Run a quick check of the internet using your favorite search or decision engine and you will find that strategies for using data in customer-facing communication are the buzz. The role model success stories for both direct mail marketers and transaction print producers have been rolling out in blogs, articles, and in conference presentations for the past several years. The question: Is data-driven communication integrated into your 2010 customer communication strategy?

Let's start with a definition of data-driven communication. The baseline is the use of data in communication to your customer. In the case of transaction communication the data flows from customer transaction data bases and may be directly placed in the customer document (what you bought and what you paid). It may also be used to trigger formatting changes or the insertion of informational, educational or marketing messages. In direct mail the database provides the address, but in the best of situations is also being used to trigger different offers to different targets.

These are simple definitions, as current practitioners of data-driven communication will tell you. They do, however, lay the baseline. Once we agree about what is included in the definition of data-driven communication, the next step is to understand that it is a multi-channel communication technique. In the best of integrated customer communication strategies, the use of data to tune offers, alter formatting based on the gender or age of the recipient, and track trends is customer interaction is part of the plan.

That brings us to the question: what are you planning for 2010? Have you brainstormed with your Kodak team to see how we can help you communicate more effectively with your customers? We have team members ready to come and talk to you about how adding a data-driven communication strategy can add value to the services you offer (internal or external clients) and maintain your status as a partner to your clients.

If you haven't talked to us recently, come talk to us now!

Have a story to share? Drop me a note: pat.mcgrew@kodak.com - we'd love toshare your success story!

I don't want to sound like a salesperson here, but in these uncertain economic times there are certain ways that you can weather the storm and come out the better for it.  One way is investing in EMS software.  KODAK EMS Software is for managing the entirety of your business, from quoting and estimating to production, shipping and accounting. It has a single database that collects information throughout your business and gives you real-time information on any aspect of your business: the status of a job; the size of your sales pipeline; who are your best customers or sales people; where you're making money or losing it; the actual vs. estimated cost of any job... and more.

Here are 5 ways EMS software can help:

1. Better Control Costs Your Costs - Analyze the profitability of your jobs and your customers to discover where you are making or losing money. Many business owners simply do not know—or do not realize that "cash cows" or top customers of yesteryear might no longer be profitable. You should also regularly compare job costs against estimates so that you can avoid under-pricing your work.  You should also create daily end-of-month and end-of-quarter projections to stay on track with your financial plan or be able to take corrective action before it's too late.
   
   
2. Optimize Business Performance - Set key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you meet your primary business goals, whether financial, sales-oriented or even service-oriented. There are literally thousands of KPIs. You need to find the right ones that will help you hone your business strengths. Sample KPIs include revenue per quarter, the value of your sales pipeline and the number of rings until a customer call is answered. But it's not enough to set and measure KPIs. When you don't meet an important KPI, you should analyze the cause and take corrective action. You should also post relevant KPIs throughout your business and share the results with employees.
   
   
3. Create New Opportunities - Use customer relationship management (CRM) on a daily basis in order to improve customer service and to ensure that customers know all of your products and services. You should continually analyze your best opportunities and monitor progress. An MIS/ERP system like KODAK EMS Business Software will generate follow-up tasks so that opportunities aren't missed.
   
   
4. Capture More Revenue - Identify the 20% of products that bring you 80% of your profits and focus your sales team on selling your profitable items. You should also use automation to quickly produce accurate quotes which has been statistically proven to improve win-loss ratios. You should also enable online services using KODAK InSite Storefront which can reduce labor costs on relatively simple items. Manage both your offline and online businesses with daily financial analysis and with KPIs.
   
   
5. Better Manage Your Finances - You should consolidate financial data so you can easily get a real-time view of your business and react faster when you need to make a decision. You would be surprised how many printers simply don't have access to real-time data. You should expedite invoicing processes to improve quote-to-cash while improving liquidity. A faster invoicing process will also let you convert "free" last-minute job changes into revenue by being able to add changes to an open invoice or to quickly issue a supplemental invoice. Or you could even issue a no-charge invoice of last minute changes buy your customer's allegiance and demonstrate what great service you can deliver!

It's no secret to small businesses.  In today's economic climate, you have to be careful out there!  Before this current economic crisis, published studies of business failures provided a general rule of thumb that small businesses have a 50/50 chance of being in business after 5 years.  Now how's that for a double-down of discouraging news?

That said, we're going to give you some good news about one activity from a number that small businesses can control to avoid being a statistic in these studies.  Let's face it, most of us believe that the future will be brighter and that's all the more reason to hang around.

A consistent top reason why small businesses fail is insufficient capital or cash flow.  While startup costs are often thought of and covered, daily operational cash needs of the business often go unplanned.  Sales activity may not be the strongest at first to cover the materials, labor, and marketing cost necessary to sustain efforts.  Quickly collecting and converting sales revenues into assets that pay bills and keep the business going is desirable when starting up a business and provides a strong foundation for future success. 

One method to help you attain that is remote deposit capture.  The stage was set for checks to clear, and money to be moved in hours instead of multiple days in 2004 when Congress passed the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century to enable check scanning and remote deposit capture. 

Utilizing remote deposit capture will pay many dividends including faster check clearing and enhanced security against bogus checks to help you shorten your time to money for improved cash flow.  Additionally you'll get back the time you were taking to prepare deposits and drive to the bank to make deposits. That's time you can use to do what's important.  Drive more sales! 

We're beginning to see businesses source remote deposit capture solutions directly from vendors versus sourcing them exclusively through banks given the recent liquidity issues of the industry.  Businesses are looking for flexibility in the in cash flow operations as a form of risk management against bank insolvency and issues associated with bank merger and acquisitions.  Kodak anticipated this and has been expanding our knowledge and market presence for the last few years.  In effect, we're playing the role of matchmaker by driving awareness and leveraging our relationships with businesses to bring clients to banks with which we're partnering.  Were giving business the economic and flexibility they desire and at the same time helping our partner banks address liquidity issues by driving more deposit dollars their way!  It's a win-win for everyone.

At the recent Association for Financial Professionals Annual Conference in Los Angeles, Kodak announced its Rapid Capture Solutions turnkey service that provides these benefits and we are now actively recruiting bank partners who want to engage small business with Kodak.  Banks work with Kodak to identify markets they want to pursue. 

The service is based entirely on Kodak's remote deposit capture platform, which consists of a Kodak i6015 check scanner, Kodak t6000 Internet client/server software and Kodak Service and Support.  Following an easy setup process, businesses simply scan and transmit images of their checks to the data center that houses Kodak's Server technology.  From here they are transferred to the member bank that the business chose for processing into their accounts. 

For more information on the service and Kodak's portfolio of remote deposit capture products, software and services, please check out our website or comment right here.