Customer Relationship Management CRM will Better Leverage Print Media Through Development of New Printing Standards Industry leaders Xerox, Adobe and U.S. Postal Service drive initiative

Business Wire, May 13, 1999

ROCHESTER, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1999--

The Print on Demand Initiative (PODi) has begun development of standards for integrating customer relationship management (CRM) systems with digital printing systems to enable high-quality, high-volume personalized printing. PODi members include such influential industry leaders as Adobe Systems Inc., the United States Postal Services and Xerox Corporation.

Members of PODi met last week in New York City to address industry standards. PODi board members include Adobe, EFI (Electronics For Imaging), NexPress (Kodak/Heidelberg), Scitex and Xerox. All are part of the Personalized Print Initiative (PPI), a PODi subgroup that is developing the standards. Other PPI members include Barco Graphics, Indigo, Pageflex, the US Postal Service, Varis and Xeikon.

"Marketing and IT managers are investing billions of dollars building customer relationship systems," said George Cacioppo, vice president, Adobe Systems. "Personalized communications are tremendously effective at strengthening customer relationships and generating profits. Integrating CRM with print will make personalized printing a practical reality and improve the relationships between firms and their customers."

Corporate investments in CRM are projected to increase almost tenfold to $11.5 billion in the next few years, according to AMR Research, as executives move to refocus their companies on recognizing, tracking, and responding to individual customers. Massive customer information databases are being built as data is collected from electronic resources such as call centers and Web response systems.

"These are extremely valuable data resources, which well-designed personalized printing systems can use to improve the effectiveness of communications with customers," said Linda Becker, vice president and general manager, Production Color Systems, Xerox Corporation. "With the new PODi standards in place, a new generation of full-color digital printing systems will simplify CRM-based printing, permitting enterprises to tap the full potential value of their relationship data."

The standards will also target the unpredictability and variability of traditional graphic arts processes, two signs of a process that needs standards. "Personalized printing today requires far too much sophisticated planning because equipment capabilities vary so much," said Dave deBronkart, Vice President of Initiatives for PODi. "Two major goals of the standards initiative will be improved predictability and a major shift in interface friendliness. If a CRM manager can express how she wants the piece customized, IT staff should be able to produce it - as easily as a personalized Web page. The standards will make it possible."

Formed six months ago, the PPI organization has defined management processes for creation of standards and is analyzing industry markets and applications for variable data printing. PPI is part of the Print On Demand initiative, which promotes greater awareness about the applications and benefits of digital printing. Additional information regarding PODi may be obtained by calling (716) 239-6063 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.podi.org.