BY DENNIS MCGARRY, CDC
First, let's discuss variable data printing. What is it?
Robert E. Willis, CEO of manufacturer EPX Group in Portland, Maine, and a former DMIA Board member, defines variable data printing simply as "the ability to receive data from any source and to output a business communication process."
In all cases, the end result is a document that's unique to an individual. It can be personalized with a name, address, artwork and other criteria dropped into a predefined layout, such as a post card that serves as one component of a continuity campaign for a car dealer. Or, it can be customized so the entire page is filled with variable data that addresses the customer one-to-one, often with time-sensitive or confidential information. An example of this type of application is a credit card statement or telephone bill. In this case, the customer is expected to respond with payment. A mechanism such as a tear-off stub with reply envelope can be built into the design.
Through its Digital Services Group, EPX has moved beyond forms to become a full-service, electronic print-to-mail partner. The firm has invested heavily in equipment to handle its product portfolio, which includes laser cut sheets, statements, direct mail, commercial printing and fulfillment packages. The company's Xerox digital printing lineup includes DocuTech™ 6135 and DocuTech™ 6180 Publishers, DocuPrint™ 96s, and Xerox MICR laser printers. Pitney Bowes and Bell & Howell intelligent inserters and Bryce ink jet and addressing equipment complete the firm's finishing line.
EPX began offering variable imaging in 1995. Its distributor base was selling to health organizations, credit unions, universities, telecommunications companies and the government. "[Our] distributors focus on small to mid-sized companies," says Mike Freethy, sales manager for EPX's Digital Services Group. "Their best prospects for variable imaging applications are existing customers who communicate with their customers on a regular basis." Variable imaging accounts for more than 90 percent of EPX's digital business.
New Possibilities for Printed Pieces
Distributors such as Electronic and Conventional Printing (ECP), Gilford, N.H., have relied on EPX since 1995, when a DMIA seminar prompted ECP President John Morich to diversify the distributorship's product line. ECP considered two paths for growth--electronic forms software to replace preprinted forms and electronic imaging to add value to cut sheets.
More than 30 percent of ECP's volume comes from variably imaged applications, and Morich's goal is to be 100 percent in the electronic market and out of the traditional market altogether.
ECP began its variable imaging experience with banking clients. It has worked with one loan department to identify and make improvements to its preprinted mortgage documents. Some forms in the set have changed frequently as legislation and compliance laws change. The customer agreed to have mortgage kits printed on EPX's Xerox DocuTech, which printed the kits more efficiently as individual branches needed products. This process change streamlined internal operations and fixed the problem of bank customers filling out incorrect versions of forms.
"If you can identify and sell the idea of a process, the forgone conclusion is you will get the business," Morich says. This is ECP's approach to 1099 tax forms, which are produced at a busy time of the year in the financial industry. "Our value is eliminating one more thing the banks have to do by outsourcing the imaging and mailing of their tax documents." As a result of its penetration in the banking industry, ECP has signed up 45 banks for year-end processing services; EPX fulfills the program annually.
Working Closely With Customers
"The most valuable thing a distributor can bring is the knowledge and relationship with the customer," Freethy says. ECP has branched out from banking to sell similar variable imaging programs to its education and government customers. The distributorship has built on its knowledge of conventional printing to convert its thinking to newer electronic imaging technology.
EPX employs a key document assessment (KDA) to assist distributors in answering these important questions with their customers: How is the process currently completed? What do we want to accomplish? Where can we impact operating costs? How can we improve communication?
Distributors can add value to a document's design and function by suggesting a new construction or format, a better manufacturing method, more color, content changes, selective messaging and more. Distributors also can add value to the document management process. For instance, electronic data storage on CD-ROM can take the place of paper copies for physical storage at the customer site. Another example: Some customers may not be taking advantage of available postal discounts. And end users can eliminate cumbersome in-house operations by adding payment automation processes.
The distributor's greatest opportunity is in selling the process versus the product, Freethy says. "An envelope is just an envelope," he says. "When it turns into a carrier that delivers a monthly statement, it's part of a business communication process."
Delivering the Image
The hardest part of getting into variable imaging isn't the cash outlay for equipment, Willis says. It's a long and expensive learning curve to change a culture embedded in ink-on-paper to a culture that embraces information technology. Morich agrees, adding that it's difficult for a forms salesperson to make the transition to electronic printing. Systems salespeople are more comfortable selling the process.
A company upgrading its capabilities to include variable imaging has to be software-savvy in terms of data programming and mail processing. There is constant churn, with new and better software routinely hitting the market. The ability to receive files isn't enough to enter. You have to put integrity into the process upfront. "Integrity" means using process controls such as audit trails to guarantee error-free records. It also entails accounting for every piece of mail and reporting to customers about what was delivered.
Data streams and data manipulation drive variable images. EPX can receive incoming customer data in a variety of formats, including the internet, email and disk. EPX prefers that customers send files through its secure FTP site and also email the distributor an order confirmation at the same time. EPX's data team preprocesses orders by performing an "iWatch" on each file received, tallying the total number of records and the dollar amount (the billing file), and identifying the sender. To prevent file-transfer corruption, EPX performs write-routines to normalize the files. "There is a tremendous amount of work to validate what the customer sent is what EPX received," Willis says. "We do more than just output the data."
Once EPX generates a work order, all the job specifications and features are pulled from the local network. The data team continues the audit trail, conveying to everyone who touches the job the name of file, where it's located on the network, who the first and last customers are on the record set, and any postal requirements. The information is sent to the imaging equipment as a print-ready file. The job is printed and transferred to finishing. Job specs no longer reside on the equipment; they're stored on the network and archived onto a CD-ROM for future reference, updating and usage.
Not all manufacturers decide to provide an end-to-end solution when it comes to variable imaging. EPX did. As a data-to-mail operation, the manufacturer processes the data file; images and sequences the pages; finishes, folds and inserts them into their matching envelopes; meters the envelopes; and delivers the pieces to the post office for mailing.
Morich emphasizes the "process" when selling variable imaging. "Distributors need to find out how they can best fit into the customer's workflow to help them become more efficient," he says. "Ask yourself: Which customers are buying a lot of laser cut sheets, envelopes, and form combinations? If you're meeting their needs for products today, you'll be in position to diversify into [variable imaging] tomorrow."
Dennis McGarry, CDC, is vice president of manufacturer and
technical programs at DMIA. Email him your comments at dmcgarry@PSDA.org .
