While most businesses focus on customer communication management output – mail pieces, emails, texts – the real battle is dealing with the complexity of data, page composition, and production requirements. It's where the CCM production game is won or lost. To ensure your company is among the victors, it's crucial to find the correct customer communication management software that can automate the pre-production process while still allowing self-service support.
Static and Variable Data
To better understand the software required for front-end processing, it's important to recognize the two fundamental types of data in CCM documents: static content and variable content. A document's static content is universal to all document recipients, whereas the variable content is the personal information, including name and address, account information, an invoice total, or an explanation of medical insurance benefits.
In the past, static content was printed to create a base stock on which the variable content would be imprinted. This added time and cost to the CCM production value chain. Today, static content is printed dynamically along with the variable content. This digital transformation was made possible by inkjet digital printers capable of adding color closely mimicking four-color lithographic printing to uphold branding requirements. This digital transformation has saved companies significant money and expedited their go-to-market timetables.
We invite you to learn more about CCM platforms in our blog post: What is a Customer Communications Management Platform?
The most successful customer communication management software solutions handle production re-services, achieve 100% fulfillment, track mail pieces through production, and archive individual electronic documents.
While these solutions are essential, let's focus on software that manages the front-end processes of CCM production: data processing, page composition, file creation for output, and human interaction.
Modern customer communication management software handles the interplay between static and variable content.
Data Processing:
The variable data used in CCM programs requires significant processing to produce invoices, statements, letters, and tax documents. Sophisticated software must ingest data from these sources – often with varying file formats and data layouts – and standardize it to meet CCM document specifications and delivery channel requirements.
Page Composition:
Page composition manages the interplay between static and variable content. The variable amount of content from one document to the next is among the most difficult challenges within page composition. A bank statement, for example, can be two pages for one customer and five pages for another. Composition software calculates how much content to place on a page, including graphics and text sections, before moving on to the following document.
Delivery Channels:
Primary delivery channels for customer communication include print & mail, email, SMS text, or online viewing. In our preference-driven consumer environment, a program that delivers communications like monthly invoices must create separate output files for various channels. Customer communication software ensures the output is fully automated, with considerable business analysis, programming, and testing done during implementation.
Self-Service Interface:
While the other software solutions hinge upon automation, the need for self-service support remains during the pre-production phase. This may mean suppressing records from the input file, adding a last-minute marketing message, or receiving alerts during the pre-production process. Beyond the pre-production process, a document template may need updating between production runs or undeliverable mail and incorrect addresses amended.
While the above steps of the CCM workflow contribute individually to the success of document production, their optimized value comes from integrating them into one seamless solution. A CCM platform blends these areas into a comprehensive program.
A robust customer communication management platform can:
Venture Solutions offers comprehensive CCM software that drives digital transformation through omni-channel delivery, focusing on personalization, automation, and customer experience.
Our customer communications management platforms include:
Venture NSite™: A unified technology platform that empowers your business to compose, edit, proof, and approve synchronized communications in real time across multiple channels through one user-friendly interface. With role-based user access, simplified workflows, 24/7 visibility, iron-clad data storage, and secure deployment, it's a seamless CCM experience.
Let's collaborate! Contact Venture Solutions today to learn more about transactional communication strategies.
