DOCUMENT Strategy Summer 2020 by MadMen3

SPECIAL FEATURE

CX SOLUTIONS FOR INSURANCE - PAGE 28

DOCUMENTmedia.com | Summer.20

IS YOUR INFORMATION GOVERNANCE POLICY PRACTICAL?

5 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING A CLOUD SERVICE ATTENTION INSURANCE COMPANIES: ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TIME TO ASSESS YOUR COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS

THE NE NE W NORMAL FOR

INFORMATION INFOR MATION SECUR SECU RITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS volume 27 issue 2 | Summer.20 | DOCUMENTmedia.com

FEATURES 10

The Future of AI How bots will soon scrape web data for you By Bob Larrivee

The New Normal for Information Security

Hybrid and virtual SOCs in the COVID-19 crisis

By Gilad David Maayan

Is Your Information Governance Policy Practical? A useful policy marries all types of data: structured, unstructured dark data and semi-structured

By Ernie Crawford

It’s No Longer Business as Usual

Why interactive correspondence in the cloud is the next big thing

By Steve Biancaniello

Find the Right Fit 5 questions to ask when choosing a cloud service By Andrey Koptelov

What the Analysts Say

A sampling of recent industry reports focused on areas of customer experience

Attention Insurance Companies:

It’s time to assess your communication solutions

By Pat McGrew

4 Customer Experience Solutions Insurance Companies Need to Know About

DEPARTMENTS 06 06 07

Letter from the Publisher Masthead Advisory Board

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08 09 30

What’s New Contributors Think About It

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

The More Things Change I was sitting back the other evening trying to come up with an idea for this column and the phrase “the more things change, the more they remain the same” popped into my head. I don’t know why it did but it got me thinking so I looked it up and this phrase was coined way back in 1848 by French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. I think it fits with the current times. So many things have changed and whatever the new norm is going to be it is way too early to say. That being said it has not stopped people from trying to figure it out. It has been amazing to watch people getting so creative coming up with ways to do many things that until recently we never thought we would have to change. Just in the past month or two, I have seen online weddings, drive-by birthday parties, curbside pickups at restaurants and watched my favorite sport, F1 racing, with no fans in the seats. All these are different from what we are used to ; however, they are all attempting to keep things the same. So, where am I going with all this? It’s that not only have things changed but that people are also adapting to keep things “normal” and coming up with new and clever ways to do them. The world of customer communications and the customer experience is no different and must keep evolving and do the same thing. And this applies to all of us.

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Businesses need to work across their entire organization and with all their teams, both in their offices and working remotely, to find different and more effective ways to work with their customers. Solution providers need to continue to keep pace with products and services to help businesses with their newfound challenges. And lastly, we the media need to find additional channels to deliver the information you need to make all these changes. On that note, don’t miss our new virtual event, DSF ’20 Live! November 9th and 10th. You can register today for free at DOCUMENTstrategyForum.com. I am certain that there are many more changes coming; however, I am also very confident and optimistic that we will find new, creative and maybe even better ways to face them. We look forward to all the ideas and new perspectives that this accomplished team will bring to driving this media and industry forward. Wishing you all the best.

Ken Waddell Publisher

And one very “special” announcement. I would like to welcome and formally introduce our new editorial advisory board members to our team: Paul Abdool, Bob Larrivee, Pat McGrew and Connie Moore.

president Chad Griepentrog publisher Ken Waddell managing editor Erin Eagan [ erin@rbpub.com ] contributing editor Amanda Armendariz contributors Steve Biancaniella Ernie Crawford Bob Larrivee Andrey Koptelov Gilad David Maayan Pat McGrew advertising Ken Waddell [ ken.w@rbpub.com ] 608.235.2212 audience development manager Rachel Chapman [ rachel@rbpub.com ] creative director Kelli Cooke

PO BOX 259098 Madison WI 53725-9098 p: 608-241-8777 f: 608-241-8666 email: customerservice@rbpub.com DOCUMENT Strategy Media (ISSN 1081-4078) is published on a daily basis via its online portal and produces special print editions by Madmen3, PO BOX 259098, Madison, WI 53725-9098. All material in this magazine is copyrighted ©2020 by Madmen3 All rights reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Any correspondence sent to DOCUMENT Strategy Media, Madmen3, or its staff becomes the property of Madmen3. The articles in this magazine represent the views of the authors and not those of Madmen3 or DOCUMENT Strategy Media. Madmen3 and/or DOCUMENT Strategy Media expressly disclaim any liability for the products or services sold or otherwise endorsed by advertisers or authors included in this magazine. SUBSCRIPTIONS: DOCUMENT Strategy Media is the essential publication for executives, directors, and managers involved in the core areas of Communications, Enterprise Content Management, and Information Management strategies. Free to qualified recipients; subscribe at documentmedia.com/subscribe. REPRINTS: For high-quality reprints, please contact our exclusive reprint provider, ReprintPros, 949-702-5390, www.ReprintPros.com.

MEET THE DOCUMENT STRATEGY ADVISORY BOARD Pat McGrew Pat McGrew helps companies perform better in the print hardware, software and printing services industries. Her experience spans all customer communication channels and segments including transaction print, data-driven and static marketing, packaging and label print, textiles, and production commercial print using offset, inkjet, and toner. An experienced professional speaker and coauthor of 8 industry books, editor of “A Guide to the Electronic Document Body of Knowledge,” and regular writer in the industry trade press, Pat won the 2014 #GirlsWhoPrint Girlie Award for dedication to education and communication in the industry, and the 2016 Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award from Xplor International. She is certified as a Master Electronic Document Professional by Xplor International, with lifetime status, and as a Color Management Professional by IDEAlliance.

Bob Larrivee

Paul Abdool

Inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows in 2019, Bob Larrivee is a recognized expert in the application of advanced technologies and process improvement to solve business problems and enhance business operations. In his career, Bob is a contributing writer for DOCUMENT Strategy, has led many projects and authored hundreds of eBooks, industry reports, blogs, articles, and infographics. In addition, he has served as host and guest subject matter expert on a wide variety of webinars, podcasts, virtual event, and lectured at in-person universities, seminars and conferences around the globe.

Paul Abdool is currently doing Fractional Business Development for multiple firms in the Customer Communications Management arena. He uses his 20+ years of regulatory communications industry experience to help customers develop and optimize their customer communication strategies with process automation, workflow solutions and professional services. Recently, he was the Vice President of Sales for Doxim Inc. and Vice President of Enterprise Solutions for Solimar Systems, Inc.. Prior to that, he served as Director of Production Workflow Automation at Ricoh. His experience includes positions with IKON, KUBRA, Pitney Bowes and National Paper Goods.

Connie Moore Connie Moore is VP and Principal Analyst with Deep Analysis, focusing on digital process automation, RPA and digital experience platforms. Prior to that, Connie was Senior VP of Research at Digital Clarity Group, where she managed the research team’s coverage of customer experience technologies. Before joining DCG, Connie was VP and Research Director at Forrester Research, where she managed Forrester’s business process and content/collaboration research teams. Connie is recognized and respected throughout the world for her forward-looking and groundbreaking research in BPM, information management and digital experience. In recognition of her many contributions, Connie received the Marvin Manheim Award from the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) for thought leadership in business process management, case management and workflow. She is also a former director of AIIM International.

DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

What’s New Catch up on all the news, opinions, and featured articles that caught our eye on documentmedia.com.

Ethical AI: Are We There Yet?

From simplifying and improving operations to fueling heightened levels of automation, intelligence and insight, AI is transforming today’s business systems and decision-making processes. But as adoption has accelerated, ethical concerns surrounding the way it is leveraged are also rising. https://documentmedia.com/ article-3018-Ethical-AI-Are-WeThere-Yet.html

As we moved into the 21st century, the pace of change in CCM software accelerated. We’re seeing new social and interactive communication channels and the cloud playing an increasing role in delivery. Here are five CCM trends you should pay attention to in 2020. https://documentmedia. com/article-3000-CCMTrends-for-2020.html

Inside Out Thinking About CCM: Is it Costing You Customers?

Simply put, the expectations of customers are increasing at a rate that will not afford us the luxury of inside out thinking anymore. Their demands are entirely reasonable—they are the same demands you have for the companies with which you do business. https://documentmedia. com/article-3008-Inside-OutThinking-About-CCM-Is-itCosting-You-Customers.html

Re-Imagine Forms to Enable Two-Way Digital Conversations

Version Control

As organizations look to become more digital-first and engage in dynamic conversations, they must first identify how to most effectively obtain needed information from a customer, and then respond appropriately, quickly and via preferred channels. https://documentmedia.com/article-3015-Re-ImagineForms-to-Enable-Two-Way-Digital-Conversations.html

Document version control can be interesting. Statements, policies and even marketing materials must not only be accurate; they must be traceable over time. https://documentmedia. com/article-2998-VersionControl.html

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CCM Trends for 2020

The Multichannel Formula for Success

If you have fragmented technologies and workflows, you’ll have a hard time reaping the benefits that multichannel communications has to offer. https://documentmedia.com/article-3006-The-Multichannel-Formula-for-Success.html

AI Reduces the Pain of Upgrading to a Modern CCM System In this era of instantaneous digital interaction, consumers expect quick answers to their inquiries. The beauty of a modern CCM system is that it can enable significant process efficiency gains and cost reductions while setting the stage for meeting heightened customer expectations. https://documentmedia. com/article-3004-AI-Reducesthe-Pain-of-Upgrading-to-aModern-CCM-System.html

Plan for the Best but Be Ready for the Unexpected

During times of crisis, communication is critical to assure your colleagues and employees, suppliers and customers that you are concerned with their well-being and remain available to help and support them. https://documentmedia.com/article-2996-Plan-for-the-Best-butBe-Ready-for-the-Unexpected.html

CONTRIBUTORS Steve Biancaniello Steve Biancaniello, P. Eng, CEO, leads Messagepointâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic direction and operations. With more than 24 years of experience helping Fortune 1000 customers transform how they communicate with their customers, Steve is widely recognized as a leading expert on the design, development and management of enterprise-class customer communications. He uses this expertise to continually drive innovation across the Messagepoint solution while generating the best possible results for customers.

Ernie Crawford A digital document industry pioneer, Ernie Crawford is President/CEO and founder of Crawford Technologies. One of only a small number people worldwide with M-EDP (Master Electronic Document Professional) designation, Ernie has more than 30 years of senior marketing and management experience in the high-volume digital printing market.

Gilad David Maayan Gilad David Maayan is a technology writer who has worked with over 150 technology companies including SAP, Imperva, Samsung NEXT, NetApp and Ixia, producing technical and thought leadership content that elucidates technical solutions for developers and IT leadership. He is also founder and CEO of Agile SEO.

DOCUMENT Strategy subscribers enjoy our webinars FREEâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as a benefit of their yearly subscription. Not subscribed? SIGN UP at www.documentmedia.com to receive exclusive registration for webinars first!

And, check out our past webinars on-demand! Transform & Automate Customer Communications Migration Using the Power of AI https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qqUP2PSaRwKzOzjXkuqHfw

Learn 3 Ways to Extend Salesforce for a True Omni-Channel Customer Experience https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1274129&tp_ key=574b2ba6b3%20target=

DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

THE THE FUTURE OF AI

HYPER-PERSONALIZED COMMUNICATIONS WILL IT BE ABANDONED, OR WILL HOW BOTSAWILL SOON SPUR SCRAPE ADDRESSING FEW ISSUES GROWTH?

WEB DATA FOR YOU BY ROSS KITTLETY BY BOB LARRIVEE

suppose we could also title this article the “Rise of the Robotic Curator” since finding, collecting and grouping information is what they do and is essentially what curation focuses on. What is interesting about this concept is the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled bots to go beyond what we have been hearing about for several years — Robotic Process Automation (RPA) — for automating internal processes, in similar fashion against

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inbound information. In the case of web bots, or robotic curators as I like to call them, the target could be internal or external websites. In a simple way to explain this, every time you do a web search using a browser, you are using web scraping and bots to find what you are looking for and present the results to you. The same holds true of Siri, Alexa, Google and other voice activated search engines. You ask, a search is conducted based on the request you provided, and the results are presented to you. It

sounds simple but behind the scenes takes a lot to get there. Purposeful Robotic Curators Bots are built and designed to extract data using an Application Programming Interface (API). This allows the bots to look at websites, scrape the information from the relevant sites and present it back to you. Internally, organizations may use robotic curators combined with AI, to search, collect, analyze the results and present that to the requestor for use in identifying trends, their customer

governance plan when setting up sites, but also provided to information managers, in relation to conducting searches. Protection The reason this is important, and must also be part of your security plan, is that web bots have been deployed to scrape information from a site, place it on a fake site and then redirect visitors to the fake site. This is not new, but the use of bots has simplified and enhanced how it can be done. The last thing you want is for intellectual property to be scraped, used against you, or even made public. While there is no way to completely ensure you are protected from bot scraping, monitor site logs for unusual activity or implement a Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA), requiring human validation using a check a box or typing in a random pass code, to indicate that they are not a robot. This has become a very common step for many retails, business, and government sites.

experience results and other business elements for clarity and decision making. Governance Externally, robotic curators can be used to search against the competition to collect competitive information, analyze what is gathered and develop plans to address the competition head on. When used in this scenario, there are guidelines typically available on the target sites highlighting what is acceptable to search and what is off limits. This should be part of the organization’s

Reality The fact is, web bots are and have been in use for many years. While they may not have been as sophisticated as they are today, incorporating AI, search engines of days past were the beginning of web bots. As time passed, technology became stronger and capabilities grew, today’s bots can be programmed to find exact matches, determine if something may also be a good match, analyze and rank the findings and present the results to the requestor. Today, a profile, perhaps a case file, can be developed specifying criteria for vital information related to the case. The robotic curator, using that profile, then searches internal sources and external web sites to find the requested information, analyze it, rank it, place it into the designated case file and notifies the requestor new information has been added. Additionally, if several cases require the same or similar information, it can be shared across the cases. As information is accepted as relevant or irrelevant, the AI element is refined to reflect these decisions, learning and

refining what is acceptable and what is not, providing better results and perhaps minimizing the amount of information collected. Web scraping — robotic curation — is alive and well today. I have personally been using bots to monitor topical areas of interest and provide me with daily updates as part of my research efforts. The question is one of business professionals using it regularly and I contend they unwittingly do now, and organizations will soon formalize it as part of their information ecosystems. The real challenge comes in governing the use of robotic curation and what is the purpose? Questions to ask include:  What tools are used?  Who is authorized to use these tools?  What information is collected and for what reason?  Who will this be shared with, especially if it is of a sensitive nature?  How do you protect your website from being scraped? There are many benefits to be gained from robotic curation of websites. In my opinion, those who embrace it early, by design, and with a specific purpose, are those who will gain the most and take the lead against their competitors. As with all other technologies, this should be treated as an ongoing practice in that once a project is complete, it becomes the beginning of a continuous improvement effort that regularly assesses, identifies additional opportunities for improvement and builds upon the foundation put in place. O

Inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows in 2019, BOB LARRIVEE is a recognized expert in the application of advanced technologies and process improvement to solve business problems and enhance operations. Bob is a contributing writer for DOCUMENT Strategy, has led many projects and authored hundreds of eBooks, industry reports, blogs, articles, and infographics. He has also served as host and guest subject matter expert on a wide variety of webinars, podcasts, virtual events, and lectured at in-person universities, seminars and conferences around the globe. DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

By Gilad David Maayan

THE NEW NORMAL FOR INFORMATION SECURITY

Hybrid and virtual SOCs in the COVID-19 crisis are no longer optional

he COVID-19 crisis has thrown the global economy into a tailspin of changes. While there have been massive changes in many industries â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for better or worse â&#x20AC;&#x201D; technologies that enable digital transformation in general, and remote work and learning in particular, have seen an exceptional peak. Like the pandemic, this transition towards a digital-first economy has created a ripple effect that impacts

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technology sub sectors. In particular, the information security sector. On the one hand, more workloads are moved to the cloud and require protection. On the other hand, on-premise security is no longer a viable strategy. This is where hybrid and virtual SOCs come in, offering strategies for remote security fit for the post-COVID-19 age. What Is a Security Operations Center? A security operations center (SOC) is an organizational grouping designed to

centralize IT security practices, tools, and staff. Organizations create SOCs to promote consistent and effective monitoring, evaluation and response to security events and policies. Each SOC houses a team that works to detect, analyze, identify and mitigate threats. This team also works to establish security policies, enforce security protections and train staff on best practices. SOC teams often consist of security analysts, engineers, IT response staff and managers.

Responsibilities of the SOC Team The responsibilities of the team vary by organization and composition of members. However, there are a few basic responsibilities that are always present.  Investigate, contain and prevent suspicious activities The SOC team’s primary responsibility is to prevent, investigate, and contain suspicious events. While emphasis is placed on preventing threats, SOC teams are also responsible for detecting and identifying suspicious events. Teams use centralized monitoring tools, such as system information and event management (SIEM) solutions to visualize system activity and correlate event data. Any alerts that solutions provide are investigated and if action is needed, the team responds. After response, SOC teams are also responsible for improving systems based on resolved incidents. This can include modifying policies,

incorporating new threat intelligence into tools, or adding layers of security.  Reduce downtime and ensure business continuity SOC teams are responsible for keeping downtime to a minimum and ensuring business continuity. The longer an organization’s systems or services are down, the more potential revenue is lost so speed is vital. These responsibilities involve having backups and failover systems in place, which can be quickly activated. Teams should have backup data and recovery systems in multiple locations to prevent single points of failure and backups need to be taken regularly.  Support compliance and auditing SOC teams are responsible for ensuring that compliance regulations are met and auditable. Any security policies or measures that are put in place must meet compliance standards. This requires that teams both understand compliance guidelines

and ensure that data is handled and stored properly, including logs. SOC teams may also perform periodic audits of systems and data. This is done to identify overlooked vulnerabilities and to ensure that systems are configured as intended. These audits can help prove that measures for compliance were taken and reduce liability in case of incident. A Comparison of SOC Models There are three main SOC models that organizations can employ. The model you choose depends on your environment, your internal resources and your specific security goals. 1. Internal SOC Internal SOCs are on-premises, physical command centers, staffed by in-house professionals. These SOCs may be responsible for an entire organization’s security or may be a command center for distributed teams.

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Typically, internal SOCs are adopted by enterprise-level organizations with significant security resources and staff with extensive experience. These organizations have budgets and staffing who can provide 24/7 monitoring and response. The benefit of internal SOCs is complete control over your operations and data. With an internal team you do not have to worry about third-party vendors withholding or mishandling data. You also have greater control over exactly which policies and practices are put into place and when. The disadvantage of internal SOCs is the cost of establishing and maintaining your team and tools. Finding and keeping highly trained staff can also be a challenge, as can staffing your center around the clock. 2. Virtual SOC Virtual SOCs are remote SOC teams. These teams can either be distributed, in-house professionals or third-party services that enable you to outsource security operations. If staff is in-house, they operate the same as an internal team but are distributed across locations. This can enable you to have physical security coverage for more offices or to better leverage expertise without relocating staff. The benefits of in-house virtual SOCs include the ability to distribute teams across time zones for greater coverage and familiarity with cloud-based or remote resources and tooling. The disadvantages include possibly needing to secure more endpoints, more complex communications and coordination of efforts. If teams are from third-party providers, the organization pays a subscription fee for managed security services. These services can help organizations with limited space, staff or resources ensure that their security is properly managed. Virtual SOC providers can remotely manage your security tooling and can provide dedicated monitoring, detection and response.

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The benefits of virtual SOC providers include expert support, 24/7 coverage, access to enterprise-grade tooling and threat intelligence and low upfront costs. The disadvantages include less control over your data and system access, reliance on third-parties in case of incident and vendor lock-in.

ballooned as organizations worked to adapt operations to enable remote work. Just like other employees, security staff were also forced to work from home. This meant that many internal SOCs had to suddenly become familiar with remote practices and operations. For those teams that were physically bound, this created a significant challenge. The authentication and network security required to allow remote access, much less remote monitoring and control is vastly different than in a closed system. Additionally, team members may not have the connections or resources needed to operate existing tooling from mobile workstations. In contrast, those who were already operating with hybrid teams or using virtual SOCs had to make significantly fewer changes. These organizations already had infrastructure in place to remotely monitor and manage devices. If organizations were lucky and responded effectively, they have adapted strategies smoothly, incorporating virtual teams and practices. Others have had to sacrifice either security or productivity due to lack of resources. This inability to successfully adapt may mean the end of some organizations. For others, COVID-19 is a wake-up call to the importance of flexibility and the improved security and reliability that hybrid and virtual SOCs can provide. O

The benefits of in-house virtual SOCs include the ability to distribute teams across time zones for greater coverage and familiarity with cloud-based or remote resources and tooling. 3. Hybrid SOC Hybrid SOCs combine internal teams, either physical or remote, with outsourced expertise. This structure enables you to retain most of your security operations in-house while supplementing with external services. This can grant access to higher quality tooling, specialized skill sets and knowledge or increased coverage during off-hours for lower costs. Hybrid SOCs can also enable organizations to outsource lower-level tasks, such as monitoring, while in-house teams focus on more complex tasks, such as incident response or threat hunting. This helps ensure that resources are used wisely and that experts arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wasted on tedious tasks. Virtual and Hybrid SOCs are No Longer Optional Many SOCs were already responsible for managing and securing distributed devices on their networks before COVID-19 hit. After, this number

GILAD DAVID MAAYAN is a technology writer who has worked with over 150 technology companies including SAP, Imperva, Samsung NEXT, NetApp and Ixia, producing technical and thought leadership content that elucidates technical solutions for developers and IT leadership. He is also founder and CEO of Agile SEO.

BY ERNIE CRAWFORD

IS YOUR INFORMATION GOVERNANCE POLICY PRACTICAL? A useful policy marries all types of data: structured, unstructured dark data and semi-structured

urope’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018, reflecting both consumer and enterprise concern for data collection, usage and security globally. This complex set of guidelines has raised awareness of a range of issues surrounding the gathering and use of information about consumers and has inspired — and in some cases required

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— the development of information governance policies across all industries. Truly, the subject of data governance, and the overarching subject of information governance, is more than a nuisance issue. How you acquire, collect, utilize and store customer information touches every aspect of your organization, including customer experience and potential legal exposure. In developing your organization’s information

governance policy, it is necessary to consider the types of data you have so you can effectively control it. Structured data resides in your databases and, in industries like insurance and financial services, these likely are numerous siloed databases established to accommodate every line of business, the various departments within your company and legacy data inherited through mergers and acquisitions.

Monitoring and controlling structured data is straightforward, but problematic largely because it is often stored in so many disparate databases and archives. It is generally accessible and “readable” for regular authorized users, who know where it is, where it came from and should know who is using it and for what purposes. Governance policies always apply to structured data. It is more challenging to manage unstructured data, often referred to as dark data, which is all data that is not within a database, living within your business and digital systems. This runs the gamut from SMS text messages recording customer queries and CSR responses, to Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, emails and so on, to what might be considered “semi-structured data,” the formatted information from statements, invoices, Explanations of Benefits, premium notices and other types of transactional documents. Correspondence in any format can provide a record of customer concerns, changes in their family size, property ownership, changes of employment and more. It is important to note, too, that this unstructured or semi-structured data is likely to be the most up-to-date and accurate customer information you have. It includes current customer names and addresses, current contract information, the latest payables calculations, changes in beneficiaries and so forth. Although some of the information in these semi-structured documents may be drawn from various databases across your organization, transactional data consolidated as an aggregate document is distributed as print or other outgoing communication channels. This type of data is usually stored in some manner but is often overlooked in terms of attempts to control it through governance policies. However, it is important to keep track of all this for several reasons. On a more positive note, when this type of unstructured or semi-structured data is organized and controlled

— that is, when it falls under a reasonable governance policy — it can be made easily accessible to authorized staff and provides a strong platform for responding to customer queries and complaints quickly and accurately. Something as simple as noting that the customer regularly contacts your company by mobile phone may indicate his or her preferred communication channel and should be indicated in the customer file, if not in a formal preference management system your company has adopted.

The more information you have about your customers, the easier it is to develop a 360-degree view of them as individuals. Combining all these types of data into your databases can be done with software solutions designed to recognize the various formats the dark data and information takes, breaking it down and directing it to back into your existing systems. An enterprise content management (ECM) or enterprise report management (ERM) system can provide a solution for both governance and extended use of the data contained within documents stored. This kind of solution can include data mining software capabilities that allow users to access, search, extract and analyze formatted document content. Recognizing that the reports and other documents stored in an ECM or ERM system can be used for data acquisition and not just data and information distribution is an important paradigm shift. Once such a system is implemented, it can open the door to reduced costs, improved operational

reporting and a practical, pragmatic way to leverage existing infrastructure. Learning more about internal processes, manufacturing timelines, quality control, customer purchasing patterns, customer satisfaction levels and a host of other valuable information is readily available in the reports, invoices, Explanations of Benefits and statements that are produced on a normal everyday basis throughout business and industry. Timely acquisition of this verified, substantiated data can help increase revenue and reduce costs. Something to consider, too, are solutions that use artificial intelligence (AI) to actually harvest new information from these documents, including things like records of customer queries about altering their current policies or adding different lines of insurance coverage. The more information you have about your customers, the easier it is to develop a 360-degree view of them as individuals. Knowing your customers means you can anticipate their needs in many cases, and this enables stronger, long-term relationships. Developing a practical and useful governance policy must cover all types of data: structured, dark unstructured and semi-structured data. Ideally, the first step requires executive-level support in decisions about what you need to keep and where, who can access it and for what purposes, how long it should be held and when it should be destroyed. This planning can make all the difference in the world when it comes to both operational risk on the internal side and the customer experience on the external side. O

A digital document industry pioneer, ERNIE CRAWFORD is President/CEO and founder of Crawford Technologies. One of only a small number people worldwide with M-EDP (Master Electronic Document Professional) designation, Ernie has more than 30 years of senior marketing and management experience in the high-volume digital printing market. DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NO LONGER BUSINESS AS USUAL Why interactive correspondence in the cloud is the next big thing

f the many things weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned from the COVID-19 crisis, one is how difficult it can be to do business as usual outside of the office. Many organizations were caught off guard by the mandatory business shutdown triggered by the pandemic. While some companies were able to make the transition seamlessly, others were scrambling to a create a workable virtual environment in a timeframe that felt like a fast-moving tornado. Put simply, the pandemic has fasttracked the digital transformation of core business processes, while also enabling remote operations. This is particularly true when it comes to equipping customer service teams, the frontline workers in many organizations who are so critical in shaping the customer experience. Even in those cases where customer service representatives, field agents and knowledge workers were

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already equipped with laptop computers and mobile phones for at-home use, the speed and accuracy with which they were able to respond appropriately to customer queries, or have ready access to customer files and/or your customer communication management (CCM) system, was another issue entirely. There is no doubt this pandemic is going to have a lasting impact on the way we work. A recent Gartner poll shows that 48% of employees will likely continue to work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19, versus 30% before the pandemic. This shift is definitely not a temporary side effect of the pandemic; it is a new normal for many companies. More remote workers means an increased need to have systems in place that make it possible for people to collaborate digitally and support the bi-directional nature of customer interactions today. A top concern for businesses now is the customer experience â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and

customer expectations remain high despite the shutdown. People want to operate at the speed of digital. Their expectations for all interactions are influenced by their experiences with mobile devices: interactions need to be instantaneous, intelligent and context-specific. To respond to these demands, customer service teams need to be equipped with interactive correspondence systems that enable personalized communications to be built from a combination of customer data, approved touchpoints and personalized content. Given the operational requirements of our new normal, combined with the agility and operational scalability that interactive correspondence demands, cloud-based solutions are truly the way of the future. The most significant requirement for truly effective interaction with customers is speed. Customer service representatives working in a cloudbased system can seamlessly access a

own servers. New platform functions and features are easily upgraded or added, often without intervention from your IT teams, and the solutions are available 24/7. Finally, because security is always a concern, fears can be put to rest with the knowledge that it is possible to design a hybrid cloud-based system where interactive processes take place in the cloud, while your organization retains customer files and other sensitive information in secure storage on-site at your office locations.

By Steve Biancaniello customer file and locate an appropriate communication touchpoint and suitable content without asking a customer to hold or, worst case scenario, promising to get back to them once all the necessary information has been assembled. A cloud-based CCM solution can function in real-time, giving teams immediate access to the necessary data and approved content to put together an on-brand, personalized, compliant and context-specific response on the fly. The response then can be transmitted immediately through electronic channels or sent to your print and mail center for postal delivery, according to customer preferences. Another key benefit of cloud-based systems is the scalability they provide — the capacity to accommodate the needs and growth of staff from all departments, as well as incoming queries from one to thousands of customers simultaneously, without having to add an infinite number of your

to provide a satisfying and positive customer experience from anywhere. Digital technologies and the internet have supported remote workers for more than a decade, but never has this been a more critical capability than it is today. When the threat from COVID19 subsides, many organizations may find it practical and efficient to adopt a remote business model to contain expenses, even while an organization is growing and adding employees or new customers. With the freedom a cloud-based solution delivers, staff with specialized knowledge, experience or expertise can continue to contribute and collaborate, even though they may be working from different locations or may want to relocate for one reason or another. In the aftermath of COVID19, there is no doubt that a resilient business model is critical to whether your business will move forward or lag behind. We have learned that every organization needs an infrastructure in place that makes it possible to be fast, agile and managed from anywhere. When the need to work remotely became a necessity, too often traditional methods didn’t work. A critical need arose for a modern solution that enables scale, productive remote work and the intelligence to support twoway communication. This lesson alone makes the case for interactive correspondence in the cloud claiming its place as the next big thing. O

A recent Gartner poll shows that 48% of employees will likely continue to work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19, versus 30% before the pandemic. Today, the cloud-based CCM solution you choose needs to support your current needs, to be flexible enough to scale up or down to accommodate any number of users and any level of customer traffic, enable remote work and have the intelligence to facilitate contextual personalization for fast, relevant responses to customer queries. Modern interactive communications systems leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize correspondence to achieve the right level of reading comprehension, adhere to brand standards and consistency, as well as enforce the appropriate sentiment or tone. These content optimization capabilities help to enhance the customer experience by ensuring communications are understood, familiar and positive. Together, these attributes enable customer service teams to efficiently generate timely, relevant, compliant and highly personalized customer-facing communications across print and digital channels — and

STEVE BIANCANIELLO, P. Eng, CEO, leads Messagepoint’s strategic direction and operations. With more than 24 years of experience helping Fortune 1000 customers transform how they communicate with their customers, Steve is widely recognized as a leading expert on the design, development and management of enterprise-class customer communications. He uses this expertise to continually drive innovation across the Messagepoint solution while generating the best possible results for customers. DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

By Andrey Koptelov

FIND THE RIGHT FIT 5 questions to ask when choosing a cloud service

hen it’s time to move to the cloud, which cloud service should you choose? To answer this question, you should consider asking yourself a few more. Agility and scalability are the major business buzzwords. Today, each company feels the need to lay the technological foundation for growth and flexibility in order to adequately react to economic fluctuations and fluid customer behavior. Cloud is the technology number one for this task, so companies all over the globe hire dedicated specialists or consulting partners to move their business operations to the cloud.

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However, there are different cloud solutions to match different business roadmaps and available resources. SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS There are three major models of cloud services:  Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a public cloud app or platform available via a web browser. It’s ready to be utilized by end users as it doesn’t require installation or advanced configuration. Gmail, Google Docs and Salesforce are the examples of SaaS apps.  Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a framework where developers can build and deploy custom cloud-based apps

while a vendor takes care of the servers and storage. Heroku, Force.com and Google App Engine are the examples of a PaaS model.  Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is a cloud-based computing infrastructure that provides users with virtual servers, storage and networking on a payas-you-go basis. AWS and Microsoft Azure are the examples of IaaS. Now when it’s clear what is what, it’s time to answer the key questions before going for any of these models. 1. Do you have in-house IT resources? In case your company has limited IT resources for system administration,

maintenance and training, SaaS apps and platforms are the best option. Users can start leveraging such products once the account is created. Though advanced features may require some training, SaaS systems are usually intuitive and user-friendly. They can be configured with drag-and-drop instead of coding. What’s more, all the updates and bug fixes are taken care of by the SaaS vendor. PaaS is a great option when it comes to cutting costs on app development, as developers don’t need to manage hardware and middleware. It considerably accelerates time-to-market while maintaining a high level of scalability. When companies need to grow fast or require huge computing power for big data analysis, IaaS is a more cost-effective option as it requires users to pay only for the resources they actually utilize. At the same time, IaaS users are responsible for managing their data, middleware, OSes and other infrastructure components, which amounts to much higher costs, a bigger IT team and intensive training. 2. Is data security an issue? Though any cloud-based solution is exposed to security threats, IaaS proves to be the safest out of the three models. Users fully control their apps, data, middleware and OS, while the hardware infrastructure is kept in specialized data centers. When it comes to PaaS and SaaS, data resides in vendor-controlled servers, giving users little control over the cybersecurity of these solutions However, PaaS is still a better option as it makes it possible to limit deployments when tenants don’t conform to security regulations. As for SaaS, it’s the riskiest option in terms of data security due to the system’s public nature. SaaS apps send large volumes of data to their backend data centers in order to perform certain functions. As a consequence, when using SaaS cloud services, businesses need to adopt a special approach to their data governance policy.

3. Do you need custom functionality and third-party data sources? SaaS, as an end product, is the most uncustomizable of all. In case it doesn’t have open integration standards, users’ capabilities are usually limited to utilizing OOTB features, connecting standard integrations, configuring dashboards, applying specific filters and scheduling reports. Even if a SaaS app supports multiple integrations, it can be technically difficult to port data from other vendors with non-standard APIs.

trying to control them. This cloud model allows the least control over its interface, imposes forced updates, as well as makes you contend with security gaps, scheduled downtime or fixes of critical functionality. PaaS provides users with much wider control opportunities as users have the right to decide how their app will look and function as well as to set up custom workflows. It’s also possible to provide distributed teams with a remote access to software architecture and collaborate without barriers. However, PaaS users have less operational control as well as no control over how virtual machines process their data. They also have limited capabilities when it comes to deleting or creating several machines at once. IaaS delights users with the most control as users are able to directly access servers and storage, install and use any OSs and tools, and analyze big data while paying only for the resources they use.

PaaS provides users with much wider control opportunities as users have the right to decide how their app will look and function as well as to set up custom workflows. PaaS lets users build custom apps and focus all the efforts on the creative side. The model also offers broad but still limited integration possibilities. In some cases, there can be no pre-built connectors for integrating third-party apps or on-premises systems. Companies then need to invest internal resources in building custom connectors, which can be complicated or, sometimes, next to impossible. If a company has enough IT resources, IaaS is the best option for integration and customization. For example, with IaaS it’s possible to mirror a habitual environment by keeping all the resources that the employees got used to, thus ensuring a minimum threshold for successful adoption. 4. Do you need complete control? The blessing of a rapid kickoff with SaaS apps turns into a curse when it comes to

5.What cloud model to start with? Each cloud model shines in its own way depending on your specific needs. Businesses may choose to build their activities around one model but, in reality, most companies feel the need to use a combination of all the three. They can leverage an array of handy OOTB features of SaaS apps, create attractive and functional PaaS-based apps, and enjoy full operational control and data security with IaaS. O

ANDREY KOPTELOV is an Innovation Analyst at Itransition, a custom software development company headquartered in Denver. With a profound experience in IT, he writes about new disruptive technologies and innovations in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

WHAT THE ANALYSTS SAY… The focus on customer experience (CX) is at an all-time high, outpacing many other perennial customer communications concerns. It’s become clear is that companies must improve their CX or risk falling behind their competitors. But to improve upon it means we must better understand it. To make sure you’re delivering the best customer experience in 2020, we’ve compiled a list of informative research reports. Read the summary and visit the link to download and/or purchase the full report.

summer.2020 DOCUMENTmedia.com

The Aragon Research Globe for Enterprise Content Platforms (ECP) Modernizing content processes is one of the fastest ways to speed up the overall business. The enterprise content management market shifted to a platform approach in 2019. It is serving many providers well that adopted a market approach, which includes content services and intelligence. We look at this market as being in transition from a focus on managing content to one of processing and automating content. The Aragon Research Globe for Enterprise Content Platforms (ECP) is a market evaluation report that overviews the current state of the market, defines the new shift to content platforms, and evaluates 12 major providers. https://aragonresearch.com/freeresearch-the-aragon-researchglobe-for-enterprise-contentplatforms-2020/

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Customer Communications Management 2020 Vendor Assessment

How Cloud Computing Is Transforming CCM Aspire CCS, an analyst and strategy firm specializing in the customer communications management (CCM) industry, has recently published an in-depth analysis of the state of cloud computing in CCM. The report examines the current state of cloud in CCM and highlights opportunities for enterprises and services providers who are ready to modernize their communications strategies. This article is a summary of the full analysis, which can be downloaded for FREE at this link. https://share.hsforms.com/1AxZdATh5RD6EPVXSU_lw4Q1jlsp

Customer Communications Management Systems 2020

Best Practices for Migration to Cloud-based CCM

CCM systems are a critical backoffice technology that connects core banking systems with front-end customer engagement systems to deliver a digital customer experience to customers across all retail product lifecycles. This report begins with a discussion of the CCM vendors themselves with a five-part vendor taxonomy. We then detail Celent’s CCM solution assessment framework, so the reader can understand the basis for our detailed solution comparison. Following that, we shift to technical and functional solution comparisons. The report concludes with an appendix containing detailed vendor profiles for each of the nine participating vendors. This 96page report is available to Celent subscription clients. https://www.celent.com/ insights/776868993

Not to be outdone in the ever-changing technology space by ERP and ECM vendors, CCM vendors are following suit and building software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service environments for customers. Enterprises are beginning to think seriously about the cloud as a viable platform for CCM. For IT and Operations executives challenged to reduce operating and maintenance costs, this may be the right solution. Cloud-based CCM offers opportunities to be faster and more flexible, while also converting from a predominantly fixed cost structure to a variable cost model. In this guide, Doculabs discusses common migration challenges, and seven best practices for migration success. https://info.doculabs.com/best-practicesfor-migrating-to-cloud-based-ccmguide?utm_campaign=dsm2020&utm_ medium=onlinepub&utm_source=dsmsummer-2020

Digital transformation has influenced the evolution of traditional outbound print communications, such as statements or notices, to be largely replaced by electronic, personalized, and tailored communications. Focus on the customer experience is at an all-time high, especially for on-demand correspondence and interactive conversations via chat, social, web, and SMS channels. The traditional automated document generation software used for structured batch document output is transitioning to autonomous intelligent communications agents that help organizations adopt more interactive digital conversations. This IDC study provides a quantitative and qualitative assessment of CCM applications and key criteria to consider when selecting a CCM software solution. https://www.idc.com/getdoc. jsp?containerId=US45439320

Capture Service Provider Market Study The Madison Advisors 2020 “Capture Service Provider Market Study” provides insights on the latest trends, the new technology and pricing models being implemented in the inbound document processing market. The research focuses on how capture service providers (CSPs) are positioning their strategic services to stay current with technology and meet customer demands. It evaluates current automated tools for inbound document processing, delving into CSPs’ use of intelligent automation (IA) technologies, such as robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) and other critical business trends within the capture industry as part of a company’s digital transformation journey. https://www.madison-advisors.com/product/capture-service-providermarket-study/ O DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

By Pat McGrew

ATTENTION INSURANCE COMPANIES: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to assess your communication solutions

very line of business in the insurance industry has segment-specific communication challenges. Add reinsurance, and you compound the challenge of creating the best communication for each type of interaction. Creating and maintaining customer relationships, as well as meeting regulatory and compliance requirements, requires more than a patchwork array of tools with islands of

automation and loosely connect data warehouses. The insurance industry requires customer communication and customer experience solutions that provide a single source of truth about every customer and every interaction with that customer. They also require customer-facing interaction tools that encourage customer self-service for basic interactions yet provide ease-ofaccess to experts when needed. And all of this must happen with both visible and invisible security. Start with an assessment of what you have in hand. What tools are identified as your customer communication management (CCM) solutions, and what tools are tagged as your customer experience (CX) solutions? You may find that some of your tools touch both areas, or you may find that you have multiple tools touching the same areas. You may find that none of the tools in use were purchased as CCM or CX tools but perform those functions. If your company has been through mergers and acquisitions, you may also find that different lines of business use different tools to accomplish the same tasks, making cross-training of staff and single views of the customers hard to achieve. The basic functions of most CCM platforms allow the enterprise to manage communication to their customers. There are tools to create printer, email and mobile communication and to ensure that there is an audit trail to meet tight compliance obligations. The CCM platform should be integrated into the enterprise communication management architecture. It should be capable of interacting with the customer experience environment to ensure that as customer preferences change, their experience changes and their preferences are updated in the customer master records. With that in mind, create a comprehensive list of the tools you have. This

will take a two-prong approach. First, you will need the IT team to tell you what is installed and being maintained. There are costs associated with each product that may include maintenance, storage and even transaction fees. Then it is time to understand the tools in use by each department and line of business. This is often the harder assessment. An email survey to the constituents is a start, but you should plan to walk through each department. This is how you find tools that people forget they are using because they have become part of the fabric of their job. Look for code that may have been written by an IT department or provided by a consultant. Look for both tools used to perform tasks and dashboards that provide information. Until you have looked over a few shoulders, it will be hard to get the complete view of how each line of business accomplished customer communication. Don’t forget to walk a mile in the shoes of the customers of the lines of business. Try the customer-facing applications to understand what the customer experience is today. Applications change over time and what may have been a state-of-theart experience a few years ago may be dated today. Once you have your inventory it is time to identify duplications and determine where you have gaps. Look for the duplications with careful evaluation of the customer communication template and composition tools, as well as tools in place that do post-composition document re-engineering. These tools can sometimes hide where messaging is managed unless there is a well-documented communication architecture that is visible to the constituents of the tools. Don’t be surprised to find that the “single source of truth” communication library isn’t the final arbiter of what a customer sees.

DOCUMENTmedia.com summer.2020

Assess What You Have Start with the assessment to learn what you have. Poll the constituencies to see what is missing that would make the CCM and CX environments easier to use. The tools are only part of the story. Look for processes that require information to be re-keyed between applications. Look for the processes used to capture audio interactions and social media interactions. Keep an eye on how the line of business captures the single source of truth about their relationship with each customer, and if that information can be shared across lines of business. You should come away from this exercise with an understanding of where you might consolidate solutions to eliminate duplication, but be prepared for pushback from the constituents unless you can find a solid migration path from where they are to a consolidated platform. Best Practices Best practices for insurance companies today is to operate within a documented business architecture with an integrated set of tools. In most cases, this means selecting a single tool for each operation, or a single turnkey solution to meet all communication requirements. The goal is to streamline costs, control maintenance routines and permit integrated data sharing across applications without manual processes that introduce error. If you determine that it is time to invest in consolidating, look for vendors that have experience with communication management solutions in the insurance industry. Remember that many of the vendors in this space today began as composition engine vendors, document-re-engineering solution vendors and transform vendors. Because of their deep understanding of how data and documents move through an organization and out to customers, their

summer.2020 DOCUMENTmedia.com

solutions have grown to meet the growing regulatory, compliance and market demands of the insurance industry. Start the conversation with any vendor with these five questions: 1. What are the features and functions that make your solution the best choice for my segment of insurance? Listen for answers that focus on omnichannel inbound and outbound communication, integration with customer experience and customer preference engines and a solution for migrating to their platform from legacy systems.

5. I have five different composition engines, eight customer-facing mobile apps and dozens of CCM tools. How will you help me migrate to your solution? Listen for a plan. While you should expect professional services to be part of the story, it should not be the entire story. Listen for specific tools for migration and references from clients who have been through their process. When it comes to your customer communication management and customer experience platforms, “customer” is the most important word. Work towards your ability to create the best experience for your customers by implementing an integrated platform that provides a single view of every customer, is responsive to customer preferences and is flexible enough to evolve with new technology and regulations. O

Best practices for insurance companies today is to operate within a documented business architecture with an integrated set of tools. 2. Does your solution have consumer-facing self-serve features integrated with the customer preference and customer experience features? Listen for clear guidance and reference customers using these solutions. 3. Does your solution easily integrate into my current business management systems? Listen for specific examples of platforms they work with, such as Oracle, SAP and Salesforce. 4. What is your roadmap for adding new features and functions for the next five years? Listen for a true roadmap that has both features and functions, but flexibility. Technology changes rapidly. You want a vendor that can respond!

PAT MCGREW helps companies perform better in the print hardware, software and printing services industries. Her experience spans all customer communication channels (CCM, ECM, ECP, EMM) and segments including transaction print, data-driven and static marketing, packaging and label print, textiles, and production commercial print using offset, inkjet, and toner. An experienced professional speaker and co-author of 8 industry books, editor of “A Guide to the Electronic Document Body of Knowledge,” and regular writer in the industry trade press, Pat won the 2014 #GirlsWhoPrint Girlie Award for dedication to education and communication in the industry, and the 2016 Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award from Xplor International. She is certified as a Master Electronic Document Professional by Xplor International, with lifetime status, and as a Color Management Professional by IDEAlliance. Find Pat on Twitter as @PatMcGrew and on LinkedIn.

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