STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 16 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Digital Cement. Digital Cement is a professional services firm that provides relationship management strategy and services to help companies acquire, retain, manage and grow their customer relationships. As a result of this agreement, Pitney Bowes will jointly market Digital Cement services to its customer base and will have a minority ownership position in the privately- held company. Pitney Bowes will offer Digital Cement's services as part of its Marketing Services business led by Michael Monahan, EVP and President, Global Mailing Solutions & Services. This alliance is an extension of the Pitney Bowes mailstream growth strategy according to Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO. "Marketing services and the communications they generate continue to be among the fastest-growing segments of the mailstream. This alliance with Digital Cement expands our presence in this growth space, while building upon the direct marketing platform that we have established with the acquisitions of Imagitas, AAS and PMH Caramanning. Our partnership with Digital Cement enhances the range and scope of high-value, strategic marketing solutions that we can provide to our larger customers, and provides us with additional capability to serve our customers' end-to-end mailstream needs." Digital Cement provides Fortune 500 clients in the consumer packaged goods, telecom, financial services, retail and health care industries, such as Kraft, FedEx and John Hancock, with a suite of consultative services including: - Strategic planning to address business needs, - Customer experience planning to maximize customer lifetime value, - Channel and platform integration to deliver unified customer communications, and - Customer analytics to ensure that marketing programs achieve their desired results. This alliance is good news for Digital Cement clients as well, according to David Ceolin, Founder and CEO of Digital Cement. "Our strategic marketing services are concentrated at the front-end of the mailstream where we help our clients," he said. "We are excited about this strategic alliance because Pitney Bowes is transforming the mailstream, and we are using the mailstream to transform the customer experience."