Cygnus Archives - The Software Bureau

Partially Addressed Mail: The Secret Source of Responsive Acquisition Data

Data Processing, GDPR, Sortation

Partially Addressed Mail: The Secret Source of Responsive Acquisition Data

By Martin|2019-01-15T09:58:03+00:00January 15th, 2019|

As we all know, last year GDPR made it illegal for marketers to contact cold prospects where legitimate consent could not be proven. Brands who previously relied upon sending mail to bought-in lists in order to acquire customers were forced to dramatically rethink their marketing strategy. Some reverted to untargeted, less responsive door drops, others redirected their marketing spend to other communication channels entirely for fear of prosecution by the ICO. However on October 5th 2018 Royal Mail sent a letter to customers titled Trial of a new advertising mail service: Royal Mail Partially Addressed Mail™. The letter introduces Partially Addressed Mail as a new way to identify and communicate with prospects. The product promises 165x greater targeting than door [...]

5 Ways Cygnus can Help with GDPR

Data Processing, GDPR

5 Ways Cygnus can Help with GDPR

By Martin|2018-11-06T10:39:16+00:00December 13th, 2017|

As 2017 ebbs away and the countdown to May 2018 and GDPR enforcement creeps closer we thought we would share just some of the ways Cygnus can be used to meet GDPR requirements. Here are 5 ways Cygnus users can demonstrate GDPR credentials to data controllers. 1. Help Data Controllers Implement Information Audit Outcomes Many months ago The ICO published Preparing for GDPR – 12 steps to take now. This guide is a commonly used reference guide to achieving GDPR compliance. After the obvious first step ‘make people aware of GDPR’ the second recommendation is to conduct a data audit. You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it with. You [...]

Lean DM – Focus On Error Reduction and Increased Revenues

Data Hygiene, Data Processing, Lean DM

Lean DM – Focus On Error Reduction and Increased Revenues

By Martin|2016-12-28T14:26:33+00:00September 6th, 2016|

We can all recount those horrible moments when we realise a mailing has gone wrong. If you are lucky the job hasn’t left the building, but invariably the first you know about it is when you receive that dreaded, irate call from the client. Then comes that sickening feeling while you retrace the steps of the job only to find the error occurred in data preparation. During a particularly high pressure week, one of the data processing team accidentally sorted the surname column of a data file independently of the other columns and every mailer was sent with an incorrect surname. With many mail producers these high impact errors can have huge financial consequences and cripple the reputation of the [...]

Five reasons why an in-house data processing tool is a must for fulfilment houses

Data Processing

Five reasons why an in-house data processing tool is a must for fulfilment houses

By Martin|2017-01-12T13:04:15+00:00June 18th, 2016|

Direct Mail’s star is in ascendance. Stats and recent research show that volumes are on the increase. End users are becoming increasingly aware of the power of DM as a legitimate marketing tool as new initiatives from organisations such as Royal Mail are widely publicised. Moreover, as criticisms continue to be levied against telemarketing, lead generation and internet display advertising budget is being shifted across to DM from new and existing mail clients. This is obviously great news for those of us in the industry. But with it comes responsibility – and that responsibility is in the form of exemplary data hygiene. Get it wrong and we risk damaging the reputation of an already fragile (but recovering) medium. All of [...]

Software Bureau’s Cygnus suite adds 125m records

Data Hygiene, Data Processing, The Software Bureau

Software Bureau’s Cygnus suite adds 125m records

By Mark Dobson|2017-01-12T13:12:30+00:00June 7th, 2016|

The Software Bureau has added 125 million new records to its embedded suppression service within its Cygnus data processing suite. The update follows the REaD Group’s recent upgrade of its data hygiene suite – including the Bereavement Register, the Gone Away Supression File and GAS Reactive – to reach a claimed 100 million records. The refreshed data run through Cygnus provides 29 million new tracked address records and 96 million goneaways. This latest update makes Cygnus the most comprehensive data processing solution available for direct mailers, the company claims. Sitting within Cygnus is the company’s Lean DM workflow package which systematically addresses each of the five sources of waste and highlights opportunities to both optimise mailings and save money. The firm maintains [...]

Cygnus Accreditation Launched

Data Hygiene, Data Processing, Industry, The Software Bureau

Cygnus Accreditation Launched

By Mark Dobson|2017-01-12T14:46:32+00:00September 7th, 2015|

In response to industry demand The Software Bureau is launching The Cygnus Academy, a series of accreditations covering data processing for direct mail production and data hygiene. The accreditations can be gained by attending examined training courses, which will take place around the country throughout the year. The training courses will be offered in three levels; introductory, intermediate and advanced and are open to anyone in the industry, not just Cygnus users. Overview of courses Introductory level: This course is aimed at new recruits and those that have little knowledge of using Cygnus. The course, entitled ‘An Introduction to Cygnus’, will ensure they are capable of not only using the software on a productive level, but also have a rudimentary [...]