“Expanding our business into $40 Bn digital commerce and shipping market”

Pitney Bowes is transitioning from its traditional business to a modern software-driven company. The company has expanded its portfolio with key initiatives such as PB Commerce Cloud tapping into the $40 billion digital commerce and shipping market. They’ve graduated two batches of promising tech start-ups under the PB Start-Up Accelerator Program. In a candid discussion with Dataquest, Manish Choudhary, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation & Managing Director, Pitney Bowes India shares more details. Excerpts:

Q. Where does Pitney Bowes stand today? How has the company evolved given the world is going digital?

Pitney Bowes has been a leader in the connected and borderless world of commerce. We are a 100 years old company which generates close INR 3 to 4 thousand crore of free cashflow and has more than 1.5 million clients in 100 plus countries. Let me briefly give you the statistics that tell you the whole story of our evolution. We touch close to 88% of the physical communication that happens in the world. We also touch more than 1 billion people through our location intelligence portfolio. We do close to a billion address verifications for insurance, telecom and healthcare companies across the world.

At Pitney Bowes we thrive on helping our clients navigate the complex world of commerce. We provide data so businesses can effectively market to their customers. We enable the sending of parcels and packages across the globe. And, we secure payments through statements and invoices to keep our clients moving forward. In India, we have two R&D centers – Noida and Pune where we have close to a 1000 people.

Q. In what ways has Pitney Bowes reinvented its business and proved its worth for its customers?

We are reinventing our business by unlocking the vast potential of our digital commerce, shipping, mailing and payment capabilities that made Pitney Bowes an industry leader for more than 95 years via the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud, which we recently launched earlier last year. Here are the top initiatives that testify Pitney Bowes' commitment to innovation and reinvention:

· PB Commerce Cloud: One of the biggest announcements in the 95-year-old history of the company, Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud provides access to solutions, analytics and APIs across Pitney Bowes portfolio. With this announcement, Pitney Bowes expanded its business to the $40 billion digital commerce and shipping market. Pitney Bowes also collaborated with leading cloud technology companies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce.com, GE, Microsoft, Apigee, MongoDB and Okta, to deliver a reliable, modern digital client experience.

· Public APIs: A big part of the recent Commerce Cloud announcement is how Pitney Bowes is making its technology available through public APIs. We are making our APIs publicly available so that SMEs/Enterprises/Developers working for their customers can use them to improve the functionality of their offerings. It incorporates its extensive geo-data into everyday applications, business processes, and workflows.

· Craftsmen of Commerce: This year Pitney Bowes also launched a $20 million integrated campaign called "Craftsmen of Commerce," designed to change perceptions about the brand. It’s the first time in more than 20 years that the company has undertaken a mass rebranding and mass messaging approach.

· Pitney Bowes Accelerator Program: Encouraging technology and the start-up ecosystem, Pitney Bowes stepped into its third year of the Accelerator Program continuing the focus on Women entrepreneurs. It is among the Top 5 Corporate Accelerators in the country (with Oracle, Microsoft, Target & Swiss Re) and it has been able to put the organization as one of the most innovative brands.

Q. Is PB Commerce Cloud available to the US, UK and Australia users only? Is it also available to Indian users as well?

PB Commerce Cloud is available globally. We do have Indian users who are using it in banks. Clients such as InMobi are using it for location intelligence. Our APIs are available on our developer portal which can be accessed by any Indian user and used in their desired way. Under our Accelerator Program in which we have selected six startups belonging to diverse areas, we've given them exclusive access to PB Commerce Cloud. They are using its capabilities to add various attributes such as demographic and location to their products.

Q. What's the criteria to choose startups for PB Accelerator Program?

We are a company which has innovation in its DNA. With our PB Accelerator Program, it is our endeavor to align ourselves with new technologies. There are 5-6 key technological trends which are relevant to us, for technological industry, for every other client we work with.

Let's start with Big Data. It's becoming a driving force in today's world. It is not the amount of data which really matters. But what we do with this data and what sort of outcomes we are able to create out of this data only matters. Big data allows us to create sense of out of data. Through our Accelerator Program, we are betting big on big data.

Besides, machine learning, AI and machine intelligence are potentially changing the world. Organizations can have futuristic sense using these three technologies. At PB, we have been using machine learning for the last 3 years which is helping us in many ways. In this regard, we announced a great partnership with GE. It is using AI and location intelligence on its IoT platform. It is helping GE to create sophisticated business outcomes.

Each of the startups which are chosen under our Accelerator Program is working on the hot technology trends. One such startup is niki.ai which is an AI-based chatbot and which is also funded by Ratan Tata. It’s part of the Accelerator Program and has over 25 clients. There is another, a drone-based mapping and analytics startup WeDoSky which has marquee clients like Supertech, Neemrana Hotels, Amity University, etc. We have a big data company called Infinite Analytics which was founded in 2012. Again it is a deep machine learning and predictive analytics company.

Q. Have you housed these startups in your premises?

Bunch of them are housed in our premises. Others have their own offices. But most of them spend ample time with us and interact with our solution architects and attend our strategy meetings. We provide them with plenty of mentorship and guidance platforms. The startups which are working with us have shown tremendous potential and speed of execution. Most of the startups have been able to get client adoption which is an encouraging thing.

Q. How did you find them? Did you partner with somebody to identify these startups?

We used our solution architects and engineers to interview close to 700 startups. There are certain filters which we use to narrow down the list. While selecting a startup, we focus on first and foremost on their product. The startups we select should have more than an idea i.e. a product. Second, they should have customers (paid or free) using the product. The commercial aspect is very important in our quest for startups under this program and lastly, we bet on teams. We look for a win-win collaboration when selecting our Accelerator Start-ups

In 2014, we partnered with Nasscom 10k for the Accelerator Program. Our Accelerator Program brings us closer to the wider startup community and helps us identify more sophisticated companies. In our next few batches, we will focus on startups who are keen on solving problems under the Government of India's Digital India, Skill India, Make-in-India and Startup India programs. This will allow us to be partner in India's transition into a digital economy.