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The Renaissance of Direct Mail Gathers Apace

By |2023-07-04T18:12:32+00:00July 4th, 2023|

As you may have read in Decision Marketing recently, I was quoted as saying that direct mail was experiencing something of a renaissance; and that this in part was a result of more responsible targeting due to GDPR (which turned 5 at the back end of last month). You can read the article here: https://www.decisionmarketing.co.uk/news/gdpr-five-years-on-the-death-knell-for-lazy-marketing In case there were any doubters, my assertions have been justified by the latest set of JICMAIL results: mail effectiveness is soaring. Direct mail engagement and effectiveness reached their highest level in a year, with the Q1 2023 results showing that despite another challenging quarter for consumers, a greater proportion of mail was engaged with than at any point in the previous year, and a [...]

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Death of customer service – but not at The Software Bureau!

By |2023-06-01T06:15:57+00:00June 1st, 2023|

So, earlier this month I was left incandescent with rage when trying to get in touch with not 1, not 2, but 3 of my suppliers urgently. And do you know what? It was a bloody nightmare. First up. EON NEXT. Like many others I was sent a communication saying my direct debit was yet again increasing, however due to some changes in circumstance I want to discuss this with them. Could I find a phone number? Could I hell. After 20 minutes or so of searching I furiously rang EON who very begrudgingly handed out EON Next’s number. I was then put on hold for 95, yes NINETY-FIVE, minutes (the hold music is now seared into my brain) until someone [...]

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8 reasons why should you switch to SwiftCore now for all your data processing and management needs

By |2023-04-26T08:10:19+00:00April 26th, 2023|

What is SwiftCore? SwiftCore is our powerful computing platform, hosted on the Microsoft Azure Cloud, that offers a range of services designed to help organisations process their CRM contact data more efficiently. Why is SwiftCore the best solution for you? It is secure One of the most significant advantages of the Azure Cloud platform is its robust security features. Azure provides multiple layers of security, including role-based access control, multi-factor authentication, and encryption, ensuring that data processed in Azure is secure and compliant with industry standards and regulations. It is compliant Because Swiftcore is a UK hosted solution, the data processed within it complies with all UK data protection regulations. This feature is particularly important if you handle sensitive or [...]

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On-prem v cloud data breaches: where is the safest place for your data?

By |2023-04-04T07:25:12+00:00April 4th, 2023|

According to the Cost of a Data Breach Report by IBM, the average total cost of a data breach for businesses in the UK stands at £2.9 million. This represents an increase of 9.4 per cent from the previous year's report. The report also found that the average cost per compromised record was £98 which is higher than the global average of $146 USD per record. Obviously, the cost of a data breach can vary depending on a range of factors, including the size of the organization, the industry, the type of data compromised, and the severity of the breach. However, the cost of a data breach can be significant, and can include expenses related to legal fees, regulatory fines, [...]

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Zero trust and the role of data hygiene 

By |2023-02-27T16:21:38+00:00February 27th, 2023|

Massive amounts of data are being generated daily - from exercise stats compiled by wearables through to smart building monitors that collect temperature and air pressure information every 15 minutes. If data creation continues at its present rate, more than a yottabyte (a million trillion megabytes) will likely be generated annually by 2030. We are really starting to put the big into big data!  But with data, comes data threat. The two are synonymous. Last year it is estimated that there were 4,100 publicly announced breaches in security equating to 22 billion records being compromised and a rise of over 25 percent is expected this year. In an attempt to mitigate these threats, it is unsurprising that within three years Gartner [...]

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Decision Marketing: Direct Mail revival beats rivals

By |2023-01-04T09:28:09+00:00January 4th, 2023|

Martin Rides writes for Decision Marketing about the role of mail moving forward into the new year. You can read the article here or below Brexit, Covid, supply chain chaos, cost of living crisis, economic freefall, postal strikes, train strikes, nurses strikes, economic freefall, worst and longest predicted recession… yep, the country is royally screwed and teetering on a knife edge. There’s no dressing it up, this year has been a shocker and next year is going to be even tougher for the marketing industry. Everyone is battening down the hatches and putting survival plans into place. Yet, there is one small glimmer of light… The resurgence of direct mail as a legitimate and effective marketing channel. If nothing else, [...]

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MIND THE GAP: THE 25% MAIL PRODUCTION AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITY

By |2022-12-22T06:15:41+00:00December 22nd, 2022|

New research amongst mailing houses carried out by The Software Bureau reveals a 25 percent automation gap. The survey shows that currently two thirds of mailing houses have automated 50 percent of their processes, however the optimum level of automation is considered to be 75 percent, revealing a 25 percent gap. Only one mailing house in the survey has automated all of its workflow processes. Data automation was found to be highest on the wish list for mailing houses, including postal sortation and cleansing processes, whilst automation of ‘run of the mill’ day-to-day processes was the next highest priority. AI-enabled solutions were revealed to be the area with the most potential, with 70 percent of businesses currently not using AI. [...]

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Data hygiene is all academic, isn’t it?

By |2022-11-14T11:09:16+00:00November 8th, 2022|

How alumni teams at higher education institutions can enhance relationships with past students and increase lifetime value Digital transformation scores a B+ According to a study by McKinsey, almost 80 percent of organisations reported that during the pandemic they initiated a process of digital and data transformation. Undeniably, COVID 19 fast tracked many organisations’ transformation intentions. For instance, the higher education sector - not one famed for its agility - had been toying with the concept of Responsive Blended Learning, a hybrid of traditional classroom based delivery and online learning for years, but it took lockdown for this to actually become a reality. Most institutions went from face-to-face teaching to digital delivery in a matter of days. And with exam [...]

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Analytics are only as strong as the underlying data

By |2022-09-16T13:16:01+00:00September 16th, 2022|

Why data hygiene must become a priority post covid According to Fortune Business Insights, the global machine learning and analytics market is expected to grow from $21.17 billion in 2022 to $209.91 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 38.8 percent. Clearly it is big business, and the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has served to accelerate demand. Increasingly organisations from all sectors are turning to computers to make decisions from insurers calculating a customer’s risk profile through to airlines looking to work out how much food and drink to carry onboard. Every industry without exception can apply analytics to its data to make faster, more informed decisions. But, and it is a big BUT, analytics and machine learning [...]

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As the cost-of-living crisis bites, mail stays in the home for longer

By |2022-09-09T08:03:04+00:00September 9th, 2022|

The latest stats from JICMail, the joint industry currency for ad mail, show that there has been a significant increase in the amount of households retaining their mail. More households are choosing to file their mail away for later use or take it out of the home. The new data which covers the period from April to June 2022, shows that close to half of mail (44 percent) is still live in the home after 28 days, which is a significant increase on Q2 2021. It is thought that this is because households are placing more importance on mail content in economically challenging times. The research finds that overall, 94 percent of mail is engaged with, i.e., it has at [...]

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