Chicago, IL – Nearly half of the IT managers surveyed feel their operations could be running more efficiently, according to a survey from Zoomerang for InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh. Yet despite ongoing pressure to reduce costs and changing government regulations, mailers are still knowingly not paying the best price for postage or implementing cost- and time-saving automation tools, the poll found.
 
90 percent of respondents noted that they are feeling ongoing pressure from management to lower costs, and are focusing on many operational areas to try and achieve these targets. These include reducing total print volumes for 66 percent of respondents and encouraging e-delivery of documents for 60 percent of respondents. More than a third, or 38 percent, is still considering the drastic measure of workforce reduction as a method of cost control.
 
Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed are still not confident they are paying the least amount possible for postage, by far the most expensive cost in mail preparation. Added to that, nearly half of those surveyed do not think that their mailrooms are running as efficiently as possible, with 77 percent stating that their print and mail operations could benefit from greater automation.
 
"The squeeze on mailroom costs is nothing new and in our current economy, mounting pressure is being applied on companies to proactively manage those costs and improve efficiencies," said Sandra Zoratti, Vice President, Global Solutions Marketing at InfoPrint. "The good news, however, is that highly capable automation technology is available and proven to help mailers streamline processes to manage and improve cost, efficiency and integrity."
 
Automating print and mail processes has traditionally been a daunting task, but new technologies are available making it easier to achieve automation with software solutions. The most commonly used solution is an Automated Document Factory (ADF), which connects disparate hardware, software and processes into one unified workflow. The results are efficiency gains that reduce production and postal costs, and integrity improvements that help to ensure each mailpiece is produced correctly with the ability to prove it. Mailers in regulated sectors such as financial services, healthcare and insurance have been using ADFs for years as part of their cost savings and compliance initiatives.
 
The InfoPrint survey found that more than half of respondents still remain unprepared for the Intelligent Mail barcode requirement which will take effect in May 2011.
 
To help customers support these requirements, InfoPrint offers a wide variety of customizable solutions.  In May 2009, the company announced its new Postal Optimization ADF Solution, which addresses the new Intelligent Mail requirements and helps optimize workflow to maximize postal discounts. This three-tiered, scalable offering can be sized to small/medium and large environments alike. It minimizes IT development costs and can eliminate multiple upstream software licenses required for address preparation software, as it is fully integrated into print and mail operations.
 
InfoPrint's Mailroom Integrity ADF Solution controls each document through the print and inserting process, and automatically detects and reprints errors. The solution works on nearly all inserters, including retrofitted camera-based inserters. It can be packaged with the Postal Optimization Solution and a number of modular features such as reports that prove the status of each mailpiece. 
 
InfoPrint's ADF offerings are built on the expandable, vendor-neutral InfoPrint ProcessDirector (IPPD) automated workflow software. InfoPrint has been developing mailroom workflow solutions for more than twenty years and it estimates that nearly 20 billion mailpieces each year are produced worldwide under the control of InfoPrint's workflow solutions.
 
102 men and women responsible for print/mailroom solutions in the healthcare, financial and insurance industries based in the US were surveyed by Zoomerang for InfoPrint in August 2009.
 
Both the Mailroom Integrity ADF Solution and the Postal Optimization ADF Solution will be on display at PRINT 09 in the InfoPrint booth #2082.
 
For more information about these solutions, please visit: http://www.infoprint.com/adf