STAMFORD,
CT (February 29, 2000) -- Pitney Bowes Inc.
(NYSE:PBI) announced today the formation of docSense,
a new stand-alone business that offers professional
services and software solutions for Internet billing,
payment and statement applications. Located in Fairfield
County, Connecticut, one of the country's hottest
growth areas for Internet firms, docSense will serve
the needs of large companies transitioning their current
paper-based billing and statement processes to web-enabled
delivery.
The
Pitney Bowes D3 Internet billing solution benefits
billers by lowering the cost of distributing statements,
accelerating their delivery to near instantaneous
status, expediting the receipt of payments, and enhancing
the value of messages by tailoring inserts to specific
customer profiles. D3 is also capable of extracting
bill information and providing it to bill consolidators
and consumer service providers.
This
significant move comes at a time when digital delivery
of bills and statements is poised for rapid growth.
According to recent studies from two premier industry
analysts, consumers are very interested in this new,
convenient personal business option. In fact, Forrester
Research projects consumer adoption of electronic
bill presentment to reach 33 percent of American households
by 2004. And Killen & Associates' research predicts
that the electronic bill presentment market will increase
from less than $3 billion in 1999 by over tenfold,
to $31.7 billion, in 2005.
Consumers
are going to expect online payment options, and billers
will face increasing complexities as they integrate
electronic bill presentment into their current processes.
docSense has the enabling technology and services
to help businesses link their paper-based legacy applications
to new Internet- and Intranet-based delivery systems.
"docSense
is a natural extension of Pitney Bowes as a messaging
company," said Mike Critelli, CEO of Pitney Bowes.
"Delivery of documents via the web is an outgrowth
and evolution of our customers' current processes.
We support critical billing operations in many of
the world's largest companies, such as American Express,
Sears, Aetna, Sprint, United Illuminating, and US
West. docSense will leverage that expertise, technology
and trust to the customer's advantage in this new
market."
docSense
product and service offerings provide a single-point
gateway for high-volume mailers to extract information
from legacy systems and send the data to bill consolidators
such as CheckFree and Spectrum, consumer service providers
such as AOL, or to their own web site.
"In
all of the public dialog about electronic bill and
statement presentment, more attention should be focused
on the mission-critical requirements of billers and
statement providers," said Karl Schumacher, President
of docSense. "Critical processes—customer service,
marketing, regulatory compliance, accounts receivable
and billing—are all inextricably linked in these firms
to provide maximum productivity, lower operational
costs and support seamless, high-quality customer
service. We are the biller's advocate in this fast-changing
world. We understand the premium that businesses place
on customer relationships."
doc.Sense.com
is well positioned to become the premier provider
in this rapidly expanding marketplace. "This is a
logical step for Pitney Bowes," said Kevin Keleghan,
President of Credit Services for Sears. "They have
the software, services and support to deliver a digital
solution that builds on their hard copy expertise."
docSense
is a new business of Pitney Bowes Inc. For more information
about docSense, visit www.docSense.com. Pitney Bowes
Inc. is a $4.4 billion provider of informed mail and
message management. For more information visit www.pitneybowes.com.
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