Traditional Customer Communications Management (CCM) systems that are highly focused on transactional documents might be the new data silo, and a trouble spot for your business. These older CCM solutions, often labeled as Document Output Management, were originally designed for print and they do a great job. However, this often means that the underlying architecture is tightly coupled with print-centric processes and may not be based on the open standards used by most modern software.
In short, they lack the technical capability to integrate with other systems in the organization and that is what effective customer communications need to do.
Their information is ideally a combination of content pulled from a cross-section of company assets including databases, text files, and graphics.
Following are some red flags that indicate your current Customer Communications Management system cannot adapt to the changing landscape
Red Flags
- The CCM software is not, or is only partially web enabled
- Non-print design and output features are lightweight in comparison to print functionality
- No support for XML or HTML as data or output mediums
- Content libraries are exclusive to the Customer Communications Management system
- The software is useable only by technical teams
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Any one of these is reason to take a deeper look into your CCM’s capabilities. Start by developing your overall strategy for how you want to communicate with your customers and then map that back to your Customer Communications Management (CCM) software.
