TechValidate Research on Mail Related Solutions (MRS)

Introduction

This case study of Rutherford County Government, Office of the Mayor is based on a December 2019 survey of Quadient customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service.

The Rutherford County Government, Office of the Mayor, directs, organizes and coordinates government activities and oversees the day-to-day operations of the area. The department provides for the delivery of services to its customers – the citizens of Rutherford County, Tennessee.

Challenges

The Rutherford County Government, Office of the Mayor, was experiencing some key business challenges that needed to be addressed. Specifically, they needed to:

• Pay exact postage rates every time
• Take advantage of lower postage rates for USPS meter users
• Increase speed/productivity in processing mail
• Automate the process of applying postage to outbound mail
• Comply with industry regulations

Use Case

To address these issues, the Rutherford County Government conducted an evaluation and selected Quadient and its mailing system because of the following abilities:

• Simple screen/user interface
• Managing different size envelopes in the same batch
• Speed of the system
• Integrated scale to weigh mail pieces to calculate mail postage
• Ability of automatically feeding large batches of envelopes
• Ease to add postage funds to the meter
• Access to postage accounting reports

With the implementation of Quadient’s system, the Rutherford County Government was able to process more than 10,000 envelopes per month. They were also able to:

• Apply USPS First Class Mail postage
• Apply USPS Standard, Marketing Mail (aka Permit) postage
• Apply FedEx, UPS Parcels postage
• Prepare Postal Accounting reports

During the evaluation process, the Rutherford County Government concluded that Quadient ranked better than the competitors in service technician support, equipment features, equipment reliability and reputation. Quadient also ranked significantly better in customer support (by phone or web).

Results

The Rutherford County Government achieved numerous results with the Quadient mailing system. Specifically, the results were:

• Compliance with USPS®
• Operation expense savings
• Compliance with industry regulations
• Increased mailing operation productivity
• Ease of operation of the system

The Rutherford County Government, Office of the Mayor, also estimated that they improved both employee/user satisfaction and speed and deliverability rates to mail recipients, greater than 50%.

Introduction

This case study of Western New England University is based on a December 2019 survey of Quadient customers by TechValidate, a 3rd-party research service.

Western New England University in Massachusetts is a private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and a commitment to service, awards, undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees, in various departments. Within the University are numerous areas of study; the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and School of Law. They are one of only a few U.S. institutions enrolling under 5,000 students recognized with national and international accreditations at the highest levels in law, business, engineering, and social work. They serve students predominantly from the northeastern U.S. but enroll students from across the country and around the world. Most undergraduate students reside on their 215-acre campus.

Challenges

Western New England University (WNEU) was facing some critical business challenges that led them to evaluate folder inserter providers. They needed an inserter that would enable them to automate mail assembly and help increase their mailing operation productivity.

Use Case

Prior to selecting Quadient’s folder inserter, the products and services from Pitney Bowes were also reviewed. Quadient was chosen for having the following capabilities, which were considered most important to the university:

• Simple screen/user interface and operation
• Ease of loading paper, materials into the system
• Adding integrity to the insertion process (ensure the right document is inserted into the right envelope)

During the evaluation process, WNEU also concluded that Quadient ranked higher in these specific areas:

• Sales engagement, consultation process: significantly better
• Service technician support: best
• Equipment features: better
• Reliability of the equipment: significantly better
• Quadient’s reputation: significantly better
• Customer support (by phone or web): best

With the Quadient folder inserter, WNEU could process between 1,001-5,000 envelopes per month and they could use USPS First Class Envelopes with their system.

Results

The impact of the Quadient folder inserter was extremely positive. WNEU experienced an increase in mailing operation productivity and ease of operation of the system. They also estimated specific results in these core areas of their business:

• Increased productivity, speed of mail assembly: 10-25%
• Reduced manual mail-assembly processes: 25-50%
• Lowered costs in mailing operations: 10-25%
• Improved the ability to process high document volumes: >50%
• Increased open/response rates for outbound mail: 5-10%
• Eliminated errors: 10-25%
• Improved employee/user satisfaction: 10-25%
• Improved mail/document integrity (or security): 5-10%