Is your ADF adding value today? Are you ready for tomorrow?
Transcript of Is your ADF adding value today? Are you ready for tomorrow?
Is your ADF adding value today?Are you ready for tomorrow?
Don Dew
ADF Solutions ManagerJuly 27, 2011
CRITICAL VALUE OF INTEGRATION TODAY
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The ADF architecture as defined by Gartner
ADF is a framework
Modules are tied together with interfaces
ADF is an ideal state, always evolving
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Response Mgmt
Design
Control & Reporting Layer
ADF 2.0 (2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Document_Factory#Automated_Document_Factory_defined
The ADF promise
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Save money (12-18 mo
ROI)Connect silos
Operate more efficiently
Demonstrate integrity /
avoid penalties
Execute TransPromo
Automate Reprints
Sales & marketing broke the promise
Somehow ADF became a lot of things
synonymous with inserter integrity
whatever collection of software is in use, regardless of its level of connectivity or automation
ADF’s vision as a workflow utopia became discrete chunks of technology available from many vendors
In the market’s defense, they sell technology that can be plugged into the ADF vision – but it is a limited subset
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Most “ADF”s then went from this ideal state
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Response Mgmt
Design
Control & Reporting Layer
ADF 2.0 (2007)
Reporting Layer
To something like this
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Response Mgmt
Design
ADF 2.0 (2007)
Originally “Control and
Reporting” -- this is a big loss!
One-way
communication
Reporting Layer
Or this
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Design
Or this
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Design
Why?
Lack of understanding of the vision
Vision was kept narrow to sell a piece of software
Vision was tied to a piece of hardware
Lack of budget
Inability or failure to execute
Lack of sponsorship for internal change
Other
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What does all this mean to the average transactional mailer?
If your production workflow looks like this
Operations aren’t as efficient
You don’t have a single point of control
It is more difficult to add new work or technologies
Harder to comply with audits
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Reporting Layer
InputTrans-form & Output
Deliv-ery
PrepDesign
InputTrans-form & Output
Deliv-ery
PrepDesign
Then you are a target for outsourcing (or insourcing)
Integration is the key
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Response Mgmt
Design
Control & Reporting Layer
ADF 2.0 (2007)
2-way connection = Control and Reporting
Integration is the key
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InputTransform & Output
Delivery Prep
Response Mgmt
Design
Control & Reporting Layer
Functions are not independent of each other
Integration and its benefits
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Integration Point Benefits
End-to-end tracking with rolled up reporting
•Greater accountability•Less time (money) spent isolating source of problems
Workflow automation and rules enforcement; direct invocation
•Adherence to business process•Less operator intervention (which is costly and adds risk factors)
Inserter control file generation,reconciliation, reprint
•Less-to-no operator intervention•Less time to generate reprints•No time hunting for double-stuffs, etc. •Accountability and penalty avoidance
Data normalization and properties assignments, commingled datastreams
•Better process / equipment utilization•Better postal sorts / lower postage costs•Optimal SLA management
Postal sortation and net manifesting •Optimal postal discounts•Sorter pass reduction or elimination•Mail the best, (pre)-sort the rest•IMB and response follow-up
Direct-to-archive •Manual step/risk/time elimination
Multi-site management and failover •Visibility and control reduce management time/expense•On-demand backup reduces exposure to penalties•Output closest to destination
Integration…
Is organizationally challenging
Business transformation
IT architecture
Time consuming
Depends on great project planning and communication
Worth it!!
Minimize risk and exposure
Achieve Return On Investment*
Extracts maximum value from investments
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*every business case is unique and contains many variables
YOUR ADF TOMORROW
Extracting maximum value
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An integrated ADF has unique data capabilities
Critical to enablement of:
Digital mailboxes
Self enveloping inserters
Multi-site / disaster recovery policies
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Digital Mailboxes
ADF acts as a delivery decision hub
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Digital Mail Platform(s)
TraditionalMail
Digital Mail subscriptions
Automated rules
processing
D1 D2
D3 D4
job
Self-enveloping inserter and “whitepaper” factory
Traditional processing doesn’t extract the value of these major investments
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D1 D2
D3 D4
job1
D1 D2
D3 D4
job2
optimized job
color print
insert
sort
Self-enveloping inserter and “whitepaper” factory
ADF enables commingling and batching for large, efficient runs
Enables separate reprint process with its own rules
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D1 D2
D3 D4
job1
D1 D2
D3 D4
job2
optimized job
1 2
insert lib
process engine
color print
Disaster Recovery
It is estimated that only ¼ production environments have comprehensive continuity plans
Many existing plans are susceptible to:
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Lack of tracking
Lost documents
Regulatory exposure
Brand exposure
Higher costs
Well-designed ADF optimizes disaster recovery
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Host
Print File
Queue
Host
BR Site
ADF Server
Primary Site
Streams
StreamsADF Server
Disaster Recovery – put to the test
Feb 11, 2011; Dallas Warehouse Fire destroys presort facility
Millions of mailpieces
Now what? Multi-site ADF Delivers
Which mailpieces were lost?
How do we reprint them all and still make our SLAs which are regulated?
How do we process today’s work while fixing yesterday’s?
How to we present to USPS?
Multiple organizations impacted
Some Ricoh/InfoPrint sites had multi-site enabled ADF’s with robust continuity plans
Used their ADFs to divide and conquer:
issued a massive reprint
re-directed to alternate locations
worked locally with USPS which took on additional sorting
Conclusion
Integration is the synergy point, where 2+2 = 5
Newer technologies on the market are reducing the costs / barriers to achieving tight integration
An integrated solution performs so much stronger it becomes difficult to outsource (or in-source)
Integration is key to efficiently enabling advanced functionality, including digital mailboxes, transpromo, self-enveloping inserters, and disaster recovery
Integration is also key to maximizing investment utilization
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Questions
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