ACCELERATING THE DATA ENTRY PROCESS FOR RETURNED MAIL WITH A SOLUTION FROM OPEX^® AND CPT

THE BACKGROUND

The Imagine Group, an advertising and visual communications company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, designs and creates personalized print collateral for brands in a wide variety of industries across the globe – including retail, grocery, foodservice, entertainment, packaged goods, health, and financial services. Imagine uses new approaches to offer brand personalized campaigns, in-store marketing, direct mail, and packaging services with in-house fulfillment, requiring them to efficiently handle client data to deliver high-quality customer service.

THE CHALLENGE

When working with a large bank on an outbound printing project, Imagine had to use specific protocols when handling their client’s data, which was timeconsuming and labor-intensive, requiring 26 temporary employees during peak seasons. The manual data entry process to create an electronic record for a return mail piece took Imagine between three to five business days to complete, slowing down their outbound printing and return mail handling process. To deliver excellent service to their client, Imagine needed to find a better way to enter data into their system more effectively.

THE SOLUTION

In order to process thousands of returned mail documents in only a few days, Imagine turned to OPEX^® and CPT Intelligent Technologies to automate their time-consuming and manual data entry process, implementing an OPEX Falcon+^® RED™ document scanner with integrated mail opening and scanning, and CPT’s Return Mail Processing Software. Using the solution from OPEX and CPT, Imagine created a 360-degree approach to data hygiene using their patent-pending backend processing engine, capturing the name and address of the intended recipient, the reason on the NIXIE sticker, and a forwarding address with the speed of the Falcon+ RED scanner and the accuracy of OCR. In addition, Imagine needed to know the type of document in the envelope, so CPT implemented document classification as part of their process, allowing them to handle each document type with the necessary business rules. Imagine learned there were three main areas of focus within their client’s data: pre-mailing to solve for a third of the updates, handling physical returned mail pieces, and the USPS Electronic ACS data feed. The new workflow from OPEX and CPT replaced Imagine’s need for temporary staffing during peak seasons, reducing staff from 26 original temps to two people who would handle data entry with the Falcon+ RED system.

THE FUTURE

Now that The Imagine Group has a better solution for data entry in place, they will continue to see shorter cycle times and tighter integration between data sources. Imagine’s approach to data hygiene paired with the solution from OPEX and CPT will continue to benefit their clients and allow them to deliver excellent service.