Outsourced Printing & Mail Management: A Solution for Tough Economic Times

Nancy Gessmann, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, CDS Global

Faced with ever-increasing pressure to reduce operating expenses, more organizations are taking a hard look at outsourcing their printing and mail management. By partnering with leading outsourced providers, organizations of all sizes are finding that they can achieve tremendous cost savings while eliminating the overhead and hassles of maintaining and upgrading in-house lettershop operations.

And by working with the right outsource provider, organizations can achieve all of these benefits without sacrificing quality, efficiency and confidentiality, or jeopardizing their brand’s reputation.

Reducing Operating Expenses

In order to stay competitive during the economic downturn, 51 percent of executives involved in document management say their company plans to reduce operating expenses, according to a survey by solutions provider Océ Business Services. Survey respondents agree that effectively managing document processes can help meet these objectives, particularly with respect to reducing expenses.

One way the companies surveyed expect to reduce costs is by outsourcing business processes. The top three document activities that these companies are outsourcing include mail and shipping, print/copy center and document imaging. The top overall business benefits that the Océ Business Services survey respondents report gaining from these outsourced document activities include lowered costs, improved operational performance and a greater focus on core business.

“Strategic document outsourcing offers organizations the opportunity to eliminate print- and mail-related capital expenditures while potentially reducing material and postage expenses,” notes Pete Basiliere, research director, Gartner, which also sees increased interest in document outsourcing as a result of the economic downturn. “Outsource providers facilitate the targeted, relevant customer communications that can not only retain and grow the client base but also increase revenue.”

Forrester notes companies increasingly are including printing services in outsourcing contracts.

Enter Printing & Mail Management

Printing and mail management is focused on the publication of customer communications, including content creation, printing and mailing. The outsourced documents may be client statements, annual reports, transactional forms, sales collateral, direct marketing materials, membership kits and more.

Today, printing providers support a full range of services, from short-run, static-content print jobs to dynamic document printing with tailored content driven by the recipient’s characteristics and history (e.g. transaction documents). In between, providers can offer printing with minor content updates, reprints from a repository, “pick and pack” document assembly and mail merge. Moreover, many on-demand providers use four-color process digital imaging, which allows companies to tap the power of digital: variable data, variable images, short runs, and no forms stock to manage.

Outsourced printing shifts labor, material and overhead costs to a third-party provider. Because of its expertise and aggregated volume, the provider has the ability to publish the communications for less, even when a profit margin is added onto its costs. These providers also can achieve exceptional postal discounts by commingling mail for multiple clients and drop-shipping or presorting items.

Equally important, outsourced printing providers often have the latest hardware and software, Gartner notes, in addition to the well-trained personnel necessary to analyze clients’ needs and objectives and ensure the project is successful. With this know-how, organizations can leverage more powerful communications that generate increased responses and higher revenue. Additionally, some providers offer targeted and regionalized printing capabilities to further drive response rates. And mail suppression can further reduce a company’s costs, while increasing customer satisfaction.

Basiliere added, “Whether the communications are in print or electronic media, or are campaigns combining the two, strategic document outsourcing enables organizations to focus on their core products and services while entrusting customer communications to a specialist service provider.”

The Bottom Line

Whether organizations perform document printing on an internal or outsourced basis, one thing is clear: more of them are realizing the potential for printing and mail management to deliver benefits such as reduced costs, maximized productivity, enhanced printing capabilities and increased service – all of which can help them survive and thrive in the challenging business environment ahead.

Nancy Gessmann
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions
CDS Global
515.471.5678

CDS Global is a leading provider of outsourced business solutions to publishers, nonprofits, financial institutions, municipalities, utilities and direct marketers.