Document outsourcing on growth path as manufacturers cut costs

However, the analyst is advising organisations to ensure that outsourcing print and electronic document publishing improves customer communications without sacrificing quality, efficiency and confidentiality. Pete Basiliere, Gartner research director, explains that what's involved is generally publication of customer communications, including content creation, multimedia presentation and incoming document processing – in any media – and that big providers have the benefit of scale. "Strategic document outsourcing offers organisations the opportunity to eliminate print- and mail-related capital expenditures, while potentially reducing material and postage expenses," says Basiliere. "Outsource providers facilitate the targeted, relevant customer communications that can not only retain and grow the client base but also increase revenue," he adds. Which sounds good: but the caveat is don't customise what's on offer too much, or you risk driving up the provider's costs and prices. "While certain kinds of marketing materials have long been outsourced, and to produce them in-house would be an anomaly, business communications have been outsourced only when management felt potential issues of control, confidentiality, tight deadlines and the mission-critical nature of the work would be assured," comments Basiliere. That can and is changing. As Basiliere says: "Whether the communications are in print or electronic media, or are campaigns combining the two, strategic document outsourcing enables organisations to focus on their core products and services while entrusting customer communications to a specialist service provider."