There are a lot of ways companies can innovate , and in today ’s world, innovation is the key for success. A testimony to this is the success story of Pitney Bowes .
Pitney Bowes is a global technology company offering innovative products and solutions for e-commerce companies in the areas of customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping and mailing, and global e-commerce. More than 1.5 million clients in around 100 countries today rely on the products, solutions and services from Pitney Bowes.
Pitney Bowes is eyeing their Indian market with great expectations, as they open their 8th office in India and celebrate the achievement of being awarded as one among the Top 5 tech employers in
India.
Excerpts from the interaction with Mr.Manish Choudhary, Vice President – Global Engineering & Managing Director- India Operations, Pitney Bowes Software India Pvt. Ltd
Tell us about the journey and operations of Pitney Bowes. We are keen to know about your India operations.
Pitney Bowes is a global technology company which powers billions of physical and digital transactions in the world of commerce through data management & engagement software, shipping & mailing solutions, and location intelligence offerings. It is a 95 year old company that has been in the postagemeter business since 1920. We have expanded our business into high growth markets, including digital commerce and software, while at the same time continuing to innovate in our core mailing and shipping businesses. The India operations started in 2007 with zero employee base and we have grown significantly since then, with about 700 employees working on over 40 products, across two locations in Noida and Pune. The R&D office in Noida is now the single largest co-located office in Pitney Bowes worldwide and is delivering significant value to the organization. In the 8 year journey, the company won ‘Great Places to Work’ four times in a row, and about 24 organizational awards in total.
Innovation is at the core of the organization, and we were able to successfully launch a corporate accelerator initiative last year in association with NASSCOM, to seek startups in our areas of play. We are trying to build something special here, with sharp execution focus, rigorous talent management and an enabling environment to steadily build reputation of a strong employer and leadership brand.
How and where was the company started. Can we have a sneak peek about the real founders of Pitney Bowes?
Pitney Bowes was founded by Arthur Pitney and Walter Bowes in the year 1920 at Stamford, Connecticut, US and went public in 1950. By 1960s, the brand power of the name “Pitney Bowes” was built and the decade saw tremendous expansion with over 80+ acquisitions. Beginning of this year, we rebranded ourselves, to reflect our role in the changing world of commerce, emphasizing the
interplay between physical and digital communications,and also spotlighting emerging technology areas such as location intelligence, customer information management and cross-border commerce where Pitney Bowes provides industry leading solutions.
What are the services offered by Pitney Bowes in India?
Pitney Bowes offers a wide spectrum of products across the following industries:
Location Intelligence:
Pitney Bowes has developed easy-to-use solutions to help make businesses more profitable and governments improve service delivery. These solutions deliver powerful visual ways to analyze spatial and business data to drive more effective decision-making across commercial and government organizations.
Customer Information Management:
With data warehousing, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and business intelligence tools, Pitney Bowes helps the organizations to personalize their customer experience across channels, accelerate compliance initiatives, better manage risk and make business operations more efficient.
Customer Engagement
By reshaping the way brands engage with their customers across the entire customer lifecycle, one can see remarkable improvement in acquisition, retention, and up-sell/cross-sell and customer service using Pitney Bowes’ suite of customer engagement solutions that dynamically guide personalized interactions across all channels.
Global Ecommerce
Pitney Bowes looks after international shipping with the experience accumulated by processing millions of cross-border shipments. The total landed costs are given to the buyerswith enhanced
value combination of transit time, shipping rates and delivery tracking.
Shipping and Mailing
Pitney Bowes systems, software and services can help to engage with customers more effectively, enhance productivity, improve parcel delivery and manage postage spend with ease.
What are the branding strategies adopted by Pitney Bowes for India?
Pitney Bowes recently unveiled a new brand strategy and identity which is more closely aligned to the company’s business transformation strategy and vision. The new strategy and identity have been designed to more clearly and evocatively tell the organization’s story as it continues to expand into new markets, including digital commerce and software, while continuing to innovate in its core mailing and shipping businesses. The new brand strategy brings clarity to how we enable physical and digital commerce and underscores our focus on getting it right inareas such as Location Intelligence, Customer Information Management, Global Ecommerce and Mailing & Shipping.
What are the challenges you are facing in India and what’s your take on these?
From a technology standpoint, we were able to identify a series of digital markets that represented approximately $25 billion of opportunity growing at a doubledigit rate. We need to constantly
analyze the trends which have the most staying power and to adopt them as quickly as possible. Tapping the full potential of these opportunities require a very strong R&D foundation which we are trying to build in India and worldwide. At the crux of these efforts are our people – we invest in them, and ensure their interests remain focused in the long term and are closely aligned with our clients. It is a war for talent in India and we ensure that we remain as one of the top workplaces in the country to attract and retain our top talent.
Tell us about your future plans in India? What all we can expect from Pitney Bowes, in the years to come?
Pitney Bowes plans to continue to build its presence as a strong organization in India centered on innovation. So stay tuned. We are transforming Pitney Bowes for the next century by expanding into high-growth markets, including digital commerce and software, while continuing to innovate in our core shipping and mailing businesses. One milestone to mark this transformation was our brand re-launch to better reflect our role in this changing world of commerce and growing relevance to a wider audience around the world.
Text: Vijay D Photos: Pitney Bowes