By Warren Lederer, COO

Our Fall CCM Executive Roundtable, held November 13-14 at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott was focused on the topic of customer communications where the enterprises attending openly shared their experiences, challenges and successes in building and maintaining a viable CCM program—and it was (gasp) all without the use of PowerPoint!

The key presenters in the day-long roundtable were Tim Steenhoek from Voya, Fred Kinckner from Vanguard, and Paul Jorgensen and Jason Fonner from HM Document Solutions, along with myself providing an overview of the marketplace and serving as a facilitator for the other presentations. Attendees also included representatives from COUNTRY Financial, Discover Financial Services, Northwestern Mutual, and Raymond James Financial—all contributors to what is best described as a true participant-led event.

The speakers, as well as the attendees, represented companies that are involved in varying phases of the CCM journey, from exploring its possibilities and initial implementation, through developing full-blown, but ever-evolving systems. They openly discussed various aspects of their own experiences and outlined their responses to the challenges they face—or likely will face—in establishing CCM systems in their own organizations.

The topics cut across the spectrum of challenges enterprises are wrestling with today, ranging from expanding and maximizing investment in an in-plant, all the way to load balancing between print providers, followed by sharing and discussing the lessons learned when investing and implementing a CCM HMS platform. In addition, during the open forum at the close of the event, roundtable members were encouraged to bring up any topic of interest to them to invite commentary and advice from the others.

Alongside our roundtable participants, Crawford Technologies and Xerox offered information and advice on how they, as vendors, support the CCM process. In a very creative move, Crawford Technologies allowed attendees to choose which of their company’s executives participants wanted to engage with on topic choices such as the creation and delivery of accessible documents, advances in creating integrated end-to-end workflows, and improving existing CCM delivery.

What excited us most about this CCM Executive Roundtable is that it provided the opportunity to share openly with industry peers in a face-to-face forum. Participants had the rare opportunity to discuss their concerns and to gain advice from those who have “been there, done that,” as well as to contribute by sharing their own experiences. This is information and assistance that is difficult to come by in any other way. It is perhaps the only event in the industry quite like it. Madison Advisors is currently planning its Spring CCM Executive Roundtable, and we invite those interested to stay tuned for further details.