19 March 2008

Capscan Tackles Irish Addressing With Matchcode International For Ireland At IDMF 2008

Stand W250, 29th April – 1st May, Earls Court 2

Capscan, a leading supplier of international address management solutions and data integrity services, today announced that it will launch a new version of Matchcode International for Ireland at IDMF 2008. The software delivers marketers with improved address data match rates of up to 80%, providing a Republic of Ireland contact address database that is correctly formatted, accurate and comprehensive.

Addressing in the Republic of Ireland has long been a challenge for the international marketer, as it uses no postcoding system, except within Dublin and Cork, which use numbered postal districts. Currently many people living in rural (and even some urban) areas share the same postal address, creating problems for deliveries and the emergency services. The problem is exacerbated in areas where road names and house numbers are rare.

“The absence of postcodes in the Republic of Ireland can cause extra margins for error when entering contact details into a database, with many members of the direct mail industry believing it is putting the country at a disadvantage compared to other European countries” says Managing Director of Capscan, Terry Hiles. “Matchcode International for Ireland’s match rates have been significantly improved to help tackle this problem, giving confidence that the addresses in the database are valid and of a high standard.”

Visitors to stand W250 will receive a full demonstration of the new version of Matchcode International for Ireland. Partial addresses are automatically screened against the country data file of over two million addresses to return a full, valid address. The software ensures that databases are only populated with complete and accurate addresses, with abbreviations, mis-spellings and incomplete addresses quickly identified and corrected.

Following a recommendation from ComReg, the Communications Regulator in Ireland, the Irish postal operator An Post is finalising plans for the government to introduce and roll out a new postcoding system. Technical Director at Capscan, Andy Green comments, “There will be a big demand for address validation tools to support the new postcoding system as soon as it is available and we are set to be the first to market with this.”

Matchcode International with support for 240 countries and territories will also be available for demonstration on stand W250, alongside Capscan’s award-winning Capscan OnDemand data validation service and online cleansing and enhancement tool, Capscan Integrity.

Throughout the show, Capscan will be running a prize draw with the opportunity to win an iPod Touch.