Industry experts join Portrait to provide analytics and marketing best practice consultancy

27th September 2010 - Portrait Software, a leading provider of customer interaction optimization software and now a part of Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) announces that it has expanded its European team to support the current commercial growth throughout the region.

“Our new hires add substantial domain expertise to an already top-class team of industry professionals. They will help provide insight, knowledge and value to the increasingly varied and demanding requirements from our customers,” commented Mark Smith, EVP, Portrait Software. “Our focus is to provide best practice guidance for our customers so that they can optimize their customer interactions to improve profitability, increase retention and reduce costs,” he added.

The ramp-up in its sales and marketing resources is a reflection of Portrait’s recognition and growth as a leader in customer engagement software and the significant expansion of its customer base in recent months:

Ben Salmon has joined as a global industry expert for Portrait’s range of marketing solutions. Ben has worked in the marketing technology and agency space for nearly 15 years, helping define leading consumer marketing technology strategy to help organizations maximize the value they can leverage from their marketing solutions. “I am delighted to be working at such a renowned, cutting edge technology organization, which is shaping how we communicate with consumers. Based on my mix of marketing technology and more recent agency experience I am really looking forward to working with the team to help drive the solution vision and help our clients realize their consumer marketing strategy,” commented Ben.

Paul Angus, has been successfully selling IT solutions for the last 15 years and has joined Portrait’s Nordic region to support the expanding business in Scandinavia. “Having lived in Sweden for the last 5 years I am familiar with the Nordic market and look forward to helping Portrait extend its already well- established Nordic customer base.’’

Gerhard Heide, who has vast experience in data analytics and has worked in the software industry for over nine years, will provide analytics consultancy support throughout the EMEA region. “Portrait has started to be recognized amongst the mobile network companies in Europe – my significant experience in working with these organizations will enable me to help them to deliver more profitable, customer centric programs derived from using sophisticated analytics capabilities,” said Gerhard.

Underpinning the development, sales and support efforts at Portrait is a team of business savvy analysts, most of which have PHDs, as does Gerhard. Philippe Nemery has joined this team and will work with Portrait’s clients to develop solutions to address their specific business issues. “Being fluent in four European languages and with my experience in analytics, I will be able to communicate technically and linguistically with our customers across Europe! I’m looking to help them drive faster and more efficient analytical models.”

The most recent recruit is Lloyd Buxton. Lloyd will be working with Portrait’s customers in the Financial Services and Telco sectors. “Having worked for Callcredit, my experience and understanding of current industry sector issues will enable me to very quickly add value to driving business solutions for our clients,” he said. “As companies strive to become more customer-centric, whilst delivering profitable and cost-efficient campaigns, it is important that they optimize the systems and processes that they use,” he added.

Licence sales have been a major contributor to the recent growth within Portrait Software‘s European business. The successes within a number of customer sites have created new demand for Portrait’s customer interaction software which has received high-profile industry recognition from both Gartner and Forrester Research.

About Portrait Software

Portrait Software is now part of Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI).

Portrait Software enables organizations to engage with each of their customers as individuals, resulting in improved customer profitability, increased retention, reduced risk, and outstanding customer experiences. This is achieved through a suite of innovative, insight-driven applications which empower organizations to create enduring one-to-one relationships with their customers.

Portrait Software was acquired in July 2010 by Pitney Bowes to build on the broad range of capabilities at Pitney Bowes Business Insight for helping organizations acquire, serve and grow their customer relationships more effectively. The Portrait Customer Interaction Suite combines world leading customer analytics, powerful inbound and outbound campaign management, and best-in-class business process integration to deliver real-time customer interactions that communicate precisely the right message through the right channel, at the right time.

Our 300 + customers include industry-leading organizations in customer-intensive sectors. They include 3, AAA, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Dell, Fiserv Bank Solutions, Lloyds Banking Group, Merrill Lynch, Nationwide Building Society, RACQ, RAC WA, Telenor, Tesco Bank, T-Mobile, TrygVesta and US Bank.

For more information please visit: www.portraitsoftware.com or www.pbinsight.com