Veteran industry leader recognized for passion  and commitment to the industry

March 29, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announced its president, Kemal Carr, has been awarded the Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented on March 28 on the opening day of Xploration 17, the annual conference of electronic document systems association, Xplor.

“As one of the industry’s most respected resources and thought leaders, Kemal is known for his insight, vision and passion. His efforts have left an indelible mark on the industry,” says Skip Henk, president and CEO of Xplor International. “That passion and commitment extend beyond our industry where he gives generously of his time and resources to youth sports, local issues and a variety of humanitarian and cultural causes. It is an honor to recognize Kemal Carr with the Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Carr’s background in information systems management at Fidelity Investments, consulting experience at Doculabs and knack for predicting business trends helped establish Madison Advisors’ unique market niche, addressing the needs of the electronic and print customer communications marketplace. Under Carr’s leadership, Madison Advisors soon became the go-to source for enterprise organizations, service providers and technology providers in need of thought leadership, strategic consulting and market research in the changing electronic delivery and print industries and, eventually, more well-defined customer communications management (CCM) space.

In addition to his active membership in Xplor over the years, Carr is regularly asked by leading industry publications and events to write or speak about the industry’s key issues and topics, including the changes and trends in the transactional document space and advancements in communication technologies and electronic document presentment.

Carr is part of a distinguished group of long-standing professionals recognized by Xplor who have not only made their mark in the world of business, but have enriched the community at large with vision, leadership, business impact and inspiration.

“It is an honor to have received this distinguished award for doing what I love,” said Kemal Carr, president, Madison Advisors. “While the significant CCM market changes over the past decade have brought about challenges we never dreamed we would be facing two decades ago, it has also made for an exciting adventure. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to help companies navigate this changing landscape and make a difference in the way the industry evolves.”

By Chad Henk

Lutz, FL — March 28, 2017: Xplor International, the worldwide electronic document systems association, today named the recipients of the Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was presented at Xplor’s Annual Conference, Xploration 17, on Tuesday, March 28th during the awards ceremony.

The Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2007 and is given to an individual, or individuals, whose efforts and contributions have significantly changed the course and development of the digital document industry. This award is open to Xplor International members as well as non-members.

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 March 23, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announced that senior analyst, Gina Ferrara, will be speaking and sharing insights on the importance of inbound customer communications and the value of a CCM Center of Excellence at Xploration 17, Xplor’s 2017 annual conference, March 28-30 in Orlando.

Ferrara will present the breakout session, “Inbound Communications are Critical Too” on Tuesday March 28 at 4:30 p.m. The session will challenge the myth that mastering outbound communications is all that is required to achieve the best possible customer experience (CX). Her presentation will cover why outbound communications only represent half of the complete CX picture and discuss the critical importance of considering inbound communications, as well how one impacts the other, particularly when it comes to customer service interactions.

Ferrara will also present “Create a CCM Center of Excellence” on Wednesday March 29 at 4:30 p.m., which will offer best practices and concrete steps for establishing a CCM Center of Excellence (COE) to help companies deliver on their overall CCM strategies. The session will explore the five “Ws” involved in the creation of a COE: When should a CCM COE be established? What roles and responsibilities will the COE have? Who needs to be part of it? Where in the organization should this group report? Why is a COE necessary to deliver on a CCM and CX strategy?

Both sessions aim to help attendees address the entire document lifecycle, improve workflow processes and enhance the customer experience.

For more information on Xploration 17 visit this link.

March 14, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announced the release of its new research, “Beyond ROI: Increasing Production Efficiencies with Color Inkjet Printers.” The research uncovered that many companies seeking an inkjet solution tend to overlook the importance of workflow when conducting due diligence. Furthermore, it was found that this oversight results in a diminished realization of the full value of an inkjet investment.

The study also finds that while output quality, throughput and the range of supported media are important considerations before making an inkjet investment, workflow software selection is often conducted as an ancillary project after the capital investment has been made. Madison Advisors’ stance is that this decision sequence should be reversed.

The research explores:

• The broader context of implementing color inkjet technology for customer communications
• The workflow issues that should be considered during the evaluation process

Proven techniques to fully unlock the value of color inkjet

Madison Advisors’ research is valuable both for service providers who are considering investing in a color inkjet printer and for those who have already made the investment, as it helps define a print service provider’s optimal workflow to point them in the right direction for a maximized ROI.

“By understanding all the opportunities offered by inkjet printers, buyers can make the right investments at the right time and ultimately achieve a greater total return on investment,” said Jeff Weldon, senior analyst at Madison Advisors and author of the report. “The main objective of the research is to raise awareness of the necessary process improvement steps within an organization when it comes to inkjet hardware.”

To purchase the full report “Beyond ROI: Increasing Production Efficiencies with Color Inkjet Printers,” click here.

March 15, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announced the availability of its new research report, “Service Provider Market Pricing Study, 5^th Edition.” As a continuation of the 2014 “Service Provider Market Pricing Study, 4^th Edition,” the 2017 study is a thorough analysis of the data collected from leading print service providers, identifying the cost trends and pricing models shaping today’s print and mail service provider market. Analysis includes historical market trends, pricing and participant overviews. Building on the previous Madison Advisors studies published in 2014, 2011, 2008 and 2007, the 2017 study’s price comparisons offer an indication of the trends seen in pricing over the years.

With the outsourced transactional print market under intense price pressure, the study offers solid support to service providers as it investigates market pricing in five key areas: design services, digital print, insertion, postal services and electronic presentment services. In addition to uncovering competitive pricing in the form of low, average and high pricing, as well as an analysis of the competitive pricing and pricing trends, the study discusses significant factors affecting the current direction of the market overall.

“As service providers transition to omni-channel delivery models, differing pricing models have emerged for electronic services,” said Roger Tapke, principal analyst at Madison Advisors and author of the study. “This research keeps service providers abreast of those pricing trends, helping to identify the revenue opportunities ripe for pursuit.”

To purchase the full report “Service Provider Market Pricing Study, 5^th Edition,” click here.

2/16/17

By Gina Ferrara

The Bottom Line

2/3/17

By Roger Tapke

The heightened priority of organizations in every industry to focus on the customer experience, reflected in the augmentation of marketing roles to include Chief Customer Officers (CCOs) and Chief Experience Officers (CXOs), has placed unprecedented pressure on marketing departments to innovate in every way possible.

While not a bad thing in and of itself, this impetus for innovation can lead to disjointed and even costly outcomes for the organization. Here is a simplified, but all too common, example:

The marketing department in line of business "A" decides there is a potential customer experience advantage to be gained by changing the look of an envelope for a mailing. However, other parts of the organization are routinely using an envelope of a slightly different size. For the marketing leads in line of business "A", the decision to change the envelope seems minor. But when looked at holistically from an organizational perspective, standardizing on a single envelope instead could result in cost-savings and efficiencies that deliver significant benefits across multiple lines of business in the organization. Editor's Note: You can read more on that topic in our January/February issue or by clicking here.

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1/31/17

By Gina Ferrara

Customer experience (CX) initiatives have topped the list of strategic priorities for many organizations, putting CX above new product development. However, this increased focus on customer experience should be coordinated simultaneously with the organization’s customer communications management (CCM) strategy.

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January 25, 2017, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announces that Jeff Weldon, senior analyst, will be speaking at Information Management Institute’s (IMI) Ink Jet 2017 Conference on ways to capitalize on production inkjet to streamline the production workflow and gain operational efficiencies. IMI’s Ink Jet Conference will be held February 1-3 at the Florida Hotel & Conference Center in Orlando.

Weldon’s informative presentation, “Taking Ink Jet Efficiency to the Next Level,” will be held on Wednesday February 1, during the opening session at 1:30 p.m. Weldon will share with attendees the following discussion points:

• Production ink jet printers offer the opportunity to streamline production workflow and gain operational efficiencies
• Key to gaining efficiencies is optimizing workflow from printing through finishing
• Moving to white paper workflow is key to achieving available production gains
• The steps required to achieve document streamlining necessary to ensure print providers are maximizing ink jet systems’ performance

As a senior analyst for Madison Advisors, Weldon provides industry expertise and project-based advisory services for enterprises, technology providers and service providers in the output technology space. He has extensive knowledge of output management systems in the transactional and print-on-demand markets, including print management and workflow systems and leading electronic delivery solutions.

For information on IMI’s Ink Jet 2017 Conference, visit http://www.imiconf.com/ink-jet-2017.html.

 November 30, 2016, Colleyville, TX—Madison Advisors—Madison Advisors today announced that senior analyst, Gina Ferrara, will be a guest speaker in a GMC Software-sponsored webinar on the impact consumer expectations have had on customer communications management and the print industry. The webinar, entitled “The Future of the Customer,” will be held on Tuesday, December 13 at 1:00 pm EST.

Ferrara, speaking with Arianna Valentini, product marketing manager for GMC Software, will talk about the changing role of the print service provider and why expanding beyond print and mail is critical in today’s world. The webinar will explore how GMC’s technology enables print service providers to help enterprise clients overcome the challenges they face with customer communications and the drive for digital transformation. Additionally, GMC Inspire Mobile Advantage and how it enables a print service provider to extend the power of CCM to mobile apps will be covered.

As a senior analyst for Madison Advisors, Ferrara works with clients to develop a comprehensive CCM optimization strategy that positions organizations to meet strategic goals and objectives relative to revenue enhancement, cost and risk reduction, and customer experience and retention. In addition, she specifically focuses on trends in technology and technology providers, including both software and hardware, to stay abreast of the latest enhancements and capabilities in the industry.