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The thINK board recently met in Boca Raton, Florida, and this particular quarterly meeting was an eventful one. First, we began planning for thINK 2019. We discussed this year’s event, reviewed all the feedback we received from attendees, and came up with ideas to make thINK even better next year. Plus, we settled on dates! Mark your calendars: the next thINK event will be September 16-18, 2019. Another big decision we made at this board meeting was to add a new board member. I am pleased to announce the addition of Sheri Jammallo to the thINK board. Sheri is the Sr. Advisor, Marketing at Canon and joins the thINK board as our Executive Program Liason. You might not know this, but Sheri’s actually been making crucial behind-the-scenes contributions to thINK all along. Since the first thINK conference, she has defined the sessions, booked the speakers, and set the agenda. The relationships that Sheri develops with thINK partners and presenters are invaluable. Speaking for the entire …

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It!) a few weeks ago the United States Postal Service finally established its Board of Governors and then announced the Postal Discount Programs available throughout 2019. This year the USPS Board of Governors created six new promotions that bring the promise of great postal savings options, but there is a tougher requirement for planning and execution this time around. Mailers will need to read and understand the requirements to ensure their clients get the best results. For each of the six programs there are specified program requirements that include defined registration periods and proscribed dates when the promotion can be in the mail. Each mail piece must be submitted to a dedicated USPS email address for final review and approval in advance of lodging the campaign for mailing. The 2019 Promotions were created to move mail communications toward long-term and sustainable growth by leveraging its unique value to jump-start engagement and drive …

In the course of day-to-day business practices, procurement’s growing influence has made request for proposal (RFP) engagements a fact of life. Procurement representatives are intent on using RFPs to standardize providers’ proposals, so they can better compare bidder prices. Unfortunately, procurement departments often have a limited perspective on the intricacies of creating, managing, and delivering transactional communications as well as a desire to keep prospective vendors at arm’s length from internal business owners. As a result, information about the true purpose of transactional communications is incomplete and the burden of financial risk now falls on the procurement rep’s selected vendor. Procurement Policies Underutilize Providers’ Expanding Service Roster Thanks to their overly rigid RFPs, procurement has become disconnected from the realities of customer communications work. Since procurement professionals generally do not understand the details of an individual job, …

Chuck Werninger is Senior Manager of IT Administrative Services at Houston Independent School District. You might be familiar with Chuck as he was a speaker on the "Investing in Inkjet" panel at this year's Inkjet 101 — or perhaps you know him from his active contribution to several other industry publications and events. It’s safe to say that wherever people are talking about the future of print, Chuck is sure to be part of the conversation. Houston Independent School District (HISD) added the Océ VarioPrint i300 to its fleet in July 2016. We spoke to Chuck back then about the district’s decision to make the switch, and you can read the case study to learn about why it seemed like the right fit at the time. Now, heading into 2019, we wanted to check in with Chuck to hear how inkjet has changed HISD’s print shop and what advice he has for others who are considering making a move. CC:  I want to start with a comment you left on Stephanie Pieruccini’s recent article Inkjet Production …