Document Integrity

There was a time when customer concerns about mail piece integrity were limited to making sure that the number of pieces mailed matched the number of pieces printed. But today there is an emphasis on security and privacy that ups the ante on document integrity by adding the element of regulatory compliance.

Companies that process documents containing confidential information such as medical or financial are expected to have systems in place that prevent security breaches from happening. They also must be able to respond to inquiries about the handling of individual documents along with the ability to pass government audits. Even if a service provider is not directly involved in the delivery of medical or financial services, they are often considered business associates under the government guidelines. Business associates must comply with the regulations, submit to audits and investigations, and may also be liable for fines or penalties if they are shown to lack adequate security and control processes.

With no camera-based systems to provide piece-level tracking information, responding to inquiries about individual incidents becomes impossible. Assuming all the pages were correctly finished because no errors were noticed isn’t good enough anymore. What is necessary is a verifiable record of the disposition of every page, mail piece, and reprint that was processed through the facility.

Mailing operations with inadequate quality controls can be at risk. Mail service providers can lose customers who are seeking vendors who can provide greater tracking capabilities as part of their risk-aversion strategies.

DDS has consulted and designed many custom document integrity solutions over the years.  The largest such project was for the United States Census project where over 180 million records had to be verified with 100% accuracy.  You can read about this project by clicking the link.

Mail piece tracking and accountability are quickly becoming the minimum requirements to attract all types of mailed communication business, even in applications where it has never been of great concern before, such as direct mail advertising. Companies utilizing sophisticated data analytics and appended demographics to create highly personal marketing pieces are seeking some of the same types of tracking and control technology that has been common in the transactional document world.

The loss of print and mail volume due to inadequate quality controls is preventable. We’ve helped many customers make that first step. Give us a call to see how we can help your company create a document integrity solution.