CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: February 17, 2012
As a follow on to the above, we have an article on the EU, mailing and what is next for the region.
Have you looked into Digital Mailbox Services?
The decline of postal volumes in Europe; what will happen next?
You can buy language training courses, the latest movies on DVD, office supplies (including inkjet printers shredders and other hardware items) and even a few toys for the kids. It appears that, in these times of diversification and the need to make a profit wherever possible, the processing of mail is almost an afterthought.
In Germany, even the Post Office itself may have disappeared, with Deutsche Post kiosks now taking up a small area in the corner of a local bank. Deutsche Post has sold off nearly all of their properties over the last fifteen years, going from 29,000 buildings down to around just 25. In some smaller towns and villages, the postal service may even be run by a resident from their house, rather than having a dedicated Post Office.
Why is this?
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: February 10, 2012
In addition, we have an interesting look at legislations that effect printed customer communications. This article talks about current regulations, the information you need to know and how to learn more.
Are your printed customer materials accessible and compliant with current legislations?
What are AODA, ADA and These Other Regulations and Why Do They Affect my Printing?
If you have been a part of an Accessibility presentation lately, it has most likely focused on ease of access to physical buildings and how people with disabilities should be interacted with from a customer care perspective. The journey that now needs to be focussed on opens another door; now we need to pay attention to a different aspect of disability legislation, namely Visual Accessibility, which applies to all printed customer communications and any other business documents.
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: February 3, 2012
In addition, we have a follow on to the USPS perspective with a look at where Digital Postal Mail solutions are going and information on an educational webinar that discuss coming changes in print regulations that you need to know about.
Does your company offer Digital Mailbox solutions to its customers? What about Braille or other accessible document formats?
Why Being Able to See Your Print Files is the Key to Efficiency
This is especially true if you find yourself immersed in high volume transactional output (HVTO) digital printing. We make no excuse for focusing on digital print within this article for a couple of good reasons; the main one being that sometimes you just need see your print file. This is a capability that many organizations have lacked in the HVTO space unless they were willing to make high investments in a proprietary system.
For those in offset printing, digital print files like AFP, Xerox Metacode and PCL probably don’t affect your daily procedures. If we bring PDF in to the discussion then that might be a different story, but then PDF is one of the most viewable print file formats available. However, in digital printing we have seen, and you may have experienced for yourself, that it is difficult to view an AFP, Xerox or PCL print files (print-streams) in one application. What has been lacking for many companies producing high volume transactional documents is a single print file viewer that will handle all of the above, including PDF.
This is one of the reasons why Crawford Technologies recently announced our new product PRO Viewer. If you saw our recent newsletter article, Sometimes You Just Need to View the Print File, then you are aware of many of the efficiencies that can be gained by actually being able to see what will be produced. If you haven’t, then we invite you to take a look back at last month’s newsletter; it is full of valuable problem solving solutions.
Some of the main areas you and your company might see efficiencies is in both workflow and customer relations management. With PRO Viewer it is possible for your operations and production floor managers to see the print files they need to print all in one viewer. With our ‘Print Resolution View’ your production staff can see how the print file would look as it is sent to the printer. You can check changes to print files from your internal departments or your customers. By being able to look at files before they are printed it is easy to see how this would save you time and money.
In the Customer Service area, PRO Viewer can give Customer Service Representatives the ability to retrieve and view customer documents from print files. With this ability a CSR can research a customer’s problem while talking to them. The advantage with PRO Viewer is that they don’t have to request a print file or a file conversion. This makes retrieving customer documents from archives simpler and easier. It also makes it possible to re-print that customer’s document(s) immediately.
Finally, for this discussion, we want to address the print designers out there. If you are being asked to design in a composition engine where the output will be AFP, Xerox, PCL or PDF, then our viewer can be a significant time saver. Imagine being able to proof the print file without having to send the document to print until the final proof round. Not only will you be saving time, but also ink, paper and other consumables.
As we said in our newsletter article, sometimes you just need to view the print file.
If you would like more information on PRO Viewer, please drop us a line here. We would be happy to share all the benefits of this new and exciting product from CrawfordTech.
[Picture and content copyright Crawford Technologies 2012]
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: January 27, 2012
Did you know that Pro Archiver evolved from the Acartus Corporation and EMC?
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: January 20, 2012
What print vendor is seeking Chapter 11 protection and what does it mean for the industry?
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: January 13, 2012
We also just launched the newest Crawford Courier newsletter; now in a new format for easier viewing. Have you signed up to receive it?
CrawfordTech’s Weekly Reading List: January 6, 2012
In addition, CrawfordTech announced a new product this week – PRO Viewer. We have included a link to the press release in this edition as well as information for our informative product launch webinar January 18, 2012!
Would you believe culture can save the fate of printing firms?
