Direct Marketing software guide.

Direct Marketing Software Guide

With the revolution in microchip technology, there has been a revolution in computers, their prices, the software that runs them and, as a result, the way marketers do business. Retailers who've stayed away from computers are now finding them indispensible

Significant is the growth of PCs and Macintosh computers with networking and PC-to-Mac capabilities. Computer networks have enlarged the scope of mailers, marketers and creatives and put them in touch with service bureaus, lettershops and their own people working on the second floor. The trend is to computerize everything. Ogilvy & Mather Direct's New York office is moving to Midtown Manhattan and taking the opportunity to outfit its 25 creative with PCs. Sprinkle in several laser printers, modems and high-quality software, connect everything and that is the future: Integration of text and graphics, information sharing and hands-on data manipulation.

In the following pages, Direct Marketing presents some of the leading software packages that have captured the imagination of marketers. We have dicided our listing alphabetically, coding the software packages with symbols for easy scanning: telemarketing; fulfillment; list management/database; integrated -- multifaceted usually incorporating accounting, statistical, telemarketing and database functions; desktop publishing; decision support; sales support and miscellaneous for various programs of interest. A toolbox appears on the next page; photocopy it and use it as a page marker when reading the guide. We encourage you to call the companies that appear in our directory. The packages listed here are some of the most innovative software products in the field. Many are available retail, but most are available direct. When you do call, however, we ask you one favor: Say you saw it in Direct Marketing magazine.

A Mailing System: ACCUMAIL Group 1 Software, Inc., 6404 Ivy Lane, Ste. 500, Greenbelt, MD 20770-1400 (East. 1981) 800/368-5806; 301/982-2000 Package features: Accumail allows user to process records either in batch or one by one. The system will: add, correct or confirm 5-digit ZIP codes; assign carrier route codes; insert ZIP+4 codes; and correct street, city and state data according to U.S. Postal Service conventions. Specs: Runs on IBM PC,/XT,/AT with PC or MS-DOS and 10MB disk storage. Ver. 1.01 requires 640K RAM; 1.OMB. Training/Service: Manual and hotline available. Maintenance contract $95 annual. Users/Installations: There are 150-160 mailers currently using this system. Price: $795 Decision Support: A-CROSS Strawberry Software, Inc., 42 Pleasant St., Watertown, MA 02172 (Est. 1983) 617/923-8800 Package features: A-Cross cross tabulation software uses a familiar spreadsheet format that lets the user view tabular reports as they are created. Options exist for percentaging, statistics, ranking, nets and subtotals. Program is compatible with 1-2-3 and dBase files as well as ASCII. Appropriate for survey research or sales analysis. Specs: Runs on IBM/XT, /AT, PS/2 or compatible with DOS 2.15 or later and 512K hard disk. Ver. 2.0; 450K disk space required. Training/Service: Manual and telephone support; maintenance included in price. Users/Installations: Primary users include marketing, research and sales analysts; 1,000 installations. Price: $995 Mailing System, List Management/Database, Fulfillment: ADMS (Advanced Direct Marketing Software) CORTEX Konsultkollegium AB, Florettgatan 29 C Helsingborg, Sweden 25266 (Est. 1972) 011+46-42 20 11 00 Package features: ADMS is a complete software package for an integrated direct marketing system. It handles: list management; merge/purge; deduplication; mail order one shot/catalogue fulfillment; mail order continuity fulfillment; club continuity fulfillment; limited continuity fulfillment; magazine subscription fulfillment. Specs: Runs on IBM mainframe/AS400. Training/Service: Manual, phone support available; training on site. Users/Installations: There are currently 60 installations. Price: Available upon request. Telemarketing: AFFINITEC Affinitec Corporation, 2252 Welsch Industrial Ct., St. Louis, MO 63146 (Est. 1976) 314/569-3450 Package features: Affinitec's software system helps inbound call centers measure and manage their productivity performance and efficiency to achieve increased revenues, improved customer service, reduced expenses and improved quality of work life in their centers. Software products are available in both stand alone and integrated configurations. Specs: IBM PS/2 family or compatible; disk space varies by size of center. Training/Service: Training available on site or at vendor headquarters. Consulting services, hotline phone support, field support, custom programming support available. Maintenance options vary. Users/Installations: Over 1,000 inbound call centers. Price: Starts at $10,000. Decision Support, List Management/Database: AMSS (Advanced Marketing Selectivity System) Direct Marketing Advisory Services (DMAS), Inc., 19 Barstow Rd., Shelburne, VT 05482 (Est. 1980) 802/985-2688 Package features: AMSS is a list segmentation system specifically designed for the direct mail industry to target promotional mailing in the most profitable way by using statistical models. It is a name-by-name scoring system, incorporating proprietary mathematical algorithms, which enables a company to build statistical segmentation models in an easy way, and without the need for a statistician. Specs: Program runs on mainframe and minis, including IBM, Honeywell, Control Data, Digital and Hewlett-Packard machines. Also runs on PC. Ver. AMSS/4 requires 10MB disk space. Training/Service: Training on site or at vendor headquarters. Maintenance contract $5,000-$15,000. Users/Installations: There are 20 installations at direct mail companies. Price: $25,000-$125,000 Mailing System: ARCLIST Group 1 Software, Inc., 6404 Ivy Lane, Ste. 500, Greenbelt, MD 20770-1400 (Est. 1981) 800/368-5806; 301/982-2000 Package features: ArcList is a mailing list management system that identifies duplicates, print labels and checks ZIP codes and state abbreviations at entry. Performs carrier route, ZIP+4 and 5-digit postal presort for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th class mail. LAN version, which allows up to six users, also available for $995. Enter-Only package ($95) allows data entry only to be done on separate terminals while ArcList is performing other functions. Specs: Runs on IBM PC, /XT, /AT and compatibles with PC or MS-DOS and 10MB disk storage. Ver. 1.21 requires 640K RAM; 2.7MB. Enter-Only requires 256K RAM, 250K hard drive. Training/Service: Manual and hotline available. Maintenance contract at $95 annual; $190 annual for LAN version. Users/Installations: There are more than 2,500 mailers currently using the system and approximately 100 using Enter-Only. Price: $695