PrintingNews.com

As printers strive to become one-stop shops for clients, some have moved into providing value-added services such as mailing and fulfillment. However, printers cannot do mailing without database management, and for those exploring in-house operations, the wisdom or warning seems to be, do so with caution. While the payoffs can be worth it, there is a huge learning curve, and major challenges every step of the way.

"We went down that road more than 15 years ago because we saw where the industry was headed and we believed that the more you could do for your customer, the better," said Stephen Zenger, president and CEO of The Zenger Group in Buffalo, N.Y., a family-owned-and-operated printing service network, which consists of five separate companies with combined sales in the $10-million range.

The firm purchased Ulrich Mail, a 65-year-old company and one of the oldest full-service mail houses in the region. Over time, that part of the business evolved, and, according to Mr. Zenger, today, 50 percent of its offset printing is part of a mail product, while 90 percent of its black-and-white and color digital product is mailed. He estimates that three million pieces a month go through the system. Some are large jobs while others are small-30 to 40 one day, 200 another, trickling in from the fulfillment work The Zenger Group handles for some of its clients.

"We wanted to be able to take our clients' creative concept right through to the mail stream, and now we can take these types of projects and execute them through conventional or variable-data printing, to assembly and mail. We do this well and it has paid off for us," he said. "Anyone in the mailing business has to deal with database work. Even if it's as simple as handling addresses, the database drives the entire process."

A lot of the database work handled by the company is building triggers into clients' databases, which then prompts changes in the output. In order to do that, the company has invested in PC-based data software on the front end, and Xerox imaging technology and inkjet imaging systems on the back end. For variable-data printing and mailing, the company utilizes proprietary output logic software that renders output to printing devices. There are pitfalls and hurdles, as one keystroke can damage an entire database and cost the company not only the print job, but the postage, as well.

"The most significant piece of technology we have is the brain," Mr. Zenger said. "Database management services is a very human resource-intensive type of business, and it's so important to have people on staff who know what they're doing because the consequences of mistakes become much higher and much more severe."

Utah's Go-To Guy

Salt Lake Mailing and Printing in Salt Lake City started out 24 years ago as a direct-mail house and added printing about 10 years ago. For three years, it outsourced its database services before moving them in-house, and hiring experienced people like Data Processing Manager Paul Naylor.

"The mailing world is a whole other realm. It isn't static like conventional printing, but changing and dynamic where, with variable data, every piece of paper is different," he said. "If a printer is going to be involved in database management for mailing, then they need to hire someone who understands that end of it along with the postal rules and regulations."