InfoPrint Insights Blog

Today was another beautiful day in St. Pete Beach, FL! The hype and excitement surrounding Xplor has not diminished one bit. The sessions are still packed and attendees are very engaged, and word on the street is that it’s because the content is so good that folks don’t want to miss it!  Managed ADF Services is still a hot topic at the InfoPrint Solution booth and was mentioned in several of the ADF-focused panels today as the “next big thing.”

One big highlight today was the panel discussion, “What’s the Future for ADF?” which was hosted by Gartner’s Pete Basiliere. Robert Cook of Merrill, an InfoPrint Solution customer, was one of the four panelists as well, and it was great to hear a customer’s positive response to the InfoPrint ProcessDirector Solution and ADF. Overall it was a great discussion that highlighted the need for a partner that has a vision for not only what you need today, but also what you will need in the future.

The InfoPrint Solutions booth is just as busy on Day Two at Xplor, coinciding with how packed sessions have been as well

Xplor used to be a hardware-focused show, but it has evolved into more of a business solutions focus. This change has meant the sessions are focused on more efficient hardware operations, rather than just product information.  As a result – based on how great attendance has been – it seems this shift speaks to what attendees are really looking for, and has been a positive evolution for the event. The information here is too good to miss!

I also had the pleasure to speak with the Chairman of Xplor, Paul Abdool. He was excited that attendance was up 30% from last year’s conference and found all the sessions he sat in on very beneficial.  Specifically, Paul noted there was more talk of social media and customer communications than in the past. Watch the full interview here to hear what Paul expects for 2012!

Did you attend any must-see sessions? What did you think of Xplor day 2?

Best,

Michele Bollig, Worldwide Marketing Program Manager

On March 23 at this year’s On Demand, Jonathan Gibson, a professor at Xavier University, was honored by the EDSF (Electronic Document Systems Foundation) at their Industry Leaders Reception. He received the EDSF Capstone Excellence in Education Award, Innovation in Education category, presented by InfoPrint Solutions’ own Sandra Zoratti.

Sandra Zoratti and Carrie Murphy of InfoPrint Solutions with award winner Jonathan Gibson, Professor at Xavier University

The Innovation in Education Award honors an international academic institution along with professional organizations for their educational and innovative efforts relating to the document management and graphic communications industry. Based on that description, it’s clear that Jonathan was a perfect candidate.

I’ve been a fan of Jonathan’s work for five years.  His techniques for teaching allow students to truly grow and expand their horizons.  Students demonstrate their accomplishments at the end of their senior year through a student produced show, in gallery format, on Xavier’s campus.  The level of expertise and creativity expressed in their work is remarkable.  It is clear that they have been challenged academically and aesthetically by Jonathan and will thrive when stepping out into the working world.

Jonathan’s program at Xavier University’s College of Arts and Science focuses on small class sizes, group learning environments, foundational skills and the importance of a Liberal Arts education for artists. Intentionally smaller class sizes allow for the development of curriculum designed for each student’s interests and career goals. Students who advance from this course are well rounded and are able to draw upon a diverse intellectual background to generate unique visual solutions.

Jonathan said, “This award validates past hard work but, more importantly, I am motivated to develop an even better future for our department and students.”

Jonathan currently teaches Graphic Design, Photography, and 2D Design at Xavier University, with a research focus in Web Design. He received his BFA from Brigham Young University and his MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.   Aside from these credentials, Jonathan started his own ceramics and photography businesses. He believes that creative cross-training is critical in becoming successful artists, designers and individuals. Community engaged service drives much of his scholarly interests and teaching.

Congratulations, Jonathan!  You deserve this prestigious award and we appreciate everything you are doing for this important industry.

To read more about Xavier University’s program, please visit their website.

Best,

Carrie Murphy

Market Development Manager, Americas Group

By Don Dew, ADF Solutions Manager

InfoPrint Solutions is excited to announce it has won Xplor International’s Technology Innovation of the Year Award for its work with Merrill Corporation. Xplor International, the worldwide electronic document systems association, awards this prestigious award annually to recognize an outstanding achievement in the imaginative application of current technology and unique implementation of existing electronic document systems.

Merrill Corporation is a global provider of technology-enabled marketing and communications solutions across a range of industries including healthcare, financial, real estate, legal and corporate management and one is of our most valued customers. Merrill realized the need for an end-to-end, software platform that could not only streamline the daily fulfillment of jobs, but also enable document management at record, page and piece levels.  Merrill teamed up with us and chose the Automated Document Factory (ADF) offering (which is powered by InfoPrint ProcessDirector).

One important factor Merrill had to consider when choosing a solution is the rapidly changing healthcare regulatory environment. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) and revamped Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are a few prime examples of regulations that health plans must meet. Failure to meet established requirements can result in increased monitoring, penalties, and fines – up to $25,000 per individual offense.

With InfoPrint Solutions’ ADF implementation, Merrill can be confident that the highest level of integrity is applied to sensitive documents such as complex healthcare enrollment kits, containing everything from pre-printed plan information to customized letters and geo-encoded provider directories.   Each of these is personalized in every kit.  In fact, one job has more than 190 variations of content that can go into a personalized kit, which is astounding!

To achieve this, Merrill leverages InfoPrint ProcessDirector ADF backbone as a technology platform throughout its production environment. What makes the offering so compelling to industry innovators such as Merrill is its combined ability to manage work at the document and page level, connect to a number of different hardware and software platforms, and be flexible for future changes in technology, regulation or other business requirements.

A final reason, among the above factors, Xplor chose this application is because it was in active production and generating impressive results.  Merrill’s use of the InfoPrint ProcessDirector-based workflow is revolutionary in the healthcare industry. For example, in one case more than 2.9 million welcome kits were printed consisting of both variable data printing and pre-picked inventory, with a defect rate of zero. In another instance Merrill saved a client $300k in a single mailing with proactive monitoring of changing regulations.  This combined with the successful execution and valuable partnership with InfoPrint Solutions, Xplor felt they deserved this honor and so did we! Congrats to InfoPrint Solutions, Merrill Corporation and everyone involved with this award win!

To learn more about InfoPrint Solutions and Merrill Corporation’s joint efforts click here.

InfoPrint Solutions is excited to share that our own Brian Doyle has been awarded the Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award from Xplor International! Xplor, the worldwide electronic document systems association, gives this particular award to an individual whose efforts and contributions have significantly changed the course and development of the digital document industry.

Doyle has been a strategic and valued member of the InfoPrint Solutions team for 45 years, beginning his career as a programmer and architect and currently holding the title of Consulting IT Architect.  He joined IBM in 1966 and transitioned to InfoPrint Solutions when the IBM Printing Systems Division was acquired by Ricoh in 2007.  He has been recognized as a certified architect from IBM and Opengroup, the open standards consortium.

Doyle’s foundation of achievement is rooted in his position as an IT architect.  He is one of the architects responsible for the development and creation of the first InfoPrint workflow software.  This solution, developed in 1997, is used worldwide to support a variety of print and mailroom operations.  With InfoPrint Solutions’ workflow technology, enterprises can address a wide array of business process challenges related to automation and productivity, while discovering new routes to cost savings, increased operational sustainability and more visibility into all areas of production.  A range of additional offerings have been developed using this workflow backbone as a key component, including InfoPrint Mailroom Integrity, Postal Optimization Services, Business Continuity Services, ADF Sustainability Services and many more.

Other noteworthy accomplishments Doyle has achieved throughout his career at IBM and InfoPrint Solutions include:

• The invention of the foundational “document pool” technology for customer BellSouth in 1999.  Now in its third generation, this key tool is the foundation of many of the advanced features of InfoPrint Solutions’ workflow solutions, such as postal sortation and commingling.  For large mailroom operations, this technology is crucial to achieving a more automated, productive and streamlined print environment.  It also provides an increase in cost savings and return on investment.  Without this development, it is likely that InfoPrint’s Automated Document Factory offering would not carry the impressive title as the most deployed software of its kind in the world today.
• Doyle has worked with leading global entities across various industries including financial, government, utilities, healthcare and insurance to deliver software, services and support that meet the specific needs of their unique operations.  With customers ranging from Merrill Corporation, 21^st Century Insurance and the country’s largest municipal utility, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Doyle has spent countless hours ensuring the quality of their solutions.  In fact, many of these deployments have led to broader adoption of the technologies across vertical industries, which can be attributed to Doyle’s dedication and extensive knowledge base.
• Doyle is considered a visionary in the industry and has many dedicated followers.  He has published a number of white papers, case studies and other articles in publications such as Mailing Systems & Technology. Doyle has also been heavily pursued as an industry voice over the years, presenting to customers and peers at such internationally recognized events as On Demand, National Postal Forum, GraphExpo, Xplor and others.  Doyle has also participated in multiple CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) events throughout his career.  This innovator has routinely been sought to participate in events to help provide the industry with a better understanding of the value that workflow solutions offer.

Doyle has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Colorado.  He became an IBM certified IT architect in 2001 and ITAC (Open Group) certified in 2004.   The Open Group consortium aims to enable access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global interoperability.

It is evident that throughout the past 45 years, Doyle has made significant contributions to the evolution and advancement of the document design industry. His innovation, technical expertise and leadership have not only contributed to InfoPrint Solutions’ success, but have demonstrated to the marketplace that workflow is a solution with many facets – all of which bring immense value to any organization.

Congratulations, Brian Doyle, on this outstanding accomplishment and all you have achieved over the years!

Thank you,

Steve Anderson

Software Manager, Software & Services

InfoPrint Solutions was invited to give a presentation at “doxnet vor Ort” – a regional user group of around 300 German-speaking industry vendors, document composition software providers, outsourcers and in house-printers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

I did a presentation on precision marketing, popularly known as transpromo. We prefer now to call this technique precision marketing because relevant marketing messages are sent through many communication channels – and not only on statements, which is referred to as TransPromo. The channels include direct mail, mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone and email to name a few.

I enjoyed changing the conversation from hardware topics to focus on solutions, which can be just as significant as the printers themselves. One question that has become a matter of survival for many marketing managers is: “How can I communicate more effectively with my customers and measure my results?”

As you all know, precision marketing allows companies to speak to consumers in a targeted, customized fashion. You can use customer data to generate meaningful messages based on their consumer behaviour patterns. Another way to send personalized communications is as easy as targeting a specific group of residents in a particular neighborhood. Depending on the desired reach, product or services being offered and data you have to work with, the opportunities are vast.

InfoPrint Solutions has a portfolio of services to help our customers, outsourcers and industrial segment customers, including finance, utility and telco, to enable them to send relevant marketing messages. The first step is to implement a needs assessment workshop to investigate the current status of a company’s customer communication abilities, learn about their pains and needs, and their future communication strategy.
Next the customer must identify their needs; it could be a document composition, customer strategy, or data analytics job. If it is all of that packed together we call it a “Precision Marketing Pilot”. This is our proof-of-concept to show what additional potential revenue can be unleashed by applying precision marketing.

Personally, I want to add that it is astonishing to see how big Hunkeler innovationdays has become. The event’s growth and full aisles are hopefully an indicator that we will all have a good year ahead of us!

By Thomas Haas, EMEA Precision Marketing Principal

This Day One report from Hunkeler innovationdays comes from Sara Bonini, Marketing and Communications Manager, EMEA.

Last time I was here in Lucerne at Hunkeler innovationdays, I explained why we were giving away apples. I won’t expect you to remember the reason, but we were honoring the legend of William Tell, who split an apple with a single arrow from his crossbow to gain his freedom and then created the Swiss Confederation in the early 14th Century.

As we are here in the country that produces some of the finest chocolate in the world on Valentine’s Day, our choice of giveaway was easy – red chocolate hearts with a Valentine card printed on our color printers. Very tasty. They are going like hot cakes!

To keep up the feel-good factor, especially for those of us away from home on such a special day, we are enjoying this beautiful location overlooking Lake Lucerne. It is mild, for winter, and sunny too.

Cupid and William Tell have something else in common – they both use arrows to reach their target. Here at InfoPrint Solutions, we too understand the value of pinpoint accuracy in reaching audiences. At Hunkeler we are demonstrating a selection of our customers’ Precision Marketing applications.

For many of our commercial printer customers, this means a whole new approach to sales and marketing. So our Professional Services team is here discussing new approaches that can help printers offer Precision Marketing services to their customers.

We can share experiences from many commercial printers who have successfully made the transition to high-speed color inkjet and have started delivering more valuable one-to-one marketing pieces.

Come along and say hello if you are here. If not, feel free to keep up with our posts from the show floor.

IKON Practice Manager Paul Abdool has already explained what an AppDF (Appropriate Document Factory) is and how it differs from an ADF (Automated Document Factory).  Now he’s back on the ADF Savings Blog offering some tips and tricks for successful ADF implementations.

Read more here: http://adfsavings.com/?p=193

Enjoy – Happy Friday!