We will soon be launching the Digital Franking technology

Today the company has more than 12,000 installations in the Stamp
Evidencing (Franking) segment. It also has more than 50 installations in the mid
and high-end post production inserters

Recently, Pitney Bowes has launched its new line of Degaussers in India.
How does the company plan to spread the awareness of the product since it is not
easy to understand it at the first go?

Any organization that deals and understands the importance of handling data
would certainly appreciate the need for protecting it from piracy to ensure
privacy. The cost of data getting into the wrong hands is much more than the
cost incurred in adopting a technology to protect it. We at Pitney Bowes
understand that effective data security and data management is critical for
industries across verticals today. At a time when businesses across the world
are at a risk of losing $1 trillion every year due to data security, we believe
that Intimus 'Degausser' will be a great tool across verticals especially IT,
telecom, insurance, banking and even for the Indian Government in ensuring a
secured destruction of data once it becomes useless. The launch perfectly fits
with our global strategy and plays a major role in the secured destruction of
e-data. We will be educating the customers on the importance of secured data
destruction through seminars and interaction. The launch of this product will
have immense significance in today's context, where secured data destruction is
gaining increased importance to ensure non-retrieval of data once it is
destroyed.

Pitney Bowes started its India operations six years ago. How has the
journey been?

The journey so far has been pretty good. Pitney Bowes has established its
leadership in the Indian market in the mail stream industry through its
innovative technologies and solutions. Today the company has more than 12,000
installations in the Stamp Evidencing (Franking) segment. It also has more than
50 installations in the mid and high-end post production inserters. The company
has a wide segment of audience from telecom, banks and insurance sectors.

What are your core areass of business?

Pitney Bowes has recently restructured its business into three core areas.
The enterprise, channel and commercial to cater to various segment and
verticals. We will soon be launching the Digital Franking technology that would
change the face of the office mailing solutions in India. The technology center
that was launched last month in Delhi would act as a product demo and education
center for the customers. We have attracted new talents in all the above
divisions of the business to handle our technology and solutions. Pitney Bowes
India remains the only global mailstream company to have direct presence here.
Our company's innovative technologies and customized solutions will help to
simplify operations, increase work productivity and achieve more in less time.
In other words, at Pitney Bowes, we have the required expertise to empower
businesses with lower costs, increased compliance and more convenience.

How many channel partners does the company have in the country? Is the
company planning to expand its channel base by the end of this year?

Pitney Bowes currently has 30 channel partners and we are looking forward to
enhance our channel base to a considerable extent by this financial year.
Channel partners continue to be an integral part of the company in reaching out
to customers in the newer areas. Our partners are spread across the country and
we want to ensure them that we are looking at their business growth as well. We
strongly believe that Pitney Bowes's growth is based on our partners' commitment
and efforts.

What is the company's channel strategy? Does the channel play an important
role in your scheme of things?

The company has a national distributor who handles the core business, which
is the stamp evidencing (Franking technology). Besides there are regional
distributors to handle products under the secured data destruction like paper
shredders and mail solutions products including desktop inserters, folders etc.

The fact that we have set up this division this year itself spells out the
importance of channel in our business. Our products are niche and the market is
completely virgin with few or no competitors especially in our mail creation
products. We also realize that education and awareness programs are essential,
thus we have regular education and training programs for our partners. The
objective of such programs is to enable our partners with right knowledge of
products and solutions.

What is the road ahead for the company in India?

The company is excited about the huge opportunity that this market provides
especially in the BFSI and telecom industry, where document management has
become a part of organizational strategy. Pitney Bowes would be bringing in more
technology to the Indian market in the document management space including
secured data destruction. We would be soon coming out the Digital Franking
technology. Pitney Bowes has been focusing on establishing strong infrastructure
and research and technology. We are offering world class services and technology
and have recently opened a technology center at Delhi for better customer
education. Our foremost focus in the year 2010 is to leverage on this investment
and enhance productivity and effectiveness of our people.

What are company's major product offerings in India? Which is the focus
segment for the company (large enterprise, SMBs or SOHO segment)?

Pitney Bowes' products offerings can be broadly classified as follows:

• Transactional mailing solutions to handle high volume of transactional
  documents: High end production inserters
• Office mailing solutions: Desktop inserters, Folders
• Secured data destruction solution: Degaussers, Paper shredders, Industrial
  shredders
• Secured evidencing: Digital Franking, Tax Meters
• Document Software solutions: Each products and solutions has its own
  market and segment.

However, broadly speaking BFSI, government and telecom will be a major
focus. In the office segment large enterprise and SMB could be the target?

Across India, we offer a wide range of hardware and software solutions
across three main categories:

• Mail Solutions
• Product Intelligence
• Software Solutions

Bharat Sharma

bharats@cybermedia.co.in