Consolidated Graphics Makes a
Full Service Transition

A major commercial printer, seeking a next-generation solution with unparalleled support, moves to BCC Software’s top-tier Mail Manager Full Service

Consolidated Graphics Group (CGG), which is headquartered in Cleveland, OH, is one of North America’s leading general commercial printers. With a network of 70 companies strategically located across 27 states and Canada, CGG offers technologically advanced sheet-fed, Web and digital printing services, as well as fulfillment centers and proprietary Internet-based technology solutions.

As a large company with diverse professional obligations, CGG has been comfortable working with multiple technology providers for some time—identifying distinct solutions as the right fit for specific operational challenges. For the last five years BCC Software has been in the CGG solutions mix, but recently the company began to rely even more on BCC as it began to notice a slip in quality and support from another leading vendor.

"The sales people that were contacting me didn’t have a clue what we were doing, even though we’d been their customer for years," says Michelle Hilston, Director of Information Systems and Client Services. "They didn’t know what products we were using. When I explained what direction we were going, they were flat-out unsupportive. It seemed as though they were more interested in catering to other markets rather than the PC market.

"That was when we first seriously started looking at BCC," she added. "Needless to say, I think I made a good choice."

Until 2008 CGG’s partnership with BCC had centered on Mail Manager, the company’s flagship product, with scalable functionality capable of accommodating most levels of postal sophistication. As other mailing trends and business realities began coming into focus, however, Hilston recognized the benefits in upgrading to Mail Manager Full Service, BCC’s top-tier offering with the widest possible array of standard and advanced features. Mail Manager Full Service is an ideal fit for major mailers such as Consolidated Graphics.

As CGG looked for ways to increase efficiency and economy, the possibility of developing automation protocols for certain jobs became more and more appealing. That proved to be a major selling point for BCC’s Mail Manager Full Service, whose TaskMaster / Job Manager scripting capabilities make it a highly adaptive component in any automation-oriented operation. BCC "knew what we were trying to accomplish," Hilston says, and the decision makers at CGG were able to see exactly how Mail Manager Full Service’s operator-independent functionality could benefit them in the long term.

"The TaskMaster enhancements have been an enormous help to our operation," she adds. "We were also interested in Suite^Link, and [Full Service’s] enhanced merge/purge capabilities. The Full Service product just seemed to have more to offer."

Another important consideration for CGG was the growing importance of PostalOne! and the Intelligent Mail barcode, two linked postal technology initiatives that together provide a primary focus for the near future of the high-volume mailing industry.

"When I was going through [periods of] various PostalOne! testing, I saw that your PostalOne! files are perfect," Hilston says. "That was shared with me by various postal people I dealt with when I was going through the qualification process."

On its own, BCC’s superior technology development might have been sufficient to merit CGG’s increased confidence in an ever more complex mailing industry. Once the company’s clear commitment to customer support was factored in, however, Hilston’s decision to reinvest in BCC products was an easy one.

"Your customer support has really grown," Hilston says of BCC’s Mailpiece Quality Certified team of inhouse support technicians. As the stakes for mailers have grown higher, she says, BCC’s support offerings have risen to the challenge— something she cannot say for her onetime technology partner.

Not long ago, she was contacted by a representative of that vendor: "I was stunned that anybody actually picked up the phone and called me after the nightmare of trying to deal with their online system," she says. "And out of the blue somebody called me and said ‘We're actually not supposed to call you, but we sensed this was resolvable and we just picked up the phone.’ Can you imagine that? He was very honest that they were pretty much not supposed to call customers. It may be too little too late now."

At a Glance

Client

• Consolidated Graphics Group

Headquarters

• Cleveland, OH

Specialization

• Printing / Mailing

BCC Solution Set

• Mail Manager Full Service
  √ MOVE Manager LSP option with ANK^Link (In-house NCOA^Link LSP processing)
• VisionSensor 2030 handheld barcode scanner