"We have worked with Océ in the past and were impressed by the results. We were highly satisfied with the customer service and the quality of advice."

Thomas Schär, Manager Print Competence Centers of the Division Technology & Operations of Credit Suisse

Challenge for Credit Suisse
High-quality customer communication is a priority in the banking business. One channel is constituted by monthly bank statements. These give customers important information, providing an opportunity to take stock of their savings or confirming payment of interest on their holdings. It is self-evident that the monthly production must be reliable and accurate—they are a bank’s visiting card.

 

Highest efficiency in documents
It is the endeavour of financial institutions to keep the costs of producing their monthly statements low, and at the same time offering a reliable service. Implementation of the right technology is the solution that ensures the link between these two elements. Lower costs and high-quality services lead to less economic wear and tear, and to greater benefits for both the bank and its customers.

The bank knows how important it is to maintain high-quality communication with its customers—statements must be as easy as possible to interpret and have a user-friendly structure, because they are an important channel of communication. For its print centres in Zurich, Bern and Geneva, Credit Suisse has chosen an innovative digital solution from Océ for printing its business printed matter. Credit Suisse uses nine Océ VarioStream 7000s, four Océ VarioStream 6100s and two Océ Pagestream 158s.

Requirements: productivity and quality from a single supplier
Says Thomas Schär, Manager Print Competence Centers of the Division Technology & Operations of Credit Suisse: ‘We have worked with Océ in the past and were impressed by the results. We were highly satisfied with the customer service and the quality of advice.

 

The great advantage is the proximity of the service point in the Poing headquarters and in Switzerland, resulting in short reaction times. No other firm could offer the same as Océ in this area. We spoke to several suppliers, yet the choice fell on Océ’s offer, partly thanks to the proposed possibility of exchanging the Océ Pagestream 350 installed only one year ago.’ All these factors make clear how important choosing the right printing system is for account documents and statements.

 

Océ VarioStream 7550
The extent of Credit Suisse’s trust in Océ is obvious, looking at the installation of the first Océ VarioStream 7550 in September 2002. ‘We were one of the pilot customers, in other words we received our systems even before the official start of sales’, says Thomas Schär. ‘It only took a couple of hours from the beginning of installation to operational production, and the system has operated very reliably from the outset. This circumstance and the greatly improved print image prompted us to purchase a further three Océ VarioStream 7550s during the pilot phase. All four pilot systems had to process the bank’s end-of-year production immediately after installation, which means a maximum load on each individual system over a period of weeks.’

Schär’s conclusion at the end of the production and pilot phase: ‘At no time did we have any difficulties whatsoever. The VarioStream 7000 was meeting the highest requirements immediately after installation.’

 

Océ VarioStream 6100
But it doesn’t stop there. Two Océ VarioStream 6100s were purchased for the decentralised print location Bern during the course of end-of-year production—in the first instance for reasons of security, as Thomas Schär explains: ‘The Océ VarioStream 7000, Océ VarioStream 6100 and Océ VarioPrint 5000 systems all work with the same controller. This means that we have 100% security if we have to print an application on different systems in different locations.’

And, because the reliability and the printed image are also convincing, Credit Suisse decided to transfer to the Océ VarioStream 6100 as rapidly as possible at the third print location, Geneva. These systems offer great flexibility and medium print volumes in decentralised locations.

‘As a result,’ says Schär, ‘we have the optimal facilities at all three locations and are equipped
for all future requirements.’

 

Partnership now and in the future
Given the stringent requirements of Credit Suisse, Océ was able to gain valuable experience and incorporate it in the VarioStream technology during the pilot phase. The final series release for the VarioStream 7000 family was announced as early as December 2002, and was therefore achieved earlier than planned. Thanks to the early pilot installation, Credit Suisse was able to process its end-of-year
production efficiently and to the highest quality level, and plans further investments in the forward-looking technology platforms Océ VarioStream and VarioPrint. According to Thomas Schär, the possibilities of the Océ VarioStream 7000 and 6100 print systems surpass anything that is currently on the market.