As a component of the XML-based Thunderhead Document Generation Platform, Correspondence Framework enables the creation and complete management of ad hoc correspondence.

The incorporation of new features will help financial services and customer centric organisations increase productivity while ensuring compliance and consistency for customer correspondence across all delivery channels.

Correspondence Framework was developed following research undertaken by Thunderhead which showed that in the outbound call centre environment, the majority of letters sent to customers contained at least one error ranging from minor spelling mistakes to the inclusion of paragraphs of irrelevant content.

"Correspondence is a critical touch point through which organisations interact with their customers," said Glen Manchester, Thunderhead CEO. "The key problem with correspondence is that it is typically event-driven and a single formulaic response will no longer do. The challenge is to provide a personalised, context-relevant response that will meet the increasingly complex compliance requirements that govern corporations as well as meeting corporate requirements for quality and consistency."

Automating the correspondence process to the highest degree possible, Correspondence Framework is able to generate a range of communications far more quickly than would be possible using manual processes. This helps meet evolving regulatory and legal requirements, while providing the flexibility to edit non-straight through processing documents.

Correspondence Framework's ad hoc capability augments the Thunderhead Platform's batch and real-time document generation functionality to deliver a single scalable solution for an enterprise's customer communications. Furthermore, Thunderhead's open standards architecture means that its components can be integrated with, as well as extend the functionality of, existing enterprise applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) and business process management (BPM) to provide a complete and cohesive enterprise solution.

Correspondence Framework is a replacement for high-maintenance in-house or legacy systems; it simultaneously drives down call-back and error rates and delivers productivity gains for contact centres that are under increasing pressure to deliver higher levels of service at a lower cost.
Correspondence Framework can also bring significant benefits to the process of generating ad hoc employee communications, when integrated with enterprise human capital management (HCM) applications.

The new version of Correspondence Framework offers superior functionality and control combined with the ability to handle one-off customer correspondence on demand. The result is context-relevant multi-channel CRM responses that speak directly to each individual customer's set of circumstances. Specific features of the Correspondence Framework are as follows:

• A fully-featured, browser-based word processing environment.
• The editing function allows users to easily modify column, row, border and shading parameters or to insert ad hoc data-driven shared content and lock-down specific content.
• Personalised one-off correspondence can be delivered to multiple channels based on customer preference.
• Consistency and compliance with regulatory and legal requirements is enabled.
• Facilitates the white labelling of documents.
• A search facility allows free-text search and pre-view of shared content.

"Tools used for ad hoc document generation are often inflexible, channel specific and costly to maintain. Nor do they perform consistently. As a consequence, there is a clear mis-match between the customer expectation of accurate, context-relevant and timely communication and the reality of what they receive. Correspondence Framework offers a way forward for ad hoc communications, focusing on personalisation and context-relevance as the foundation elements of a long-term communication strategy that underpins customer acquisition and retention." Manchester continued.