When it comes to outsourcing your transactional print and mail activities, you want to have every confidence that your partner is doing things the right way. There’s no room for error or delays in this realm of mail that involves keeping data safe and compliance regulations met. So, is your print and mail provider dependable and reliable?
Here are the key ways to know this for sure, so your company can have one less thing to worry about.
How to Know Your Print and Mail Provider Is Dependable
In transactional mail, dependability is crucial to the relationship between you and your provider. Whether you’re outsourcing now or considering it, these are the pillars of reliability.
Their Accuracy Rating Is Near Perfect
Being error-free is the objective of any transactional printer, and the best way to achieve this is with technology and equipment. Can it ever be 100% error-free? It’s impossible to hit this number, but you should look beyond the industry standard of 99.6%, which seems hard to beat. However, 99.6% still averages 4,000 errors per one million pieces.
Our customers enjoy 99.9999% accuracy. We’ve hit this milestone because we have solid processes and adopted Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. These methods help us almost eliminating all mis-mailings. We also use a high-tech sorting machine that leverages barcode scanning with tiny cameras to ensure each letter goes in the correct envelope.
They Meet Your SLAs
SLAs (service level agreements) represent a commitment from your vendor for the services they’ll perform. That’s critical in transactional mail because you often must meet compliance timelines and ensure that only addressees receive these time-sensitive notices or letters.
Meeting SLAs involves having the proper technology, processes, and people in place. A transactional mail facility should be run like a tight ship, removing waste from these workflows to support efficiency. We’re able to do this because of the equipment we use and our ability to create a white paper factory. A white paper factory involves feeding white paper rolls into our printers, with each file being dynamically printed. This process removes the need for pre-printing templates and their storage. The process involved in Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma also influence our ability to meet SLAs.
They Have Redundant Locations
What happens in a natural disaster or other incidents if one plant goes offline? If your vendor lacks redundancy, you can’t depend on them to keep operations moving. It’s critical that providers have more than one location in the case of an emergency. The consequence of not having this could mean not meeting SLAs and even non-compliance. Be sure your partner has business continuity plans in place.
Their Data and Physical Security Are Top-Rated
In transactional mail, the security of your customer data is of the utmost concern. Any breach could turn into fines or lawsuits. You have to trust that your provider has this covered. You’ll know they do by how they secure data. At a minimum, they should use encryption, firewalls, network monitoring, and intrusion prevention.
Additionally, physical security of where the printing and mailing take place must be a priority. Only those authorized to enter these spaces should.
How Dependable Is Your Print and Mail Provider?
Does your current vendor meet these requirements? If not, you could be exposing your organization to more risk. Talk to our team today about dependability and reliability.
