IWCO partnered with Assurety Consulting and Solutions to streamline mailing operations across multiple sites.
STERLING, Va., Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Data-driven performance marketing services leader IWCO is dedicated to Making Better Happen℠ for its clients. This includes bringing on expert collaborators, like its new strategic partnership with postal analytics and software innovator Assurety Consulting and Solutions, Inc.
IWCO is on a journey to modernize its operations across the board, and that starts with the software that makes it possible to produce, process, and induce billions of pieces of mail per year.
Carroll Schiley, Director of Production Technology Applications with IWCO, said “I consider Assurety a partner, not just a vendor.” He also said the company transitioned to the Assurety Integrated Mailing Solution software suite (AIMSplus™) to improve efficiency.
“We can do so much more in AIMSplus™ versus our previous systems,” Schiley said.
“We have three production plants, and our goal was to get to a common mailing platform. We picked Assurety for proof-of-concept and decided that was the platform we wanted to implement for all our production sites,” Schiley said.
IWCO used the same software at multiple sites, but not in the same manner. Differences in workflows and siloed data made it difficult to substitute a worker from one plant to another during an illness or vacation.
Bringing all three sites under one common enterprise-scale solution helped the company streamline workflows, function as a team across sites, and verify jobs without having to pull up multiple systems.
“We can do so much more in AIMSplus™ versus our previous systems,” Schiley said. “And we can do cross-checks between what we are seeing in production versus what is being mailed since it’s all tracked in the same platform.”
AIMSplus™ is a software platform with multiple modules that empowers commercial mailers, shippers, parcel, and post organizations to streamline mail data in Mail.dat® and Mail.XML eDoc standards.
Schiley worked closely with Assurety CEO and Founder Shariq Mirza to select the right mix of AIMSplus™ modules to complement their mailing operations.
“Because IWCO’s operation is so large and complex, we suggested several add-on modules to manage their daily mailing operations and help them achieve their goals,” Mirza said. “AIMSplus™ is scalable, so it’s easy to add more modules as they refine their business model.”
IWCO chose the two most popular AIMSplus™ modules, plus others that are specific to their operations. Standard modules include MailAssurety™ the web-based Mail.dat® editor and SeamlessAssurety™, the Mail.dat Seamless Acceptance validator. Those modules make up the backbone of the system, with additional modules available for specific uses.
MailAssurety™ helps IWCO combine presort jobs and simplify the process of verifying and reconciling each mailing. SeamlessAssurety™ helps staff manage their pre-induction and post-induction Mail.dat files to ensure compliance with Seamless and full-service rules.
“We liked Assurety’s ease of use and scalability, and the cost savings in IT and server support with AIMSplus™,” Schiley said. “The software is intuitive, and you don’t have to be a Mail.dat expert to use it, so more of our staff can use it versus our previous system.”
To best manage their large and complex operations, IWCO added PalletAssurety™ to easily merge presorts and palletize/re-palletize and containerize to increase volume and save on postage and transportation costs.
After several months of use, the IWCO team is embracing the new technology.
“We exposed our teams to the new software during the trial, and Assurety really helped. We pointed out some unique needs and perspectives and the Assurety team was able to make updates to the AIMSplus™ platform along the way that helped with the buy-in from the end users because they saw Assurety could make changes and adapt so quickly,” Schiley said.
The goal to streamline operations and provide a common workflow across all three plants was a success, which has allowed for a more consistent experience when employees are out sick or take a vacation.
Schiley said keeping up with postal changes has been a breeze with AIMSplus™ and they no longer worry about updating multiple patches that kept their previous system running. The new systems have allowed them to eliminate several workarounds that were previously required. He said working with Assurety has been a very positive experience.
“I consider Assurety a partner, not just a vendor,” he said. “They listen to what we do, and what we want to achieve to be successful as a mailer and stay ahead of the industry. And we helped them advance their AIMSplus™ platform with the experience our team brought to the table. It’s very different than just buying software and building workarounds.”
To find out more about Assurety’s postal/parcel software offerings, and other services, go to www.assuretyconsulting.com today.
About the companies:
As a leading provider of data-driven performance marketing services, IWCO has served the direct marketing industry for more than 50 years and is passionate about Making Better Happen℠ for marketers who are serious about results. IWCO delivers end-to-end marketing services holistically focused on the success of multichannel marketing programs. The company’s full range of services includes data, strategy, creative, execution, media, analysis, and execution for marketing campaigns, along with one of the industry’s most sophisticated postal logistics strategies for direct mail.
To learn about direct marketing trends, industry news, postal regulations, and more, visit IWCO’s BETTERInsights℠ blog and follow us on LinkedIn.
About Assurety Consulting and Solutions Inc.
Assurety Consulting is a Virginia-based company specializing in software and advanced BI and analytics solutions for finance, government, and postal sectors around the world. Assurety has played an active role with Idealliance (now DTAC, Delivery Technologies Advisory Council) for more than 20 years, including managing and providing data governance for all data specifications (APIs) for the entire US postal/parcel ecosystem. Additionally, Assurety develops custom solutions for organizations that wish to step up their analytics and business intelligence operations.
To learn what customers are saying about AIMSplus™️ and follow us on LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Rex Bull, Assurety Consulting, 1 (512) 633-8314, [email protected], www.assuretyconsulting.com
