By Gina Ferrara, Senior Analyst

This month, Madison Advisors released the 6th edition of the Customer Communications Management (CCM) Solutions Market Study. As the author of this study, I was pleased to have the opportunity to work with all of the companies who agreed to be a part of the research. My intention for the report was not to categorize the CCM solution providers, or to rank one higher than another on certain components and capabilities, but rather to present the trends in the industry and how each provider has responded to those trends by adding functionality and services to meet client needs.

When reading the report, you may notice a common theme that can be summarized in a single word: change. The CCM industry is constantly changing, which is no surprise for the veterans of the industry. But what is interesting is the magnitude of change in a relatively short amount of time and how technology has been the primary driving force behind most of it.

CCM software has become something more than a document composition tool used to create transactional documents such as statements, bills and policies. The software manages the entire communication lifecycle, from data to delivery, and provides insight to business users and marketing through dashboards that provide metrics and reporting, data analytics and business intelligence capabilities. These CCM technology providers have figured out a way to balance complexity and usability in order to provide enhanced functionality, new delivery channels and reduced implementation times, all while empowering business users to perform tasks previously owned by IT.
With the available technology in the market today, enterprises that are burdened by a complex CCM technology infrastructure that contains legacy systems, disparate workflows, thousands of document templates and multiple repositories for digital assets, know that in order to remain competitive, reduce costs and mitigate risk, a technology refresh is critical. Unfortunately, some organizations do not know where to begin, or worse yet, have begun and hit a major roadblock along the way and abandoned the project altogether.

The good news is that Madison Advisors has a methodology that can assist organizations with these challenges. It is called optiMA. The optiMA model from Madison Advisors can provide guidance for enterprises to create an optimized CCM strategy that focuses on providing an enhanced customer experience and increased customer engagement. It includes a current state assessment and information gathering to understand customer communication goals relative to revenue enhancement, cost and risk reduction, technology requirements and customer experience. We work with all key stakeholders across the organization to identify gaps in business processes, technology and staffing so that we can understand both strengths and areas that need improvement. Key deliverables include a Target Operating Model (TOM) and a strategic roadmap that provide the enterprise with guidance and organizational direction necessary to implement its CCM optimization initiatives to align with the business and strategic goals identified during the initial phase.

All of the solutions evaluated as a part of this research effort offer technology that can optimize a legacy CCM environment. The challenge can be selecting the right solution. We are excited to share our optiMA methodology, as it provides valuable objective insight during the technology selection process to determine the best fit for our clients.