you and pb today 1Q 2011
The Official Publication of Pitney Bowes Employees
Volly Launches TM
See story on page 4
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Chairman’s Connection
1Q 2011 contents 4
Pitney Bowes Announces Volly TM
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PBits… Pitney Bowes Partners with the U.S. Postal Service to Drive Expedited Shipping and Meter Usage
Collaborating with Local University Leads to Innovation Open Innovation What is “Behavior Based Safety” (BBS)?
10 Community Involvement 14 Young People Get a Chance to Learn On the Job
15 PB Wins Poste Italiane Contract
16 IdeaNet 2010: Ideas to Action 18 New Technical Service
Training Facility Opens in Georgia, US
Robert Bavolacco, Global Product Manager and Rosemary Flannery, PBGS Operations Manager receiving co-branded flat-rate shipping supplies.
In a significant show of teamwork, the USPS and Pitney Bowes have partnered to drive usage of Priority and Express Mail. The benefits of this effort are many, including cost effective shipping options for our customers, added value for Connect+TM users in the form of additional discounts, greater visibility and exposure for PB as an industry leader, and increased usage of this vital USPS shipping service.
21 Executive Snapshot:
The Pitney Bowes team, under the leadership of Vicki O’Meara, EVP and President PBMS, and directed by Robert Bavolacco, Global Product Manager, designed the joint program to increase usage of our meters for expedited shipping services with the USPS. It features a dedicated website, pb.com/shipusps, to help explain the benefits of using Priority and Express Mail and has included marketing messages on statements and other customer-facing communications.
22 Developing the Russian
The program also enhances the value of our meters as customers receive an additional discount of 5%–7% for using their meters to process and print their shipping labels.
20 Executive Snapshot: Yves Coue
Sue McKinney
Software Market
23 The Choices We Make 24 Have Your Say: 2010 Employee Survey
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
REMINDER PB Impact Award Nomination Period will begin in May. Remember to nominate an individual or team that has made an innovative impact for our company.
Chairman’s Connection Chairman’s
Moving Forward in 2011 As we move forward in 2011, we will continue our strategic drive to be the leader in Customer Communication Management (CCM). In January we introduced Volly™, our cloud based secure digital mailbox and the reception from major mailers so far has been extremely positive. We look forward to continued progress and the consumer rollout later this year. Read more about Volly™ later in this issue. Volly™ is important to our future because it helps to capture the shift from physical to digital communications. However, physical mail is not going away and is still critical to our business and to our customers. We will continue to innovate and grow in our traditional core business but we must also work to be a leader in the integration of physical and digital communications. Customer Communication Management is the centerpiece of our Enterprise and SMB (Small Medium Business) strategies. Traditionally, our SMB business has generated around 50% of our revenue and more importantly it generates over 75% of our profits. It is therefore essential that we focus on our small and medium size customers and provide additional value. We need to help our customers communicate with their customers. We are doing this by introducing new postal solutions as well as other services and by making it easier to do business with us. We have also put a strong focus on meaningful growth in the Enterprise segment with a significant revenue growth target. To help accomplish this
we have established several key actions which include: progress in the build out of Volly™, enhancement of our CCM capabilities across the company and the development of an enterprise customer management program. The Enterprise team is now engaged in identifying their specific tactics and implementing actions to succeed. Consistent with our strategy, we need to continue to evolve and transform our business, to become the leader in the CCM space. At the same time, we must sustain our legacy and drive innovation as we embrace the future. We will continue our focus on improving customer retention and loyalty as well as the progress we have made on improving the customer experience. We must continue to increase the value we provide to our customers through our products and services as well as through our numerous interactions with them. In 2011, we need to continue our focus on revenue creation and the development of new capabilities and technologies so that we can deliver on our revenue and profit commitments. This is a historic time for Pitney Bowes and our industry. 2011 will be filled with opportunity and I am personally energized and encouraged by what I am seeing within our organization. We have an exciting strategy, exciting new technologies, and an exciting future. These are extraordinary times; however, we have extraordinary people around the world who are dedicated, determined and devoted to our success.
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
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Growth
Pitney Bowes Announces Volly
™
Secure Digital Delivery Service
On Janaury 6, 2011 Pitney Bowes announced the launch of Volly™ secure digital delivery service that will allow people to interact with their bills, statements, coupons and catalogs just as they do in the physical world, but enhanced for 21st century consumers. What is Volly? Volly is a secure digital online service that not only enables consumers to get their bills, statements, coupons, catalogs and promotions digitally, but also empowers them to pay those bills—using their checking accounts or credit cards—all from one site. With one click, you can de-clutter your life. Gone are those unruly stacks of bills and statements! No more misplaced or forgotten invoices or coupons. It’s all neatly organized—by brand—with automatic due-date and expiration-date reminders. For the time-taxed, it’s the relief they’ve been looking for. You can also scan, upload and organize critical documents such as wills, warranties and insurance policies. The best part about Volly is that consumers can use their preferred digital device—desktop, laptop, smart phone or iPad.
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
How is this different or better than current systems? Here are a few important things to know: • First, unlike traditional email or the internet, this environment is totally secure and spamfree. The consumer will opt-in to participate, and the only information they will receive in their inbox will be from mailers who have joined our system. • Second, each mailer will create a unique, branded experience for the consumer, with Pitney Bowes serving as the platform on which these branded digital communications take place. • Finally, for mailers, our system offers easy integration with their current mail production system, as well as secure delivery to the consumer at a fraction of the cost of printing and sending physical mail.
How will Volly help consumers? Volly helps consumers fight clutter and its serious, unintended consequences (including stress, late-payment fees, missed saving opportunities, etc.) in a number of ways: • Automatically organizes all communications—bills, coupons, catalogs, etc.—by brand • Creates a calendar with due dates for bills and statements (and don’t forget Volly’s friendly nudges—due-date reminders) • Permits customers to upload and store any document in their Volly filing cabinet • Archives bills for more than 12 months • Provides secure access to important documents from anywhere at any time This new initiative is directly connected to our transformation of Pitney Bowes and to our focus on Customer Communication Management. The January announcement was mailers, and the consumer launch will be later this year, beginning in large metropolitan areas.
Growth
WHQ employees celebrate Volly launch.
Murray Martin addresses Stamford employees at Volly launch in January
John Schloff addresses Stamford crowd.
Bernie Gracy at Volly launch.
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International
Collaborating with Local University Leads to Innovation What do Global Software Development, the Semantic Web and Cloud Computing Have in Common? by hena jawaid
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he CCM R&D team in Watford, UK has been working with Brunel University’s MSc program to set and guide some dissertation projects. Under this program, our R&D team came up with some ideas for possible dissertation projects. The students were assigned a mentor from PBBI’s team who then guided them through the project.
Such online activation (during install) enables Customer Support and others to see what is being used and to identify the popularity of, for example, printstreams, host platforms, and languages.
This collaboration program benefits the University, the students and PBBI. The University gets exposure to real-world business computing challenges and opportunities through collaboration with companies like PBBI. The students get to work related experience of such real world issues in close collaboration with professionals in the field they have chosen. PBBI benefits from having creative minds work on real issues that we might not otherwise have the time to work on ourselves.
The idea behind this project was to find out effective ways to interact on a day-to-day basis, to analyse the practices we follow and the tools we use as we work through a project. Learn from research into the published experiences of other similar software engineering teams and have the best practices and recommended tools written up in a dissertation.
The three projects conducted last year were: 1. “Online activation of CCM Products” by Sujeevan Jeyabalasundaram mentored by Tony Harris and Kingsley Asare Bediako This project aims to maintain a live database of the versions of CCM Products installed on customer machines.
2. “Global Software Development Best Practices” by Biyagamage Agra Fernando, mentored by Tony Fitzpatrick
3. “Web service interface to Generate”, by Manisha Prasad mentored by Stephen Cornes. The idea was to create an alternate HTTP interface for Generate. The HTTP request would be an interface through the cloud to Generate hosted in PBBI. The HTTP request would need to solve the following problems:
From left: Hena Jawaid, Biyagamage Agra Fernando, Sujeevan Jeyabalasundaram, and Tony Antoniou
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
• Creation of input data for Generate • Information on where to locate resources (HIP etc) • Triggering Generate through server mode commands • The Security and licensing issues involved in proving the service The results of these projects were recently presented by the students in a meeting in Watford; you can find the presentations and other supporting material by visiting www.teampbbi.com/ sites/westwing/mikespages/ brunel2010/default.aspx. The success of this program is due in large part to: Mike Stansfield, Tony Fitzpatrick, Stephen Cornes, Kingsley Asare Bediako, Tony Harris, Mike Lee and Tony Antoniou. Based on this success, PB will seek to expand this collaboration with Brunel University across the other UK based R&D teams in 2011, and look to start similar programs in other regions.
Strategy & Innovation
Open Innovation Collaborating across internal and external networks to accelerate business growth
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The Strategic Technology and Innovation Center (ST&IC) is working with innovators across Pitney Bowes to build a systemic practice and culture of Open Innovation. Open Innovation, a growing trend, involves collaborating with internal and external partners to accelerate the development of new technologies, capabilities, and business opportunities. External partners may include customers, businesses, universities, and research institutions.
ST&IC’s University Relations Program Strategic Technology University Connection Area Semantic web
RPI
Social media mining
NYU Stern University of Maryland
Social media analysis University of Maryland University of Michigan Cornell University
Open Innovation Speaker Series Showcases Best-in-Class Techniques In 2010, ST&IC launched an Open Innovation Speaker Series to learn about best practices directly from others who have built and led successful open innovation programs at their respective companies. Speakers joined us from IBM Research, Unilever, Siemens, Clorox, HP Labs and NASA.
Data mining
NYU Stern Cornell University
Knowledge
Cornell University
Data visualization
Penn State University
Security
University of Waterloo Polytech of NYU
Open innovation
Harvard Business School
Additional speaker events, with companies and experts in Open Innovation, which are open to all PB employees, are currently being planned. Check the events calendar on the Internal Innovation Site at http://insidepb.com/EN-US/AboutPB/OurCompany/ CorporateFunctions/StrategyInnovation/Pages/ InternalInnovation.aspx.
Marketing/ persuasion
Stanford University
Open Innovation Projects Foster Collaborative Problem Solving The Open Innovation team has begun to interview senior leaders to identify open innovation needs. In the first quarter of 2011, ST&IC is planning to launch an Open Innovation project through NineSigma, an open innovation intermediary with access to more than one million solution providers. We want your difficult challenges with significant business issues that have eluded your ability to solve using current conventional practices. We can economically get thousands of people with varied expertise and backgrounds to look at your challenges in a completely new light.
University Relations Enhance ST&IC Capabilities in Strategic Areas ST&IC has had longstanding relationships with selected universities. These relationships enhance PB’s technology capabilities and provide a source for recruiting co-ops. This year, as part of Strategic Transformation, ST&IC has expanded our university relationship program to form additional strategic partnerships in emerging technology areas, such as social media, data mining, and semantic web. Our University Relations Grid shows our university collaborations. For more information, for help with solving challenges through Open Innovation, and to find out how you can be a part of shaping open innovation at Pitney Bowes, contact: Ivy Eisenberg, Manager, Open Innovation, Strategic Technology and Innovation Center (ST&IC) ivy.eisenberg@pb.com / 203.924.3445
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Environmental Health & Safety
What is “Behavior Based Safety” (BBS)?
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
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hether you are familiar with the term or not, chances are you have been a part of a BBS system – if you think about it, you will be able to recall a situation where someone close to you actually used a form of BBS to help keep you safe! It can be as simple as your friend, co-worker, neighbor or family member saying, “Hey, let me help you carry that, you can’t see over the pile and might trip.” Simply put, behavior based safety is about identifying and correcting behaviors and conditions that can lead to injury. To be fair, BBS has been around for a long time and many safety professionals and organizations have developed BBS to a very complex level, but it need not be that complicated. When we take the time to make a personal investment in the safety around us (for ourselves and our coworkers), we are practicing BBS.
Environmental Health & Safety
BBS is an excellent way for sites to fully engage their management and workforce in proactively improving safety. Global EHS has a lot of tools and tips to help your site further develop and enhance its safety programs, including elements of BBS.
BBS is all about open, candid external observation of work practices, with open dialog on both good and at-risk behaviors. It must be established with clear communication and expectations, top down. In a real setting, though, being observed may feel like an inspection – and who likes to go through that? For BBS to work, the observations must be non-judgmental, and focused on finding the reasons why the at-risk behavior was being done. It can be tough though answering questions like, “Why didn’t you follow the instructions, wear the proper equipment or lock out the device?” The truth might be that we didn’t understand, didn’t ask for help, or decided to proceed and complete the task without taking the proper precautions. We certainly have the best intentions – namely getting the job done quickly, and don’t expect to get injured this once. But in making our choice to proceed, we have exposed ourselves to the hazard of flying particles, energized parts, heavy lifting, etc…for the sake of hurrying through the work. BBS is about identifying and fixing those attitudes and conditions before they lead to injury.
BBS is an excellent way for sites to fully engage their management and workforce in proactively improving safety. Global EHS has a lot of tools and tips to help your site further develop and enhance its safety programs, including
elements of BBS. If you want to learn more about how BBS could be applied at your site, please contact your EHS rep, or drop an email to the Global EHS department at EHS@pb.com.
Case STUDY: PBGS EPMSC, Hayward, California
From right to left: Rafael Gonzalez, Judy Maiorano, Janet Cruickshank, Edith Sarmiento, Roberto Lozano, Sabrina Roberts and Jerome Musni.
Some Pitney Bowes sites have implemented BBS programs to enhance their safety performance and drive down injuries, and often, these programs are combined with other initiatives, like awards given to the employee with the most safety observations made. As an example, our PBGS EPMSC site in Hayward, California recognizes employees who make the most observations and corrections of unsafe conditions (such as debris on the floor that can trip someone). What makes this system work is that it is applied from the top down. Every employee, including the site manager is expected to make such observations – so ownership for safety is shared by all employees. Operations Manager Sabrina Roberts credits the program for engaging all employees at the site in “owning” safety – “No matter how small or big the safety issue may be employees are rewarded for identifying and correcting safety issues. Employees are so engaged in the program that they are coming up with good ideas on how to do their daily assignments safer. Hands down, all of the EPMSC employees have stepped up to the plate to ensure that the warehouse is a safe place to work.”
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Community Involvement
What are you doing in your community to help? Let us know by sending your story to pbtoday@pb.com.
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
Giving Campaign Finishes Strong!
We welco me employee feedback about the giving campaign . You can find the s urvey at www.pb.c om/ campaign rules.
The 2011 Employee Giving Campaign, with its theme of “Every connection is a new opportunity,” has made a tremendous amount of connections and a great deal of difference in our U.S., U.K., Republic of Ireland, and Canada communities! Thank you! PB employees once again rose to the challenge. Over 2400 employees pledged a total of over $1.4 million during the campaign conducted last fall. And through year-round U.S. matching gifts, we know there will be even more donated throughout 2011. With the match from the Pitney Bowes Foundation, over $2.8 million will be distributed to charities around the globe. The campaign began in October and ended in late November. The challenging economic climate makes this year’s strong finish even more remarkable! Campaign Executive Sponsor Vicki O’Meara (EVP and President, PBMS and Government and Postal Affairs) comments, “It is during times like this that I am especially proud to be a part of the Pitney Bowes family. Thanks to everyone for giving from the heart and participating in the fun events that were held in various PB locations.” That was a strong component of this year’s campaign – making it fun. From an Oktoberfest in Troy, to tea in the U.K., rallies in Canada and bingo in Stamford, PB employees connected with each other in fun and entertaining ways while giving back to our communities. Thanks once again to all of our employees for making this year’s campaign such a success in raising much-needed funding for the United Way, the Pitney Bowes Relief Fund, and numerous other charities of interest to Pitney Bowes employees.
Scenes from the 2011 Employee Giving Campaign. Left: Murray Martin kicks off the campaign. Center: An employee pledges on the new giving station. Right: WHQ employees enjoy a game of bingo.
Community Involvement
National Volunteer Month April is National Volunteer Month! Established in 1974, this annual celebration of community volunteer engagement has grown exponentially each year. National Volunteer Month is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out innovative ways to support and transform their communities. Pitney Bowes values your volunteer service to the community. Your gifts of time and talent are critical resources that help charitable organizations address a host of community needs. Volunteering is not only good for our communities, but also good for the company and for our employees and retirees who volunteer. These individuals gain wonderful opportunities for personal and professional growth, development, networking and team-building.
Career Development Through Volunteer Service Applying leadership and technical skills inside and outside of the workplace enables employees to enhance their personal and professional effectiveness on and off the job. Research has shown that 90% of what we learn comes from challenging assignments, and from teaching others. Community service is an incredibly effective developmental tool that enables volunteers to learn by doing. Volunteers can acquire and hone leadership, interpersonal, technical and team-building skills through hands-on involvement in practical settings. In doing so, individuals can acquire skills that cannot be effectively gained through more traditional, theoretical learning experiences such as reading a book or attending a course or seminar. Development through volunteer service provides many added potential benefits, including: • Meaningful opportunities to make a difference • Access to enhanced personal and professional networks • Ability to develop skills that can be most effectively learned through direct experience • Flexible, self-directed learning opportunities. To learn more about ways to develop your skills through community service, review the new Career Development through Volunteer Service program (which has been updated to reflect PB’s new core competencies). You can find it under the Related Links section on the Inside PB > Volunteering page.
Nonprofit Board Service Program Pitney Bowes is piloting a new Nonprofit Board Service program for U.S. employees. This program offers employees resources for finding their own board service opportunity, as well as potential support in finding an opportunity to serve on the board of a Pitney Bowes grantee organization. There are many reasons to consider joining a nonprofit board. The nonprofit organization you choose will benefit from your contributions. You will be able to effect positive change and learn new skills while having fun, making a difference, and working with people who have similar interests and values. To learn more, go to www.pb.com/ nonprofitboardservice.
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Community Involvement
Announcing the Share The Message: READ! Volunteer Program The Pitney Bowes Foundation is proud to work with Reading Is Fundamental, whose aim is for all children to have access to books and discover the joys and value of reading. We sponsored RIF’s development of the Share the Message: READ! story sampler, a co-branded interactive tool that gives teachers and parents engaging tools and activities linked to books tied to the theme of communications. In 2009-2010, we built on the story sampler by piloting four successful Family Literacy Nights in Corona CA, Dallas TX, Atlanta GA, and Washington DC. Over 100 employees volunteered at these family-friendly events attended by over 1200 students and their parents.
The Pitney Bowes Foundation has been designated as Reading is Fundamental Donor of the Month for March 2011
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The feedback we received from RIF, the students and their families, and our employee volunteers was phenomenal. As a result, the Foundation has now partnered with RIF to develop three Volunteer Activity Guides that employee volunteers can use to develop fun, easy, and meaningfully volunteer activities in their communities in partnership with a local school or community center. Teams of three or more employees can conduct one-hour activities that include reading books with the children, creating arts and crafts projects that build literacy skills, and distributing books for each of the children to take home. The activities require a very limited time commitment, but have invaluable impact on children’s lives and learning.
Five events are already planned as part of National Volunteer Month by Local Community Leadership Teams in Fairfield County CT, Dallas TX, Atlanta GA, and Spokane, WA. If you’re interested in bringing a fun and easy project to support at-risk students in your community, learn more by searching “share the message” on Inside PB.
Community Chairman’sInvolvement Connection
Global Volunteer Grant Programs Pitney Bowes provides grants in support of employee and retiree volunteer activities through the following Global Volunteer Grant programs offered by the Pitney Bowes Foundation. Individual Recognition Grants: Employee and retirees can request grants of up to $500 per employee per year for the charitable organization(s) where they volunteer. Grant size is tied to the number of volunteer hours (25-49 hours = $125, 5099 hours = $250, and 100+ hours = $500).
Holiday Mail for Heroes The Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign, which enables the public to “send a touch of home” to U.S. service members and veterans across the country and abroad, was led for the fourth year by the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes. Pitney Bowes provided screening, packaging and shipping at no charge to deliver cards to more than 200 Red Cross locations overseas and stateside for distribution. The card drive was a great success again this year. American Red Cross workers delivered hundreds of thousands of holiday cards containing handiwork and heartfelt wishes. Many thanks to the hundreds of Pitney Bowes employee volunteers who contributed 470 hours in 8 card-making events at PB locations across the U.S., including Troy NY, Irving TX, and Appleton WI.
Team Project Grants: Through this competitive program, groups of three or more employees and retirees undertaking a hands-on volunteer activity may request a grant to the charitable organization for which they are volunteering to cover the project’s materials and supplies. For complete details on these programs. Go to Inside PB > Volunteering.
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International
Young People Get a Chance to Learn on the Job PB Netherlands sets up an internship program By Velin Velkov
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ince 2009, PB Netherlands has been tapping the potential of students in the country through a dedicated internship program. Managed by Joyce Jankok, HR officer in the Rotterdam office, the program offers temporary learning jobs in different departments for up to five months.
“In the first year of the program we received 8 applications from which we selected four students to work in Marketing and in the back-office of the Customer Contact Centre,” explains Joyce. The interns are a mixture of Bachelor and secondary school students. In 2010, the number of internship applications tripled to 25. PB Netherlands welcomed eight interns, working in Finance, HR, Marketing, the Customer Contact Centre and PBOD. According to
You and PB Today | 1Q 2011
Joyce the most attractive part of the internship program is that it offers students a chance to work in a global company. “We are a relatively small company in the Netherlands. The internship program helps us increase the visibility of the Pitney Bowes brand. It also lets us find the best talent for our company,” says Joyce. The Dutch organisation ECABO, an NGO which supports vocational training, has recognised the efforts of our company in training and developing future professionals by awarding PB Netherlands a certificate for an acknowledged learning company.
Joyce Jankok, HR Officer, Rotterdam
The internship program has also received some good publicity in the media. For example, it was featured in the October 2010 edition of “A + O Nieuws” newsletter – a publication by the association of companies active in the Dutch metal and electrical sectors.
International
PB Wins Poste Italiane Contract
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s a result of sheer determination, teamwork and an unrelenting desire to ‘make it happen’, it is with great pride that we announce PB’s successful tender for the Poste Italiane. This winning bid will result in digital meters with integrated scales being installed in many post offices throughout Italy over the next two-three years. Giuseppe Alessi, Managing Director, PB Italy has been working with his team for the last 2-3 years on developing and executing a strategy to replace a significant number of competitive front and back office postal counter machines within Poste Italiane branch offices. He commented, “It is a great feeling to finally reap the benefits of everyone’s hard work and dedication to this project.” This story is an example of driving growth through innovation, and is the culmination of months of effort by many individuals working across teams and locations, and ultimately breaking down silos with a determined tenacity. Having provisionally won the tender, the team installed machines in the main logistics hub of Poste Italiane in Milan, and over a 10 day period tested all elements of the kit and software, building patches as they went. As a result of this extensive and thorough process we were officially awarded the contract. As mentioned at the beginning of this story, teamwork would prove key to the success of this bid: Yves Coue, VP France and GMS Europe Product Marketing, Guido Rietti and Thomas Sauvel from Decision Support focused on getting the green light to put the tender in. Yves was also tasked with finding the engineering resources. The project team was headed up by Emilio Vandelli, Postal Market Development Director, supported by Gelsomino di Silvestro, Service Manager. Richard Collins from Product Marketing was the brains behind the development of the piece of kit which would eventually win us the contract. There were in fact an incredible number of people involved and all played a significant part in the success of this project. As is often the case, it was a team effort that won us the bid. As Ian Davidson, President GMS Europe put it, “This is a magnificent outcome and a real testament to a PB team effort across the board from local management involvement in Italy to central support in Southern Europe and the UK. Well done everyone!.”
Winning team Product Marketing: Yves Coue, Phil Myhill, Richard Collins, Simon Sutton; Global Product Management: Rose Gurn; Legal: Gerard Willsher, Wallyd Benchikh; Italian Team: Giuseppe Alessi, Anna Ceccarelli, Gelsomino di Silvestro, Giacomo Ariboni, Ilaria Annoni, Fabrizio Garuti, Laura Fontana; Decision Support: Thomas Sauvel; Supply Chain: Alexandre Bourdin, David Boswell, Keith Pirie, Karen Eastwell, Claire L Fincham, Jaine Robinson, David South; Software Engineering: Tom Hindman; Dale French; Daniel Seguin; Caroline Briaud, Tobie Van Der Merwe, Richard Boughton and the US Team, some of whom are pictured here.
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Employee Innovation
IdeaNet 2010 Ideas to Action Your ideas and participation have created another successful year on IdeaNet! We are pleased to share that 20 challenges launched and over 1400 ideas were submitted, resulting in many exciting actions. While we ran fewer challenges than in 2009, topics were more closely linked to business unit objectives, creating even more valuable outcomes. Here are just a few highlights from our 2010 results. Desktop Video Conferencing Launches to All Employees Input to the IT Videoconferencing challenge that ran last summer revealed an overwhelming need for greater access to easy-to-use video conferencing. Based on your feedback, the TechCentral team led by Richard Li and Arlene Morrell worked with our vendors to evaluate solutions and made this a top priority. As of mid-January, Tech Central announced video available via Office Communicator (OCS) to all employees that can now connect to video conferencing rooms and provides multi-party viewing (see image). Also per your feedback, live demonstrations and training are now available. Read more on InsidePB. Diversity & Inclusion Council Creates Culture Week Program The International Diversity and Inclusion Council sought ways to improve inclusion across the business and within teams. Ideas by Kanika Paul and Nishant Gupta were developed into the new “Culture Week Program.” An interdisciplinary team from across Europe will develop the content and communication plan for a week of events to bring employees together and recognize different cultures. The team committed to develop the program include: T. Hudson Jordan, Soeren Wolf, Dave Eccleston, Laetitia Duchamp, Tony Antoniou, and Charles Herrington. Representatives within each country will be identified to adapt content and implement the program in their locations. PBMSi’s RADAR Program Produces Big Revenue From Guido Vanherberghen’s PBMS International challenge in January came a lot of ideas to get customer-facing employees more involved in identifying new customer sales opportunities on site. A team including Xavier Goddaer, Ed Stally, and Paul
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OCS Home Office
WHQ 4B220 Video Room Participant
Wipro Bangalore Office
WHQ OCS Participant
New capabilities of TechCentral’s OCS Videoconferencing
Wood worked with marketing to develop an integrated Sell & Bill program they named “RADAR,” based on several ideas from the challenge. The program has been a great success in Europe and will be launching in the US in April 2011! E-Signature Global Online Collaboration Reduces Customer Calls On January 21st, Val Cuccrullo submitted an idea to the IdeaNet Open challenge, suggesting the use of electronic customer signatures for Postage by Phone postage refunds. Rudy Chang, VP of Global Online saw the idea and contacted Val the next day to discuss it further. Project requirements were completed, and a new website was developed in the fall and approved by USPS representatives in late November. The site went live as a link on pb.com on December 1. Within one month, Troy received 2,635 refund requests through the new process, saving $4,268 in calls. The benefits include: notification to customers of refund approval and estimated arrival, leading to greater satisfaction, and reduction of incoming calls. Refunds were previously a manual process with paper forms and no visibility to status – now anyone can access the website and check on the status of a request. Congratulations to the team members: Jodi McBride, Danielle Degrazia, Val Cuccurullo, Fran Boudreau, and Lisa Ueda.
Employee Innovation
Innovation Idol Updates Mobile CCM by Chetan Chandavarkar & Gaston Hummel Gaston Hummel’s winning idea for Mobile CCM has been further developed by Chetan Chandavarkar and Benjamin Bruce working with a cross-functional team from PBBI. The project has identified a unique way to help companies in selected markets launch a mobile offering at much lower cost than was previously possible. This solution could be the first step that will launch Gaston’s full-featured Mobile CCM concept. Customer research: The team conducted two large customer research engagements, one with IT leaders and another with consumers. This has enabled the team to get a deep understanding of customer and user needs. Competitive analysis: An in-depth market analysis was conducted to understand competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunity that it presents to PB. Solution definition: The team has developed a fully articulated value proposition, technical architecture, and wireframes. They are currently working on a patent application that will protect a key feature of the solution. Technology partners: Three external firms have been identified who can provide the base technology to rapidly deploy a product on multiple platforms. P&L: With the help of PBBI, the team has developed a five-year financial model. The model highlights important assumptions for the business case and identifies key opportunities and challenges in growing the business.
IdeaNet: Ideas Committed to Action in Q4 2010 The following is a list of recent challenges and the contributors who’s ideas have been committed to action. Numbers after a person’s name indicate multiple ideas adopted. International Diversity & Inclusion Challenge Nishant Gupta (3), Kanika Paul (2), Velin Velkov, Cheryl White. GFS Financial Products & Partners Challenge Gary Blumenthal, Ivan Bracic, Art Fiordaliso, William Odea (3), Rick Heiden, Alexandra Mack, Jeff Pierce, Jane Real (2), David Rich. First Call Resolution Challenge Jacob Albrecht, Lyle Bain, Tanyetta Barr, Melyssa Bergene, Mark Bernabe (3), Sherry Bumpus, Ruth Daniel, Melanie Dela Cruz, Michael Dela Cruz, Margie De Quiroz, Sylvia Harju (3), Kristopher Hassett (2), Boggie Heagle (2), Robert Herda, Tammie Jarvis, Jessica Ketchum, Teri Klamer, Wayne Lovett (2), Amber McGinley, Naomi Osborn, Jennifer Rockey (2), Suzanne Samoray, Benjamin Saumbides, Wayne Seeger, Lori Schmidt (2), Joseph Waterman, LiAnne White, Nicole Zellmer (3). European Shopping Basket Challenge Colin Argent, Alexander Barrett, Robert Beange, Antony Bush, David Cattrall, Jason Chandisingh, Gemma Davis, Amardeep S Dhingra, Anthony Evans, Clive Freedman, Damon Hina, Gareth Hall (2), Paul Harding, Chris Jackson, Laura Jackson, David Jefferies, Terry Kirkby, Christopher Martin, Lawrence Maynard, James Mitchell, Tim Payne, Alexander Pullen, Mark Seton, Scott Sydney-Smith (2), Toni-Anne Westall, Carol Wright (3), Marcin Zufla. PBMS Extensions Challenge Bennie Andrews, Xavier Blareau, Mark Field, Simon Franklin, Xavier Goddaer, Nishant Gupta, Terry Jefferson, Hank Muller. Enterprise Procurement First Draft Challenge Angela Altavilla (2), Joy Coluccio, Robert Cordery, Michael Cummings, James Defilippo, Amy Harvey, Catherine Klar, Marlene Massop, Marisa Scott, John Toto.
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Customer Service Operations
Pitney Bowes Technical Training Center Opens in Georgia, US
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he US Mail Customer Care and DMT Service Operations organizations have been very busy these past few months renovating a new Technical Service training facility. This facility is located about ten minutes from the Dolce Center which was the previous location for technical service training for US Mailing. Early in 2010 Corporate Real Estate, Global Procurement and Learning and Performance collaborated to find alternative solutions to deliver technical Service Training and Educational programs in the greater Atlanta area. The goal was to find a cost effective solution that would deliver the training experience in a facility that would be flexible in responding to changes in our training needs. Aligning the real estate and hospitality strategies with the training requirements, the solution proved worthwhile – a new consolidated and expanded training facility and competitive hotel accommodations will save over $600,000 per year! Looking at the savings potential over a 3 year period, this will exceed $ 1 million.
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Technical Service Training requires a great deal of classroom space due to the equipment needed for “hands-on” learning. To gain the greatest space optimization and flexibility, the facility was designed to provide a multitude of options. In the center of the building is a large staging area to store unused equipment. All classrooms are connected to the staging area, which means they can be quickly repurposed in a matter of minutes. We have also installed a collapsible wall between two classrooms, which can be opened to accommodate meetings for classes of up to 60 participants. A substantial investment in technology was made to make sure the center is equipped to support current and future innovative courseware delivery options. The center has wireless PB Network capabilities for those who have PB Network enabled laptops, and audio/visual enhancements are located throughout the facility. So are you ready to check out our new training center? 2011 Service Classes began in January.
Customer Service Operations
Photos top to bottom: Row 1: Training Staff assembled at entrance of newly renovated PB Technical Training Center. Row 2 left to right: CCR Bruce Puppe enjoying lunch with his USM and DMT peers in new dining area. Equipment staging area for flexible classrooms. Row 3 left to right: Instructor Bob Hansen and CMT CSRs examine parts during HPI Class. Instructor Jeff Hale explains the finer details to CSRs Steve Crowley and Don Rudolph in Sorter Basics Class. Row 4: DM1000 class conducted in one of the “flexible classrooms”.
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Chairman’s Connection Executive Snapshot
Distance runner, biker & chef Quick Questions What’s your favorite word? Truth What’s your least favorite word? Negative What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Music What turns you off? Cheating What sound do you love? Church Bells What sound do you hate? Chainsaw What profession would you want to try? Jazz Musician What profession would you not enjoy? Dentist If there is a heaven, what do you want to hear when you reach the pearly gates? “On balance, you did OK.”
Executive Snapshot
Yves Coue, VP, Southern Region and EAME Product Marketing What is your favorite music? I love jazz. The artists that I most enjoy are Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. What might you listen to on the way home from work? I listen to Bach which I find very relaxing. What are some of your favorite movies? I like Italian movies from the 70’s from Visconti, Fellini and others. I don’t think the titles will translate very well (laughs). What’s your favorite food? Keeping with the Italian theme (laughs), I like Italian cuisine. Do you cook? Yes. What is your signature dish? Since veal is one of my favorites, I make a great Osso Bucco. What are you reading right now? Phillip Roth is a favorite author of mine. I’m reading The Dying Animal. What do you do to relax? I run and ride bikes. Most recently, I ran the New York City marathon this past November and it was one of the
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best experiences of my life! It was my first marathon and I had colleagues from around PB supporting me. Will you be running any more marathons? I am not sure if that was my first and last marathon (laughing). I am considering my options! What makes you laugh? People that take themselves too seriously. We call it being “full of themselves!” Tell us about your family… I have 2 wonderful kids that I am very proud of. My daughter Mathilde (24) lives in Barcelona and aspires to being in the film industry. My son Maxime (22) lives in Paris and attends law school. Do you have a particularly memorable family vacation? Yes. My kids and I (and our dog) hiked through the Alps for a week. We camped and were on our own the whole time. It was a great adventure! What is your definition of success? For me it would be something that is shared with the group. It is not about the individual accomplishment, but rather about the success of the group.
Did you have a “Light bulb” moment in your life? There was a devastating loss that I experienced a few years ago and while it was very sad and painful, it forced me to set my priorities in a different way. What is your career advice? Do what you have a passion for and if you don’t have a passion, then find a way to live a balanced life. What do you consider your greatest strength(s)? I am able to bring people together to achieve a common goal. I like to lead by inspiration. Is there anything that you would like to improve? Of course! (laughing). I would like to work more at talent development.
Chairman’s Connection Executive Snapshot
Chef, Olympic contender & animal lover Quick Questions What is your favorite word? Passion What is your least favorite word? No What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Being able to help What turns you off? Hearing “but it’s always been done this way” What sound do you love? The ocean What sound do you hate? Fingernails on a blackboard What profession would you want to try? Chef What profession would you not enjoy? Wal-Mart greeter If there is a heaven, what do you want to hear when you reach the pearly gates? “Sue, you did a good job helping people achieve their goals.”
Executive Snapshot
Sue McKinney, Vice President, Pitney Bowes Worldwide Engineering What is your favorite music? It really depends on my mood, but I like and listen to classic rock. What might you listen to on the way home from work to unwind? I actually don’t listen to anything! (laughing) I started a practice during my commute to and from work to turn everything off, radio and phone. I can get centered for the start of the day and reflect on my learnings at the end of the day. What’s your favorite food? Sushi Do you cook? I love to cook! In the summer, I love to entertain and very often do a “smoked bbq” meal. I am also known for my shrimp and crab boils. Do you have any hobbies? Cooking is a big hobby. I am also picking up golf again and like to build balsa wood WWII airplanes. What do you do to relax? Cooking is very relaxing and I like to listen to music. I like to keep up with the current artists and discover why they are popular. I have 2 dogs that keep me busy.
What makes you laugh? People with a great sense of humor. Anyone that can lighten the mood and keep the laughter going is important. I find humor especially helpful during stressful times.
What has surprised you? This is a very adaptive environment from an engineering perspective. I am surprised and delighted at the perseverance and commitment of all our people.
What is your definition of success? Success to me is about people and seeing them grow and develop. It’s about growing the organizational competencies and seeing them applied. Milestones are important but it is all about the people at the end of the day.
What is your career advice? Don’t be afraid to try new things. Get the fundamentals first and then apply that to whatever job you are in. Continue to broaden yourself and build your confidence with each success.
Did you have a “lightbulb” moment in your life? I was in college and on a scholarship to play field hockey. I had been seriously training for the Olympics. When the Olympics were boycotted that year I realized that I should develop more of a career than thinking only about playing the sport! (laughs) That is when I decided to get my computer science degree. It really helped to shift my perspective.
What do you consider your greatest strength(s)? I’m a good listener. I can identify the issues quickly and find ways to improve the situation. I’d like to think I’m a good change agent.
New to PB, what attracted you? The fact that PB was going thru a transformation similar to IBM was attractive to me. I believed it was very doable and that I could help contribute to the success of the company.
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International
Developing the Russian Software Market Our sole Moscow-based PBBI colleague talks about the challenge By Velin Velkov Although it has no company office in Russia, Pitney Bowes has a dedicated specialist who works in Moscow for Pitney Bowes Business Insight on a contract through ManPower. We talked to Ramil Yafizov, CCM and DM pre-sales consultant for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe, about his current work, staying connected to the PB community and the potential of the Russian market.
PB: I understand you are the first and for now the only PBBI colleague in Russia. Could you please tell us how and when you became involved with Pitney Bowes? Ramil: For many years, almost 10, I have been working in the security industry. At the time, I was also thinking about expanding my knowledge and abilities into some other areas. One of my excolleagues, Sofia Arutyunova, with who I had worked together in the Symantec Corporation, moved to PBBI. She was looking for a pre-sales consultant in Russia. She got in touch with me and we talked about CCM. I liked the idea of CCM and I also liked the opportunity to begin developing the CCM business in Russia and Eastern Europe, so I agreed to join the PBBI team.
PB: Can you share with us any interesting projects or product developments you are working on? Ramil: There are a few projects going on right now. For example, one project is in the Czech Republic with a local utility company where we are trying Ramil Yafizov to build a non-standard solution that will link the Pitney Bowes DOC1 Suite with SAP systems. Other projects take place in Russia, where one of the major banks wants to consolidate templates and to have the ability to insert into documents marketing and business information.
PB: What is your professional background and experience? Ramil: I graduated in 1992 from the Moscow University of Radio Technics, Electronics and Automation with a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering. In the early 1990s I was making computers and doing some software programming. I have worked for different organizations, for example, the Academy of Science of Russia, Ferrero (food industry), Deloitte & Touche (consulting), MTU (telecom), Symantec and McAfee (security solutions) in different positions, from system administrator and IT manager, through project manager, to director and pre-sales consultant. Altogether I have been in the IT industry for more than 20 years. And my previous experience helps me a lot to develop the CCM business in Russia and Eastern Europe.
PB: Moscow is far away from the European head office in the United Kingdom. As a sole manager in Russia, how do you stay in touch with the colleagues in the head office? Ramil: Yes, they are far away, and this is a challenge, but I’m working with Sofia and we are the real “team”. Also we are building a partner network here. The partners rely on me and I rely on them. Building strong relations with partners always helps in business and makes sales easier. Of course I’m in touch by email and phone with my engineering colleagues in the United Kingdom too. They are excellent! Sometimes I fly to the United Kingdom for meetings or for product trainings.
PB: What is the most challenging part of your job? Ramil: I’m working alone in the field, far away from Pitney Bowes, this is the challenge. I can’t just have a chat with the colleague next to me. But I think that even more challenging is the absence of any PBBI brand recognition in my regions and the very small partner network here. But together with Sofia we are working on improving the situation.
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PB: Today Russia is undergoing a major economic transformation with good prospects for business. How do you see the future of Pitney Bowes in Russia? Ramil: Potentially Russia is a huge market. In 2010 we closed two projects, one with Citibank in Moscow and the other one with the utility company “Chelyabenergosbyt” in Chelyabinsk in Russia’s Far-East. We do see some interest in PBBI solutions from partners and customers here. Of course, a lot depends on the economic situation in the countries I cover and also on the PB’s approach towards Eastern European markets. But today I’m very optimistic and I enjoy working and growing the CCM business!
Environmental Health & Safety
The Choices We Make
By JOHN THALER
Your Safety at Pitney Bowes
First a few questions: • Would you ever speed up when approaching a yellow light? • Reach into a snow blower to unclog snow without shutting off the machine? • Take a short cut across an icy patch of pavement? • Use both hands to carry a box of files down a flight of stairs without holding the rail? • Go underneath caution tape and cut through a construction area to reach a destination? I could go on but I think you get the point. All of us make decisions in our lives that place us at risk of injury. Most of the time we get away with it but sometimes, not so much. The injuries we experience in our workplace are very much the same. All of us know how to take short cuts to get our work done faster. Many times we see others who work with us take a risk and our silence condones these activities. We have the advantage of looking back through 2010 to see how our employees were injured last year. Although the number of injuries was down over the previous year, 882 work related injuries in 2010 vs. 998 injuries in 2009, we still have a long way to go. Almost half of all injuries, 44%, resulted in strains and sprains, mainly from manually lifting, reaching, carrying and pushing loads. In
All of us know how to take short cuts to get our work done faster. Many times we see others who work with us take a risk and our silence condones these activities. addition another 18% of our employees were injured due to slips and falls, both inside and outside of our work areas. Anyone who has experienced a back or shoulder injury knows the pain and discomfort that this brings. Simple activities such as getting dressed in the morning, picking up a child or a tray of mail or brushing your hair becomes a real pain, no pun intended. And these injuries have a huge impact on our business as well. Because of these injuries, our employees lost over 7000 days of work and could not perform some part of their daily job for another 10,000+ days. When our valued workers are out of work or medically restricted we have to use overtime, hire temporary workers, spend time re-training, etc. which is hard to quantify but real costs none the less. So when you are thinking of taking a short cut, or you see someone else placing themselves or others at risk of injury, take the time to ask “is the time savings worth it and is it time to stop and do it right?”.
In 2010 Corporate Environment, Health & Safety put together a kit that was mailed to over 100 key operations sites within Pitney Bowes. The kit contained information on how to assess a risk and suggested control measures. The kit included handouts for our employees that asked them to find the hazard in a dozen pictures. We added one to this article for you. In this kit we also added a poem by Don Merrell, who has become nationally recognized for his simple yet powerful messages and I want to leave you with the first two stanzas of his poem “I Chose to Look the Other Way” “If you see a risk that others take, That puts their health or life at stake, The question asked, or thing you say, Could help them live another day, If you see a risk and walk away, Then hope you never have to say, I could have saved a life that day, But I chose, to look the other way.” Reprinted with permission and authorization from author Don Merrell
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April 4-15, 2011 PB employees have a lot of ideas about ways to create a more positive, successful work environment and company. Share those ideas in the upcoming employee survey. Your feedback makes a difference, so don’t miss your opportunity to have your say and influence change! You and PB Today is published for employees of Pitney Bowes Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide. For internal use only. Š 2011 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved. Editor and Writer: Mary Coates, Internal Communications Design: New Leaf Graphic Design www.newleafgd.com Print: Managed by the PBMS Document Solution Center, Boston Mass Questions? Comments? Story Ideas? Send an email message to You and PB Today at pbtoday@pb.com Corporate logo, Pitney Bowes are trademarks owned by Pitney Bowes Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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