I've had an opportunity to talk to a number of mailers over the last month or so about their plans for implementing the Intelligent Mail Barcode. For a technology change that's been on the radar screen for so long, you'd think that most mailers would have pretty solid plans by now.
Not so. Companies are all over the map on this one. Some are already testing Full Service IMB with the Post Office, while others haven't even begun to consider their IMB strategy.
Why aren't all mailers making similar IMB plans? Isn't that what has happened with new postal regulations and technology changes in the past?
Judging by some of the questions mailers have been asking us, it seems that many in the document industry have mistakenly viewed intelligent mail as simply a new postal technology to which one needs to convert. On the surface, IMB might seem to be similar to adding ZIP+4 or POSTNET barcodes to the mailing pieces. But it is much more than that.
We're helping our clients realize that this "postal technology" has potential effects and benefits that extend far beyond the mail center -- deep into departments that mail center managers may never have worked with in the past. Any decisions or strategies about whether to go with Basic or Full Service as well as what features of Full Service to utilize need to take the needs of those other departments into consideration.
There are likely to be business processes in your company (or in your clients' companies, if you are a service bureau) that have nothing at all to do with how the work in the document print/mail center is performed. And yet, the additional data that is available through IMB could be a significant source of cost savings, improved customer service or untapped opportunity for lots of departments.
Finding these business processes and talking with managers about how something like a postal barcode can affect their departments is no easy task. Most document centers are operating with minimal staffing levels. Having little or no experience communicating with the management of departments such as legal, customer service or accounts receivable makes the outreach effort uncomfortable. And these departmental managers may not give much thought at all to issues related to postal delivery, so getting their attention is difficult.
Many document print/mail centers find that bringing in an expert to talk to their customers about the benefits of IMB is a strategy that works for them. This is especially important for service bureaus, where a direct connection between client departments and the service bureau often doesn't even exist!
Even organizations that believe they have a solid IMB plan are missing out if they haven't fully explored all the ways that the program can bring value to internal or external business processes.
SERVICE BUREAUS: I can't stress this enough. If you haven't been talking to your clients about how IMB can make their organizations better, your competition probably is! Don't lose work that is very difficult to replace -- just because you didn't try to give your clients access to the benefits of Full Service IMB or you didn't seem to understand their businesses well enough.
Print/Mail Consultants has developed an IMB READINESS QUIZ that can be useful for determining where your operation is along the path to implementation and provides some strategies for moving forward. Mailing Systems Technology is providing mailers free access to this resource through the links in this article. It takes only a couple of minutes to complete the assessment, and you'll get instant feedback. No one but you will be able to see your answers or the analysis results unless you choose to share them.
My advice to in-plant and service bureau mailers is to take the free IMB READINESS QUIZ. Then get to work on making sure you've done all the research necessary to arrive at the correct decisions for your organization. Given the scope of this change, we recommend lining up the resources you'll need to keep a project like this on track. The deadline will be here before you know it.
Not so. Companies are all over the map on this one. Some are already testing Full Service IMB with the Post Office, while others haven't even begun to consider their IMB strategy.
Why aren't all mailers making similar IMB plans? Isn't that what has happened with new postal regulations and technology changes in the past?
Judging by some of the questions mailers have been asking us, it seems that many in the document industry have mistakenly viewed intelligent mail as simply a new postal technology to which one needs to convert. On the surface, IMB might seem to be similar to adding ZIP+4 or POSTNET barcodes to the mailing pieces. But it is much more than that.
We're helping our clients realize that this "postal technology" has potential effects and benefits that extend far beyond the mail center -- deep into departments that mail center managers may never have worked with in the past. Any decisions or strategies about whether to go with Basic or Full Service as well as what features of Full Service to utilize need to take the needs of those other departments into consideration.
There are likely to be business processes in your company (or in your clients' companies, if you are a service bureau) that have nothing at all to do with how the work in the document print/mail center is performed. And yet, the additional data that is available through IMB could be a significant source of cost savings, improved customer service or untapped opportunity for lots of departments.
Finding these business processes and talking with managers about how something like a postal barcode can affect their departments is no easy task. Most document centers are operating with minimal staffing levels. Having little or no experience communicating with the management of departments such as legal, customer service or accounts receivable makes the outreach effort uncomfortable. And these departmental managers may not give much thought at all to issues related to postal delivery, so getting their attention is difficult.
Many document print/mail centers find that bringing in an expert to talk to their customers about the benefits of IMB is a strategy that works for them. This is especially important for service bureaus, where a direct connection between client departments and the service bureau often doesn't even exist!
Even organizations that believe they have a solid IMB plan are missing out if they haven't fully explored all the ways that the program can bring value to internal or external business processes.
SERVICE BUREAUS: I can't stress this enough. If you haven't been talking to your clients about how IMB can make their organizations better, your competition probably is! Don't lose work that is very difficult to replace -- just because you didn't try to give your clients access to the benefits of Full Service IMB or you didn't seem to understand their businesses well enough.
Print/Mail Consultants has developed an IMB READINESS QUIZ that can be useful for determining where your operation is along the path to implementation and provides some strategies for moving forward. Mailing Systems Technology is providing mailers free access to this resource through the links in this article. It takes only a couple of minutes to complete the assessment, and you'll get instant feedback. No one but you will be able to see your answers or the analysis results unless you choose to share them.
My advice to in-plant and service bureau mailers is to take the free IMB READINESS QUIZ. Then get to work on making sure you've done all the research necessary to arrive at the correct decisions for your organization. Given the scope of this change, we recommend lining up the resources you'll need to keep a project like this on track. The deadline will be here before you know it.
Mike Porter along with leading industry experts are presenting an IMB workshop on October 6th in Chicago; check it out!
