Document Strategy Forum (DSF) took place near Chicago at the Hyatt Regency Rosemont from April 4-6, 2022. It was the organization’s first in-person three-day event since DSF 2019 in Anaheim. According to event organizers, there were about 325 attendees and nearly 40 vendor sponsors exhibiting.
| Scott Drager of Quadient opens the event and introduces the keynote presentation. |
With a focus on creating communication strategies that enhance customer engagement, 45 educational sessions were offered across ten tracks that spanned everything from technology architecture and process automation to information governance—all with the goal of building, delivering, and managing superior customer experiences across the enterprise.
Exhibitors included document composition and software vendors, as well as new companies providing process automation, data mining, and payment processing. Eight of the exhibitors were services providers showcasing their unique customer-facing solutions and they sounded a lot more like software companies than traditional print and mail providers. Given the amount of interest in quickly adopting modern omni-channel capabilities to improve customer outcomes, outsourcing is an option many enterprises are considering.
| The DSF 2022 Exhibit Hall provided ample opportunity connect with vendors, learn about their offerings, and discover how their solutions help drive improvements in customer communications and experiences. |
The Overall Vibe of DSF 2022
“My customers want to know more about digital options,” says first time attendee Linda Woodward of Hatteras/FocusOne. “It was a great opportunity to increase my knowledge of CCM so that I can bring new value to my customers and learn from technology vendors that we may need in the future to grow our business.”
Kaspar Roos (Aspire) delivered the opening keynote presentation, highlighting mega trends impacting the industry and the enormous pressure enterprises face when improving the communication experiences for their customers and employees. He discussed how more advanced companies are moving from “dumb, digital documents” to developing more meaningful conversations with customers.
Other first-time attendees felt the event could have benefited from more end customers representing a broader set of vertical industries. According to Laura Wix, Sales Executive at Fiserv, “Many of the attendees were from exhibiting vendors, and the end customers that were there came primarily from the insurance vertical.”
| Matt Swain and Robert Krugman of Broadridge discuss design thinking and the convergence of technology, content, and experiences. |
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
As a post-COVID event with modest attendance, DSF organizers should be commended for executing (and sticking with) the dates for hosting the event. With the number of vendors exhibiting, it is clear they are ready to engage and that customers are beginning to feel more comfortable traveling again. This is a good sign. Person-to-person interactions with peers, customers, and even competitors yield valuable insight that Zoom calls just cannot match. I am looking forward to DSF 2023, as well as seeing how the event and sponsors respond to the market and continue to define how communications impact customer experience.
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