Pitney Bowes 2003 Annual Report Download - page 8

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In addition, hundreds of retail sites have installed
our DeliverAbility™shipping system, giving their
customers seven-day-a-week access to carrier
shipping services.
• Enterprise Document Management
We have determined that this very large
marketplace really consists of a series of
markets in which the winners will be those
who become experts in unique vertical market
applications or who help customers master
specific critical business processes.
A good example is technology that is helping our
customers create documents that can be delivered
in paper or electronic form with equal ease. We
recently adapted our D3®Digital Document Delivery
software to accommodate the characters of the
Thai alphabet for Thailand Post, paving the way for
international use of D3®software. The installation
reflects another trend that plays to our strengths
— the move by a number of national posts to offer
value-added services like Electronic Bill
Presentment and Payment.
We are particularly excited about Customer
Communication Management, which we estimate
is a $4 billion opportunity. CCM describes how a
business can link its customer communications
with other business processes, from billing and
collections to marketing. This helps strengthen
customer relationships and creates opportunities
for cross selling.
We were the first company to be validated by Siebel
Systems, Inc., a leading provider of business
applications software and a strategic partner of
Pitney Bowes, to link its Siebel 7 Call Center and
Siebel 7 Marketing with mailing operations. We are
using this technology in our own call centers and
service management systems.
TSYS®
, a global payments processor with a leading
print and mail facility, is using our OnRoute™Mail
Tracking Solutions to obtain more real-time
information regarding the status of mail within the
U.S. Postal Service system. You can learn about this
solution on page 15.
A word here about our Management Services
operation, which has a critical role in our
enterprise document management strategy.
Growth in our outsourcing business was
hampered in 2003, as business in the legal and
financial services industries remained sluggish,
resulting in declining mail and copy volumes.
Our plan is to standardize our offerings and
sharpen our focus in select vertical markets.
We launched our first vertical offering in 2003
with the acquisition of DDD Company, now
operating as Pitney Bowes Government Solutions,
providing federal government outsourcing services.
Streamlining Our Infrastructure
Over the last three years, we have been
upgrading our internal systems to give us the
scalability needed to grow revenue and improve
quality without growing costs. This work will also
help provide the internal controls needed to meet
the end-of-2004 deadline for complying with
provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — the
governance reform law whose main provisions
tighten corporate controls and financial reporting
requirements.
In 2003, we made significant progress in upgrading
and automating our customer-facing processes
and integrating our North American product and
parts distribution system. We also implemented
SAP enterprise software to automate our human
resource systems. This enabled us to consolidate
multiple payroll systems and create auditable,
“We are particularly excited about Customer
Communication Management, which we estimate
is a $4 billion opportunity.”