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About Martin

Martin Rides has 35 years’ experience in the world of Data & Direct Mail. He has worked across many areas of the industry including agencies, mail production and data bureaux. After 9 years running a specialist Direct Mail consulting practice, Martin returned to The Software Bureau as Managing Director in 2015.

Direct mail effectiveness soars

By |2023-03-23T10:05:54+00:00March 23rd, 2023|

Direct Mail experienced something of a renaissance during the Covid years – lockdown prompted a wide scale love affair with the letterbox. People enjoyed receiving mail, it provided a welcome break from the mundanity of being at home ALL THE TIME! This week, as we mark three years since the first lockdown back in 2020, it seems fitting that the latest figures from JICMAIL reveal that mail’s engagement is still on the rise. Mail open and retention rates both soared by four percent year on year. Over Christmas (Q4 2022) open rates hit 77 per cent and retention grew to 66 percent demonstrating the importance of mail within the marketing mix. At a time of year when consumers are more [...]

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The Software Bureau adds Baby Mailing Preference Service to SwiftCore

By |2023-03-09T10:07:00+00:00March 9th, 2023|

The Software Bureau has integrated Baby Mailing Preference Service (BMPS) to its SwiftCore suppression data portfolio to give organisations specialising in baby related products and services more control over their direct marketing. BMPS, a not-for-profit service managed by the DMA, is a specific preference service which enables bereaved parents to opt-out of receiving baby-oriented direct marketing communications including mail, email, SMS and phone calls. Most parents and parents-to-be are happy to receive communications from relevant brands at this exciting time, but in the UK sadly one in five pregnancies fall victim to a miscarriage and almost 3,000 a year result in a still birth. The BMPS enables those affected by miscarriage and stillbirth the opportunity to stop unwanted communications at [...]

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We achieve ISO27001 recertification

By |2023-03-02T07:33:07+00:00March 2nd, 2023|

We are delighted to have once again been recertified for ISO27001, which we first achieved in 2019. ISO27001 is the international standard prescribing best practice for an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It provides a framework for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring and improving information management using a six-part process model. According to the latest ISO Survey less than one per cent of UK businesses (2,818 organisations) currently hold the award due to the complexity involved in adhering to the controls outlined by the Standard. The accreditation builds a culture of security protecting valuable data and information assets. Comments Martin Rides, Managing Director, The Software Bureau: "This is a great achievement, particularly since we are one of only a few organisations in the [...]

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Zero trust and the role of data hygiene 

By |2023-02-27T16:21:38+00:00February 27th, 2023|

Massive amounts of data are being generated daily - from exercise stats compiled by wearables through to smart building monitors that collect temperature and air pressure information every 15 minutes. If data creation continues at its present rate, more than a yottabyte (a million trillion megabytes) will likely be generated annually by 2030. We are really starting to put the big into big data!  But with data, comes data threat. The two are synonymous. Last year it is estimated that there were 4,100 publicly announced breaches in security equating to 22 billion records being compromised and a rise of over 25 percent is expected this year. In an attempt to mitigate these threats, it is unsurprising that within three years Gartner [...]

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ICO calls for SMEs to be more data aware; we call the ICO to do more with #HelptoGrow! 

By |2023-01-31T08:27:16+00:00January 31st, 2023|

The Information Commissioner is urging SMEs to check they have the right data protection practices in place to help sustain and develop their businesses. The UK regulator says getting good data practices in place from the start will save businesses time and money, and boost customer confidence. A recent survey, commissioned by the ICO reveals that 91 percent of people worried about having their personal information sold to other companies without their consent, and 87 percent worried about a company losing their personal information. And this is not surprising considering a survey by the DMA found that only 10 per cent of SME leaders felt that they were complaint with current data protection laws. Another shocking report found that half [...]

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Is now the time for innovation in the direct mailing industry? 

By |2023-01-23T13:36:44+00:00January 23rd, 2023|

As many of our network will know, in December we carried out a research study investigating the automation opportunity for the sector. The overwhelming finding was that there is significant appetite to innovate particularly in terms of the use of AI. For the sector, it is therefore good news that the UK currently ranks first in Europe, and third in the World, behind the US and China in developing AI technologies. Moreover, the Government is keen for the UK to maintain this position. Investment continues to be high. As part of this in July last year The National Robotarium at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh opened its doors. It is the UK’s hub for robotics and artificial intelligence and has [...]

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Wants.Proper.Data: Is address data still relevant?

By |2023-01-18T16:54:10+00:00January 18th, 2023|

Someone I know once sent a letter addressed: Flat 3, Large Victorian House divided into flats, at the top of a hill on a large road near a school, by Reading West Station, Reading, Berks. And do you know what? It was delivered within a week. Shows just how well the posties knew their local area! Shame satnav doesn’t have the same contextual knowledge! There’s the famous story of the Amazon driver that got sacked for delivering a parcel to a field or similarly the one where a team of building society employees on a Christmas coach trip to France wound up in neighbouring Belgium - seven hours away - after Google Maps got Lille the city confused with Lille [...]

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Decision Marketing: Direct Mail revival beats rivals

By |2023-01-04T09:28:09+00:00January 4th, 2023|

Martin Rides writes for Decision Marketing about the role of mail moving forward into the new year. You can read the article here or below Brexit, Covid, supply chain chaos, cost of living crisis, economic freefall, postal strikes, train strikes, nurses strikes, economic freefall, worst and longest predicted recession… yep, the country is royally screwed and teetering on a knife edge. There’s no dressing it up, this year has been a shocker and next year is going to be even tougher for the marketing industry. Everyone is battening down the hatches and putting survival plans into place. Yet, there is one small glimmer of light… The resurgence of direct mail as a legitimate and effective marketing channel. If nothing else, [...]

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MIND THE GAP: THE 25% MAIL PRODUCTION AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITY

By |2022-12-22T06:15:41+00:00December 22nd, 2022|

New research amongst mailing houses carried out by The Software Bureau reveals a 25 percent automation gap. The survey shows that currently two thirds of mailing houses have automated 50 percent of their processes, however the optimum level of automation is considered to be 75 percent, revealing a 25 percent gap. Only one mailing house in the survey has automated all of its workflow processes. Data automation was found to be highest on the wish list for mailing houses, including postal sortation and cleansing processes, whilst automation of ‘run of the mill’ day-to-day processes was the next highest priority. AI-enabled solutions were revealed to be the area with the most potential, with 70 percent of businesses currently not using AI. [...]

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