By Jonathan McGrew

To quote singer India Arie, “The only thing constant in this world is change.” Okay, so that concept was originally voiced by Heraclitus, but those words seem to be truer with every passing year; especially when we consider that the last five decades have seen more advancement in technology than any other period in history.

This isn’t limited to the mailing industry either; some might say the digital revolution is the catalyst for the recent decline of the United States Postal Services. Of all the recent technologies that are having a direct impact on our industry, Digital Postal Mail is potentially having the biggest affect. We asked Ernie Crawford some key questions about the topic.

Q. How long have you been involved in Digital Postal Mail?

A. I have been involved in Digital Postal mail since 1995, when I founded Crawford Technologies. Digital Postal Mail has been called many things over time. However, until recently, it was only available in Canada (through ePost) and some European countries

Q. Why is Digital Postal Mail a hot topic in industries that serve print and mail?

A. It is driven by what the consumer wants. Consumers’ want their mail delivered when, where and how they want it. They want security and an online archive of their documents. It is also driven by the need for organizations to reduce their production mailing costs in this tough economy. Organizations are looking for new and innovative ways to achieve this since ‘paperless’ adoption rates from existing techniques have stalled.

Q. Why is the USA so far behind?

A. Many organizations have been providing electronic bill consolidation sites in the USA since 1995, but none of them have gained enough traction to be considered Digital Postal Mail solutions. Now, with the increase in smart mobile phones, tablets, and Cloud applications, the time is right for consumers. The challenge over the last decade is that there hasn’t been a clear candidate for providing a Digital Postal Mail solution—until now.

Q. What makes Digital Postal Mail different?

A. Digital Postal Mail will provide consumers the ability to sign up for digital mail delivery through a provider using a secure digital mail box. The solution also provides a full archive of all mail received and access to it from anywhere in the world.

Q. Why is the demand so great now?

A. We have an even more mobile society, people travel much more now, and bring their technology with them. Have you ever been on the road and missed an important bill or policy notice? Providers like Zumbox, Manilla, doxo and the forthcoming Volly give consumers the ability to access their mail without having to travel to the mail box.

Q. What indications are you seeing that now is the time?

A. Consumers are picking up on it. Almost 400,000 have signed up for Zumbox in its first year, and the other services are picking up strong followings. Many large PSPs and billers and other document creators have signed up for these services.

Q. As a transactional document creator, what is in it for me?

A. There is good news for billers and other transactional document creators! You stand to save a lot of money when your customers go paperless. The cost of distribution through DPM is a lot less than traditional print and mail methods. And billers stand to save even more when their customers pay the bills electronically. It’s all good!

Q. We already provide my documents online for our customers. Why should we change?

A. You have probably seen your adoption rates top out, with very small incremental savings from customers going paperless. You do not need to shut down your online document system. By adding DPM, you will pick up additional customers who will go paperless because of the additional benefits that DPM gives them. Having all their documents in one place, and archived as long as they need them is enough to get the holdouts on board, and DPM gives them this extra push to accept a paperless approach.

Q. You mentioned several providers – how many are there?

A. In the USA, there are four DPM providers – Zumbox, Volly, Manilla and doxo. There is also the belief that there will be other companies that will join the market with competitive offerings

Q. Why does the USPS not do this?

A. Since 2006, the USPS has been restricted from engaging in DPM and other business opportunities by an Act of Congress. Even if the USPS was allowed to participate, it would take so long for them to get funding and build an infrastructure and hire the necessary talent to support it, that they would have a hard time getting credibility and market momentum. So there is no point in waiting for them.

Q. Of the four current services, should I wait until one of them becomes dominant?

A. For companies providing mailing solutions to enterprise and other volume mailers, this creates a challenge—what solution do you choose and what if they don’t support the companies your customers want to interact with. As providers of transform and Automated Document Factory solutions for more than 15 years, Crawford Technologies believes there is a strategic decision to be made here. One option is to wait for a clear leader to be declared and wait to launch your relationship and offering to your customers. Another, which we believe is the more strategic option, is to implement an enabler that will let you interface with any of the above named current providers and any new providers that come to market in the future. This approach allows you to integrate with DPM offerings quickly and therefore bring them to your customers faster.

Q. Is it possible to make a single investment to access all DPM services?

A. CrawfordTech’s products can provide the solution for putting your documents into any of these services. Our PRO Transform Plus products can convert your printed documents into the files needed for all of the DPM services. In fact, we have been creating content for ePresentment and online bill presentment and payment systems for over 16 years. Our document re-engineering solutions can also help you suppress the printing of the documents for customers who decide to go paperless.

Q. How are you seen this opportunity evolve?

A. As part of the Zumbox Executive Advisory Council, we are on the leading edge of the needs of not only providers like Zumbox, but the requirements of the customers that will interact with them. By working with all the providers to promote the ability for the print and mailing industry to engage in the DPM market, we believe the adoption rates and overall customer satisfaction with digital mail will increase.

Q. Have any market studies been done on DPM?

A. Infotrends have just published a study they have performed in 2011 on the DPM market. Read more here.

The real question is will your organization adopt a digital postal mail offering in 2012 and help move the industry and consumers to the next advancement in technology?

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