Transactional mail is a special category of direct mail. The sole focus of these customer communications relates to confidential and private information. To remain compliant with regulations, your mailings must be printed and mailed securely. Further, it often must be sent within a specific time span. For all these reasons, transactional mail dependability is nonnegotiable.
But what does it mean to be a dependable transactional print and mail provider?
Dependable Means Highly Accurate
You can’t call a service dependable if it’s not accurate. Accuracy in transactional mail is compulsory. One wrong mailing can lead to many adverse consequences—non-compliance, breaches, reputational harm, and more. The best way to avoid that is to partner with a company that lives and breathes accuracy. The best approach is to take multiple actions. Here’s what you should look for:
- Advanced technology that ensures each document is inserted into the correct envelope.
- Providers that operate from a prevention culture, using techniques like LEAN manufacturing and Six Sigma.
- Leading industry accuracy ratings of 99.9999%.
- Organizations that are always improving and auditing processes that support accuracy.
Dependable Means Compliant
Dependability and compliance must have a close relationship. You can’t rely on a vendor if they don’t have the certifications and standards in place to meet your industry regulations. These regulations dictate how you send direct mail. They also often have specific timeframes.
For example, the No Surprises Act requires insurers to send advanced EOBs (explanation of benefits) within a specific timeframe. HIPAA has similar conditions, as do communications in the ARM vertical. If your vendor is late on these, you pay the price. In selecting a partner, ask the hard questions about SLAs (service level agreements) and how they ensure that communication is compliant and timely.
Dependable Means Transparency and Trust
Dependability has a lot to do with trust. Cultivating a relationship with this as its foundation requires transparency. You need to know what’s happening with your transactional mail at all times. Accessing this information should be easy and not require a lot of effort.
You can best grow and maintain trust with companies that allow you to see the process from end to end through secure portals. Such a feature lets you track everything from data transmission to delivery. You can also schedule and control your production jobs. There’s no ambiguity or status unknown when you can use these tools.
Dependable Means Secure
You can’t have dependability without data security. In transactional direct mail, safeguarding personal information is the primary security focus. There are many opportunities for data exposure, so you need to evaluate transactional print providers from start to end. The key components to assess are:
- Data transmission security from receipt of data to processing with encryption at every phase.
- Advanced firewall security and IPS (intrusion prevention system) that blocks any unauthorized attempts to access data and cybersecurity attacks.
- User-level security so that only those who need access have it.
- Physical security of the facility with only authorized employees allowed in the areas where printing and mailing activity occurs.
Dependable Means Consistent Uptime
The last aspect of dependability is a print and mail company that is vigilant about uptime and constant operations. It’s true that disasters can happen at any time, rendering a facility inactive. The best in the business mitigate this risk by having duplicate sites. If one goes down, the other can pick right up and complete the job. There’s no difference in how the second site works, just its location.
To have the protection you need, you’ll need to understand what a provider can do for you should they face downtime. If they don’t have a seamless transfer in place, you can’t depend on them.
Transactional Mail Dependability with PCI Group
Dependability in transactional mail means accuracy, security, compliance, trust, transparency, and consistency. Your partner should be able to meet all these. PCI Group does! We take dependability seriously, going above and beyond the minimum. Find out why so many companies rely on us as their outsourced transactional printer.
