Compart - Innovators of Omnichannel Customer Communication

Written communications have taken on many forms throughout history. Perhaps the most impactful and important has been printed communications. In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and forever changed the way information was communicated. The technology that drives printing has evolved over time from analog to digital. In the early days of digital printing, large print manufactures had developed page composition software and essentially provided it free of charge, with one significant catch; the print language that it created was proprietary and could only be printed on their particular engines. Over time, printing costs skyrocketed, and businesses looked for an alternative. That’s when Harald Grumser and Christof Mayer, the Founders of Compart AG, decided to pull apart these proprietary languages and find ways to convert them to open standard formats. Since then, Compart has remained true to embracing open technology and making data accessible. To further dig deeper into the software developed by Compart, we interviewed Brian C. Gasteier, the President and CEO of Compart North America, Inc. a subsidiary of Compart AG. Here are a few excerpts of the interview:

Q. Why was Compart established, and how has it evolved over the years?

At Compart, our goal is to connect people, companies, and systems with future-proof solutions for automated omnichannel communication. In short, we build bridges between legacy systems and applications to today’s technology with the assurance of meeting tomorrow’s requirements because of our commitment to open standards. We were founded in 1992 and emerged as an early disrupter of the Print Industry, producing software that easily and efficiently converted proprietary formats into open standards. Since then, Compart’s technology offerings have expanded as a matter of course, but the mission has remained the same; making the handling of data, documents, and communications reliable and convenient while constantly exceeding expectations in performance and responsiveness.

Q. Tell us about Omni-channel communication technology from Compart.

The products that Compart bring to market for omnichannel communication are unique and distinctive compared to others in the industry. Our award-winning composition technology DocBridge^® Impress is a game-changer as it is truly built with a “digital-first” philosophy, leveraging open standards such as XML and CSS while designed to naturally output to HTML. Everything in composition today needs to service the Web, and DocBridge^® Impress is built for HTML delivery but also outputs to PDF, AFP, postscript, PCL or any of the many outputs available in the Compart Conversion Matrix. DocBridge^® Impress is a scalable, cross-platform, and cloud-ready software for page and device-independent document design that is easy to use, even by users without profound IT expertise. Documents created with DocBridge^® Impress are 100% omnichannel and accessible according to WCAG standards by which all US and International accessibility laws are set. 

There are many composition products on the market today, and with the exception of DocBridge^® Impress, they typically fall into one-of-two categories. The first category includes “Traditional Composition” tools that have been around for many years and make up the most popular and  ––monolithic products in the market. They were originally designed and built primarily for batch transactions and print output. Over the years, these platforms have grown by slapping new functionality onto old code driven by proprietary systems and processes. A good example of this is how servicing HTML adds layers of complexity, cost, and complication. The second category of composition tools includes “New Composition” technology, which boasts intuitive design elements and simplified processes from a designer standpoint but lacks the resources and technology to drive high-volume transactions or support alternative formats, multiple data sources API integrations, workflows, or true omnichannel output. Given Compart’s history and experience in format conversions and data reengineering, we are uniquely positioned to deliver all of these capabilities.

Q. Could you tell us who you work with and what industries you focus on?

Our solutions thrive with large amounts of data and complex systems or formats. The main industries we have serviced have been Insurance, Finance, Government, Healthcare, etc. Our philosophy has always revolved around Open Standards and liberating organizations from proprietary systems. Some of the world’s largest organizations trust their Customer Communication technology to Compart, such as Federated Insurance, Blue Cross- Blue Shield, Cigna, Broadridge Financial Services, Fidelity, Liberty Mutual, Taylor Corporation, Paychex & Vanguard. The IRS even listed Compart technology by name when sourcing for their Taxpayer Moderation Project where we are converting what would be printed IRS Notices into 508 compliant PDFs that will soon be available through their secure portal.  

Q. Tell us in detail about the technology that powers your solutions?

Our products have evolved over the years, but the base processes and functionality in our Mill products drive many similar processes throughout the DocBridge family of products. There are a myriad of tools on the market that perform conversions, and most simply take what you visually see, whether text or images, and plot these items on the same X-Y coordinates in the new format but without any of the original document data. These data attributes prove to be critical elements in format conversations, migration projects, data harmonization, 508 compliance projects, etc. We call these attributes “Docponents”; the components of documents.  

They are the amino acids or the building blocks of documents, and without them, documents and information can lose all meaning. When we perform format conversions, our software preserves and protects up to 141 unique document attributes, including text, barcodes, metadata, font, bookmarks, document structure, color, images with metadata, annotations, etc. These are differentiating factors for DocBridge solutions. By maintaining these critical elements, we can do so much more regarding extraction, indexing, automation, validation, etc. Just by maintaining the document structures, we are able to easily create accessible documents via PDF/UA, perhaps one of the factors that lead to the IRS to listing our technology by name when sourcing for their Taxpayer Moderation Project.

Q. How do you market your services?

We have both direct and indirect sales channels that span over 1,500 customers in more than 50 counties around the globe. Our Partner channel supports reseller, referral, and OEM opportunities, while our direct channel offers customers direct access to Compart technology and services. Our technologies have traditionally been on-premise solutions, but over the past five years, we have fully committed to the cloud and architecture that supports Packaged Business Capability Strategies.

Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched?

DocBridge^® Gear is a platform that has been a development priority for several years now. The software is a customer communications-specific integration layer that allows technical users to model CCM process flows based on graphic entities and smart logic. This cloud-native, micro-services based integration platform is optimized for processing high-volumes of (mission-critical) customer communications. The solution is based on a drag-and-drop visual canvas that allows technical users to quickly design and program CCM process flows. It’s very extensible, leveraging both Compart and third-party products, and it allows IT users to design and implement CCM workflows using a no-code/low-code approach. Some of the key benefits of DocBridge^® Gear include support for batch and transaction processing, integration of any number of other applications or APIs, and the seamless connection of digital and analog communication channels.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers?  

The future is bright for both Compart and our customers! Harald Grumser’s favorite question to ask our customers is, “Knowing what you know now, would you choose Compart again?” We have always been focused on the satisfaction and value we provide our customers, and that is perhaps best displayed in our commitment to Open Standards. When we develop products or features within our products, we always look for ways to leverage Open Standards whenever possible.

The other way that Compart commits to Open Standards is how our software operates and outputs composition or content. Unlike so many others in the industry, we don’t lock users into our software through proprietary systems and formats. We thoughtfully design solutions that allow for flexibility and migration.

Meet the President and CEO

Brian C. Gasteier is the President and CEO of Compart North America, Inc. His career has spanned more than two decades leading the seismic shifts in technology at the root of communication technology. As the Director of Major Accounts at a multinational technology/ imaging corporation, and now as CEO of a leading international supplier of multichannel customer communication solutions, Brian has led the charge in driving modernization in communications, technology and customer communication management. He has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Policy from St. Norbert College and resides outside of Chicago, IL.

“Given the increases in data, desire for efficiency, and demand for security, the next ten years will yield an exciting era of automation and accessibility incustomer communications.”