Archive for September, 2010

Virtual Media and Analyst Day — In Case You Missed It!

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

InfoPrint Solutions wrapped up our annual 2010 Virtual Media and Analyst Day yesterday – and it was a huge success! Thanks to those of you who listened in and asked some very relevant questions. At our Virtual Media and Analyst Day – or our “VMD” as it’s more fondly known – we shared a wide range of news announcements and updated the audience on what to expect from us at GraphExpo, including our most important news of the year in the color market and the inkjet space, further reinforcing our leadership in this space. If you weren’t able to tune in or just didn’t get enough, we have outlined the highlights below. You can also click here to watch a full replay. Enjoy! We’re looking forward to seeing you at Graph Expo next week!

  • First and foremost, the InfoPrint 5000 is being extended to include three platforms, all of which leverage the proven, scalable, highly reliable drop-on-demand technology used since the launch of the first platform in 2007. The InfoPrint 5000 members, announced yesterday are outlined here:
    • The MP Platform can be configured to meet a variety of requirements. The InfoPrint 5000 MP current models support monochrome and MICR printing (launched at IPEX in May 2010) for customers with high-volume applications who want to start transitioning to inkjet. The new model gives customers who are beginning to develop color applications a new entry point into the production color market. Customers can select the speeds and fluids for the platform,  then convert if their needs change in the future.
    • The GP Platform has established industry leadership due to having the best balance of meeting customer requirements for reliability, print quality, throughput and flexibility. Consistent with InfoPrint Solutions’ strategy of maximizing investment protection, the InfoPrint 5000 GP incorporates all the enhancements made since the first release of the platform.
    • The VP Platform is designed for companies with extremely high volumes and tight print windows for mission critical applications, therefore needing proven technology with exceptional reliability and excellent print quality to meet their clients’ needs.

Other news announced yesterday included:

  • InfoPrint ProcessDirector Momentum: At GraphExpo, InfoPrint Solutions will showcase a new browser-based remote management offering, Windows capabilities and integration with new offerings from production mail solution provider Kern for InfoPrint ProcessDirector. This browser-enabled remote access is ideal for mobile devices such as the Apple® iPad.  Other enhancements include the crucial support for Windows from a workflow perspective and integration with industry-leading Kern.  All of this can be seen right from the show floor next week..  
  • Business Continuity Services: This is an extension of our top-ranked Automated Document Factory workflow offerings and professional services. Facing unique continuity requirements, transaction printers in the financial, healthcare, insurance, utility, telco and government markets can now enable robust disaster recovery options in compliance with their business requirements. Our Business Continuity Services group focuses on three key options for recovery – onsite server continuity, off-site server continuity and external site continuity.
  • Sustainability Consulting Services:  This offering is designed to address the market’s growing need for effective and resource efficient programs. It helps organizations quantify the environmental impact of their print operations, as well as identify and execute initiatives that support their continual improvement goals without impacting their customer demands and business commitments. InfoPrint Solutions’ Sustainability Consulting Services team works with its clients to identify specific initiatives and track metrics for various aspects of the document development and output business, focusing on three main aspects.  These aspects are workflow and optimization, selective print and suppression, and mail prep and distribution.  This helps organizations print for less and print less waste through business transformation and infrastructure optimization.
  • Optimization Consulting Services:   This professional services offering aims to support customer needs in production printing environments. It leverages the company’s expertise in print workflow development to build more efficient, more productive and, ultimately, more competitive print environments. By evaluating an organization’s environment and infrastructure, the Output Optimization consultants help customers improve tracking and reconciliation, maintain confidentiality and optimize the entire print-to-mail process.

There is much more to learn about InfoPrint Solutions’ exciting news, so please stop by our booth (#2017!) at Graph Expo (October 3rd- 6th in Chicago), which will be shared with our parent company Ricoh. Additionally, feel free to reach out to Meghan Attreed via email at mattreed@breakawaycom.com with any questions or to request additional information. 

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Chicago!

Best,

Beth Etherton

Global Communications Manager

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Posted in ADF, Events, Precision Marketing | No Comments »

Seven or 93 Percent – Where Does Your Company Fall?

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Here at InfoPrint Solutions, we’ve been talking about precision marketing for some time now.  Through our work with an international hotel chain, a top US cable operator and one of the largest businesses in the Midwest – we’ve proven its value and generated double digit ROI increases.  You can’t really knock that, can you?

In our most recent endeavor with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, we’ve approached the insurance industry to see how, if at all, these companies were implementing precision marketing techniques.  We also approached consumers to learn more about how receptive they’d be to receiving customized and relevant communications with their insurance statements.

Can you guess what we’ve uncovered?

Of the total number of insurance companies responding, only seven percent report that they currently offer a product add-on or cross-sell to their existing policyholders.  Yet 21 percent of the consumers responding to the survey report that they have considered/bought an additional product offering from their insurance carrier. 

The question here is – is your organization or your customer a part of the seven or the 93 percent?

As a career-long insurance marketer myself, many other findings in this most recent CMO Council study are insightful as well. When asked about changes and transformations underway in current marketing operations, only two percent of insurance carriers said there had been an increase in investment for customer data analytics to better segment their audiences.  This statistic clearly reinforces the lack of awareness for the value of customized communications and customer add-ons and cross-sells to further engage the recipient.  If an insurance company does not understand the demographic, psychographic, and economic variables of existing policyholders – how can it grow their loyalty for the company?

Other key stats are:

  • When asked what the top customer engagement priorities were for this year, only two percent of carriers said “streamlining communications to deliver a better customer experience”
  • Nearly 70 percent of respondents admitted to no investment currently underway in data analytics/segmentation programs
  • When questioned about what elements are seen as essential to the quality of the customer experience, only one percent said “frequency and quality of communications”

Yes, by themselves these percentages are startling. But when adding in the obvious consumer desire for more customized communications, it becomes all the more shocking. 

  • Although nearly half of all responding policyholders have a relationship with their provider for more than five years, nearly half of them admit to having “shopped around” within the past 12 months
  • 21 percent of respondents said that they have considered/bought an additional product offering from their insurance carrier – what about the remaining 79 percent?

So at the end of the day, what does this mean for your organization? What it comes down to is exploring – exploring how you can implement precision marketing into your company’s or your customers’ communications.  Then work with precision marketing experts to determine the most effective way to deliver more valuable communications that can then be ROI-quantified and represent a major incremental source of revenue.

Feel free to contact me at mark.weishaar@infoprint.com or visit www.profitwithloyalty.com for more information.

Thank you,

Mark Weishaar

Business Development Executive

Posted in Precision Marketing | No Comments »

Valuable Solutions Make All the Difference

Monday, September 13th, 2010

As a producer of short run books, including on-demand (POD) textbooks, direct mail pieces and election ballots, it’s important for Frederic Printing, a Consolidated Graphics company, to have a reliable solution to meet our printing needs.

Frederic works within several different sectors of the community, including education, government and marketing segments, all expecting to produce high volumes of content on a quick turnaround. The InfoPrint 5000 was an obvious choice for us. It is seamlessly integrated into the Frederic Printing and Consolidated Graphics environment, helping us to meet the complex color needs of our customers.

Reliability and efficiency are extremely important values in printing short run books, ones we as a company cannot compromise on. Frederic chose this solution due to its versatility in high-quality, Print On Demand (POD) books, ballots and precision marketing. Being able to rely on printer equipment is essential, and allows us to feel confident that we’ll never miss a customer deadline that we’ve committed to. The flexibility in our printing is also essential, allowing us to change from books to short run and more. With inline finishing and in-house binding, we have the ability to do these jobs cost effectively.

We are a healthy company because we have multiple capabilities, and InfoPrint Solutions products have been a great support in allowing us to expand our offerings and build more opportunities. Customers can produce PS, PDF and AFP on the spot, without any alterations or transformations needed.

An example of the need for flexibility within our system is with our ballot printing. We originally used offset printing with several plate changes, and soon switched to digital sheet presses. Working with InfoPrint Solutions, we are now able to print more ballots within the limited print window. Clients now have more options to make existing content even better.

Because sustainability is always top of mind, Frederic also wanted to incorporate one of the lowest power consumption inkjet systems, with a solution both compact in size and operating efficiently. The inks used also consume very little power, and with an extensive print head life of 1.5 years, there will be little waste involved with this solution. Through the support of sustainable and cost-effective printing practices, the printing of short run books couldn’t be more productive.

The importance of these values has ensured that our customers are happy and our production is as efficient as possible. The bottom line is that this solution is flexible, reliable, and just great for our company.

Best,

Chris Greene

President, Frederic Printing

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Posted in Products, Sustainability | 1 Comment »

Graph Expo 2010 – What to expect at this year’s show

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

As many of you know, this year’s coveted US printing event, Graph Expo, will be held from October 3-6 in Chicago, Illinois, exploring the latest models and trends in the industry. Are you ready for the big event?  We sure are!

If you aren’t familiar with the show, Graph Expo is an excellent resource for leading manufacturers and suppliers to reveal their latest products, technologies and services. Live demonstrations are on hand to help attendees see the real results of these solutions before making their purchasing decisions (which we hope they do). From commercial to book to transactional printers, Graph Expo has it all!

WhatTheyThink posted an article last week outlining what to do and see at the show this year.  In addition to it being a relevant show for graphics arts or commercial printers, anyone interested can really benefit from the educational sessions, including discussions on marketing services, social networking and other trends in the industry.

InfoPrint Solutions executives will speak during two sessions at the Xplor Conference, which will coincide with Graph Expo for the first time. Carrie Murphy, Market Development Manager, EDP, will discuss “How to Improve Customer Engagement” at N426a on Tuesday, October 5 at 12:00 p.m. Lee Gallagher, Director of Precision Marketing Solutions, will be presenting the topic “Using Data to Communicate More Effectively to All Channels” at N426a on Wednesday, October 6 at 9:00 a.m.

Xplor has been recognized globally as the best program in the electronic document industry for its content and relevance, and the show at Graph Expo will be no different. The two day program will feature eighteen educational sessions, presented by industry experts and leading edge technologists. The scheduling for the sessions allows attendees to explore the Graph Expo exhibits as well as attend the Xplor sessions. Don’t miss these insightful discussions!

The WhatTheyThink article also predicts that inkjet printing will be a hot topic this year at the event, and encourages readers to pick up samples from the various vendors who will be on hand. With more than 450 exhibitors at the show, there should definitely be some new exciting, colorful examples of how print can boost your bottom line.

Special events opportunities will also be on hand at the show, including Executive Outlook, a one-day event held the day before the show that is dedicated to the new technologies being developed in print. The event will also reveal the “MUST SEE ‘EMS” product winners for the first time!

Will you be attending Graph Expo this year? Come by the InfoPrint Solutions booth #2017 to see what exciting new solutions we have to offer this year!   And as usual, we will provide blog updates daily from the show.

Lesley Wylie

Director, Global Marketing

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Posted in Events | No Comments »