The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Integrate is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.
Integrate
11INTEGRATE |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018
Graham Duncan, founder and
director
Turning data into information
Integrated Publishing Solutions, known in the market as
integrate, have been developing multi-channel production
systems for corporations across a range of industry sectors,
both in Europe and in North America, for over 20 years.
They have developed systems for the likes of Perkins Engines,
Pfizer, Linklaters and Massey Ferguson. Some time ago, they
turned their focus to the financial sector, and a decade-long
relationship with the BNY Mellon Group that has followed led
to the development of a suite of software products particularly
relevant to asset management.
Digital channels provide companies with unparalleled marketing opportunities but
in many industries, in particular financial services, there are stringent regulations
that apply when promoting products and services. integrate’s software ensures that
full compliance is maintained, at all times, with all regulatory requirements. Director
and founder Graham Duncan explains how this is achieved, and why integrate’s
software is the best choice for their clients.
Our software delivers on a simple premise: to consistently provide accurate and
legally compliant product information when, where and how it is needed. This is
fundamental for any industry providing data to its clients within complex regulatory
environments. This challenge is made all the more difficult by the multiplication of
channels from which clients might draw this aforementioned information.
Surprisingly, it is still normal practice to create such information separately for each
“when, where and how”: a web team creating the information for consumption
FACTS ABOUT
INTEGRATE
»Founder and director: Graham
Duncan
»Established in 1996
»Based in Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire
»Services: Development of
unique, compliant software
suites that streamline
and ensure compliance
of distributed product
information
»Each month, iPlus produces
studio-quality documents for
more than 200 funds, across
15 jurisdictions in 13languages
Integrate
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
12 | INTEGRATE
on a website; a document team
creating the information for traditional
documents and an app team creating
the information for a smartphone
app, and so on. This is a segregated
approach for each individual context of
the same information. When products
are sold globally, across an enormous
variety of jurisdictions, languages
and regulatory environments, such
a siloed approach is not only costly
and ineffectual but also entails
significantrisk.
Our product, iPlus, is a unique software
solution that allows corporations
to send complex information about
their products to customers through
digital platforms such as tablets and
smartphones. It continues to provide
the same data over more traditional
channels of paper and email.
Regardless of how customers want
information delivered, iPlus can provide
it quickly, accurately and in a cost-
effective manner.
A unique product for our
digital world
We have continued our heritage of
developing software to provide the
same information through different
communication channels; this is
something we have worked on from
a time before widespread use of the
internet through to the current social
media age. Our innovation has always
focused primarily on practical benefit.
Our core product suite allows companies
to maximise the market for their
products and services by fully exploiting
the advantages offered by the latest
digital channels. Uniquely, however, it
also allows companies to market these
same products and services through
traditional communication media,
such as email and print, while also
ensuring that the information provided
through each distribution channel is
both accurate and fully compliant with
tightening and complex regulations.
Companies that use integrate’s
solutions are reaping the benefits
of the latest technology to win new
customers and support existing ones.
Alongside this, they can retain
full commitment to established
communications methods that are still
important to many customers and, in
some industry sectors, still necessary
in order to comply with regulatory
requirements.
Companies wishing to utilise these
newest methods of communication
are forced to use different systems to
manage and distribute information
about products and services through
conventional, historic channels. This
leaves them exposed to three main
problems:
1. Increased operating costs to
support multiple systems.
2. Increased costs to ensure that
identical information is provided,
however and wherever it is provided.
One golden copy for
all points of client
engagement
Companies
that use
integrate
solutions are
reaping the
benefits of the
latest
technology to
win new
customers and
support
existing ones
“
“
13INTEGRATE |
BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018
3. The risk of reputational damage
and, even worse, censure by
regulatory bodies if different
information is provided on the
same products and services through
different communication media.
Maximising market coverage
The segregation of the production and
distribution of product information for
each channel served is costly, inefficient
and risks inconsistencies between them.
Our integrated approach respectively
brings down costs, raises efficiency and
minimises risks. Our clients are able to
meet the challenge of marketing their
products and services through new,
high-tech communication channels
while maintaining their commitment to
more established media.
Furthermore, clients are able to ensure
that, where necessary, the same
information is communicated through
all of the channels they use for dialogue
with prospects and customers. They
are also able to tailor information for
different geographical markets; this
is achieved with regards to securing
use of the appropriate language, the
desire to provide country-specific
marketing messages and the need
to ensure compliance with country-
specific regulatory requirements. These
areas can all be addressed individually,
while central control is maintained over
everything that is produced.
Reducing the risk of
reputational damage
This use of streamlined digital channels
will expand and become used even
more prevalently in the near future.
As it does, the risk of incorrect or
inconsistent information about
products and services being distributed
will naturally increase. We will see
this across the wide range of these
different channels that are now used
by companies to communicate with
their customers, and with the markets
in which they operate.
Companies operating within highly
regulated industry areas, such as the
finance, pharmaceutical and legal
sectors, face reputational damage
and regulatory censure if they do
not provide correct and appropriate
information about these products and
services through alternative channels.
Our software minimises these risks
for asset management companies,
and can also be used similarly in other
areas of the financial services sector.
Everything our software solutions
provide for these firms also translates
appropriately for companies in other
industries that face similar challenges.
Our clients are
able to meet the
challenge of
marketing their
products and
services through
new, high-tech
communication
channels
“
“
Complex distribution
controlled
Reputational risk is never
a game to be played