Pitney Bowes Previews Secure Digital Delivery Service

In an expansion of its Customer Communications Management (CCM) portfolio, Pitney Bowes has introduced the Volly secure digital delivery service, a cloud-based digital mail communications platform designed to help consumers receive, view, organize and manage bills, statements, direct marketing, catalogs, coupons and other content from multiple providers using a single application.

According to Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes, the Volly digital delivery service "will provide a secure, electronic means of communication and help organizations realize significant cost savings, while ultimately empowering consumers with an opt-in, spam-free experience to help organize and manage their lives." The service will be made available to consumers in the second half of 2011.

The benefits to mailers such as banks will include the ability to integrate the Volly service with their existing physical mail delivery processes, and the potential to reduce operating expenditures, as well as initiating or expanding electronic relationships with their customers, Pitney Bowes says.

At the Volly launch in New York City last week, Pitney Bowes' chairman, president and CEO Murray Martin itemized the benefits to consumers of the digital service, including the ability "to see all bills and statements in one location; one-click payment by checking account and credit card; [it is] enabled for mobile devices; [they] can get mail anywhere, anytime on the device of their choice; [it is] highly secure."

Martin emphasized that while Volly is a new step for Pitney Bowes in terms of being a consumer-targeted service, it also addresses the needs of banks and other mailers. "It will be easy to integrate into existing mail systems, and offers phenomenal security to mailers," he said, adding that a number of corporate customers will use Volly in beta tests in the coming months. Pitney Bowes' Bernie Gracy, VP of strategy and new business development, described the "concept of a mutually managed experience -- consumers have control but mailers aren't disintermediated."

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio