"A bare-bones mail center must provide an end-to-end solution to create, fold, insert and apply postal indicia to physical mail pieces," says Kevin O'Connor, Vice President, Neopost USA Marketing. "Beyond that, mail centers should be able to add wide variety of quality and intelligence to the internal contents and external mail piece (the envelope or the front side of parcels) to maximize tracking and response rates for the user."

O'Connor explains that the ideal mail center mix ought to provide data management, address quality, output management, multi-channel communication options, document production, mail addressing, mail assembly, mail processing, parcel processing, receiving and tracking capabilities. "Each of these options accommodates a unique customer preference and each of these is vital to serving customers' needs at the level they expect and deserve," O'Connor says.

Mailers should consider the very real effects that preparing and sending customers' important business communications physically, electronically or via parcels can create: improved productivity, cost savings, enhanced customer relationships and, ultimately, revenue growth.

"The contents inside the box or inside the envelope are just as important as the information on the outside of the box or envelope," O'Connor says. "Having the right combination of document creation, document handling, data quality, shipping and tracking solutions in the core mailroom operation can help mailers manage operational costs, reduce expenses and better serve customers, all of which lead to increased revenue."