mission<one> is a full-service supplier of digital merchandising, Internet marketing and customer loyalty management. The company is a pioneer in email marketing. Services range from e-mail campaigns with full text creation and layout, to all the bells and whistles: CRM, data management, database targeting and marketing and customer loyalty programs.

A core offering is mission control, a system for digital one-to-one dialogue. The software offers various features for different types of campaigns, including detailed analyses (click rates/reports), tools for creating newsletters, and comprehensive database functionalities. mission<one> offers Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud computing model for all its services and products.

In light of this focus, it is no wonder that mission<one> has well established expertise in legally binding e-mail. But how do you combine the advantages of digital transmission with the binding nature and confidentiality of traditional mail without intricate authentication and separate e-mail addresses? And how do you make sure the documents reach the recipient even if the message cannot be delivered electronically?

It was these very questions that impelled the company to develop mission<one> control, to create a system for low-cost transmission of sensitive transaction documents - confidential and in large numbers.

The software had to be able to process any data format. In other words, mission<one> needed a tool that could efficiently prepare the outgoing documents for e-mail, regardless of where and in what application they were generated, whether the source was ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management) or an Office application. mission‹one›’s objective was to be open to all types of documents.

So mission‹one› decided to integrate DocBridge® Mill into the solution. DocBridge® Mill is a platform independent, scalable solution from Compart that analyzes, separates, classifies and indexes the data streams - and if necessary, converts them.

The strength of Compart’s software lies in its ability to process standard formats such as AFP, PDF, PCL, Post-Script, SAP GOF, LCDS, Metacode and XSL-FO on the input and output side alike. This allows documents of varying origins to be displayed, edited, output and archived using all the usual physical and digital channels. DocBridge® Mill has powerful functions for converting documents while simultaneously modifying them. It is a robust, elegant, efficient software solution.

It is also highly compatible within existing structures and environments. Ralf Trimmel, Director of Product and Process Management: "DocBridge® Mill is an ideal fit for our system. The integration was seam-less, from initial evaluation to full production took only three weeks."

The basic principle of the new system: the customer sends the document data in encrypted form (via SFTP, for example) to the mission‹one› server in a format such as AFP. There, DocBridge® Mill converts the AFP files (or any other input format) into PDF attachments and extracts the metadata needed for e-mail dispatch as XML.

At this point, mission<one> control takes the converted data, loads it into the database, and generates the HTML e-mails with the appropriate PDF attachments. From there the e-mails go out. The system automatically reports the response data to the customer, down to the exact number of clicks (when were the e-mail and attachment opened; who responded when, where and how). The system not only reports whether the document was received, but if it was actually read, or why the mail was returned (recipient’s mailbox full, server problems, invalid address). Mail that remains unopened during the specified period or "returned as undeliverable" is then sent as a letter by traditional mail.

PDF/A Conversion

Because of its wide distribution, mission<one> settled on the PDF/A archive format. Hardly a system exists that cannot open and read these files. Ralf Trimmel also points out its excellent print quality. "The new regulations on e-invoicing give us a wide open market." The company intends to continually expand its portfolio to induce even more companies to send their documents, of whatever kind, through mission<one>. Customers need transmit only the data; the service provider takes over from there - encryption, consulting, and services such as white space marketing or transpromo (the addition of advertising). Trimmel explains, "We intentionally tie into the customer’s existing processes so he immediately benefits from our secure data exchange and the ability to process all the popular formats."

The financial benefits are readily apparent. Since going live, their customers have realized 80% savings in mailing costs. By eliminating postage and logistics, savings are expected to climb to over 90%.

Trimmel and his colleagues can easily envision sending insurance policies, utility bills and similar sensitive documents via this route in future. "Once the legal conditions on traceability are encoded in law, there’s no reason not to go digital," continues the IT manager.

"There’s no way better than with mission‹one› control and DocBridge® Mill."

Every month 200,000,000 regular e-mails and 300,000 mission<one> control mails, with and without PDF attachments, are sent out: invoices, dunning letters, credits, offers and contracts - sensitive documents in a legally binding and regulatory compliant form.

"DocBridge® Mill is an ideal fit for our system. The integration was seamless, from initial evaluation to full production took only three weeks."

Ralf Trimmel, mission<one>

About Compart:

The company, headquartered in Germany, has been a market presence for over twenty-five years and has subsidiaries in Europe and North America as well as a network of partners in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Compart helps companies boost the efficiency of their operations with solutions for quick and flexible processing of high-volume data streams and document quantities. The scalable and platform-independent DocBridge® family of products, designed, developed and supported by Compart, allows documents to be output anytime, anywhere, digitally or on paper.

The company enjoys a worldwide reputation as an innovative market leader as well as a developer of professional and leading-edge solutions in the field of content and document technology. More than 1,200 customers in 42 countries rely on Compart solutions, in industries that range from finance, insurance, and retail to printers, telecommunications, utilities and healthcare.

Furthermore, Compart is a technology partner for some of the leading manufacturers in the industry. Our software is embedded within some of the most often used Multi-Function Devices, printers and copiers in the world and is considered reliable and relatively maintenance-free. If we can do it for those amazingly high volumes we can do it for you.

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