The focus has shifted from implementing to perfecting the electronic tools now in place.
Businesses unwilling to alienate significant subsets of their customer base have added offering e-commerce to that list of things one simply must do in life. And not unlike their mission statements, the chosen solutions must be uniquely suited to the organizations and support their fundamental marketplace objectives.
Here, three technology solution providers discuss their products, and some of the ways e-commerce and online management are enhancing business efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Contributors include Darren Atkinson, CTO for FormScape, Morrisville, N.C., Dave Clark, director of product marketing for PureEdge, Victoria, BC, Canada, and Chris Colbert, industry marketing director for Firstlogic, La Crosse, Wis.
All three gentlemen agreed that companies and their customers are increasingly more comfortable conducting business electronically, and that the Web has become the preferred strategy for delivering faster, better service. Said Clark, "E-commerce is a pain killer that enables companies to reduce costs and speed time to market."
Colbert pointed out that organizations of all sizes are learning new software programs. "Technology has leveled the playing field, allowing even small companies to have a large Web presence," he said.
Atkinson noted that lower costs are enabling smaller companies to be more proactive regarding technology. "With the old EDI standards, the cost of entry was prohibitive," he explained, "but costs are lower with open standards like XML, and it's leading to more widespread use."
E-Effectiveness
For most companies, the foundations for technology solutions have already been laid. And now, Atkinson reported, they're seeking to optimize their IT spending by enhancing the electronic tools' effectiveness—something that's becoming easier for software providers to help them accomplish.
As Clark explained, "All the different technology solutions out there can be difficult to integrate, but most systems today are designed toward integration with each other." He said that when customers look to modernize workflow processes, they typically begin with core-critical business and related operations to get the most of every dollar.
For instance, Pure-Edge provides products, partnerships and services to reformulate customers' existing paper-based processes into XML forms-based processes. Reducing printing and warehousing needs means im-mediate benefits for time, money and space. More importantly, the information is collected efficiently and used more effectively.
With PureEdge, a single form on the front end feeds a number of processes and operations, allowing information to seamlessly populate related forms through one on-screen interaction, perhaps instantly updating customer profiles or triggering customer service actions such as thank you notes and notices of upcoming sales and events.
Besides ease of use, eliminating rekeying reduces errors while saving time and money for a significant return on investment. Clark referred to one customer who will save $9 million this year alone.
In addition, the system deletes and adds fields where appropriate—for instance, eliminating questions about pregnancy for males or requesting parental or guardian approval for those under 18 years of age.
"This creates a better relationship between the supplier and customer," said Clark. "And since the interaction between customers and the system is more positive, they're more inclined to complete the form."
Both Clark and Colbert stressed the importance of understanding how data is collected and used when mapping out technology to meet a company's needs. "Consider the investment companies make when doing a mailing, and the impact of duplicate or incomplete data on the project," offered Colbert.
One of Firstlogic's product lines provides commercial mailing solutions facilitate successful addressing, bar-coding and presorting of mail pieces that cannot be read through automated processes. Scalable to meet the needs of any size business, the technology offers tremendous savings on production and postage costs. Also, quicker turnaround times benefit companies cash flow, particularly when dealing with large volumes of invoices and other cash-sensitive communications.
Firstlogic's Postalsoft suite of products offers capabilities to correct, complete and standardize addresses, as well as assign delivery point bar codes. It is also certified by the USPS for trouble-free flow of mail pieces through postal facilities.
In addition, the Presort module is Presort Accuracy, Validation, and Evaluation certified by the USPS for significant savings through postage discounts.
Colbert noted that customers can save up to 10 times more if problems such as duplicates and incomplete records are corrected up front. "Shipping companies charge additional fees for invalid or undeliverable addresses," he said. "One company saved $1.5 million in penalty charges alone simply by cleaning its database.
Something For Everyone
Of course, utilizing information to maximum advantage is not only a priority for mailers. Major retailers reap big rewards from FormScape's ability to extract existing information and deliver it in ways the market demands.
One FormScape customer, Digital Wellbeing, uses the technology to manage, produce and present its sale and return documents, which ultimately impact warehouse, packing and distribution operations.
For example, when the purchase is intended for a gift, FormScape enables two different sets of delivery documentation to be generated—one for the purchaser featuring a sales invoice/transaction record as well as any loyalty card points awarded, and a gift advice note for the recipient with a message from the sender printed on a greeting card.
The gift recipient also receives return labels and documentation for use when returning items. FormScape's bar code production capabilities verify that the item being returned originated from the company's stock before it's entered back into Digital Wellbeing's inventory.
FormScape's technology offers retailers a powerful marketing tool through the ability to print details of special promotions, like buy-one-get-one-free offers, on customer delivery documentation. And by simply updating an on-screen template, details of promotions can be quickly and easily changed on the documents. "This type of flexibility is particularly valuable in the fast moving world of e-commerce," said Atkinson.
He added that successfully implementing electronic tools requires companies "to retain their agility without reinventing their style of business, or without making large investments that alter the infrastructure." Atkinson noted that some people still like to digest paper documents in a private environment, rather than scroll through electronic ones. "Customers must be able to choose how they want to receive information during an e-commerce cycle," he said.
According to Atkinson, companies should be able to cope with both paper and electronic media while continually improving service and the speed of availability. "The key benefit of FormScape is integration, such that the data stream is adopted to the print environment as well, providing rich-paper formats," said Atkinson.
Even in the paper world—say with an invoice or an order confirmation—he suggested that there is still a need for more personalized printed information. "Including the number of items purchased, the content value, points accrued and even marketing messages geared toward the customer's personal buying trends creates a more relevant and dynamic document for both merchant and customer," he said.
Clark also cautioned against major overhauls when setting out to make systems improvements. "Modernizing operations, whether paper or electronic forms, doesn't necessarily require a large jump. People in companies who have been using a process don't want it to change, just get easier, faster and better," he said. One PureEdge customer operates a wire-transfer service which was entirely paper based.
"They actually had sticky notes on the wall and would move them along the way as the task progressed," recalled Clark. The PureEdge system was mapped to the process they were using and simply automated it, including icons resembling sticky notes.
Clark explained that some functions may even continue to be manual for some PureEdge customers, although most do seek end-to-end digital processes. "Customers application needs are not solved out of the box," he continued. Unlike vertical sets of solutions which provide very specific services and tools—or a legacy application which is built by a company for its own in-house use—PureEdge offers horizontal sets of products and services which can be applied very broadly, allowing companies to retain what they want and knit it together to provide a customized, paperless solution.
Getting Better All the Time
Once the tools are in place, Colbert stressed that the role of IT within the company becomes more important and its essential to stay up to speed through service and vigilance. "People must realize that technology makes the market more competitive. A simple search will pull up the name of a competitor in an instant," he said. "You have to have your house in order or you can lose business before you even know you lost it."
Atkinson observed that sometimes companies don't plan for adequate site support or the staff might not catch up to the speed at which transactions are being concluded, resulting in fulfillment snafus. And, of course, electronic tools are never a substitute for good old-fashioned customer service. "I've never seen a browser smile back," said Clark.
For their part, software providers are still seeing some gaps as they grapple with increasing speed and the volume of information their tools can make available. "There are still barriers to break," said Atkinson.
By Maggie DeWitt