Pitney Bowes Named 2005 Gartner CRM Innovator Award Winner; Leading Integrated Mail and Document Management Company Honored for Successful Implementation of Talisma Software

Business Wire, Nov 3, 2005

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Talisma(TM), an enterprise Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solutions provider, congratulates Pitney Bowes, the world's leading integrated mail and document management company, for being selected by Gartner as the recipient of the inaugural Gartner CRM Innovator award. The award acknowledges Pitney Bowes' innovative use of Talisma Chat to boost agent productivity, ensure a positive customer experience, and increase revenues.

Gartner's 2005 CRM Innovator award was presented at the Gartner CRM Summit in San Diego. New this year, the Innovator award candidates were evaluated on how well they demonstrated a particularly impressive level of creativity and innovation in their CRM initiatives. Key evaluation criteria include: creative use of innovative customer channels, novel methods of achieving the transformation to a customer-centric organization, and innovative use of existing technologies and strategies.

"We are very pleased to receive the Gartner CRM Innovator award," said Joseph Bruno, Director, Online Marketing, Pitney Bowes Direct. "With Talisma's customer interaction management solution we have transformed our customer's online experience and allowed associates to be more engaged in the selling process. As a result, we've increased sales and boosted customer satisfaction."

Pitney Bowes uses Talisma Chat to enable sales and service agents to interact with Web customers as if they were in a brick and mortar store. The proactive chat features allow agents to approach prospects whose behavior indicates they may be experiencing a problem. The agent can appropriately assist prospects with finding the right product and information that fits their needs.

"We're thrilled that Gartner has recognized Pitney Bowes as a CRM innovator and visionary, and we congratulate them on their success," said Jim O'Farrell, Vice President, Corporate and Channel Marketing, Talisma. "Using Talisma, Pitney Bowes can now quickly engage customers online, at the point of need. We believe this award confirms the business value and benefits that Talisma Customer Interaction Management solutions deliver. We'll continue to develop innovative solutions that enhance the ability of companies to provide exceptional customer experiences."

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes provides the world's most comprehensive suite of mailstream software, hardware, services and solutions to help companies manage their flow of mail, documents and packages to improve communication. Pitney Bowes, with $5.4 billion in annual revenue, takes an all-inclusive view of its customers' operations, helping organizations of all sizes enjoy the competitive advantage that comes from an optimized mailstream. The company's 85 years of technological leadership have produced many major mailstream innovations, 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 www.pb.com.

About Talisma

Talisma is a global provider of Customer Interaction Management solutions that enable sales, service, marketing, and contact center organizations to deliver a truly exceptional customer experience. Talisma's solutions integrate the power of email, phone, chat, and self-service with a robust and mature customer interaction management Web services platform, comprehensive analytics, and system-wide knowledgebase. Talisma's global customers include Aetna, AOL, Australian Department of Parliamentary Services, Aviva, Bank of America, Bellevue University, Canon, ChevronTexaco, Citibank, Coast Capital Savings, Daimler-Chrysler, Dell, DHL, HGTV, Intuit, Florida State University, Microsoft, MWB, St. George Bank, Siemens, Sony, Sprint, TDK, T-Mobile, US Department of State, and Yarra Valley Water. For more information, visit www.talisma.com.