Business Info - issue 147

COVER STORY the overall mix, as well as the rise of new mail types, notably parcels and packages – Royal Mail’s latest annual results show that in the 12 months to March 28, 2021, it experienced a 38.7% increase in parcels revenue and a 12.5% decline in letters revenue. By integrating its franking technology with a cloud-based platform offering additional services, Quadient addresses these changes and future challenges. Think the iPhone and app Store or the office MFP and cloud-based services for document storage, OCR scanning and other applications. SMART machine In the case of the iX Series, the platform in question is called S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Shipping, Mailing, Accounting, Reporting and Tracking. Each of these cloud-based modules give access to a range of additional capabilities that can help businesses improve the productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of their transactional and marketing communications The cloud-based shipping application, for example, allows desktop users and mailroom staff to ship parcels domestically with the ability to compare Royal Mail rates and services on one screen. Desktop users can prepare parcels for shipping by the mailroom, filling in the appropriate forms and generating barcodes so that mailroom staff don’t have to enter details manually, including single-click label generation from public and personal address books. Alternatively, users, including home workers, mobile staff and employees in remote offices, can print off labels themselves and arrange collection from their location, reducing the workload for the mailroom and ensuring that flexible and agile working models aren’t an obstacle to efficient communications. Other applications within the S.M.A.R.T. portfolio offer further efficiency improvements: n Mailing. Users are able to manage every aspect of the mailing system and meter through their online interface, with a rate wizard for easy navigation of mail classes and services; n Accounting. Mailing and shipping expenditure is tracked and controlled via the same platform, with the ability to set budgets and apply spending limits to all or specified accounts; n Reporting. Instead of having to collate reports from multiple systems, reports for both mailing/shipping activities and expenses are available through one application. Reports can be scheduled and automatically run and emailed to multiple recipients; and n Tracking. A rolling 13-month parcel transaction and tracking history provides a useful record of activity, with the ability to filter and search for transactions and send automated notifications to multiple email addresses. For Anthony Coo, Head Of Product Marketing, Quadient UK, these enhancements are just the beginning. “With its Royal Mail Mailmark meter, integrated label dispenser and wide range of optional accessories, the iX Series has everything needed to streamline and speed up the processing of mid to high-level mail volumes. But that is just half the story. Integration with cloud-based S.M.A.R.T. modules, accessed through an online dashboard with a consistent look and feel, gives improved usability, visibility, control and reporting to managers and users in the mail centre and throughout the business – wherever they are located. Because these applications are cloud- based, customers can be confident that any investment in iX Series franking machines will be future-proofed and provide a platform for additional functionality in the future.” Quadient has a long history of using automation to make mail processes more efficient and more accurate, from franking machines and folder-inserters that combine faster mail processing with improved accuracy and reporting to output management solutions that automate the distribution of communications via multiple digital and physical channels according to each customer’s preferences, with processing managed in-house, centralised or outsourced. The Quadient iXSeries mailing system with S.M.A.R.T. software continues this heritage by providing a platform that addresses the challenges faced by customers in today’s world of hybrid work, as well as the ability to add extra capabilities in the future as new challenges emerge. https://go.quadient.com/binfoix Quadient iX Series Mailing Systems n Replaces IN Series n Modern look and feel n Streamlined navigation. n New Menus and RateWizard makes the iX Series the easiest mailing system to use n On-Screen Dimensional Weighing (DIM) – The mailing system will prompt operators to enter the length, width and height of an item and will then provide the DIM value. n IMI Meter: Intelligent Mail Indicia holds stricter guidelines for data security and management than Information Based Indicia (IBI) offered by previous models (IS/IM/ IN-Series). n Mailmark meter: ensures the lowest franking tariff rates from Royal Mail n Integration with S.M.A.R.T. Software. 01732 759725 27 magazine