White Paper Web Composition Solution

Print On-Demand Solutions P.O.B 330, 46103 Herzlia B, Israel Tel: 972.9.952.7145 Fax: 972.9.959.7790 Request information: Oda.info@creopod.com www.creopod.com Gershon Alon Director, On-demand Applications Print On-Demand Solutions Tel: 972.9.959-7631 Fax: 972.9.950.2922 gershon.alon@creopod.com Release date: May 2006 White Paper Page 1 of 8 Web Composition Solution The new platform for Web-based, template-driven on demand communications Overview The need today for highly personalized communications is growing rapidly. Organizations understand that marketing materials tailored to each recipient make campaigns more effective and more powerful. Marketing studies show that when a recipient’s name is coupled with an offer that is meaningful to them, response rates increase significantly, leading to a higher return on investment. This paper presents organizations with a new opportunity that exists today and explains how this opportunity can be fulfilled. The Opportunity Both customer data mining and technology advancements have opened up a new opportunity for personalized communications. Many corporations have aggregated a lot of knowledge on their customers, such as their needs, purchasing preferences, budget limits, and other data. These organizations have invested a great deal into customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and other sales systems to make this customer information readily available for management and marketing teams. Additionally, digital printing technologies have evolved to become inexpensive, accessible, and high quality. And finally, the variable data printing (VDP) revolution is well on its way, and its benefits are clear: • Each recipient is provided with personalized data, which substantially increases response rates and customer loyalty • Direct marketing campaigns can be produced at an overall lower cost Though the technology and methods are within reach, many organizations are still not taking advantage of VDP capabilities. So, why haven’t these technology advancements increased VDP adoption? White Paper Page 2 of 8 Today’s Obstacles There are still many hurdles that organizations need to overcome before they can begin developing and distributing personalized communications: • Variable data applications are considered to be complex to work with, preventing organizations and printers from using this technology. • Data management requires a lot of organization. Marketing groups need to manage the input data from many sources, making each project very time consuming and complex to administer. • The sheer number of applications and documents often makes it difficult to maintain brand and design integrity across the organization. The Solution Print On-Demand Solutions (PODS) group has developed a new technology infrastructure to help organizations overcome these obstacles. The Web Composition Solution (WCS) is an easy-to-use, Web-to-print solution for creating recurring customized workflows in organizations and print establishments. Requiring a one-time setup, the Web Composition Solution enables employees throughout the organization to use it on-demand. The solution easily integrates into existing business management systems, such as CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems/storefront applications, allowing users to leverage corporate knowledge and existing workflows. The recurring production workflow created by the system provides control, assisting the organization in maintaining brand and design integrity, and resolving many data-management bottlenecks. The Web Composition Solution in Detail The Web Composition Solution uses Web services technology to easily integrate into any corporate environment. It expands the capabilities of existing business management systems—including CRM, ERP, Oracle, and Web-to-print—to enable the fusing of communication templates and customer data (using SQL, XML, Microsoft Excel sheets, etc.) into a single document. A recurring communication workflow can be built using the Web Composition Solution, controlling the process and outputting documents in all major printing formats (i.e., PostScript, PDF, and Variable Print Specification (VPS). The first version of WCS provides print ready documents although the solution may expand to additional output media types such as web, Email etc. White Paper Page 3 of 8 The Web Composition Solution creates a distributed workflow by dividing the monolithic design-and-merge workflow into two parts: 1. Create a template White Paper Page 4 of 8 2. Insert variable data pulled from any database Setting up customizable templates is a design process that involves building the actual communications materials as well as the design guidelines, the customization guidelines, the business logic, and the accessibility of the pending documents. Once the template is complete, users can input unique information in it, creating a personalized document that can be sent to any type of printing device. The detailed workflow is as such: • Create the template: The designer develops a template with its business logic using the Darwin VI authoring tool for Adobe InDesign (Windows edition). • Upload the template: Templates can be easily imported into the system from the Darwin VI authoring tool. The template resides in a storage area where it can be edited, deleted, or published. White Paper Page 5 of 8 • Publish the template: A hosting application, which includes any storefront, CRM, marketing, or sales system, publishes the template. • Manage the template: The user can browse the templates, access thumbnail images and additional information, upload newer versions, and attain the template data schema specification. • Provide variable data: Variable data is inserted into the template. This process can be as simple filling out a form for a versioning job (e.g., business card details), or as complex as pulling large amounts of information from a database (e.g., direct marketing campaign). The variable data can also include images. • Proof the personalized document: A PDF will be generated for proofing. • Print the personalized document: The system provides a preflight report that indicates if there are any problems; for example if images are missing or if there is text overflow in specific records. Once all issues have been resolved, the document is printed. Print tracking is done using different applications, such as a storefront Web system. The Technology Solution in Action WCS easily integrates with any CRM or sales system, allowing users to access the template database online and create a personalized document by customizing a specific template to suit their needs. Users enter the appropriate instance data and print the document on the fly. They can easily upload their customer database files to produce complex marketing campaigns. This ensures corporate brand identity standards are rigorously maintained while empowering local users to customize and localize collateral and campaigns. There are many markets that can benefit from this capability, including advertising, real estate, and print service providers. Here are some examples of the WCS in action: Let’s take PODS as an example of a corporation with a sales force that wants to customize its customer communications. Ann, the marketing communications strategist at PODS, ran an internal survey of customized marketing needs, and then created a series of templates based on the survey results. The templates were designed, proofed, and uploaded to the marketing applications page on the group’s intranet, which was integrated with the WCS. Ann's templates were created for the workflows outlined below. Customized Collateral Ron, a Print On-Demand Solutions sales representative wants to send a customized data sheet and a customized open house invitation to his prospects. He logs into the PODS marketing applications page and enters his name and other contact details in the text fields provided (or he selects his name from a predefined list of PODS sales representatives and the system automatically fills in his contact details). The system subsequently generates the data sheet that he requested. Since a customized datasheet template already exists, there is no need for graphic design services or an internal approval process. Instead, a PDF document is produced on the fly White Paper Page 6 of 8 and Ron can print the document himself on a corporate printer, or send the job to an external or internal print provider. Business Cards Ron also requires a new set of business cards. He accesses the homepage once more, entering all his personal information—name, title, phone number, and mobile number—and a PDF containing his business card is automatically generated. He chooses to print his business cards with a print service provider. East Sails sailing school is an example of a smaller company that is creating customized communications. White Paper Page 7 of 8 Marketing Communications Rachel, a marketing manager at East Sails, would like to centralize customer communications and certifications, and create a system for promoting new courses via follow-up marketing materials. With the help of Alan, the corporate MIS advisor, she builds a Web-based application to collect customer input, and integrates the WCS into the solution. The new system automatically generates customer receipts upon course sign-up and certifications upon course completion. Additionally, the corporate application uses the WCS to produce a customized follow-up brochure: Summary New technologies that enable organizations to produce customized communications are now widely available; however many obstacles still exist and are preventing organizations from adopting these VDP applications. A distributed, template-based solution is the key for organizations to incorporate personalized communications into their marketing plans. By implementing the Page Composition Engine, organizations can leverage their existing enterprise systems, achieve greater process control, and maintain brand and design integrity. White Paper Page 8 of 8 Web-to-print systems will continue to evolve, allowing print service providers to further streamline their workflow and increase print volume. Organizations will easily integrate these new Web-to-print systems into their existing infrastructure, providing internal customers with applications for creating customized materials, and improving customer relationships.