to view e-payslips they can also be viewed on a tablet or smartphone
As soon as the payroll team has approved the payroll run, employees will be able to view payslips instantaneously
You can still print paper payslips if needed. With employees payslips stored in one place, copies that are required for a loan or mortgage application can easily be printed off in exactly the same format as the paper payslip.
E-payslips can be formatted to look the same as the paper version and the employee will be familiar with the look and layout of the form even though it is in an electronic format

Global smartphones are likely to total 1.75 billion in 2014 (emarketer.com) and with almost half (47%) of mobile phone owners now using smartphones, this is expected to increase to 55% in 2014 (YouGov.co.uk) the use of mobile technology away from home and work makes e-payslips an affordable and effective way of distributing payslips and improving employee engagement.

Being able to access documents on the go is now a natural progression of mobile technology and with more employees working remotely having access to your payslip either as S-A-A-S (software as a service solution) or through a mobile version will only serve to improve take up of e-payslips.

What do you think?

Do you prefer to receive your payslips mobile or a paper pay slip?

Knowing what your customer really wants

May 19, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

Following a recent meeting with a long time customer gave me the idea and subject matter for this article.

Knowing what your customer really wants is the key to helping them make the right choice whether it’s a solution, a service, an alternate provider or an in-house option.

I looked at the customer quizzically hoping that I fall into the category of knowing what my customer wants rather than want I think they need.

During the course of the meeting they acknowledged DPM for being honest enough to challenge their thinking regarding their internal processes and up and coming projects.

I see my role clearly defined as advisor to my customers – suggesting a different or better way of doing a business process rather than simply selling solutions or services for the sake of it.

It is my job to question the customer why they do some of the things they do otherwise how can they enhance or improve a current process.

Often there is a bona fide reason for businesses to do things in a certain way, but mostly it tends to be ‘because we’ve always done it this way’. Not a good enough reason to continue with a business process that is sucking a department dry in time, money and resources.

Here’s an example of what I mean

A long term customer are considering migrating from paper payslips which we’ve printed and distributed for the last nine years to adopting an e-payslip service.

HR have given a lot of time and consideration to the adoption of e-payslips but there are a number of stumbling blocks to overcome:

What benefit would e-payslips offer the organisation?
How would they migrate multiple payroll systems into one e-pay service?
How would they manage groups of employees who do not have an email address or access to computers/smartphones?
There will still be a requirement for printed payslips
Are we taking away the employees choice to have paper payslips?
What about being able to add messages to our e-payslips?
Is it all too much time, money and resources to implement this paperless system?
Will the e-payslip look like the paper version?
Does the organisation really need electronic payslips?

I put it to them that they should encourage their employees to think about receiving e-payslips rather than paper, perhaps trying out a small employee group and gauge the reaction rather than rolling out the whole project at once and giving the payroll department more headaches and queries then they have time to deal with.

These were a few of the suggestions I put forward for them to think about before adopting e-payslips:-

You understand the culture of the organisation, are employees likely to be receptive to the idea?
Are you considering electronic payslips to counter the environmental argument and to be perceived as a ‘green organisation?
How quickly do you expect to see a return-on-investment?
Are there any stakeholders or external/internal parties involved in the roll out?
Have you undertaken any employee surveys or communicated with them regarding feedback on the adoption of e-payslips?
Are there any other factors that need to be considered in the process?
There are likely to be many queries initially when the project rolls out live, w

ill the payroll department have the resources in place to advise?
Should they consider communicating with employees over a three month period to advise them that the organisation is moving to electronic payslips rather than ‘telling’ employees this is happening now.

The whole point was to make the customer appreciate the implications of moving to paperless, helping them think objectively rather than assume everyone will champion the idea. As one manager commented ‘why would anyone object, it makes sense for us to go with e-payslips.

Next week’s blog: how to encourage employees to love e-payslips.

Outsourcing

Information security. How secure is your information?

May 12, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

Millions of data files are transmitted weekly to various third party providers from payroll, billing to files containing names and addresses to companies whose services range from print and mailing, data cleansing, marketing services and social media often without any consideration as to what might happen if that data got misplaced, misappropriated or worse still fell into the wrong hands.

We take for granted that the security of our information is just that ‘secure’.

How valuable is your personal and company data to others?

The most obvious way that data is used is through highly personalised and targeted marketing for the intention of making us buy like I’ve alluded to in previous blogs your internet browsing habits can determine what pop up ads you are likely to see when you are searching on the internet.

We are only human and susceptible to making mistakes like leaving important documents in public places as I mentioned in this earlier blog.

The same principle is applied when data is managed either internally or externally.

The data protection act of 1998 and it’s subsequent update in 2007 was designed to ensure that information held by any party or organisation should be done so by following principle 7 that “appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data”

What that means in practice is that the data you hold has the appropriate level of security to prevent it being lost or compromised.

What the act does not specify or define is the security measures you should have in place. Certain industries will have specific standards imposed on them by their regulatory body.

The security measures you put in place as a business will depend on what you do and your circumstances.

Physical and technological security is vital in any business and dependent on the size and number of employees will determine whether information and document management policies are put in place so employees are aware of security and its importance within the organisation.

Generally it is good practice to identify a person or department who takes day to day responsibility for security measures.

Technical security of laptops and PCs to protect computerised information are important but often security issues are as result of the theft or loss of equipment or old PCs being abandoned leaving the hard drive in tact or hard copy records being disposed of carelessly.

Physical security relates to how secure your office premises are, doors, locks, alarms, CCTV, security lighting and how you control access to your premises.

How do I know if my information is secure?

The act says that you should have security that is:-

appropriate to the nature of information in question
the harm that might result from it’s improper use, or from its accidental loss or destruction.

Again the act doesn’t define ‘appropriate’ nor does it state you must have state of the art security to protect personal data but common sense should prevail and a regular overview of your security arrangements as technology advances is a good thing.

Everyday we talk to our customers, we hold details in a customer relationship database you may think that this doesn’t match the criteria of principle 7 but in some respects it does because those details will no doubt include birthdays, spouse’s name, kids names, where they went on holiday what their hobbies are, connections on social media and so on.

All of which is relevant to you and is part of your marketing process of managing and nurturing the customer but this is private and personal data you hold.

More importantly you are holding information that you intend to use to communicate your products and services.

The question you need to ask yourself is what would happen if this information was compromised?

If the hairs on the back of your neck go up at the thought then you need to ask yourself have you taken the necessary steps to ensure that principle 7 is adhered to, if you can then all well and good.

What does information security mean when it comes to outsourcing data files?

The data controller or the customer is responsible for ensuring that the data is accurate and adheres to principle 7.

If they are outsourcing the data to a third party service provider normally regarded as the data processor as determined by the act it is vital that the customer ensures they choose:

A service provider that can demonstrate compliance and guarantees in respect of the handling of the data files defined by the act
Take every reasonable step to comply with those measures
Ensure that the processing is carried out under a contract which is evident in writing
The customer (data controller) must conduct due diligence on its service provider (data processor) to ensure that data is being processed securely
Regular auditing of the service provider to ensure continued compliance

Under the act it is the legal responsibility of the customer (data controller) for any failure by the service provider (data processor) to comply with the data protection law.

You wouldn’t leave the house without locking the doors the same principle applies to the information you store as an organisation.

Content marketing and strategy, Cross media personalisation and marketing, Document Management, Print Management

How do you choose the right print management services company for your cross media marketing?

May 5, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

In my last blog I talked about how print is changing in the face of digital competition and how working with a print management partner will become an important part of the multi-media process rather than a supplier of all things print.

The role of print management services is evolving to provide consultative expertise on how to optimise your print and marketing content, which channels are best used to distribute your communications, how to reduce postal costs and optimise print related communications to drive faster customer response times.

Print management providers have access to pre-qualified and certified supplier network for printing, fulfilment, marketing, database and design services.

Organisations are realising that having a broader overview of their business processes helps them focus on making improvements from content and document creation to how the message is delivered to its audience.

All of which create benefits that extend well beyond mere cost savings.

How to choose the right print management services partner?

Any organisation that outsources its print will benefit from reassessing what it’s marketing objectives are and what their ROI should be.

Effective customer communication management is integral to ensure that communications with the customer are highly relevant, personal and targeted and above all work across all the various channels.

Communicating with customers is an evolving process there are more channels than there were five years go and organisations have to be flexible in managing customer preferences across the channels.

Social media has become an important channel for brands to communicate messages, real time marketing via mobile are becoming increasingly vital to the cross media channel mix and knowledge of ‘print’ is no longer essential in the communications process.

Companies will make gains by partnering with a print management company that understands business process optimisation provides expert advice, knowledge and document management solutions.

8 points to consider when selecting a print management service partner

1. For the partnership to work it is vital that the print management company works closely with your ‘buyers’. I use that word loosely as most departments these tend to have some involvement with the marketing efforts of the company and not solely the marketing department.

It should be a mix of collaboration and consultation determined by the needs of the company’s marketing objectives.

2. The level of personalisation and transpromo messages coupled with customer demands for relevancy, accuracy and security of their personal information means that every part of the digital and mail piece has to be properly co-ordinated. Look for expertise in datafile management, multi-channel communications, document integrity, security and compliance.

3. Working with a print management company that is ‘neutral’ means that they will be able to choose the right service or solution that benefits the customer. With multi-channel communications evolving so fast the need for speed and flexibility are key. The print management company will be up to date with new techniques and the latest trends.

4. Working with an end-to-end supplier who adopts a consultative approach by working with you rather than for you will ensure your needs are met.

5. Can they demonstrate expertise using case studies or testimonials?

6. Are they able to provide support across all social and digital media channels throughout each stage of the communications process?

7. How easily can they adapt to change to assist you with your marketing communication efforts?

8. How robust is their print supplier network and what solutions can they offer short-term and long term?

The only thing that needs to change is the name ‘print management’. Print is no longer the whole picture rather, part of an evolving multi-channel, multi-faceted customer marketing communications mix.

Content marketing and strategy, Cross media personalisation and marketing, Document Management, Managing Print Costs, Print Management

Leveraging the power of print outsourcing.

April 28, 2014 Caroline 1 Comment

In my last blog I discussed how print fits in to a cross media marketing campaign and how the effective use of a print management partner can really enhance the power of your cross media marketing.

Print is still a critical component of the marketing media mix because consumers demand choice. They dictate how they receive their marketing content from sales and marketing messages or specific information.

This has resulted in the rise of cross media marketing and the multi-channel distribution of communications in both digital and print format.

But how do companies manage the process of ensuring their brand and messages are constantly heard when most marketing budgets have limited resources and less money to spend?

Print and digital outsourcing is becoming a viable and cost efficient alternative. Companies are seeking ways not to only manage their printed content but insisting on it being integrated into their social media marketing efforts and email marketing.

This has created a new type of print management company – one that can provide support and consultation across print and the various multi-media channels.

Print outsourcing can play an important role in improving customer communications driving costs down and improving business efficiency.

What has changed is the content and how print is used in the marketing mix.

Print is not always the final end product delivered to the customer.

It is now a mix of electronic and paper based communications which has evolved out of companies using digital and social platforms along with paper to deliver their message in the form of a payslip, invoice or direct mail piece.

Therefore print outsourcing is more than just simply removing business stationery to a printer down the road, it is the integration of a variety of disciplines such as consulting services for a marketing campaign, co-ordinating print and communications with social media channels and providing unique and customised solutions.

Print outsourcing encompasses all of the above and more and businesses are recognising the value of outsourcing and working with a print management partner who can offer more than just cheap printed business stationery but business efficiencies in the form of outsourcing, advanced print capabilities and print management expertise.

Why co-ordinate your print and marketing campaigns in-house when you can work with a print management partner that can manage the process. You know the benefits of outsourcing and its not the usual cliches – ‘its not a core business function’ it should be more about what you get out of the relationship.

Working in partnership with a print management company affords you the security of working with people who have expertise and can provide print and cross media solutions because they have access to an extensive network of pre-vetted and pre-qualified local printers and solution specialists with different capabilities.

This means not carrying the risk of managing equipment in-house along with the necessary staff, if one vendor should become less competitive, another vendor will take its place such is the network of a print management partner who can provide diversity through their supplier base.

Outsourcing print is not just about removing print from your bottom line it’s more than that, it is access to a wider network of print providers because print management companies take the time to build and nurture relationships with their network ensuring that they can deliver the right solutions that customers want.

Centralising your marketing and print campaign efforts reduce costs because you aren’t having to co-ordinate your time, resources and money spread over a number of different suppliers.

The main objection to a company outsourcing their print use to be there is little to gain by doing so. But as the digital landscape has changed businesses are realising they need to exploit the expertise, knowledge, solutions and services which print management partners can provide.

Consumers demand personalisation and print is one of the media channels through which organisations target their message. Print has to be integrated into the mix and this means that customer databases must be updated and relevant to ensure that communications are co-ordinated across all the channels.

Knowledge of print-flows and data files is essential to ensure that all the components of a marketing campaign are personalised and targeted to the right audience.

Customer satisfaction, loyalty, compliance and privacy means that customers receive only the messages that are relevant and useful to them and that their personal information is kept secure.

Working with a print management partner who has knowledge of data, postal automation, sortation, print, production, content and can co-ordinate print and mail with social media offers increased benefits to a business, not just through print.

In part 2 Choosing a print management services company? How do I find the right supplier to help me co-ordinate my cross media marketing and print campaigns?

Content marketing and strategy, Cross media personalisation and marketing, Print Management

Cross media marketing the case for digital VS print

April 14, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

Has print really had it’s day and can digital really live forever?

In spite of the massive surge in digital communications, social media platforms and increased marketing personalisation, print continues to be a critical part of companies’ cross media marketing and communication mix.

Consumers or customers want choice and this requires a multi-channel communications delivery process or what is now referred to as cross media marketing.

I endeavour to promote print in the media mix I believe it continues to play an important role in our everyday lives. Some people enjoy reading in the digital world others like reading the printed word because it is tangible, personal and has fewer distractions.

Whether print remains or becomes extinct, newspapers, books, magazines and catalogues will no longer be the primary means of interacting with its audience in a profitable way.

When the digital world gained momentum print was always going to be impacted with reduced volumes. The rise in digital printing allowed companies to order highly personalised printed matter from 1-50 or whatever the printed job required.

Print isn’t dead, not yet, but the reality is digital offers many advantages such as speed, flexibility, search-ability, target specific, customisation, interaction and direct.

It can be updated minute by minute and change according to what is in the news making it always up to date unlike its print contemporaries.

Digital reduces the overall cost to practically zero when compared to the production and printing of a magazine therefore how can print compete with ‘free’?

Marketers are already targeting their audiences online because it is cheaper and easier to deliver to market than print is; which involves design, content, production, proofing, finally print and distribution.

By the time the print job is complete it’s most likely to be out of date making digital a more attractive proposition for companies and marketing departments.

Digital affords the opportunity to engage with the audience online which is something print can’t do.

Technology and connectivity will advance and accessibility to online content will be an everywhere experience.

But I’d be surprised if print ever really goes away completely. Paper will survive because of the content it can provide to its viewer and because of the importance it has to play in the marketers’ cross media marketing campaign.

Online content is only part of the readers experience it doesn’t engage in the same way as reading a book or magazine.

Print is physical and is potent; pictures, text, strap lines, information that you can carry around with you in the form or a book, magazine, newspaper or cut out a relevant bit of information for keeping.

You can do the same in the digital world but it’s not quite the same and then of course there’s making the time to read it.

The role of content is changing people who are reading online need to read content that is informative, engaging and useful without feeling like they are being sold to.

Print, in this environment is becoming more powerful offering an alternative way to connect with the consumer in a world full of distractions.

Print is important for a higher level of personal engagement and not necessarily needed in the communications marketing mix all of the time.

To quickly illustrate, whilst schmoozing around a very well known top end car manufacturer franchise, because I happen to love cars, I overheard one of the salesman talking to potential customers who had requested a brochure.

Eavesdropping on the conversation the couple were interested in a particular model, they’d practically made up their minds what they wanted and had requested a brochure of the model to take home so they could decide their final colour/selection choices.

The salesman responded ‘ we don’t have printed brochures anymore, but you can download what you need from our website’.

I wasn’t surprised by the response from the couple, ‘seriously you expect me to spend £40K+ on one of your cars and the car manufacturer cant be bothered to provide a glossy brochure for me to take home?’

Digital can’t provide that glossy magazine that the couple wanted. I don’t know if they went back and bought the car but the point I thought was well made, print still has it’s place in this world.

If the couple had left with their brochure, a connection in the real world would have been made and at worst the salesman would have at least taken their details with a view to messaging them and further engaging until they did buy the car.

What is the future of print?

Marketing will continue to become even more multi-channel and as marketers become ever more savvy, print is likely to remain the channel that provides the first touch point before the consumer moves into the digital world.

A good marketing campaign will include print as part of it’s overall cross media marketing package.

Booklets, catalogues, magazines, newspapers can easily be electronically formatted for online viewing on tablets, mobiles and smartphones allowing additional tools such as embedded audio, video, links and other interactive content, something that print can’t do often before the ink is dry on the paper.

But if you are pondering on buying a new car or, you are deliberating over that kitchen you’ve always wanted there’s nothing like a nice glossy brochure to walk out of the showroom with.

Content marketing and strategy, Cross media personalisation and marketing, Outsourcing, Print Management

Print management and cross media marketing

April 7, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

The last five years have seen an unprecedented rise in electronic and social media.

The final death bell for print would not have been an unrealistic thought.

Jump forward five years and print remains a respected medium used to deliver powerful marketing messages connecting the consumer in a world that has too many social media distractions.

Consumers want choice and each has a different need that is unique and personalised this has created a unique niche for a very different kind of print management company that is able to drive communications in both print and digital format. It also makes print outsourcing an important consideration for businesses to consider when planning a digital and print marketing campaign.

Being able to work with an outsourcing partner that can manage and integrate the various channels of communication makes it a very effective way of maximising business efficiencies and savings.

Brochures, magazines, books and direct mail communications can stand out from the crowd when good content and great design is paramount.

Print has one major advantage over its digital adversary – longevity and undivided attention from it’s audience.

When a piece of direct mail, postcard, catalogue is in the hands of the consumer they are more engaged than when online. The web and other electronic methods of communication serve up distractions with competing adverts and ‘noise’.

We live in an age of choice and consumers want to be communicated to the way they want.

They may be happy to receive an e-newsletter but might want printed statements and it is down to the marketers to deliver the right combination of personalised communications that suits each of their targeted audiences needs.

By making print stand out more with great content and design, adding colour providing excellent finishing thus creating a long lasting product only cements print’s relationship with the consumer by providing an engaging and a lasting connection.

How often do you receive a great piece of direct mail?

Maybe you were attracted by the message or it was an interesting information piece that you want to keep and then pin to your reminder board or to the fridge. Print has achieved its goal by creating a lasting impact.

Managing print and integrating it with a cross media marketing communications mix requires a lot of thought and effort and is a complicated process.

It requires a dedicated print management company with expertise in printing, design, database management, postal and fulfilment processes.

For many companies that level of print management skill and expertise is beyond most marketing departments and is not a core competency making outsourcing an ideal solution for improved print management internally.

Outsourcing the cross media marketing mix involves consolidating print management and print procurement with one company capable of delivering printed products with online electronic solutions in addition to being able to provide the vital consulting services needed to ensure that any cross media marketing campaign gives the best return on investment.

It’s a balance between co-ordinating print with communication across all channels.

Marketers gain a competitive advantage working with a print management partner by transforming the way they design, create, produce, distribute and integrate their customer communications.

Marketers benefit from outsourcing print management in the following ways:-

Optimising customer communications across digital and print channels
Maximise the skills and expertise of a print management partner with access to many suppliers
Brand identity is aligned by centralising all printed and digital marketing communications
Combining print spend across multiple clients maximises cost savings
Access to first class print production, pre-press, design and fulfilment optimising each campaign to the full
Greater speed and flexibility to market for revenue generating campaigns and critical customer communications
Compliance by working with a print management company who has already vetted and ensured their suppliers are able to deliver the marketers campaigns on time and in budget
Data quality management by improving bad data and removing duplicated information ensuring that personalisation is cost effective

Organisations who outsource their marketing communications gain by acquiring expertise, a dedicated print management team capable of managing the variables within a cross media marketing campaign without the marketer having to source this knowledge themselves.

The business of customer communications is ever changing.

With more channels to market to get your message heard requires an organisation to be agile in managing customer preferences across all channels.

Social media is continuing to develop it’s role in customer communication and real time mobile marketing and ‘local marketing’ are still being realised making it increasingly difficult for a company to manage these processes in-house.

Companies stand to gain benefits by working with a provider who have solutions that include print, digital and document management that can deliver personalised marketing.

Marketers can integrate their marketing campaigns like never before and provide bespoke personalised communications to match the customers wants resulting in stronger brands and increased customer loyalty.

Collaboration with a ‘print-neutral’ print management partner who can place communications jobs where their customers will get the greatest benefits ensures that the marketer gains expertise, consultation, access to a variety of multi-channel distribution networks, brand consistency and major cost benefits.

Content marketing and strategy, Cross media personalisation and marketing

Big data and marketing personalisation?

March 30, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

What is big data and how does it fit in with marketing personalisation?

No doubt you’ve seen articles about “big data” and maybe even had your inbox inundated with “big data” news.

Last year I wrote about content and cross media personalisation and how print and the various social media platforms interact with each other creating a touch point for customers to engage.

What does it mean?

Big data is nothing new, in fact it has been around for a long time. It has just got bigger.

Let me explain.

When I browse I know that I am being tracked or followed around the web, unique customised adverts designed to entice me to buy based on my browsing history are evidence of this.

Having crossed over to the dark side by joining google business, well meaning colleagues have commented ‘doesn’t it feel a little like big brother is watching over you.’

But wait a minute…

Amazon is a great example of giving its customers a personalised viewing experience based on your shopping history.

When you click through and place an order with amazon you get further recommendations in your inbox or on your amazon homepage for other items you might be interested in viewing; ‘personalisation’ and ‘customisation’ is key to amazon’s buying experience.

Recently I had the pleasure of writing up a great review for a restaurant we ate in Paris on Trip Advisor and whilst I was browsing on a completely unrelated website an advert popped up with a list of recommended places to eat in Paris uniquely personalised for me.

I have to admit; it left me feeling a little shall we say uncomfortable under the collar.

How do these unrelated websites track my buying habits or know what I’m likely to be interested in purchasing or where I like to eat?

When on holiday in europe, adverts pop up whilst I’m browsing hi-lighting things I could be doing relevant to the very country I’m in.

It’s all about ‘big data’.

I like wikipedia’s definition of big data, ’a term used for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using database management tools’

Retailers and big brands are leading the way in using big data analysing our unique buying trends. The analytics of customer data has got bigger due to interaction and engagement the consumer has on social media platforms.

Big data isn’t new. Retailer loyalty cards, medical records, tax returns all this kind of data has and is managed using a relationship customer database.

The challenge for marketers’ and managers of big data is how to manage the massive surge in data.

New skills are needed to understand what to do with this data and let’s not forget that the job of a big data analytics person didn’t exist five years ago.

We live in an online and digital world where data has got bigger – from the number of tweets to text messages, facebook updates, online shopping and the gadgets we use to interact online.

Smartphones send and receive large volumes of data; the heating thermostat that can be set using a smartphone so your house is warm when you return home from work or the washing machine that can be remotely set to come on at a specific time.

All of these processes involve sending or receiving large chunks of data, which is being used to monitor our buying quirks and hi-light when we are more likely to be online and reciprocal to marketing messages.

Hang on a minute any data is good data isn’t it?

Wrong.

Having a load of data is all well and good but if you don’t know how to analyse or interpret it then it’s useless and of course what do you hope to achieve once you have all this data? Companies are only just realising that data is a valuable asset that can be exploited for targeted marketing.

Using the data you have and understanding what it is telling you is key to personalising your marketing message to your audience and these will be some of the questions that marketers need to ask before they deliver mass marketing messages to their audience.

Using data to ‘personalise’ a buyers experience and understanding your audiences’ persona is key to delivering an effective message.

Sending or emailing a marketing message for a two seater BMW Z4 to a family of four who drive a saloon car has missed it’s target audience.

They may well be car junkies and watch Top Gear every sunday but they are unlikely to walk into a garage and buy the car.

Consumers know that when they use their loyalty cards or purchase online and register their details on a site the information is then used to create personalised content to make the buying experience unique and highly personalised next time.

Most banks have vast amounts of data gleaned from our saving and spending habits and companies who send invoices or statements electronically use the data to create targeted personalised marketing messages so the customer will hopefully make more purchases.

Emailing a personalised marketing message is not quite so intrusive as being lam-blasted with pop up messages as my example above, or, being subjected to a mass of unsolicited, unpersonalised email from a company that you vaguely recollect in your distant memory because you made a purchase and now they think they can seduce you into buying that oh so much needed lawnmower when their data should be telling them you live in a flat and hate gardening.

How would you respond if you:-

Fill up in the same garage weekly and you get a promotional message via text or direct mail telling you that during the month of April the garage is offering 5p off every gallon of fuel because they recognise you as a regular customer and want to say thank you.
You purchased 6 toner cartridges last month and because the company you bought them from value your regular custom send you 10 boxes of laser compatible stationery to say thank you.
You spend a lot of time travelling from the UK to Europe staying in a well known business hotel chain and you get a text message welcoming you to your hotel on your next trip with a free evening meal and a glass of wine to say thank you for your valued custom.

That is what I mean about being targeted, specific and knowing your audience.

Now what was I saying about big brother watching…

Accounts Automation, Accounts Receivable, Document Management, Hybrid Mail

How to automate your credit control with hybrid mail

March 24, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

I’ve always been an advocate of outsourcing no matter how small or large the project, some processes automatically lend themselves to outsourcing, and in my humble opinion debt collection and the ancillary processes fall right into the outsource category.

This will be dictated by the structure and size of your organisation and if it is viable to outsource.

Most businesses are familiar with the cliché cash is king and the only way to ensure that cash flow remains buoyant is to have an effective credit control strategy.

Ensuring that cash flow is high whilst keeping debtor days low is the unenviable task of many companies.

Whilst there is an argument to consider outsourcing the complete process aka department, I’m going to focus on one task that is generally performed daily or weekly and that is the generation and distribution of debt collection letters.

The increasing amounts of debt passed for collection mean debt collection teams and outsource recovery companies need to maximise efficacy when collecting and dealing with delinquent payments.

The case for a document management solution

Document management systems can improve the collection lifecycle from capturing incoming information to speeding up cash collection.

How does a document management system speed up debt recovery?

Avoiding lost or missing documents by capturing, indexing, and filing electronically ensures they are held in a secure digital cabinet for access by the collection team. Retrieval is quick and documents can be viewed on-screen, which can then be faxed, printed, emailed, or printed and posted.
Cheques and remittances can be processed quickly. Remittance advice notes received from customers paying by BACS can be scanned and entered into the business workflow. Capturing large volumes of cheques and remittance slips decrease the need to handle paper, speeds up processing, and cash collection.
Prompt query handling – having a document management system that integrates with your CRM and accounting systems helps with query management. Viewing customer details, contracts, debt chasing letters, and statements in one-place speeds up the query management process.
Centralisation of electronic documents in a digital file cabinet gives access to debtor case files, letters, legal notices, telephone conversation transcripts, and emails by the credit-control or debt management team.
Reduce filing and improve compliance – many credit control teams still print two copies of client correspondence posting one and filing the other for record-keeping. Invoices, for example, need to be kept for seven years but an integrated document management system means that all documents can be retained in an electronic format whilst still complying and providing easy retrieval and following audit requirements.

The case for a hybrid mail solution

Where the electronic delivery option of debtor letters is not convenient or suitable and debt collection specialists or in-house teams want to contact debtors via letter correspondence a hybrid mail solution is a very cost-effective alternative to standard print and mail.

For debt collection companies that manage various customer data files containing collection letters, hybrid mail is a low-cost print and mail solution for high and low volume generation.

Letters are uploaded to a secure portal printed and despatched, saving postage, processing, and mailing costs.

In-house credit control teams can upload customer data on a daily basis incorporating different letter templates, inserts, and any other customer letter requirement.

The benefits

Upload letters from your computer, laptop, smartphone, choose print options, inserts, and backgrounds
Secure Https portal login easy to set up
No restriction on the number of users
No minimum letter upload
Templates digitally archived for future use
Cost-effective for short runs or where letters are needed to be posted out
Send statements with your dispute procedure
Send copy invoices

If you would like more information or you need a call then click here

Outsourcing, Payroll Processing

Why would I want to outsource my payroll or HR department?

March 17, 2014 Caroline Leave a comment

Outsourcing doesn’t have to result in a whole department being outsourced.

Although I’ve discussed payroll outsourcing before emphasis has been on the physical process of outsourcing the complete department and not some of the components of payroll and HR.

There is a genuine misconception that outsourcing a part of the overall process won’t be cost effective or indeed that outsourcing yields little or no return on investment.

Two questions that need to be asked by organisations prior to considering outsourcing and way before costs are considered are:-

How could outsourcing work for us? Do we need to outsource?

Here is an alternative that can work and delivers results that are measurable.

Why not consider automating a process rather than outsourcing a whole department?

What do I mean?

Organisations can decide to outsource a department to a third party company de-congesting them of non core business activities but what if an organisation wants to maintain control of the payroll department but only outsource some of the more time consuming tasks?

For many small to medium sized organisations payroll and HR come under the same umbrella with payroll and HR engaging in tasks that might otherwise be department specific in larger organisations.

One of the primary reasons companies outsource their payroll function is to eliminate non core business tasks that don’t add any tangible benefit to a company’s bottom line.

In-house administration of payroll and HR requires on-going compliance and staff resources. Outsourcing can provide a continuum of expertise and knowledge in HR and Payroll as part of the outsource process, administering this in-house can be costly.

HR departments can be bureaucratic, obstructive and often stuck in the comfort zone of form filling and being seen to support the strategic process of an organisations objectives but not always aligned with the company’s goals.

The other side of the coin is that HR provides senior management with employee information in relation to business development, staffing resources needed for business mergers, acquisitions or restructuring of the business.

HR departments are under increasing pressure to ensure that the service they deliver is efficient and cost effective. There are many manual functions that are fulfilled by HR department’s – employee contracts, appraisals, health and safety, pension documents, new employee inductions, absence reporting documentation, employee communications and document knowledge management.

Whilst the relationship between HR and its employees is a core business function and important for on-going employee relations, the payroll, tax and pension administration and HR compliance are not.

What part should I outsource?

Payslip printing, e-payslips and multi-channel distribution automation without outsourcing the whole department

Payroll departments who want to maintain control of their main core functions but wish to outsource their payslip printing, e-payslips and distribution can certainly benefit from relinquishing themselves from this process.

Outsourcing the print and distribution of payslips can save from 3-5 days of processing internally reducing the time it takes to handle this task enabling payroll managers to better redistribute their resources to handle employee queries rather than stacking the printer with paper, folding and inserting.

When managing this process internally how do you ensure confidentiality? How do you make sure employees don’t see each other’s pay information?

Outsourcing a payroll departments printing makes it easier to manage.

Processing and distributing payslips and p60s is one of the easier more straightforward aspects that lends itself to outsourcing. Confidentiality is maintained and security is foremost making payroll managers jobs easier.

HR automation without outsourcing the whole department

HR Managers are either driving staff recruitment or managing a decrease in staffing levels and temporary contracts. HR teams deal with many documents most of which are in paper format that are required to be filed, archived and stored.

Automation of some of the HR departments tasks not only adds value to the company’s bottom line but ensures the HR process is streamlined and efficient.

By automating accessibility to key employee documents reduces storage and paper usage and by providing secure access to these documents ensures that documents are managed to conform to compliance needs. Your HR system doesn’t need to be replaced but it can be enhanced by using an electronic filing cabinet and automating some of the more mundane processes associated with HR departments such as:-

Applications

Applications for jobs can be submitted in any media from email, web and post and CVs along with covering letters can be entered into the system making review easier and more streamlined. Approved applications are stored and tagged for appropriate skills and then routed to the line manager.

Interview processing

Predefined and digitally stored letters can be populated and produced for interview invitations. Feedback from the interview is stored in one location making it easier for managers to review.

Offer or rejection

Workflows send acceptance or rejection notifications to the HR department which in turn generates the contracts with the predefined terms such as salary, offer or rejection letters are automatically generated and sent to the applicants.

Inductions

Once a candidate has accepted an offer, departments can be notified of a new starter ensuring that all employment documentation and related tasks are completed prior to the commencement date.

Employee

Training, employee development, performance review, grievance logging and holiday booking forms can be saved electronically in one centralised location.

Leavers

Automated management of the leaving process ensures that employment records are automatically archived, company equipment is returned and retention policies ensure destruction of employee documentation at the appropriate time.

In both payroll printing and HR automation:

The productivity curve is improved and shortened
Workload reduced in both departments
Expertise in payslip printing and HR automation
Flexibility
Processing costs reduced
Establish consistent repeatable processes
Duplication errors reduced

For more information click here

All posts by Caroline

How to convince employees to take up e-payslips

How can an organisation encourage the take up of electronic payslips?

What do you think?

Do you prefer to receive your payslips mobile or a paper pay slip?

Knowing what your customer really wants

Here’s an example of what I mean

Information security. How secure is your information?

How valuable is your personal and company data to others?

How do I know if my information is secure?

What does information security mean when it comes to outsourcing data files?

How do you choose the right print management services company for your cross media marketing?

How to choose the right print management services partner?

8 points to consider when selecting a print management service partner

The only thing that needs to change is the name ‘print management’. Print is no longer the whole picture rather, part of an evolving multi-channel, multi-faceted customer marketing communications mix.

Leveraging the power of print outsourcing.

In part 2 Choosing a print management services company? How do I find the right supplier to help me co-ordinate my cross media marketing and print campaigns?

Print management and cross media marketing

How often do you receive a great piece of direct mail?

Big data and marketing personalisation?

What is big data and how does it fit in with marketing personalisation?

What does it mean?

I like wikipedia’s definition of big data, ’a term used for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using database management tools’

Hang on a minute any data is good data isn’t it?

How to automate your credit control with hybrid mail

The case for a document management solution

The case for a hybrid mail solution

The benefits

Why would I want to outsource my payroll or HR department?

How could outsourcing work for us? Do we need to outsource?

Why not consider automating a process rather than outsourcing a whole department?

What do I mean?

Payslip printing, e-payslips and multi-channel distribution automation without outsourcing the whole department

HR automation without outsourcing the whole department

Follow us on twitter, Facebook and Pinterest or connect with us on Linkedin and Google+

The finance printing specialists

How can an organisation encourage the take up of electronic payslips?

What do you think?

Do you prefer to receive your payslips mobile or a paper pay slip?

Here’s an example of what I mean

How valuable is your personal and company data to others?

How do I know if my information is secure?

What does information security mean when it comes to outsourcing data files?

How to choose the right print management services partner?

8 points to consider when selecting a print management service partner

The only thing that needs to change is the name ‘print management’. Print is no longer the whole picture rather, part of an evolving multi-channel, multi-faceted customer marketing communications mix.

Related posts:

In part 2 Choosing a print management services company? How do I find the right supplier to help me co-ordinate my cross media marketing and print campaigns?

Related posts:

What is the future of print?

Related posts:

How often do you receive a great piece of direct mail?

Related posts:

What is big data and how does it fit in with marketing personalisation?

What does it mean?

I like wikipedia’s definition of big data, ’a term used for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using database management tools’

Hang on a minute any data is good data isn’t it?

The case for a document management solution

The case for a hybrid mail solution

The benefits

Related posts:

How could outsourcing work for us? Do we need to outsource?

Why not consider automating a process rather than outsourcing a whole department?

What do I mean?

Payslip printing, e-payslips and multi-channel distribution automation without outsourcing the whole department

HR automation without outsourcing the whole department

Follow us on twitter, Facebook and Pinterest or connect with us on Linkedin and Google+

Related posts:

The finance printing specialists