Medco Health Solutions' pursuit to build an enterprise-wide communications platform was just one of the real-life case histories presented today at the inaugural InterACT! Conference held in suburban Chicago.
In a session titled "TransInfo: The Right Content; The Right Context," Nick Romano, president of enterprise messaging specialist Prinova, and Tom Dyson, director of IT publishing technology at Medco Health Solutions, related how the two firms are working together to build a best-of-breed communications management system.
A Fortune 50 company, Medco is a leading pharmacy mail-order operation and manager of pharmacy benefits programs offered by insurance health providers through employers. Last year alone, Medco mailed out 100 million mail-order prescriptions, according to Dyson. Its call center requires 10,000 pharmacists alone, to handle drug and benefits questions posed by plan participants.
The challenge has been to build a common platform and control system to allow Medco to handle all of its communications across all channels. Its requirements include servicing thousands of clients with different plans, the need for tailored communications, the need to segment recipients by health conditions, and much more.
Working in conjunction with Xerox Global Services, Medco realized it needed to develop two databases linked together by a common, user-friendly portal. They include a production management database to handle such tasks as schedule templates, order detail and history, user activity, change and audit tracking, etc. The content management database, on the other hand, oversees package management, resource data entry, business and contact rules, WYSIWYG proofs, etc. To tie them together, Medco sought a simple portal for secure Web data transfer, user managment, performance tracking, reports, dashboards and a multi-step approval process.
Still in the testing stages, Medco used the Medicare D program management to begin implenting its MessagePoint workflow. The result, so far, has been high self-service capabilities. Account teams can now manage client change requests much more rapidly. They can also quickly customize and meet their clients' preference requests. Expenses have also been reduced by the elimination of programming charges for content updates.
Dyson admitted the transition to a new platform has not been an easy exercise, but he is confident that there will be enormous benefits to the way Medco handles its internal and external communications across multiple channels when the workflow system is eventually rolled out across the entire enterprise.
The two-day InterACT! cross-media event has attracted more than 350 marketing and ad agency execs, and the printers that serve them.
InterACT! is the first educational forum for marketers, brand owners and service providers on cross-media direct marketing opportunities and strategies organized by InfoTrends and North American Publishing Company (NAPCO) being held Aug 10-11, 2010 in Rosemont, IL.
