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Automated Communication Factory (ACF)

Digital Printing Forum presents "Automated Communication Factory (ACF)"

How can business communications be automated, in a way that maximizes customer orientation? Dr. Richard Schlupp, Chairman of the ACF Expert Group section of the Digital Printing Forum, and Andreas Weber, Speaker of the Digital Printing Forum published a ACF White Paper. In the process, it describes the basic technological foundation and brings it together with modern marketing and communications prinicples. The authors, together with the ACF expert group of the DigitaldruckForum, invite participation in an active discussion, in order to examine this topic as broadly as possible and
to expand it across multiple disciplines.

More information:
acf@digitaldruck-forum.org

Enterprise Communication Challenge:
The "Automated Communication Factory"

By Dr. Richard C. Schlupp, Chairman ACF Expert Team, DigitaldruckForum (Digital Printing Forum)

The "Automated Communication Factory" (ACF) is a new interactive business model helping enterprises putting theory into practice, overcoming today’s communication challenges with the aim of reaching the leading edge in tomorrow’s economy.
It took some time to enterprises to understand the business benefits of the Gartner Model "ADF", Automated Document Factory. Despite a long resistance due to costs, product availability, integration issues, manpower, etc. In deed, the ADF Model as a guide line is today accepted by many print centers and print service providers. They recognize that document integrity, productivity through automation and visibility are key enablers to guarantee the quality and 100% delivery of mission critical documents like invoices and statements. ADF is the key instrument for print center management and a major milestone in the printing industry.
The new challenge for the future is the individualization of communication. Communication is becoming digital. Especially via fast Internet access, we are in the position to access information worldwide and of course procure from everywhere. The new paradigm shift: think global act local. It allows to all enterprises to listen to their customer and strengthen the communication with them. It is current understanding that it is cheaper to retain customers then to gain new ones. The most effective communication is not to overload each individual with information as it happens today, but based on customer knowledge, give each individual the information he needs. Listening to customers (via customer voice management) is a key element in each enterprise to be successful in the future. It is no longer the enterprise dictating his offering but individual who will choose there required product or solution in a global market.
It is key for any enterprise to challenge their current customer communication and measure its impact on the market. Business to business, business to individual communication will be streamlined. A global communication strategy by a corporate communication manager will be implemented in each enterprise. It is no longer acceptable that each organization (services, marketing, sales, accounting, etc.) within an enterprise communicates with customers, partners, other businesses, independently. This drives a lot of confusion and misunderstanding and is a key element of customer dissatisfaction.
The corporate communication manager has to understand and continuously measure the current communication impact on the market and have the necessary tools to make beneficial changes. Digital workflow management and document production are part of the global enterprise communication. Therefore it is impossible to dissociate the current document production process from their impact on the customer. The current document production is part of the corporate communication manager’s responsibility.

What’s new?

Communication processes must be designed for long-term goals and for a maximum level of interaction. Our society has become knowledge-hungry and shaped by the Internet, and this requires a new approach to information distribution. Interactive multi-channel and multi-platform concepts are necessary for success, in order to carry on an efficient and effective dialog with customers and business partners. Communication models, focused on document integrity and production automation, must be extended. ACF, the Automated Communication Factory, represents the new model.
ACF represents a communications architecture with the complete set of tools required to automate, optimize, and control multi-channel multi-media, bi-directional communications with customers and partners. ACF doesn’t mean a complete restructuring of an enterprise. ACF is re-engineering of corporate communications. The most important phase is the implementation of an integrated communication strategy under the responsibility of the interactive corporate communication manager.

New solution: the ACF Business Ecosystem

Input Management - Customer and Market Data Gathering

Customers are at the heart of any business, regardless of size or industry. Any business depends on building long-lasting relationships with your customers. Winning companies have grown to their position based on long-term relationships built with satisfied customers. It becomes imperative to "know" the customer. Customer satisfaction analysis, customer loyalty analysis, customer relationship management are key processes to gather customer and market data.

Business Analytics (BA)

Business Analytics is a broad range of applications and technologies that gather, store, analyze and provide access to data. BA systems enable an organization to make better business decisions, by supporting and improving the decision making process and helping to predict the future impact of current decisions.
"On-Line Analytical Processing" (OLAP) is a category of software technology that enables analysts, managers and executives to gain insight into data through fast, consistent, interactive access to a wide variety of possible views of information that has been transformed from raw data to reflect the real dimensionality of the enterprise as understood by the user.
Data mining is the process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately comprehensible knowledge from databases that is used to make crucial business decisions.

Communication Effectiveness Control and Reporting

With a continuous finger on the customer and market pulse, powered by the ACF analysis and control instruments, the corporate communication manager is in the position to take the right decision and stay ahead of the competition.

The business benefits of an effective communication are multiple:

1. Integrated multi-media, multi-channel communication
   a. Optimized Customer/Channel Affinity
   b. Effective Enterprise Communication
2. Efficient Customer and Market Management
   a. Customer Loyalty
   b. Effective Target Marketing
   c. Efficient Forecasting
3. Competitive Advantage
   a. New Products meet Customer Preferences
   b. Faster Time to Market
4. Strategic Advantages
   a. Efficient Business Processes
   b. Effective Marketing/Sales
   c. Cost Reduction
   d. Efficient Brand Management

Enterprise Internal Data Computing

Major applications:

1. Enterprise resource planning software. ERP systems integrates finance, human resources, sales operations, manufacturing and distribution applications
2. Enterprise diverse applications that run business, databases and legacy systems

Business related data is generated.

Content Management - Central Repository

The most important foundation for implementing multi-channel, multi-media communication is content management. Content management is a centralized tool to import and manage all enterprise data, keeping it current, controlling it and redistributing it for all customer oriented applications.

Business Processes Management (BPM)

BPM enables optimization and automation business processes.

Personalization / Customization
Business data and customer knowledge data are composed on the fly in highly personalized and customized documents to deliver unique custom content.

Multiple Channel Output Management

Automated Document Factory (ADF) workflow solution is a customized combination of hardware, software and services that can be designed to fit your environment, business objectives and financial considerations. ADF provides a system for effectively managing the end-to-end, digital production of statements so you can manage and improve process productivity and reduce costs.
Intelligent multi-channel, multi-media document delivery based on customer preference is part of the ADF process.

Production Efficiency Control and Reporting

The production status has to be checked in real-time. Improve workflow, and minimize or eliminate many expensive, time-consuming issues common to statement production environments.

The right workflow solution can help maintain control, operational integrity and reduce cost with:

1. Automation to reduce manual intervention.
2. Job tracking and job status capability.
3. Job verification, error recovery and other capabilities to prevent lost documents or jobs.
4. Workload balancing/equipment utilization.
5. Simplified reprints.
6. Automated audit trails.
7. Operational metrics.
8. Operator performance information.

ACF Implementation

The implementation of an Automated Communication Factory doesn’t mean revolution but evolution of the enterprise. A successful implementation relies on a thorough understanding of:

1. Current Business Processes
2. Requirement for information
3. Use of information

Misunderstanding enterprise requirements and processes can be costly. The first step if not already done is the implementation of the interactive corporate communication manager. His responsibility is to coordinate and integrate all corporate communication to customer and market under the framework of a corporate communication strategy.

The second step consists of choosing a cross business-units implementation team under the guidance of the interactive corporate communication manager. Part of this team are the IT manager or his delegate, the development manager and the production manager, the product managers, a representative of the sales force and a representative of the service community.

Based on the corporate requirements they select the necessary business processes, which may be required by:

1. Input Management System (customer self service is essential for the dialog)
2. Customer Relationship Management System
3. Business Analytics (OLAP, Data Mining)
4. Content Management – Central Repository
5. Business Process Management
6. Personalization Customization Tool
7. Campaign Manager
8. Multi-Channel Output Management

The role of the implementation team is to evaluate current offerings and solutions available on the market and choose the appropriate solutions, which fit best the enterprise requirements. It is also important to realize that people have limited processing power and time.

The third step consists of a phased implementation of the chosen business processes. To get the best from the implementation it is necessary to plan it carefully and include the people required, the processes that should be followed and the benchmarks to measure success at each stage.

Executive summary:

A focus on customer-oriented communication via printed materials Printing is the most important pillar of business communications. Since the advent of personal computing and the desktop-publishing revolution in the mid-1980s, companies, government agencies, and organizations have begun to integrate their centralized and decentralized printing capabilities. During the 1990s, the Gartner Group developed the "Automated Document Factory" (ADF) architecture, which was designed to improve the efficiencies of the print centers in which these organizations printed statements, bills, customer-service information, etc. Gartner emphasized a "host to post" approach and concentrated on the process from the production of a document to its mailing. ADF proved itself in numerous mailroom systems, and it established the place of digital printing in the data center.

But ADF covers only one of the possibilities raised by digital printing. In addition to efficiency and cost aspects of printing, [which ADF addresses,] it is important to create new opportunities for adding value through customer service. In order to emphasize overall optimization of business communications, the DigitaldruckForum (www.digitaldruck-forum.org) now proposes a broader concept: the "Automated Communication Factory" (ACF) architecture.

ACF deals with the complete communications process: the input of information, its automatic processing, and intelligent distribution (with
the desired content) over whatever bi-direction medium the customer prefers. ACF helps to manage, monitor, automate, and optimize customer communications. With ACF, the emphasis is on totally customer-oriented communication with printed materials.

The ACF concept brings an additional benefit: enterprises will [become more efficient] via "automated communication" and will free more time and resources for employees to engage in personal communication with customers. And this will be truly one-to-one—one person talking to another.

Members in the ACF Expert Team are:

Hans-Ulrich Galm, e-dataconsulting, Zorneding/Germany Bernd Gottwald, Outrange Systems, Zurich/Switzerland Dirk Henrich, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Heidelberg/Germany Eva Reinelt-Wasilewski und Bernard Reinelt, doX Applied Technology, Vienna/Austria and the Digital Printing Forum Board Members Klaus Gradischek, PPM Graphic Industries, Nürnberg/Germany Rüdiger Maaß, Porduktioner-Club, Zell-Mosel/Germany Thomas Müller, pdfzone.de, Düsseldorf/Germany Dr. Richard Schlupp, Saint-Louis/France Andreas Weber, Speaker Digital Printing Forum, Mainz/Germany

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