On The Horizon | November 2020
For some of you, this is your first edition of On The Horizon, the monthly newsletter highlighting what’s coming down the pike for our teams at WesTech. Our priority is to keep you informed with each initiative and project. Here, you will find brief overviews of ongoing and upcoming projects. Our Support team and your Business Partners can fill in any gaps.
I know that (like each of your businesses) WesTech isn’t always easy to understand. So, I hope this can serve as a monthly “behind the scenes” peek to show what we are working on to become a stronger support system for you.
We have put together a short survey to get a bit more feedback on what you like and what you’d like to change regarding this newsletter and how we can improve communications. It’s only 7 questions, I promise it won’t take long!
Now let’s get to the latest at WesTech.
IN THIS EDITION
- Spamhaus Delisting
- OneDrive Migration
- Why Choose Lob
- Status Page Changes
- Message Central Progress
- Lytics Huddle Recordings
- Newsletter Survey
TRIED & TRUE PRACTICES FOR EMAIL DELIVERABILITY
Now that the Spamhaus block has been lifted, the Deliverability team will continue to work closely with the impacted businesses to warm IPs and build a positive reputation so that emails land in the inbox. At this time, over 90% of email traffic has migrated from the blocked IP space to SparkPost.
Due to our collective efforts, delivery has increased by 22% after making the needed changes to our mailing and list hygiene efforts. The focus now will continue to be strengthening each company’s reputation by following best practices and to support the push to implement engagement-based mailing strategies.
We know that these changes don’t have an end date, but we feel optimistic that incorporating the new practices will improve deliverability and allow your messaging to get into your customer’s inbox.
– Amanda Haughwout, Director of Email Deliverability
YOUR FILE STORAGE IS GETTING AN UPGRADE
Last month, we began the migration from Box to OneDrive and SharePoint for all of your documentation and file storage. The transition will be done in small groups and stages, organized by company and location, so if you share Box files with another group, there’s a chance you may not migrate at the same time. In that case, we recommend letting them know that shared files have moved. You will be notified both two weeks prior to your migration, and we’ll send a reminder the following week. Right now, everyone has access to their OneDrive and SharePoint accounts via your desktop app or OneLogin, so we also encourage you to begin exploring each before your migration occurs to help ease your transition.
PROGRESS SO FAR | At this time, the 14 West IT teams have migrated our files to OneDrive and we are currently in the process of moving the International groups over. Up next are the remaining 14 West teams, NewMarket Group, and Omnivista Health.
To learn how to work with OneDrive and SharePoint like a pro, you can find all needed training resources and information in the Microsoft 365 Evolve Workspace. If you would like a demo of each application, please reach out to help@14west.us.
– Lance Sturgis, Application Integration Specialist
LOB | THE FUTURE OF PRINT
With the implementation of Blueshift for Email and SMS notifications, we now have faster and more efficient communication. We know that print communications should be no different. That’s where our newest vendor, Lob, comes in.
We understand that it’s crucial to get in front of your customers from Day One in order to strengthen the quality of service you provide. Our previous system had an outdated content editor and a one-size-fits-all design, and we needed something that was able to be customized to suit your print needs. Although we’re in the rollout phase now, we’re excited to migrate each client over to Lob so that we can update dynamic content in real time, automate workflows, and have access to precise tracking and intelligent mailing metrics. We’re rolling this out for
Renewals first, but once the content has completely migrated over, we look forward to opening the platform to new print ideas.
– Jenelle Ketcham, Manager of Renewals
CUSTOMIZE YOUR STATUS PAGE COMMUNICATIONS
Most of you are well aware of our support application, Status Page, which serves as the centralized communication platform for our incident response management. The support systems in place have been setup to quickly detect errors in WesTech’s applications so you may notice an influx of emails from the trusty info@statuspage.io address. In an effort to lessen the influx of emails to your inbox, we wanted to remind you that the Status Page notifications are completely customizable on the Product level, so if you don’t need to receive error, maintenance, or incident communications on a certain product, you can take the following steps.
1. Head to https://14west.statuspage.io/
2. Click the blue button: “Subscribe to Updates”
3. Enter your work email and click “Subscribe via email”
4. This then takes you to a Preference Page where you can check boxes next to the Products and Services you wish to be notified about
5. Click “Save” at the bottom of the screen
– Randy Woolford, Enterprise Support Manager
LIGHTNING TALKS | NOVEMBER 17 & 18
UX Designers from both WesTech and Threefold are hosting a conference later this month aimed to help you improve the user experience on everything from your website to email to mobile that will enable you to drive your business forward. We know you’re busy, so we’re taking the “lightning” in Lightning Talks quite seriously by having each presentation take five minutes so that you’ll only need to spend 20 minutes each day. Speakers from internal teams will be sharing their UI/UX expertise, and we’re happy to announce that Paul Boag, CX Consultant with over 25 years of experience in Digital and Web Design, will be a guest speaker. You can find more information on the event here or sign up for each day below.
LIGHTNING TALKS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
BEGINS 9AM ET
MESSAGE CENTRAL UPDATE
You may have received a reminder from Daryl last month regarding our progress on sunsetting Message Central. In case you missed it, beginning Sunday, November 15, your role within Message Central will only allow you to view scheduled mailings, and all mailings* will need to be sent through Blueshift. Any updates to existing, scheduled mailings in Message Central should be requested through a Support ticket.
IRIS | Mailings created in IRIS are also going to be affected by our November 15 change. You may still use IRIS for tagging and split testing creation, but mailings created in the IRIS platform will no longer send. As for Lead Gen efforts, please contact the Support team for assistance with any mailings you need to send.
*As mentioned in previous communications, your API Triggered mailings (including Auto-Renew Notices and Credit Card Declines) and SMS mailings are an exception to this timeline.
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE DATA SCIENCE CAPABILITIES IN LYTICS
Our latest Lytics Huddles focused on their newest data science features: Laboratory, Content Classification, and Lookalike Models. If you weren’t able to watch them live, we’re sharing both recordings below.
LABORATORY SUMMARY | With Lytics Predictive Audiences, you now have the ability to build, fine-tune, troubleshoot, and validate these models on your own. You don’t need support from in-house data science or the Lytics team. With Lytics Predictive Audiences’ intuitive interface, you can. Watch here with access passcode: 6%c5?E8n
CLASSIFICATION SUMMARY | Much like we’ve done with lookalike models, we’re also updating the content area of Lytics’ dashboard with the addition of a Content Classification section to provide users with more transparency into how Lytics classifies content. This enhancement improves your visibility into content “health” and is a first step towards making content easier to curate and our content affinity engine easier to use. Watch here with access passcode: aZ9$8uj4
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Customer Intelligence team via our JIRA portal or customerintelligence@14west.us.
– Kathrin Simmons, CI Solutions Specialist
SURVEY REMINDER
You made it to the bottom, thank you for reading and scrolling through our updates! If you have five minutes, we would really appreciate your candid feedback on what you would like covered in these newsletters or communication pieces overall. Getting the right information to you as efficiently as possible is the ultimate goal, so please click here to complete the survey.
Daisy Smith
Assistant Director, Communications
"Don’t take yourself too seriously.”
I found myself at 14 West after 18 months of traveling and teaching in Bali, Thailand, and Australia. And now 5 years later, I’ve learned and grown with my team in extraordinary ways. I think that’s due in large part to the fact that I’ve been encouraged to approach my work and explore my potential in the same ways I’ve explored other parts of the world. I’m constantly asking questions, seeing and doing new things. And learning A LOT. I didn’t expect to find an experience like this in “an office back home.”
I love my position at 14 West because I’m invited to take on a diverse range of responsibilities. From running our Wellness Program to brand development and brand marketing to writing, I have a broad range of interests. And my role allows me to develop my skills through work that truly excites me. I have a hard time saying no to new projects, even when I already have a full plate. But when I take on too much, the leaders here are there with the support I need to get the job done. At the same time, I’m given the creative freedom to feel real ownership over my projects, which only motivates me more.
What is one thing you have to do every day in the office? Gotta have my essential oil diffuser going. Five of us share an office and we’re all hooked on the diffuser now, but it’s my job to create the perfect oil cocktail each morning to set the tone for the day. I’m obsessed.
