A Q&A with Samantha Jones, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for SMB Growth Initiatives.
Pitney Bowes, a recognized leader in the mailing industry, recently introduced a new component to its shipping and sending portfolio. Customers can now print postage stamps and shipping labels directly from SendPro®, the online software solution designed to make it more convenient to send large envelopes, express deliveries and packages. Plus, you’ll save 3 cents every time you print postage stamps for First-Class Mail®.
SendPro already provides users a multicarrier capability that enables them to select USPS®, UPS® or another major carrier and send directly from their computer. This multicarrier capability reduces costs, saves time, and simplifies the sending process.
We asked Samantha Jones, Pitney Bowes Vice President of Marketing and Communications for SMB Growth Initiatives in the area of sending to talk about the evolution of the mailing industry and the role Pitney Bowes plays. Here’s what she told us.
Question
What changes have you seen in the mailing industry?
Samantha Jones
Our clients are no longer just mailing. Clients are using stamps and meters. They are overnighting and expressing things via different carriers whether it’s the USPS or UPS or other major carriers. They’re shipping packages. They’re doing all these things end-to-end because they know they need to get things out to their clients, to the vendors, to their key constituencies. They aren’t just mailing, they are sending.
So we’re now evolving to reinvent mail and consider sending end-to-end. That’s an exciting place to be. We’re bringing innovation to market with new software as a service (SAS) offering. We’re making meters more multifunctional and diverse, as well as SAS-enabled, which provides more value.
Question
How would you define sending?
Samantha Jones
Sending is anything you want to mail, express, overnight or ship.
Question
Can you talk about the research and development that has helped create and satisfy this evolution from mailing to sending?
Samantha Jones
Sending isn’t something that Pitney Bowes has just declared. We have learned from sitting with our clients across the globe in many different situations and understanding how they use our products, what they’re looking for and what existing solutions served and didn’t serve.
We found that the same clients that were charged with getting the mail out were also routing things in different ways just to get it from one point to the other. There were certain limitations not covered by the solutions.
So we looked at ways we could simplify everything they’re doing end-to-end. We wanted to simplify our traditional models and make them less manual and more dynamic and automatic, as well as making the functions they handle more extensive.
I’ve always felt that the concept of sending has come from our clients.
Question
Do you think Mr. Pitney and Mr. Bowes would like what SendPro is doing with stamps?
Samantha Jones
Yes. Because I think it’s just an extension or an evolution of what we’ve always done for our customers. We’re just moving to the places that they need it. Solving our customers’ sending needs 10 years ago was different than solving their needs in 2016 and 2017.
I believe what we’re building is a very strong portfolio of offerings that are so complementary to one another and allow our clients more flexibility to choose what they need and expand and contract as needed. It’s just a much more flexible portfolio.
We are not a one-trick pony. We didn’t get in the game to just make sure that our clients were able to print a stamp to their laptops. We got in the game to make sure that we are continuing to serve all of their sending needs end-to-end no matter what they are.
Question
What are you looking at in future innovation?
Samantha Jones
I believe with the Pitney Bowes cloud, our goal ultimately is to give our clients the flexibility to pick and choose the solutions from our portfolio that meet their needs very easily. That doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re building out a very strong set of offerings all available via the cloud. I think it will become more and more clear to our clients that Pitney Bowes is listening to what they want and providing the breadth of solutions along with the flexibility to access them that they need.
Question
What is the significance of the addition of the stamp printing capability to SendPro?
Samantha Jones
Adding the mailing functionality simply completes the value proposition to simplify sending across all carriers, whether it’s mailing or shipping. We’ve always thought SendPro would help our customers become pros in sending. Now, from one location, they can handle all the different things they need to do, including our core functionality, the ability to print stamps. There is no other offering on the market today that provides this breadth of offering. It is truly the simplest, the best way to save on all their sending.
Question
What does SendPro with stamps mean for Pitney Bowes’ existing clients?
Samantha Jones
This is the perfect complement to your meter for three reasons. First and foremost, it enables you to do anything that might be required for what’s considered shipping today – flats, overnight express deliveries, shipping -- all covered in one application.
Second, having the ability to print stamps on the fly, when you’re not by your meter, ensures you’re getting the savings that you do through your meter. Third, you’re still paying for all of your postage through one account. Pitney Bowes is the only provider that really provides flexible financing options for your USPS postage spend.
Question
What would you tell someone who’s unfamiliar with Pitney Bowes’ solutions about SendPro with stamps?
Samantha Jones
The millennials don’t even know what a postage meter is. SendPro is really built for those people who are more tech savvy, who are really on the move and are looking to be able to handle their business anywhere, anytime. We’re looking at a market who is more agile in their work habits, even working from a small home office.
Question
What else can you tell us about SendPro with stamps?
Samantha Jones
SendPro is more than just a single solution. It is also a platform for our entire meter line. With SendPro, Pitney Bowes is ushering in an entirely new way of thinking about sending across the board.
I’m super excited about 2017.
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