Accelerating the Data Entry Process for Returned Mail with a Solution from OPEX® and CPT

The Imagine Group achieves a 67% reduction in cycle time processing USPS return mail with the OPEX Falcon+® RED™

The Background

The Imagine Group, an advertising and visual communications company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, designs and creates personalized print collateral for brands in a wide variety of industries across the globe – including retail, grocery, foodservice, entertainment, packaged goods, health, and financial services. Imagine uses new approaches to offer brand personalized campaigns, in-store marketing, direct mail, and packaging services with in-house fulfillment, requiring them to efficiently handle client data to deliver high-quality customer service.

The Challenge

When working with a large bank on an outbound printing project, Imagine had to use specific protocols when handling their client’s data, which was timeconsuming and labor-intensive, requiring 26 temporary employees during peak seasons. The manual data entry process to create an electronic record for a return mail piece took Imagine between three to five business days to complete, slowing down their outbound printing and return mail handling process. To deliver excellent service to their client, Imagine needed to find a better way to enter data into their system more effectively.

Key Challenges

Creating electronic records for returned mail is labor-intensive

Data entry is time-consuming and slow process

Thousands of documents needed to be processed in a short timeframe

The Solution

In order to process thousands of return mail documents in
only a few days, Imagine turned to OPEX® and CPT Intelligent
Technologies to automate their time-consuming and
manual data entry process, implementing an OPEX
Falcon+® RED™ document scanner with integrated mail
opening and scanning, and CPT’s Return Mail Processing
Software. Using the solution from OPEX and CPT, Imagine
created a 360-degree approach to data hygiene using their
patent-pending backend processing engine. With the
speed of the Falcon+ RED and accuracy of OCR, Imagine
could capture the recipient’s name and address, NIXIE
sticker reason, and forwarding address. In addition,
Imagine needed to know the type of document in each
envelope, so CPT implemented document classification
as part of the process, allowing Imagine to handle each
document type with the necessary business rules.

Over time, Imagine learned that there were three main
areas of focus within their client’s data: Pre-mailing to
solve for a third of the updates; handling physical return
mail pieces; and the USPS Electronic ACS data feed. The
new workflow from OPEX and CPT allowed Imagine to
focus on these key areas while simultaneously reducing
the need for temporary staffing during peak seasons. Staff
count was lowered from the 26 original temps to only the
two people who now handle data entry with the Falcon+
RED system.

Key Results

93%

Labor savings during peak seasons

67%

Reduction in cycle times

$127K

Cost savings in the first year

“Accuracy has been excellent; having a solution that focuses on the fields in question rather than reviewing every data element has been a game-changer.”

Laurel Gunzenhauser

Account Manager, The Imagine Group

The Future

Now that The Imagine Group has a better solution for data entry in place, they will continue to see shorter cycle times and tighter integration between data sources. Imagine’s approach to data hygiene paired with the solution from OPEX and CPT will continue to benefit their clients and allow them to deliver excellent service.

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Download the Imagine Group Case Study PDF