In the landscape of printed communications companies produce, they fall into two categories. The first is promotional, which consists of offers or promotions with a marketing angle. The second is transactional print. These documents are intended for a specific user and contain PII (personally identifiable information) and/or PHI (protected health information). As such, they require a much different process.
Get the facts on transaction print and the security, compliance, and accuracy requirements.
What Is Transactional Print?
Transactional print describes any type of communication to a customer with protected or confidential information. Common examples include billing statements, healthcare notifications, debt collection letters, and insurance declarations.
If the document contains PHI or PII, you must manage and handle it differently than promotional mailings. Many types of compliance adherence go along with the production of transactional print, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, and FISMA.
Transactional Print and Data Security
Whether you produce these communications in-house or use a vendor, data security must be a priority. The type of information contained in these letters is highly valuable to hackers. While you cannot mitigate every risk, you can ensure best practices are in place.
As a company solely focusing on transactional print, we’ve developed a fortified security plan covering the virtual and physical worlds. Key to this is our secure file processing hub, SECURE IT.
Customers transfer data to us via an SFTP (Secure File Transmission Protocol). When the files are transferred they are encrypted and are also encrypted at rest until the files are ready to be printed. A commitment to cybersecurity best practices also reduces the risk of breach, including vulnerability scanning and pen testing.
In addition, our security framework includes advanced firewalls, IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems), and user-level security.
Ensuring physical security also matters in transactional print. Our facilities also employ access-limiting keycards, door alarms, internal and external cameras, and a secure property perimeter.
Layers of security are critical in transactional printing. If there are gaps in your current operations, you could be at risk.
Ensuring Compliance in Transactional Printing
These regulated communications also must follow compliance rules. Anything related to PHI requires adherence to HIPAA. Financial documents have compliance obligations, as do collection letters.
The foundation of proactive compliance is holding the right certifications for SOC I & II, HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI-DSS, and FISMA. Then, the process of producing these communications must embed compliance. We do that in several ways. We have a dedicated Compliance Officer and team.
Additionally, we continuously audit our workflows by following Lean Manufacturing standard works. We have over 300 standard works to ensure quality. These checks and balances provide us with insights into potential gaps and allow us to make improvements as regulations change.
You can never be too vigilant about compliance, which is why you’ll appreciate the extra steps that we take for our clients.
Accuracy in Transactional Print
In addition to security and compliance, the third must-have in transactional printing is accuracy. Mis-mailings can trigger noncompliance and create reputational harm. To limit this exposure, we use advanced technology and rigorous workflows.
We’ve been able to achieve an industry-leading accuracy rating of 99.9999%. Our keys to success involve:
- Intelligent insert equipment and barcode scanning of each document occur to verify what goes inside each envelope.
- Camera scanning of 2D barcodes on each piece of paper ensures the inserter folds the correct pages in each envelope.
- Another camera captures an image of the inserted envelope to validate the process.
By investing in technology and continually improving our quality assurance program, our customers gain the most accurate transactional print process.
Elevating Your Transactional Print with PCI Group
Delivering accurate, compliant, and secure communications to your customers is a priority. However, it’s a complex process that needs specialized expertise. If you’re still managing this with your own in-plant, it’s time to consider outsourcing. If you’re currently using a vendor, evaluate how they stack up to our services and our industry leading 99.9999% accuracy.
Either way, we invite you to book a free discovery session with our team.
