France's La Poste Chooses Pitney Bowes to Provide Third Party Mailing Solutions
Wednesday, 08 March 2006
Pitney Bowes Inc. announced that its French subsidiary, Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes, a company that specializes in supplying mailstream equipment and solutions, has secured a major national deal with La Poste to provide Third Party Mailing Solutions (TPMS).
Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes will provide La Poste with 250 networked mailing machines from its DM series, a solution designed to help enterprises optimize management of their high-volume mail. The new systems will help La Poste in its move to provide expanded business services to its customers. The value of the transaction is approximately euro 5.0 million (US $6.0 million)
All the products in Pitney Bowes' DM range were La Poste-certified by the CAMA (Commission d'Agrement des Machines a Affranchir) in early December 2005. This strategically important certification opens the door for Pitney Bowes to expand its mailing system sales in one of the world's largest mailing markets.
The three-year agreement (one year, twice renewable) for 250 machines demonstrates that Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes has the capacity to meet La Poste's requirements in terms of TPMS access, ergonomics, pricing, productivity, system standards and management. The deal was signed after a call to tender issued by La Poste in mid-2003.
The standard third party mailing system consists of a weigh-on-the-way system meter (DM 1000), connected scales, a printer, a micro-computer and associated software. With its great versatility, the DM series is able to automate all the steps in the mailing process; it seals and weighs the envelopes, calculates the postal rate, then prints the indicia. The addition of an external weighing platform avoids superfluous handling operations and accelerates mail processing by differential weighing.
Benefiting from IntelliLink(TM) technology, available exclusively in France from Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes, the DM series provides secure access to online mailing services. This technology brings intelligence to mail processing systems -- downloading postal tariffs in real time, providing access to a wide assortment of advertising slogans and other valuable services.
PrestaPost, the software powering the DM1000, is an exclusive innovation of Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes and builds on the success already provided by Paragon. The consideration of specific constraints, and system needs in terms of data management and supervision, mean that high-performance IT developments were needed for PrestaPost to handle today's essential requirements such as the management of postal categories and options, tariff calculations, control and management by cost account, remote consulting of site data, data centralization, and other functions.
Yves Coue, Director General of Secap Groupe Pitney Bowes said: "We are delighted that La Poste has decided to place its trust in Pitney Bowes. We have shown that we understand both the current challenges facing businesses as well as appreciating their long-term vision. This contract confirms our leading position as a global supplier of added value solutions and services. Technology such as the DM series and PrestaPost software will allow La Poste to reposition its offer and effectively meet its customers' needs."