As an avid do-it-yourselfer, I enjoy tackling a variety of home improvement projects. My latest is building a playroom in my basement.
As with any job or hobby, there are aspects I enjoy and do well - like framing walls, and anything involving wires. (I am an engineer after all.) But when it comes to hanging wall board, major plumbing work, or any detailed finishing work that requires specialized tools or skills (or patience), that's when I call in the professionals.
That logic is probably valid for most things in life, and definitely when you are evaluating whether to partner with a fulfillment services expert. Here are some things to take into consideration:
Cost. Fulfillment specialists have the right equipment, dedicated personnel and expertise to do the work accurately and efficiently because that's their business. If you handle fulfillment in-house, you buy, maintain, upgrade and/or replace equipment, as well as train and maintain staff for this function. Those costs are fixed, even in times when you aren't using the equipment or personnel at full capacity. If you outsource instead, you can redirect that portion of your budget to more mission-critical uses, and you'll pay only for what you use. Moreover, your fulfillment services partner - like a good coach or personal trainer - can suggest ways to keep improving your communications and production processes, to reduce your ongoing costs.
Time to market. Slow or inaccurate fulfillment can cost your company big money. Unless you have a product that's absolutely unique, chances are your prospects are looking at your competitors' offerings, as well as yours. If your competitors respond first, they may close the deal before your materials get delivered. Fulfillment services companies use automated processes to minimize time to market. They can also scale up quickly to meet critical, but time-limited, demands like a new product or service rollout.
Optimization. Fulfillment is more than just putting stuff in a box and mailing it. New technologies and techniques let you get more out of your programs, optimize your spend and provide a better, more relevant experience for your customers and prospects. For example, instead of sending every prospect an envelope filled with the same generic materials, your fulfillment partner can help you customize communications for various market segments and personalize individual materials using digital printing services. You can also take advantage of custom kitting capabilities to create a more attractive, better organized package. By cutting the clutter and increasing the relevance of your materials, you can save money and improve response rates.
This is illustrated in a recent Target Marketing case study, where they looked at how California-based eHealthInsurance saved money and improved response times by partnering with Iron Mountain.
Although the majority of eHealth's subscribers complete and sign their applications and pay their premiums electronically, a significant percentage still opt to receive paper applications, which they sign and send back with a check. These applications, which can include as many as 75 pages, had been produced and mailed manually by the company's enrollment unit.
As eHealth's business volume grew, in-house fulfillment became too cumbersome and costly for their existing staff and processes. So, in 2011, they turned to Iron Mountain to handle this critical task.
The bottom line? eHealth reduced its unit costs to produce applications by 43% and describes itself as much more nimble in getting applications and follow-up letters to prospective subscribers. As they continue to grow, they can be confident that Iron Mountain's scalable capabilities will keep pace with their needs.
As this case demonstrates, there's a time and place for doing it yourself. But companies that are experiencing rapid growth or rolling out new products or services need to keep their eye on the essentials. By hiring the right fulfillment services partner, you can be assured that your messages will be targeted and relevant and get where they need to go quickly and cost-effectively.
Now back to my basement. Anyone know a good plumber?
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
As an avid do-it-yourselfer, I enjoy tackling a variety of home improvement projects. My latest is building a playroom in my basement.
