Kabel Deutschland - Swiss Post Solutions

Case Study 08/2013 Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service Page 1/2
Kabel Deutschland
Vertrieb und Service
GmbH & Co. KG
Flexible output management
for customer communication
Since 2010, Kabel Deutschland (KD) is relying on the
flexible output management solutions from Swiss Post
Solutions (SPS) for its customer communication. As a
result, the highly complex projects of the largest German
cable TV provider have been greatly optimised – especially with regard to process costs and turn-around times.
The challenge
For KD, customer communication is no easy task, for a number of reasons, in particular the broad range of products (cable
TV, telephony, broadband internet access) and marketing measures (acquisition, cross-selling, up-selling). While the content
of these mailings obviously varies greatly, communication must
also be customised to reach the targeted consumer group. In
other words, the company needs a system that caters for both
mass mailings and personalised letters. To ensure that customer communication is effective, turn-around times must be
kept short, and all material must be produced and dispatched
according to tight schedules. KD therefore decided to take on
board a partner who would be in a position to minimise the
internal costs for standard mailings. Standard mailings are the
most important customer acquisition tool of KD for all product
ranges.
The solution
Thanks to its flexible output management services, SPS has been
able to optimise KD‘s customer communication, meeting the
complex requirements of the client: several million mailings to
various separate target groups are produced every year. The
partnership with KD has been highly successful in various projects:
„Thanks to the proactive approach of SPS who submitted
a number of suggestions for process and cost optimisation,
and the move to alternative materials and printing technologies, we have successfully improved the costs structure
of our mailings.“
Thomas Maier, Procurement Manager, Services & Marketing,
Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG
„SPS is a highly reliable partner and the quality of its mailing
processes is second to none. Even in cases where we need
to make changes or reschedule a mailing, SPS has always responded with the flexibility that is crucial for our business.“
Isabelle Seemann, Head of Direct Marketing,
Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG
– Establishment of digital printing process
The partners implemented a four-colour digital printing process that enables KD to produce small mailing print runs on
demand. This flexible option allows the company to target
selected groups in the market by producing mailings with
tailor-made content and layout, for example for new customer
up-selling campaigns.
– Outsourcing of sub-processes
The programming and pre-print tasks are now fully in the hands
of SPS. By adapting a number of master files, SPS is able to
produce various versions of a standard mailing. This optimised
approach was developed and implemented in close cooperation between SPS and the relevant administrative departments
of KD.
This solution was delivered to Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG by Swiss Post Solutions GmbH, Germany
Case Study 08/2013 Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service Page 2/2
– Establishment of online portal
Together with KD, SPS developed an improved clients-pecific
online portal: The portal environment is fully integrated into
the automated workflow, and the migration of all applications
to the new standardised process has been completed. The
new portal caters in particular for approvals for printing and
the exchange of files. It also provides an activity and event log
and allows for a link-up to external data storage providers.
– Continuous process optimisation
In the course of the project, the partners were able to make
significant improvements along the entire process chain, whereby SPS acted as the expert adviser. One particularly successful
example here is the process outsourcing. The new solution
guarantees that all mailings are ready for dispatch on time. The
optimisation process also led to more efficient production,
savings in postage costs and IT as well as shorter turnaround
times.
– Organisation of creative workshop
SPS supports its client also in the field of creative content and
layout: SPS organised a creative workshop aimed at improving
the existing mailings and their format, taking into account the
latest production technologies, creative design, formats and
layouts, the use of printing varnish, attractive packaging solutions and much more. The new solutions were then tested
among a number of target groups.
The benefits
KD appreciates the support from SPS acting as a strategic partner, and has benefited greatly from the optimised processes:
– Thanks to the new on-demand four-colour digital printing
process, KD has gained extra flexibility, for example in connection with targeted mailings with small print runs that can
be produced within very short turn-around times.
– The outsourcing of certain tasks has resulted in significant
internal cost savings. The freed up personnel resources at KD
can now be used to pursue the core business of the company.
– The online portal provides the flexibility, efficiency and transparency that the partners require for their future cooperation.
In the process of developing the online portal, SPS and KD
have optimised the entire process chain – from data exchange
to release for printing and subsequent archiving and documentation.
– Thanks to continuous process optimisation, the internal operative costs could be significantly lowered. In addition, the
turn-around times and mailing costs were reduced.
Client profile Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und
Service GmbH & Co. KG
Integration of online portal into automated data processing workflow
Contact
Swiss Post Solutions GmbH
Thorsten Koelpin
Kirchheimerstr. 177
73265 Dettingen/Teck
Germany
Classification: public
Phone: +49 7021 80 62 01
Mobile: +49 151 11 71 14 69
thorsten.koelpin@swisspost.com
www.swisspostsolutions.de
KD is the largest cable network provider in Germany, offering its subscribers digital and high-definition TV as well
as analogue TV, video-on-demand, services related to digital
video recording, pay TV and broadband internet access
(up to 100,000 Kbit/s). In addition, KD provides telephone
via cable TV and mobile phone services through a telephony
services partner. The MDAX-listed company operates cable
networks in 13 federal states in Germany and counts around
8.5 million households among its subscribers. By the 31 March
2013, Kabel Deutschland employed around 3,600 people.
In the last financial year ending 31 March 2013, the company achieved a turnover of around 1.83 billion Euro. The
adjusted EBITDA was around 862 million Euro.