Richard Vaughan (Zipform Digital)
Zipform Digital has inked a partnership with Pitney Bowes to increase its push into the digital space.
The general manager of the Perth-based partner, Richard Vaughan, told ARN that the partnership comes off the back of its engagement with the company, having been its customer for a number of years.
“Zipform Digital’s strategy is to keep abreast of technology, so we look to our partners to keep us up to date with the latest solutions. That’s why it’s really important who we pick as partners. The new Pitney Bowes partnership is important to us because it releases updates often and brings unique technology to the market,” he said.
“The fact that it is local is a big tick, it has a very strong technical and sales support team and is a good fit with the software partnerships that we have. We’re already customers of Pitney Bowes, so there’s a level of trust there, where Pitney Bowes is to deliver.”
According to Vaughan, the new Pitney Bowes partnership offers the company “great opportunities” to take to the market and its existing customers.
“Zipform’s core is business communications and other Pitney Bowes partners look after IT support, so we have an advantage there.
“We have got over 250 customers generating millions of communications through Pitney Bowes’ software already – from financial services, to utility, to government. So, I’m looking to expand that customer base with new solutions like personalised interactive video, which we are working with Pitney Bowes to create,” he mentioned.
Vaughan also said that this partnership helps put digital transformation at the top of businesses’ priorities. Having come from a traditional background – Zipform was created in 1984 as a manufacturer of computer stationery, then went on to expand its service offerings as a Print and Mail house in 1993 – he said that it understood the value of transformation.
“Just as technology has evolved in the past 30 years, Zipform Digital has also evolved into a multi-channel communications provider offering solutions that combine both physical and electronic technologies.”
In 2015, the digital division of the company rebranded itself into Zipform Digital to better align itself to the new business communications market, while the thermal printing and roll receipts remain housed under a separate division called Dataroll.
“We aim to deliver digital transformation strategies to our customers, such as a customer on-boarding process using the interactive video to reduce churn and to move customers to electronic communications, instead of the traditional print and mail,” he added.
As a result of its partnership with Pitney Bowes, Zipform Digital is already engaged with two energy retailers that are assessing the interactive videos as part of their onboarding process. It is also working with a financial services company specialising in insurance, using a mix of video to finalise the quoting process and a customer onboarding process through insurance.
Vaughan also told ARN that Zipform Digital is looking to bring a templated digital transformation video solution to the market, and that it believes there’s lots of opportunity in State Government.
“State Government is slowly lacking behind the private enterprise in digital transformation, and we do a lot of work for the government so we’re trying to help them by using interactive video to help it in its digital migrations.
“We’re also looking at pushing into the financial services space, particularly superannuation, as well as local government,” he said.
Moving forward, the company wants to grow its digital offerings and is looking to expand its team.
“Print and mail will be around for the foreseeable future but our growth will come from digital and providing more integration services between billing platforms and communications platforms, which we will offer.
“We want to be banging on the doors of digital and helping our customers with their strategies. We pride ourselves on having a consultive approach and want to provide them with a good, reliable solutions that will future proof them. That’s why the companies that we partner with are so important,” he added.
