By Nick Kepf at blog.bbhmessages.com

Many mail center operations experience repeated volume spikes that create short-term recurring capacity needs. For example, financial services organizations often see processing spikes at month-end and quarter-end. But managing these peaks and troughs by investing in hardware or software and spending any capital is very difficult to justify in today’s economic climate.

To solve these capacity needs, why not partner with a provider that can process your overflow work to the highest level of quality in a secure environment? Sending work to another processing center can minimize disruption to your own operation, provide planned capacity at peak times, minimize overtime and let you avoid costly hardware purchases.

 

Choosing an off-site print and mail partner can help you manage the peaks and troughs of your operations

When I talk to people interested in outsourcing their print and mail operations, I tell them that regardless of the partner they choose, the key considerations I think they need to make include the following:

• Security: Does the vendor under consideration adhere to the highest industry recognized data and physical security standards? Here I usually refer to Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard compliance and SAS-70 Auditing Standards certification. Any data center that is handling print and mail operations should be state-of-the art. They should also have secure shredding operations to destroy wasted material.
• Process control: To be effective processes must be repeatable. Has the vendor achieved ISO-certification? Can they consistently meet the rigorous requirements for process documentation and control in order to produce your work at the highest quality? All good operations maintain quality and on-time performance metrics: ask to see them.
• Dedicated resources: When you need information or require help, will you have access to knowledgeable IT and client service resources? A world-class print and mail organization will provide you with professional and dedicated support personnel to ensure that your questions are responded to quickly.

The most important and the easiest way to get a sense of a prospective print and mail partner is to visit their facility. Even when travel budgets are tight, this is the single most important investment you can make during the partner selection process. A visit will provide you with enough information to know whether your potential partner has the ability to meet your all overflow processing needs.