Why Regulated Industries are Turning to Print and Mail Outsourcing

For regulated industries, sending a bill, statement or notice isn’t as simple as hitting “print.”

Every communication can carry requirements around data security, accuracy, delivery and compliance. Behind it sits an operation that requires specialized equipment and staff, ongoing technology investments, rising postage costs and a plan for keeping critical communications moving when something goes wrong.

Today, regulated industries still rely on print and mail for critical customer communications, even as they expand digital channels. These industries include:

As demands grow, more regulated businesses are reconsidering whether managing print and mail internally is the best use of their people, technology and capital.

Operating an internal print and mail facility requires a significant investment in equipment, software and people.

Printers and automated insertion equipment need to be purchased, maintained and eventually replaced. Businesses need employees with specialized production expertise, along with IT support, physical space, paper, ink and other supplies. They also need enough capacity to accommodate periods of higher volume, even when that equipment may sit underutilized at other times.

Postage adds another challenge.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, mailing services prices increased approximately 7.4% in July 2025. For businesses sending large volumes of transactional mail, continued postal increases can have a significant impact on operating costs.

A print and mail outsourcing provider can spread investments in equipment, technology and personnel across many clients. High-volume providers can also use postal optimization strategies such as presorting, commingling and address-quality processes, and USPS incentive management to help control mailing costs.

The bigger consideration, however, is what organizations no longer have to manage themselves. Outsourcing can reduce the internal resources devoted to maintaining equipment, staffing production and keeping an in-house operation current.

For regulated organizations, efficiency is only part of the decision.

Transactional communications frequently contain personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), account information or other sensitive customer data. Protecting that information has to extend throughout the communication process.

Third-party providers don’t remove an organization’s compliance responsibilities, either.

For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that HIPAA-covered entities that engage certain business associates to handle PHI must have agreements requiring those partners to appropriately safeguard the information.

Likewise, the Federal Trade Commission’s Safeguards Rule requires covered financial institutions to maintain safeguards for customer information and take steps to ensure applicable service providers protect customer information in their care.

That makes specialized expertise particularly important when evaluating print and mail outsourcing for regulated industries. Businesses should understand how a potential provider handles sensitive data, controls physical and digital access, monitors production accuracy and prepares for disruptions.

Independent audits and certifications can provide additional evidence of a provider’s security practices. Organizations should also evaluate the provider’s experience with their industry’s particular requirements rather than assuming all commercial printers offer the same level of protection.

A print operation is easy to overlook when everything is running smoothly.

A failed printer, staffing shortage, power outage, severe weather event or other disruption can quickly expose its importance. Bills and statements still need to go out. Time-sensitive regulatory notices still have deadlines.

Creating that level of resilience internally can require duplicate equipment, backup systems and contingency staffing. A print and mail outsourcing provider with geographically separate, redundant production facilities can offer another layer of business continuity by shifting production if one location is disrupted.

Scalability matters for the same reason. Organizations with fluctuating volumes need enough capacity for peak periods without carrying the expense of that capacity throughout the year.

Outsourcing gives organizations access to both the redundancy and capacity needed to keep critical communications moving, without requiring them to build and maintain that infrastructure themselves.

Sending production to a third party once meant handing over files and relying heavily on the vendor to make changes, provide updates and manage the process. Today’s print and mail outsourcing model can look very different.

Customer communication management (CCM) software can separate control of the communication from the physical production of it.

Organizations can retain visibility into documents and workflows while a specialized provider handles printing, inserting and mailing. Depending on the platform, internal teams may be able to make document changes, monitor job status, access reporting, maintain communication archives and manage approvals without submitting routine requests to the print vendor.

That makes technology an important part of the outsourcing decision. Businesses should evaluate not only what happens on the production floor but also how easily their own teams can manage and monitor communications.

Nordis’ statement printing and mailing services are one example of this approach, combining outsourced physical production with tools that allow organizations to manage documents, reporting and delivery workflows.

Print isn’t disappearing. In fact, a 2025 Two Sides North America study showed 27% of U.S. consumers prefer bills and statements in print, while 76% want the right to choose rather than being pushed into digital-only communications.

Customers may receive a paper statement, an email notification and a text reminder from the same organization. Some prefer paper. Others want electronic delivery. And preferences can vary depending on the type of communication.

That creates another challenge for organizations operating separate print and digital systems.

Modern print and mail outsourcing can become part of a broader customer communications strategy rather than a standalone production function. A flexible CCM platform can help businesses manage print and electronic communications within coordinated workflows, making it easier to support different delivery preferences and add new channels over time.

This is especially valuable for regulated industries because organizations still need oversight and consistency as communications move across channels.

The goal isn’t simply to replace paper with digital. It’s to create enough flexibility to use the right channel for the communication and the customer while maintaining the controls the business requires.

For many businesses, the question isn’t whether they can continue managing print and mail internally. It’s whether they should.

As equipment ages, costs rise and security and compliance demands grow, maintaining an in-house operation can require significant resources for a function that isn’t core to the business. Organizations should consider not only what they spend on print and mail today, but what it will take to keep that operation secure, reliable and current in the years ahead.

A few questions can help regulated businesses determine whether to outsource print and mail or keep it in house:

If several of those questions expose gaps, print and mail outsourcing may offer more than operational savings. It can shift the burden of maintaining specialized infrastructure, expertise and capacity to a provider built to manage it, while allowing companies to focus resources on the business.

For organizations evaluating whether it’s time to rethink their current approach, learn more about Nordis’ print and mail outsourcing services or request a demo to discuss your print and mail needs.