State In-plant Lands Business Card Contract

“It started with a phone call from the central procurement officer,” recalls Tammy Golden, director of the State of Tennessee’s Printing and Media Services division. The man on the other end of the line had a proposition to make.

“We’re having problems with this business card contract,” the officer revealed. “What are the chances of you guys taking this over?”

This was no small request. The state’s business cards had long employed thermography to create a raised effect on the state seal. The 50-employee in-plant had no thermographic equipment. Nor did it have a business card slitter, nor even online ordering software to handle the intake of hundreds of new orders.

But Golden knew an opportunity when she saw it.

“We worked with the governor’s office really closely,” she says. Eventually, Governor Bill Haslam’s office agreed that the thermographic effect was no longer essential, and printing the cards digitally would be acceptable. The in-plant got the green light to acquire a slitter, install a PageDNA online storefront and start printing business cards on its Xerox Color 1000.

On March 1, the in-plant entered the business card business, and in the first two months it produced 916 orders, generating $14,000 in new revenue.

“We’ve had really just overwhelmingly positive response,” Golden says. Customers love that they are getting their cards much faster and cheaper than ever before thanks to the in-plant’s efficient processes.

Her biggest surprise was that offices outside of the executive branch—such as the comptroller, secretary of state, treasurer, legislature and the judicial branch—also jumped on board.

Governor Haslam’s office, in particular, is happy with the new cards because they bring a more consistent, unified look. Previously, there were numerous different versions of state business card designs, Golden says.

The PageDNA software has been working great, she adds. Customers can see what their finished cards will look like as they are keying in their information. Once customers approve an online proof, cards are automatically impositioned onto 24-up press sheets.

“We hope to start offering other products through that as well,” she says, such as envelopes, note cards and calendars.