Thanks for the response DPG. We are moving in to cross-channel multi-media campaigns. We are currently using a well-known and widely-used Xerox-owned product, and, had anticipated going to the next level with them (a $100,000 + investiment). However, for our high-volume digital print operation, a recent event with regards to a software level upgrade produced a significant amount of erroneous documents (legal contracts), put a screeching halt to our production, and sent us scrambling to modify over 75 different documents as a work-around to continue operations.
When we go to multi-media, one of the applications will be e-mail generation and deployment from a fulfillment point of view. (Think, booking a reservation and getting an almost immediate confirmation email complete with your arrival and departure dates, itinerary, etc.)
In order for for this to work, the software we use for VDP will need to execute what is known as "lights-out administration". In other words, it will need to be stable enough to run, unattended, 24/7, once we build the generation and deployment engine. I don't believe our current VDP product is capable of operating at that level.
So, I'm researching competitive Variable-Image, Variable Data products that operate as a plug-in to InDesign/ Dreamweaver, etc. that provide more stability.
