September 21, 2001—A recent survey of 200 mail and document production professionals conducted by Pitney Bowes Inc. suggests that document production facilities are inefficient mainly due to system errors, scheduling conflicts and communications problems that could be solved with access to a digital job tracking method.
Over half of the surveyed believed that a web-enabled tracking solution could help them more accurately adhere to their contractual obligations, called Service Level Agreements from start to finish. Of the respondents whose shops process from 50 to over 100 print/finish jobs per day, 65 percent admitted to using either manual job tracking methods or none.
“Too many document managers track jobs manually—that is, with a clipboard, a pen and a spreadsheet,” said industry expert Mark Fallon, President & CEO of The Berkshire Company, a print/mail consulting firm.
According to the survey, sixty-nine percent of all managers surveyed routinely received calls from dissatisfied customers. More than half said they were under internal pressure to reduce costs. Thirty percent said that they had faced financial penalties as a result of missed Service Level Agreements.
More information about the survey results are available from Pitney Bowes.
