Direct Mail Partners signs up to Volly

Carrollton, TX-based Direct Mail Partners has confirmed it will join Pitney Bowes' much anticipated secure digital delivery network Volly despite its formal launch still being months away.

Volly vice president of sales Brian Wilson said it was further proof that the company was expanding the network of Volly partners in the US."

He added: "Direct Mail Partners (DMP) in particular has strong relationships with many utilities, which is an important vertical for Volly, as virtually every homeowner or renter in the country will receive multiple utility bills every month."

Once Volly formally launches, which Pitney Bowes said would come before the end of the year, consumers will be able to receive, view, organize, manage, pay and store bills, statements and other content from the companies they do business with on a single electronic page that will be accessible from any number of different devices.

Even before the DMP deal, Pitney Bowes announced partnerships that collectively represent more than 6,000 leading companies and consumer brands and more than 7bn pieces of transactional mail per year.  

Wilson said that although DMP activities were primarily focused on transactional mail he believed that all mail was migrating to an increasingly hybrid format.

"This makes sense as more and more consumers manage their lives with a combination of print and digital technologies," he added.

Volly will be a free service for consumers and Direct Mail Partners chief executive Kevin Burke suggested adoption should be high. "The Volly digital mailbox compliments Direct Mail Partners’ traditional paper-based and current electronic bill presentment and payment offerings by allowing our clients’ and their customers’ additional choice in how to receive vital communications, including statements and bills," he added.   

Wilson suggested that forward thinking commercial printers should soon look to add these digital delivery services to their own offerings. "It all begins with the consumer, who is migrating to on-demand content delivered by handheld device.

He said that commercial printers must embrace the trend in order to continue to deliver profitable and valuable services to their clients.

He added: "Smart executives in the commercial printing industry understand they have to expand the concept of what services they provide to their customers in the 21st Century."