Pitney Bowes CEO Will be discussing the leadership challenges associated with transforming a 90 year old firm historically associated with postage meters at the forthcoming CEO2CEO Leadership Summit at the NYSE in New York on December 6.
The Stamford, CT based company, which now is better known for data analytics, data communication and mining for such customers as Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and other financial institutions, has in recent years transformed its value creation model. “We were once a SME -oriented company,” said Martin, but the world has gone digital. In fact, it was evident in 2007 that the decline in use of traditional mail meant that our legacy business was in decline.”
Martin will discuss how Pitney Bowes migrated its value creation model from physical to digital. The company offers a variety of services and software not normally associated with its historic offerings. His biggest challenge has been to completely alter the talent mix within the company to accelerate this change. “The people you have and the skills they can offer will determine the degree to which you can move the needle of execution and your commitments to customers,” he offers.
Pitney Bowes mines data for customers such as Merrill Lynch and Citigroup in order to identify markets and customers in terms of their investment profile and financial needs. But its customers now also include Facebook where PB uses data to learn more about Facebook user interests and what products they might be interested in. Another customer is eBay, the online auction site where PB has been helping the Palo Alto firm create a new international shipping platform. “The trick in moving forward toward emerging businesses is to recognize that the legacy business continues to offer decent margins while you focus on the future,” Martins says.
Martin will be joined on the panel, “The New Calculus of Culture, Networks and Value Creation for Leaders: What CEOs Must Know,” by former Campbell Soup CEO Doug Conant and by Kurt Schneider. CEO of the Harlem Globetrotters.