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Solutions June 2006
Cover
Story
TOP100distributors
Calculating
the Future
CTP
ushers in efficiency and customization
with new technology.
In
Brief
This
California distributorship employs
online software solutions and
streamlined mail processes to
save customers money.
Company:
CTP Solutions #41
Headquarters:
Agoura Hills, Calif.
Principal:
Jack Schachtel
Employees:
17
Sales
increase from FY 2004-05:
11.3%
Many
companies spend exorbitant sums
mailing bills to their customers
– needlessly, says Jack
Schachtel, president of Agoura
Hills, Calif.-based CTP Solutions.
In the past year, Schachtel has
grown the company more than 11
percent by reducing postage and
printing costs for clients. His
two solutions are bundled billing
and an exclusive software application
that emails invoices as directed.
“Companies
will send invoices to the same
address many times throughout
the month,” Schachtel explains,
detailing a business-to-business
scenario. “Why not wait
a few days and put all the bills
in the same envelope?” Normally,
a bill is one-third of an ounce,
the maximum weight for the standard
mail class. Invoice consolidation
cuts postage by about two-thirds,
Schachtel says. “The stamp
is the most expensive part of
getting a bill out in the mail.”
 |
“Where
there are really a lot
of electronic services
opportunities in replacing
paper in invoicing and
processing.”
Jack
Schachtel, president
CTP
Solutions
Agoura
Hills, Calif.
|
With
that method, CTP saved one customer
more than $100,000 in postage
last year. But what about the
cost of printing and handling
the bill itself? To increase efficiency
and profit in that area, Schachtel
offers clients online invoicing
and payment through an in-house
software program developed by
a business partner.
“It’s
different than your traditional
electronic offering,” he
says, which describes web-to-print
ordering capabilities. “Where
there are really a lot of electronic
services opportunities in replacing
paper in invoicing and processing.”
Schachtel
describes a recent contract bid
against Bank of America that he
won. CTP offered an email option
for business-to-business invoices,
which had been averaging 20 pages
per statement. Although most consumers
are familiar with electronic statements
(checking a credit card or bank
account balance online), online
bills is the next step forward.
“The
customer sends us data,”
he says, “and we either
format that data on paper or output
it electronically in an email
process. That’s either an
actual bill, or we draw them to
a website to pay their bill.”
CTP’s client indicates which
customers get paper bills and
which get electronic ones, and
the customized software handles
it automatically. If CTP has been
contracted to handle payroll checks,
the program will sort the individuals
into a category receiving live
paper checks and those receiving
an emailed direct deposit notification.
The software, which does not have
a unique name, can process any
company’s financial data,
regardless of format, with proper
firewalls and security measures.
“We
can also send payment electronically
to the bank,” Schachtel
says, which avoids a complex,
costly EDI setup that is generally
limited to one format. Although
these electronic offerings are
only about 10 percent of CTP’s
current business, Schachtel is
confident that percentage will
grow, as more of the world operates
electronically and online options
drive dollars to the bottom line.
“There’s always going
to be those who need a piece of
paper,” he says, “but
they’ll pay for it. That
market segment will continue to
shrink, especially because companies
can get their money a lot faster
this way.”
Schachtel
says that CTP’s forward
growth in this area has arisen
“naturally” from industry
outsourcing in the late ‘90s.
After losing a big account that
wanted to outsource payables and
receivables, CTP decided to offer
that capability as well as its
traditional forms and commercial
printing and check processing.
In today’s digital world,
clients want both capabilities.
“When you’re listening
to the customer, they will give
they will tell you their needs
and requirements to better their
business,” Schachtel says.
—Rebecca
Trela
