When organizations consider changing processes or operations, lots of questions arise. In the case of invoice printing services, companies are considering the transition from in-house production to outsourcing. It’s a big decision to make, and we’re sharing answers to questions you may have about best practices for making this change.
What Are Invoice Printing Services?
Transactional print and mail companies offer invoice printing services to many industries, including telecom, utilities, financial, insurance, and healthcare. Any business that sends invoices to customers for payment can outsource this work.
The solution covers the entire lifecycle of the communication from receipt of data files through production to tracking the piece through the mail stream.
What Are the Quality Best Practices to Seek for Invoice Print and Mail?
Quality is crucial in invoice print and mail. Best practices to look for in a partner start with ensuring they have a quality program. Each company will have a unique approach, but it should include:
- Following principles like Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma
- Auditing processes regularly to address gaps or root causes
- Development of standard works that define each task in the process
- Consistency across locations, shifts, and operators
- Using the latest inkjet printing technology that produces high-volume letters with exceptional quality
When evaluating options, be sure to ask about the pillars of their quality program and the metrics they report to support it.
What Are Compliance Best Practices Invoice Printers Should Follow?
Invoice documents must abide by regulations to ensure that PII (personally identifiable information) and PHI (protected healthcare information) remain secure and confidential. The first best practice is to ensure their compliance with SOC I & II, HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI-DSS, and FISMA.
These certifications are a foundation, but there’s more to compliance. For confidence in compliance, you should have these criteria on your list:
- Full-time compliance officer
- Data security protocols that include data encryption while in transit or at rest, cybersecurity measures like firewalls and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), and proactive measures like vulnerability scans and pen testing
- Physical security that limits access to secure areas (e.g., keycards, door alarms, internal and external cameras)
Each of these components is a must-have for invoice printing services.
What Are the Accuracy Best Practices for Invoice Printing and Mailing?
In addition to quality and compliance, accuracy is the third pillar that’s crucial in transactional print and mail. A sophisticated process is necessary to achieve high accuracy. Any misstep here can lead to noncompliance claims or customer distrust.
Our accuracy standards are significant, earning a 99.9999% rating. How do we do it? It’s a combination of:
- Intelligent insertion using 2D barcodes,
- Using the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb)
- High-speed cameras to track documents from production to USPS delivery
- Integrity cameras reading 2D barcodes to make sure that each piece of paper folds separately into the envelope
- An additional camera capturing an image of the inserted envelope to verify the correct insertion
We continually audit and test our approach, refining it to ensure you can be confident that each customer receives the correct invoice every time.
Are There Other Best Practices for Invoice Printing and Mailing?
Invoice printing services should also include additional value-added services. These are strengths of transactional print and mail companies. These include:
- Postage optimization: These companies are postage experts and can provide the best rates due to high-volume presorting, commingling, and standardization of documents. Additionally, address hygiene tools minimize the cost and waste of undeliverable mail.
- Job tracking and reporting: Outsourcing doesn’t mean giving up visibility. You should be able to access information on all your jobs through a secure online document management portal. Within it, you can track, schedule, and manage production and run reports on multiple data points.
- Invoice design: Your partner can provide new invoice layouts that follow your branding guidelines and drive more engagement. It can include full color, graphs, and images. The ability to print dynamically on each invoice also allows you to eliminate inserts and customize messaging for upselling and cross-selling.
- E-delivery services: For those customers who opt for digital invoices, your transactional provider can support this, too. It’s a highly secure platform that centralizes all your invoices, notifications, and more.
Are Invoice Printing Services the Answer to Your Pain Points?
Continuing to print and mail invoices internally is expensive, complicated, and risky. Choosing to transition to outsourcing your invoice printing services alleviates the current pain points you’re experiencing. It’s time to investigate your options and make a move.
Get started by requesting a free consultation with our experts.
