Used, tried and tested technology to grow business, improve service and cut cost

Yet traditionally resistant to change, means it’s easy for them to fall behind. Too often marketing messages are placed on lose inserts which are binned without being read, while the presentation of financial information and related news and messages in routine correspondence sadly lacks the finesse a marketing team could give. Call centres can seem to operate in a world of their own and the local branches may appear divorced from national customer communications strategy.

But times have changed. Customers don’t have the same respect for the banking and financial industry as they used to and increasingly won’t be taken for granted. They expect to be wooed and they expect to be spoken to as though they matter and their differing needs are understood and above all they expect banks to demonstrate that they really are talking to them as individuals and listening to what they say.

Banks particularly need to find new ways of meeting these increased expectations if they are to hold on to an increasingly fickle customer base and at the same time grow their businesses. Faced with ever tighter budget constraints they need to do all this in a way that gives an ROI that can’t be argued with.

For the global finance sector, this doesn’t mean having to take a step in the dark. Around the world financial enterprises and their print and marketing service providers have already dipped their toes in the water and trialled new ways of communicating using the latest generation of software. The results have more than justified their investment and should give other banks and financial institutions the confidence to try them too.

Bradesco - Brazil

One application of the new technology enables financial businesses to easily collaborate across traditional departmental divides to combine transactional and marketing information in a single document (TransPromo). Among the first to successfully trial this technique was Bradesco one of the world’s largest banks.

The pilot was prepared for Bradesco by its transactional print service bureau, ABnote of Sao Paolo, Brazil, part of the multinational secure printing business, American Banknote. Using GMC software the whole pilot was prepared from scratch and rolled out in just six weeks.
The GMC solution enabled ABnote to ingest AFP print files from their existing system, analysing them for the wide range of data required to effectively generate TransPromo communications and eliminating the need to involve Bradesco’s busy IT resources.

Ronaldo De Marchi, Graphic Director of ABnote S.A  explained: “With GMC software we can identify both where to put messaging on each statement and what messaging to use, right from the spool data. We can also add colour to the transactional data and to any images. GMC’s solution is unique in allowing us to add both colour and intelligence to a print spool in this manner.” 

Israeli Credit Cards

Equally successful has been the experience of CAL, (Israel Credit Cards Ltd), an issuer of major brand credit cards, including VISA, Diners Club and MasterCard along with retail credit cards and loyalty cards.

Previously CAL used pre-printed paper with black & white digital overprinting to include some limited marketing messages but decided to try adding highly personalized and targeted marketing messages on these statements to all its cardholders using color digital print.
Their print service provider, Oniya Shapira, installed GMC Software Technology’s solution to provide a single platform to automate the entire process from integrated messaging and campaign management to printing and delivery.

The average number of pages per envelope has now tripled, but has removed the need for additional marketing inserts, making more room to promote Cal and third party products and services, and to introduce a loyalty program called “You” that offers cardholders the ability to earn benefits and discounts at partner retail and other establishments.

A typical Cal statement now consists of a personal letter as the first page, which might wish someone a happy birthday or convey other very specific messages; billing pages which are of variable length and include embedded Cal and partner offers; and a final page with the "You" loyalty program statement, including coupons and other offers.

In preparation for a statement run, Cal transmits a number of different data files to Oniya Shapira, including transactional data, marketing messages, digital assets and images, and business rules which dictate how and where marketing messages and images should be used.
The system does the rest.

UK-IFDS

IFDS is the UK’s leading supplier of investor recordkeeping services and systems to the UK domestic and European ‘offshore’ markets with customers such as Virgin Money and the Aberdeen Group. 

By adding GMC’s software to its technological offering, IFDS can produce all the necessary documents at any time on any output device, irrespective of the device and supported print protocols.

The layout and design of documents is done in a ‘live visual’ environment, so users see exactly what they are doing during the design process. Proofing can be done online and instantaneously. Seeing the complete job and all the data attached saves time on questions and queries.

The software also provides user security with access control and applies business rules so IFDS meets its contractual obligations. Automated generation of MIS, production and performance statistics ensures that production can be easily and correctly reconciled to meet strict FSA regulations and avoid financial penalties.

This has resulted in faster job turnaround, shorter time to market for IFDS’ client documentation, streamlined document production and composition to reduce costs and offer more flexibility with improved customer service.

There are more opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling in documents and the technological advantage GMC provided has enabled IFDS to win new business.

Everything to Gain

It will take us only minutes to demonstrate how our latest automated single platform software solutions can also help your business to plan and deliver successful multi-media campaigns that improve customer service and loyalty, grow revenue and reduce costs. Contact the GMC Software Technology Group, www.gmc.net.