Careers at Pitney Bowes
Mission
Pitney Bowes’ mission is to deliver shareholder and customer value by providing leading-edge global, integrated mail, and document management solutions for organizations of all sizes.
Business segments
Pitney Bowes is a provider of commerce solutions for mailing and other purposes. The company operates three reportable business segments:
- Small and Medium Business Solutions (SMB) – Provides a range of software, services, supplies, and equipment for mailing purposes to small and medium businesses.
- Enterprise Business Solutions – Provides services and equipment that allow large enterprises to process outbound and inbound mail. Includes the Presort Services and Production Mail operations.
- Digital Commerce Solutions (DCS) – Provides a range of solutions, including customer engagement software, customer information management, shipping management, cross border eCommerce, and location intelligence solutions for businesses of all sizes. Primarily delivered as enterprise platforms, traditional software licenses, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and on-demand applications.
History
In 1902, Arthur Pitney patented a postage-stamping machine in Connecticut. He spent the next 12 years improving it and trying to get it used by the U.S. Postal Service. At the time, the volume of mail in post offices was increasing, making the use of adhesive postage stamps expensive. Pitney’s device provided an economical solution. It was approved for use by the service after World War I.
Around the same time, Walter Bowes’s Universal Stamping Machine Company was providing stamp-canceling machines to the postal service, on a rental basis. They were also being used in England, Germany, and Canada. Bowes was concerned that Pitney’s machines would render his obsolete. Therefore, he met with his competitor in 1920 and they decided to pool their resources.
Bowes merged his firm with Pitney’s American Postage Meter Company to form the Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company. The day after the deal, the men successfully pushed legislation through Congress enabling all mail classes to be posted by meters rather than stamps, and their meter was licensed for use by the whole postal system. By 1922, they had 404 meters in operation.
Over the next several decades, the company faced a number of challenges, including government regulation to avoid a monopoly and Pitney’s resignation. However, it overcame these difficulties and diversified its businesses to include everything from copying machines to mailing software. It ultimately shortened its name to Pitney Bowes to reflect its breadth of offerings.
Benefits at Pitney Bowes
Business model of Pitney Bowes
Customer Segments
Pitney Bowes has a mass market business model, with no significant differences between customers. The company targets its offerings at organizations of all sizes and industries.
Value Proposition
Pitney Bowes offers three primary value propositions: accessibility, innovation, and brand/status.
The company creates accessibility by offering a wide variety of options. Since 2000 it has completed over 83 acquisitions, mostly of services and software businesses, investing $2.5 billion. These additions have enabled it to integrate many new capabilities into its portfolio.
The company has embraced innovation throughout its history. It is responsible for many industry firsts, including the following:
- Introduction of the AddressRight address & barcode printer
- The first in-line weighing and metering system
- The first secure digital postage meter
- The first ink jet postage meter
- Introduction of the Digital Document Deliver (D3) platform, which enables message management via the Internet, e-mail, fax, or hard copy
The company has established a powerful brand as a result of its success. It bills itself as the largest manufacturer of postage meters, with 85% of the U.S. market and 60% of the world market. It has over 1.5 million customers in 100 countries, and its client firms include 90% of the Fortune 500. Lastly, it has won many honors, including recognition as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in India“ by The Economic Times and one of the“Best Large Employers“ by Forbes (both 2016).
Channels
Pitney Bowes’ main channels are its direct and inside sales teams, independent dealers and distributors, and website. The company promotes its offering through its social media pages, direct mailings, telemarketing, advertising, trade shows, and conferences.
Customer Relationships
Pitney Bowes’ customer relationship is primarily of a self-service nature. Customers utilize its products and services while having limited interaction with employees. The company’s website includes product tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and an option for customers to monitor their service through an online account. That said, there is a personal assistance component in the form of phone, e-mail, online, and on-site support.
Key Activities
Pitney Bowes’ business model entails designing and developing its products and services for customers. It relies on third-parties for product manufacturing as well as a variety of components, supplies, and services.
Key Partners
Pitney Bowes maintains the following types of partnerships:
Systems Integrators and Alliances – Firms that offer consulting and other services to the company’s clients
Technology and OEM Partners – Firms that integrate the company’s solutions into their platform or service offerings
Resellers – Firms that purchase the company’s solutions and sell them to their clients
Specific partners include NetSuite, Mapping Solutions, DataSource Technology, and Crossbow.
Pitney Bowes also invites developers to use its APIs to create their own eCommerce applications.
Key Resources
Pitney Bowes’ main resources are its human resources, who include technology staff that design and develop its offerings, sales/marketing staff that promote them, and customer service staff that provide support. It also places a high priority on intellectual property, with 3,500 patents worldwide in areas such as cell phone payment, ticketing, shipping, encryption, laser printing, and mail production and processing. In fact, it has been regularly ranked as one of the top 200 firms receiving U.S. patents by the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Association.
Cost Structure
Pitney Bowes has a cost-driven structure, aiming to minimize expenses through significant automation and low-price value propositions. Its biggest cost driver is sales/administration, a fixed cost. Other major drivers are in the areas of cost of business services, cost of equipment sales, and cost of support services, all variable expenses.
Revenue Streams
Pitney Bowes has four revenue streams:
Product Sales – Revenue generated from sales of equipment, supplies, and software
Rentals – Revenue generated from the rental of equipment such as postage meters and mailing equipment, as well as from subscriptions for digital meter services
Financing – Revenue generated from lease financing for products (mainly through sales-type leases) and revolving lines of credit for the purchase of postage and supplies
Service Sales – Revenue generated from the sale of support (e.g., maintenance) and business services (presort mail services, shipping solutions, and global ecommerce solutions)
Our team
info: Marc earned a Bachelor’s degree at Denison University and an MBA at Northwestern University. He previously held several executive positions at IBM, leading its North American consulting business and small and medium business division.
info: Michael earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the State University of New York at Albany. He previously held several roles at Pitney Bowes, including President of Mailstream Solutions and Services – Americas.
info: Joe earned B.S. degrees in Economics and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He previously served as CIO of Steward Health Care System and Technology and Operations Executive of Cerberus Capital Management.
info: Abby earned a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.A. in Education and an MBA from New York University. She previously served as President of Abby F. Kohnstamm & Associates, a marketing consulting firm, and as CMO of IBM for 12 years.