Pitney Bowes
Company: IntegraCustomer: Pitney BowesSubmitted by: BluegrassPitney Bowes has been at the leading edge of office automation since 1922 when it introduced the first franking machine in the UK. As a world market leader in mail and message management, the company is constantly looking at ways to deliver a broader choice of product and service solutions to its business customer base.The advent of the Web, rather than providing a threat to conventional mail has with the help of web support agency Integra, enabled Pitney Bowes to launch a new and innovative Internet-based service for printing and sending direct mail.Based on the success of previous on-line solutions developed and managed by Integra, such as Pitney Bowes’ world-wide distributor extranet, the mailing specialist looked to Integra again to design and host a robust, fast and cost effective service for bespoke mailshots.The turn-key solution from Integra is coded in Microsoft ASP running on SQL Server 7 employing SSL encryption for the necessary security relating to customer-sensitive data and credit card details submitted online. Shockwave animation delivers a quick and visually advanced client front end, whilst a dynamic link to the DMexpress™ site within the Microsoft Office2000 Direct Mail Manager simplifies the process for Microsoft users one stage further.
Integra’s UK service team undertook the entire development and installation phases. The working solution took three months to develop and went live at the end of September.
Visitors to the DMexpress™ web site are presented with an intuitive online walkthrough for their chosen mailing, with a flexible range of options to assist them with every aspect of a mail campaign from design to fulfilment.Now up and running, Integra is providing 24/7/52 remote management for the site allowing Pitney Bowes to concentrate on the new web-business it is generating. The service provided by Integra deals with any technical issues arising from increased site traffic as well as potential problems such as remaining on-line over the millennium date change.For customers starting from scratch, DMexpress™ offers useful information on how to target, design, write copy, and handle response in relation to a mailing including important points such as existing UK legislation relating to direct mail.Customers can use the Microsoft Word Wizards provided by DMexpress™ to choose format (e.g.
postcard, letter, flyer), layout and font as well as produce a customer-defined target mail list from leading list broker Dudley Jenkins. For those customers who havealready designed a mailer and have their own mailing lists, the DMexpress™ service can be used to ‘outsource’ the printing and mailing elements of a project.
Based on the level of assistance required by each customer, the online estimating function calculates a cost for the job, which can either be accepted with a mouse click, or saved as a quote allowing the customer to compare various options they may be considering.Once accepted, the customer submits additional job details such as class of postage and desired mailing date along with their credit card details for billing purposes.
With the job allocated, the customer is kept up-to-date at each stage of the mailing process by email triggered via intelligent workflow within DMexpress™. This is used to alert the customer to any further actions required prior to mailing such as final approval of the document before printing.Steve Hornsey, Vice President, European Marketing at Pitney Bowes, comments: “DMexpress™ is our first Internet-based service in the UK. Integra not only provided technology expertise, but also worked with us throughout to provide the best business solution for our customers.”Simon Robinson, Account Manager at Integra, adds: “DMexpress™ is an excellent example of applying web technology to complement and enhance a company’s core business using their own market experience, it positions Pitney Bowes as a leading player in the E-Commerce market.”
