Thomas Cook Centralizes Customer Communications Without Major System Redesign

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), the world's leading provider of integrated mail and document management solutions, today announced that Thomas Cook has chosen Pitney Bowes' Customer Communication Management (CCM) solution in order to further develop its customer communications strategy. Thomas Cook was seeking a solution that could offer co-ordinated CCM with four objectives: taking in customer data from many sources, making it available through different systems, creating and standardizing documentation for more efficient and effective production and distribution, and finally storing an archive of customer communications that can be automatically updated and retrieved to help answer customer service queries.

Thomas Cook, established in 1841, is a leading brand name in the world of travel. Employing over 16,000 staff, Thomas Cook operates throughout a global network of 1050 locations.

Over the last few years, Thomas Cook has grown by acquisition, now encompassing seven major travel brands, such as Thomas Cook, JMC, Club 18-30 and Neilson. Each brand has its own distinct appeal and has been retained. Furthermore, Thomas Cook brands sell through several channels -- street outlets, call centers, http://www.thomascook.com and Thomas Cook TV. In addition, Thomas Cook also belongs to 'T4', a co-operative association of the country's largest travel agents, which processes orders for each other's products. In systems terms, the Thomas Cook group of companies found itself running a legacy of several order processing systems, billing formats, etc.

The company recognized the need to consolidate this system disparity in order to deliver consistent and efficient customer service. However, the company did not wish to go through the major expense, disruption and risk of replacing tried and tested operational systems. The solution would have to be an application that could draw data out of Thomas Cook group companies' legacy system in order to present customers with a consistent and unified front end, albeit branded to each individual company. It would also have to achieve this consolidating effect not only across company systems but also across sales channels.

"Group 1 Software's DOC1 Series 5 was selected as the most suitable solution to meet Thomas Cook's objectives," said Marian Manson, program manager, IT and Projects Thomas Cook. "DOC1 provides a fully integrated solution, which enabled the implementation of our customer strategy. It was then complemented with software and hardware from Pitney Bowes, in order to provide end-to-end delivery of customer communications, invoices, tickets and targeted offers for additional products."

DOC1 Series 5 is a cornerstone of Group 1's CCM solution, which simplifies the gathering and manipulation of data, streamlines document creation and distribution, and ensures that information is accessible and secure. It is designed to achieve additional return on investment from existing legacy systems, taking multiple data sources, processing those inflows into a consistent format, and then applying that data to billing, marketing communications, analysis or management information applications.

"Major savings on paper stock and batch management have been achieved using the centralized generate, print and mail system, while providing a consistent interface with the customer across all brands and channels," added Manson. "Archive and retrieval is now available online in high street outlets and in the call center for customer query handling. Cross-selling offers can be variably inserted depending on customer purchases, which makes marketing more targeted."

"In short, Thomas Cook has been able to retain its tried and tested legacy systems, while using the Pitney Bowes solution to manage multiple data streams, improve efficiencies, enhance management information, and deliver a consistent face to the customer," concluded Manson.

Pitney Bowes is showcasing its Customer Communication Management solutions at work in booth #3667 at the Print '05 Conference being held today thru Sept. 14 at the McCormick Place Complex in Chicago.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes is the world's leading provider of integrated mail and document management systems, services and solutions. The $5.3 billion company helps organizations of all sizes efficiently and effectively manage their mission-critical mail and document flow in physical, digital and hybrid formats. Its solutions range from addressing software and metering systems to print stream management, electronic bill presentment and presort mail services. The company's 85 years of technological leadership have produced many major innovations in the mailing industry, and it is consistently on the Intellectual Property Owners Association's list of top U.S. patent holders. With approximately 35,000 employees worldwide, Pitney Bowes serves more than 2 million businesses through direct and dealer operations. More information about the company can be found at http://www.pb.com.

About Group 1 Software

Group 1 Software, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes, develops software that provides an integrated Customer Communication Management (CCM) solution, which maximizes the value of customer data and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of customer communications. Group 1 Software's solutions are an essential component of enterprise applications, serving to consolidate, cleanse and enrich corporate data, and generate personalized business documents for multi-channel delivery, customer care and efficient business processing. The company's solutions are utilized by over 3,500 organizations worldwide in the utilities, financial services/banking, GIS/mapping, retail, telecommunications, insurance and other industries, including Entergy, L.L. Bean, QVC, Siemens, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo. For more information about the company, visit http://www.g1.com.

About Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook UK & Ireland is one of the UK's largest travel companies, employing around 11,000 people. The company's principal operations include 615 high street shops selling travel and foreign exchange, 121 separate bureaux de change, seven Thomas Cook travel warehouses, three call centers, Thomas Cook TV and thomascook.com, one of the most popular UK travel websites. In addition, Thomas Cook has more than ten tour operating brands including: Thomas Cook, JMC, Sunset, Thomas Cook Signature, Club 18-30, flexibletrips.com, Neilson, Latitude, Roomsandhotels.com, flythomascook.com Sunworld Ireland and Style Holidays. The company also operates Thomas Cook Airlines, the UK's second largest leisure airline, and produces hundreds of specialist guidebooks via Thomas Cook Publishing.

Thomas Cook UK & Ireland is owned by German-based Thomas Cook AG, Europe's second largest leisure group.

DOC1, Group 1 and Group 1 Software are trademarks or registered trademarks of Group 1 Software, Inc. All other brand names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

     Media Contacts:
     Colette Cote            Scott Gerschwer
     Pitney Bowes            Pitney Bowes
     (203) 570 6061          (203) 778 6589
     Colette.Cote@pb.com     Scott.Gerschwer@pb.com


SOURCE  Pitney Bowes Inc.
    -0-                             09/09/2005
    /CONTACT:  Colette Cote, +1-203-570-6061, Colette.Cote@pb.com; or Scott
Gerschwer, +1-203-778-6589, Scott.Gerschwer@pb.com, both of Pitney Bowes/
    /Web site:  http://www.pb.com
                http://www.g1.com
                http://www.thomascook.com /
    (PBI)

CO:  Pitney Bowes Inc.; Group 1 Software
ST:  Connecticut
IN:  CPR ITE MLM
SU:

JB
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8508 09/09/2005 11:08 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com