Postal Optimization: Maximizing Your Postal Discounts

May 16th, 2013

Recently at both Mailcom and the National Postal Forum, we had conversations with many of you about maximizing postal discounts, efficiently tracking mail using Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb), maintaining address quality, dealing with undeliverable mail, weaving mailing tasks into workflow and much more. Companies like you producing large scale mailings are looking for help in securing postal savings all while improving workflow and overall mail project efficiencies.

What is most important for companies with large scale mailings to address is something we like to call Postal Optimization.

A simple term, but not a simple process, and without it, you run the risk of submitting mail to the USPS that does not adhere to its strict standards and fails to qualify for the many discounts.  So, what steps can you take to make it possible?

The first step any mailer company can take is to look to software and hardware solution providers that can offer the type of sophisticated technology that integrates properly with postal regulations and eases the pain points allowing you to maximize your productivity and cost savings, all while taking advantage of the full array of postal discounts available.

Achieving this level of best practice postal optimization takes planning and patience, but you can be assured that achieving good results are possible. The areas to pay attention to are:

  • Mail Cleansing – The USPS requires mailers taking automation discounts on postage to adhere to a certification program known as CASS, for Coding Accuracy Support System.  In plain English, CASS is the post offices way of trying to cut down on wrongly addressed mail. Finding a solution that integrates properly with CASS products, can save a high-volume mailer large sums of money in wasted postage and labor costs associated with wrongly addressed mail, all while allowing for the USPS discount.
  • Intelligent Mail Bar Code (IMb) Printing – this tracking identifier enables the USPS to provide the feedback on automated mail pieces.  A solution that can help a mailer capture the feedback data made available by this identifier can allow for less incorrect addresses, a smoother delivery process and additional postal discounts.
  • Postal Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (PAVE) – like the CASS certification, the USPS provides discounts to companies using PAVE certified software that accurately sorts addresses into a zip-code ordered mailing. Once again, with the right software solution designed to work with PAVE certifications, mailers can get their mailings into the type of condition the post office demands and realize large discounts as a result.

These are just a few areas where the right software solution can save you a significant amount of time and money.  Others include delivery and address tracking, electronic notifications from USPS about undeliverable mail, reply mail tracking and more.  In many cases hundreds of thousands of dollars can be realized just taking these steps to ensure solutions are in place to address all the regulations and tracking issues associated with large scale mailings.

At Ricoh, we’ve developed a family of mail and workflow software solutions that help connect companies directly to the USPS systems taking the guess work out of discounts, regulations and getting the most information possible out of each and every mailing.

See for yourself on this page:  professional services offerings or email us at psmail@ricoh-usa.com.

Best,

Ned Otey

Solutions Architect

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See What’s Hot at Mailcom: Postal Discounts, IMb, Address Quality and More!

May 1st, 2013

The Jersey Shore isn’t just the setting for an entertaining reality TV show; it’s also the epicenter of the East Coast’s big postal event this year – Mailcom.  This week, Ricoh is at the show speaking with companies just like yours about reducing print and mailing costs, while increasing revenues through smarter targeting and analytics.  Our booth, #315, showcases the full range of solutions from creation to finishing that can help you achieve cost-effectiveness, integrity and efficiency.  Visitors to our booth are exploring the latest techniques for web-to-print, maximizing postal discounts, efficiently tracking mail using IMb, maintaining address quality, dealing with undeliverable mail, weaving mailing tasks into their workflow and tapping into their customer data to leverage analytics to increase the relevance of their communications (as we’ve discussed before, relevancy is key as we’re all being inundated with marketing messages each day).

Show attendees have been especially interested in how to secure postal savings and improve document workflow.  Here are some of the hot topics that my colleagues and I are discussing with visitors:

  • How to use print management and workflow tools to tackle address quality and sortation.  As mailers increasingly look to take advantage of discounts via the USPS’s PAVE standards, we’ve also answered many questions about how our solutions allow companies to do so easily
  • The January 2014 deadline for the implementation of IMb is looming over the industry and is a source of much chatter – and anticipation – at the show.  The postal discounts that many companies have not yet taken advantage of will disappear before your eyes if you don’t put IMb in place.  We’re showing attendees how they can print IMbs on the mail pieces so they qualify for these mail discounts and also generate unique, or identical, IMb values to send and remit mail pieces
  • Making mailrooms smarter.  As companies transition from the inefficient, unruly mailrooms that are filled with backlogged return mail and change of address cards, they’re looking to use CASS and BCC’s NCOALink™ to keep track of their customer’s new addresses.  We also demonstrated how users can capture USPS feedback about when mail was delivered, who made payments, who responded to offers, and which pieces were undeliverable using mail intelligence solutions like Mail Insight.

On the heels of the National Postal Forum, we’re thankful to have yet another opportunity to connect with the mailers – hopefully many of you readers – who are responsible for the next generation of the postal industry.  If you’re interested in hearing more about our solutions and weren’t able to speak with us at the show, feel free to e-mail me at Bill.Shaffer@ricoh-usa.com.

Until next time,

Bill Shaffer

Manager, Worldwide Software Alliances, Ricoh

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Ricoh is U.S. Inkjet Web Press Market Share Leader for Fifth Straight Year

April 29th, 2013

Mike Herold, Worldwide Product Manager, Inkjet Technologies, Ricoh

I always tell my kids that winning isn’t the most important thing – it’s trying your best and putting forth your best effort. But I have to admit: it still feels great to come in first place!

Today, the InfoPrint 5000 has been named the high-speed market share leader in the U.S. – for the fifth year in a row! (see the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Speed Inkjet Web Press 2013 Vendor Analysis report).

This is great news – not just because we’re leaders – but because of what backs up market leadership, and what this means to our customers. Examples of this can be: the experience of working with lots of different types of businesses in many industries; global customer support, which includes maintenance experts and a worldwide parts distribution system; and the best practices that come out of solving production print challenges for enterprises, service bureaus and commercial printers.

When we began developing the InfoPrint 5000, we took a different approach with three platforms, multiple models, configuration flexibility and a commitment to onsite upgrades. This approach was validated by customers whom we have worked side by side with from the very beginning. Their feedback then and today influences the product roadmap. And today, the InfoPrint 5000 has produced 40 billion production impressions worldwide!

As mentioned in IDC’s MarketScape report, customers can also enjoy low cost per page, speed and reliability, factors that are shaping the future of high-volume print and mailing applications.

Our goal is to bring more to the table than a superior product. Knowledge. Support. Experience. Business guidance. These things matter just as much to our customers. Many are transitioning from offset or targeting new applications or banking on inkjet web to help them grow. Our job is to make sure our customers are successful.

Mike Herold
Worldwide Product Manager, Inkjet Technologies, Ricoh

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Digital Publishing: Are You Ready?

April 26th, 2013

Rich Lloyd, Global Offset to Digital Offerings Manager, Ricoh

A majority of book manufacturers have already made the jump into digital, some are supplementing their current conventional production methods and others are turning into purely digital manufacturers.   Offset isn’t going away for long runs, but it’s simply not feasible or profitable for ultra short runs and variable data publishing. The average run length of a book order used to be 2,500 to 5,000. Now it’s 1 to 2,000.

Some book manufacturers are doing well because they saw the industry changing and got in early. With digital capabilities, they are giving publishers what they want, expanding into new applications and becoming more profitable. Their reasons for making the move can be broken up into these areas:

  1. Quality. Inkjet is getting closer and closer to “offset quality”.  It’s still not quite there but the strides that have been made in print quality are pretty astounding.  Inkjet printers are also dramatically expanding their supported substrates so that you can meet varying requirements for short run printing.
  2. Book Inventory. Publishers want to eliminate inventory and all the costs that go with it. With inkjet, you can offer publishers on-demand book printing, so inventory and inventory management are things of the past.
  3. Speed. Inkjet web presses are fast, and getting faster. You can meet extremely tight deadlines, for short runs, books of one, versioned books and so on.
  4. Turnaround Time. The amount of time that you have to get titles out the door is decreasing dramatically This timing is difficult to near impossible with offset but easily achievable with digital.
  5. Variability/Versioning. The use of variable data printing is common and increasing. Set yourself up to do this, and you can do a lot more than books. For example, trade journals that contain geographically specific advertising, custom course packs and even some general commercial print work if you want to go that direction.

When you look into digital, just be sure to do your homework. Vendors should be able to help you analyze your current situation, run ROI scenarios and share best practices that make your transition as smooth as possible. You are welcome to contact me at rich.lloyd@ricoh-usa.com if you have questions.

Rich Lloyd

Global Offset to Digital Offerings Manager, Ricoh

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Simplify Everything about Building Print Workflows

April 24th, 2013

The point of workflow is efficiency. Whether you’re using scripts or a visual tool, you want the process of building workflows to be as simple, fast and accurate as possible. Create or assign the correct workflow before jobs go into production, and they’ll sail through.

The latest versions of our workflow software—RICOH ProcessDirector and RICOH ProcessDirector Express—include a new user interface and a very cool visual workflow builder. It just doesn’t get any easier than dragging and dropping workflow icons to create PDF workflows and automate business rules. Check out the demo.

Here are just a couple of the things you can do:

·        Create logical checkpoints to test and branch workflow. A practical use for this…check the number of pages in a job to determine if it should be printed on a cutsheet or continuous forms printer.
·        Set up finishing and media properties in your Ricoh workflow software and JDF job tickets. You can use these properties to schedule similar jobs. You’ll change paper less often and keep printers running more of the day.

If you have an earlier version of our workflow software, you can import existing workflows automatically, look them over and find ways to consolidate or streamline them.

Want to learn more?

View the demo.

Scott Ziegler
Senior Software Product Manager, Ricoh

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A View from Xplor – What’s Hot in the Florida Sun

April 23rd, 2013

Last week, Xplor 2013, a mainstay of the electronic document industry, returned to sunny Florida. Unlike many

Mike Bryant, Worldwide Practice Leader - Strategy & Marketing Analytics

industry events, Xplor is chock full of educational sessions for those eager to expand their knowledge on how the imaging market is evolving.  This year, the conference’s central theme was “Breakthrough,” and attendees were treated to sessions that honed in on technologies that are transforming the way they communicate, including CCM, mobile and multi-channel communications.  Companies – from print service providers to direct marketers and everything in between – are seeking solutions that empower them to take advantage of these trends while addressing the pain points that are inherent during a transition.

Xplor sessions encourage audience participation; after all, learning is a two-way process, and the audience often has as much to contribute to these discussions as the presenters, themselves.  The forward-looking Industry Analysts’ Overview keynote session was a great example of this dynamic. Noel Ward, Managing Director, Brimstone Hill Associates, Pete Basiliere, Research Director, Gartner, Kemal Carr, President, Madison Advisors, Peter Muir, President, Bizucate Inc., and Matt Swain, Associate Director, Info Trends, explored the future of the industry.  They seeded a lively discussion on how generational differences are impacting the use of technology, how hyper-personalization offers opportunities and risks in changing the way companies build relationships with customers, and how companies are using Big Data to understand their customers better.

The breakthrough of Big Data and personalization continued to dominate the conversation at Xplor during my session, “Predictive Modeling: The Better Way to Data-Driven Analytics,” which was filled to capacity.  I outlined the power of predictive modeling as a retention and acquisition tool. Companies need to embrace predictive modeling to leverage Big Data and personalization.  My session continued the valuable interplay between speaker and audience, with attendees engaging me on a variety of issues (well after the session’s official end) – including data security and sharing, how to get started with analytics, how to approach end-customers, and how to actually acquire the data needed to perform analytics.

Howard Turetzky, EDP, Worldwide Advanced Technical Support at Ricoh, also drew crowds with his session, “The AFP Consortium and the Future of AFP: A Status Report.”  Attendees learned about the recently announced IS/3 Interchange Standard, the Metatdata standard and the group’s work toward an ISO AFP Archive standard, along with what’s on the road ahead for JDF integration, SVG support, and an AFP Graphics Arts Variable Data interchange set.

At the Ricoh booth, visitors stopped by delve further into the issues discussed in sessions, including technical conversations about how to improve their workflow.

What are your thoughts on Xplor?  Or analytics and personalization in print? If you have any questions or comments about the show or any of the hot trends we touched on here, please share!

Regards,

Mike Bryant

Worldwide Practice Leader – Strategy & Marketing Analytics

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6 Strategies for Making Short-Run Printing Profitable

April 17th, 2013

We all know short runs are here to stay, so the question is how to make more money out of short run production print while providing the same level of service that your customers come to expect. Whether you’ve been producing digital books for years, or you want to expand your print on demand strategy, these tips can help you.

  1. Know your current workflow costs. Do you really have a firm grasp on what your current costs are?  Wouldn’t it make sense to run through that analysis so you have a baseline?  It doesn’t matter if you’re using manual or automated processes. You want to know where you are today, so when you change part of your overall workflow, you can figure out the operational impact and ROI. The more you do this, the more you’ll understand your cost variables and how to manage them.
  2. Evaluate your short run publishing output. What are you printing now and where do you want to take your business? What percentage of your business is conventional versus digital? Figure out which jobs cost you the least and the most to produce. Create a growth plan based on current capabilities, your expertise, market opportunities and so on. The most cost-effective digital print solution lets you diversify in the areas where you want to expand but also streamlines the production of day-to-day work.
  3. Remove as many human touch points as possible. Labor is costly, and so is human error. You need to be more competitive so you HAVE to be as efficient as possible. Automate as many steps and processes as you can. You may not be able to automate everything right away, but maybe look at a phased approach. Look for modular, open workflow solutions that give you add-on possibilities, and let you plug in third-party software and even your own systems if you want…leverage those investments that you’ve already made in your business
  4. Go beyond on demand book printing. Books may be a
    steady base of business, but diversifying can be a smart move. Some book printers are looking at critical communications, which are applications that must be delivered to a specific person: insurance explanations of benefits, prospectuses, voting ballots and so on—and often regulatory compliance is involved. Every piece needs to be tracked so you can confirm every piece is printed accurately. Automating the reprint process is essential. This type of work can be very profitable if you’re set up to do it right. The key is a workflow that can tackle a wide range of different applications.
  5. Invest in software that saves money immediately. Always be on the lookout for automation tools that you can put to good use right away.  Software that connects your print workflow to other parts of your business is critical to future growth. Self publishing has taken off – have you evaluated workflow solutions that can allow you to play in that market as well?
  6. Look into color management and optimization. Considering the cost pressures from publishers, if you are doing full color work, color management and optimization can be keys to improving overall profitability whether it’s conventional or digital output.

There are lots of ways to increase short run publishing profitability, but they need to make sense for your business. Also, feel free to take a peek at this video of how short-runs and on demand publishing has reaped benefits for publishers. If you want to talk about these tips or other ideas, please contact me at rich.lloyd@ricoh-usa.com.

- Rich Lloyd

Global Offset to Digital Offerings Manager, Ricoh

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How to Choose the Right Professional Services Team

April 11th, 2013

Professional services – also often called business consulting services — can help you achieve your business goals – no matter what size print shop you run. These services can comprise everything from designing solutions, to providing IT support for a mail or print room, to providing integration between multiple solutions. Often, it’s hard to know what to look for when searching for an optimal business consulting services partner.

1.       Make sure the services partner you select has a broad range of expertise.
Here at Ricoh, our team consists of solution architects, software engineers, system administrators, Project Management Institute-certified project managers, certified Scrum masters, subject matter experts, consultants and more – so we are ready to handle any challenge you give us from mailroom integrity to postal optimization and beyond.

2.       Find a services partner who understands your environment.
Any strong professional services team will take the time to learn about your environment and works to understand your unique challenges and requirements, and our Ricoh team is extremely committed to this step.  It is our belief that only then can a solution be designed that will help you improve efficiency and save money.

3.       Ask about relationships with third-party vendors.
Professional services can bring added value through third-party relationships with vendors.  The professional services team can establish relationships with those third parties, and, in turn, offer those services within a customized package.

For example, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has a multitude of unique requirements and systems, which most hardware vendors must integrate with in order to provide complete mail services solutions to customers. For the Ricoh Professional Services group, this often means working with a variety of print vendors and various IT organizations to ensure mailings meet all of the specific USPS regulations and criteria as well as take advantage of discounts.

4.       Ask for specific insights on how the team has helped other printers save money.
Many mailers are not aware of routes to take to reduce their overall print costs such as operational and equipment efficiencies and postal discounts, and miss out on money saving options.  Seeing this, we came up with tips that help mailers understand how to reap the benefits of those postal discounts.

Professional services can help serve as the single point of contact to ensure everything works well together. They can be a partner on new solution concept designs, a manager on integration processes, support for all customer questions, and much more.

At the end of the day, professional consulting services are the glue holds together the pieces of your project, ensuring that it goes from initial sales call to implementation smoothly and effectively. At Ricoh, we thrive on challenges. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a customer call requesting our consulting services to help create a viable, complex, innovative solution that will set a new mark in the industry.  Learn more about our professional services offerings or email us at psmail@ricoh-usa.com.

Best,

Ned Otey

Solutions Architect

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Imagining Change Through Sharing: A preview of the LeadershipXchange Summit

April 3rd, 2013

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of the candle will not be shortened.”

Sandra Zoratti, Vice President of Marketing, Ricoh

Knowledge only grows by sharing.

Sharing helps knowledge grow for others AND it is a way to grow your own knowledge.

On April 17-18th, I am an honored participant in a Colorado event that is built on the premise of sharing.  BTM Institute is hosting a LeadershipXchange Summit with the theme “Sustainable Success in a Time of Economic Uncertainty – Driving Growth Through Innovation”. The event brings together cross-functional leaders from multiple industries for peer-to-peer exchange on critical issues and best practices that business leaders are challenged with today.

Five mega-star global leaders and innovators will be sharing their insights and experiences.  The keynote kick-off will be the legendary Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, author and editor of 32 books and Harvard Business Review’s #1 Leadership Thinker.  Other featured speakers include:  Moe Abdou, Founder of 33voices, Sarah Miller Caldicott, CEO Power Patterns of Innovation, R. Lemuel Lasher, Chief Innovation Officer, CSC, Jennifer Sertl, President of Agility 3R and Bob Vanourek, Speaker and Author.  BTM Corporation and CEO Faisal Hoque will host of the event.

Innovation, after all, is about creating a culture of sharing. For the last decade, software developers have used an agile development approach to enable knowledge-sharing within an iterative culture of agility so that complex challenges can be solved quickly and collaboratively.  Agile leadership through innovation is also enabled through idea-sharing, iteration and collaboration. Business leaders who embrace this concept – across functions, across industries, among peers – will be the growth leaders of the future.

Here at Ricoh we value innovation.  Our brand mantra is “Imagine.Change.”   We strive to create a culture of innovation for our customers and ourselves.  One of the reasons I am excited to participate in the LeadershipXchange is to learn more about the process of knowledge-sharing, peer-sharing and collaboration.

Each year, Ricoh’s Executive Briefing Center in Boulder hosts events built around idea sharing, partnerships and industry peer networks.  Our goal is to be “the rising tide” that lifts all ships.  Our approach is to facilitate peer-to-peer interactions while industry experts share best practices, leading analysts discuss emerging trends and customers share their insights and experiences.   Through these events, we are able to create strong connections, engagement and grow knowledge.

Being a part of events like the ones mentioned above is part of the culture of innovation at Ricoh and what we strive each day to deliver innovation to our customers.  We value the sharing of information –as a way to add value, grow knowledge and create growth through innovation for both our customers and our company.

- Sandra Zoratti

Vice President of Marketing, Ricoh

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5 Tips for Steeper Postal Discounts

April 1st, 2013

Steep postal discounts exist today, but many mailers may not be aware of them. How can your organization take advantage of these discounts?

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) offers significant postage discounts to those who can comply with its requirements. Requirements can be intimidating; but, in actuality, a number of solutions out there on the market today can help make adhering by postal requirements more seamless than one may think.

Here are five tips to help take the pain out of your mailroom operations and help you tap into the best discounts:

1.        Eliminate your postage meters by switching to a postal optimization solution for handling postage and streamlining your mailroom services operations. Such solutions provide comprehensive sortation and reporting features that help you gain maximum postal discounts in accordance with the USPS Presorting Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (PAVE) standard. Moreover, you can send your mail.dat file to the USPS electronically.

2.        Reduce or eliminate pre-sort vendor support. Affordable, in-house solutions are available that automate the manual steps you may have used in the past to qualify for postage discounts. Hands-free operations can reduce postage costs and shorten turnaround time for getting mail out to the post office.

3.        Implement an Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) solution as soon as possible. If envelopes don’t include IMBs, you are paying more than you should for postage. A number of solutions are available. Choose a comprehensive package that leverages automation to improve other areas of your mail process. Solutions are volume priced to help achieve an ROI in line with the size of your business.

4.        Implement or upgrade Automated Document Factory (ADF) to include postal processes. You will be amazed by the cost savings and improved productivity you’ll realize with a robust ADF solution. Consider, for example, one large mailer that saved 13 cents a mail piece on 6 million pieces of mail a day. That’s $780,000 a day! Even if yours is a smaller company, you will probably be surprised by the substantial savings you could realize.

5.        Talk to experts in the industry with the skill to evaluate complex mailroom processes and to recommend solutions that pay for themselves within weeks or months.  There are many experts out there who can work closely with you to determine a solution customized for your particular environment and one that will address the requirements you and your organization are looking to address or email psmail@ricoh-usa.com

Brian Hogan

Manager, Professional Services, Ricoh

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