Ray Barber, head of decision/analysis partners’ ICT practice made a presentation to the Fondo de Inversion en Telecomunicaciones (FITEL) Technologies, Proyectos y Acceso a Servicios de Telecomunicaciones: Oportunidades para un Futuro Digital conference in San Isidro,Peru, May 17, 2013. Click here for a description of the broadband telecommunications project in Peru.
This is the fifth webinar in our series of free 2013 postal webinars;
45 minute presentation followed by 15 minute Q&A
Registration is limited.
Middle income country postal operators have the opportunity to leverage their rising middle class to increase mail and parcel volumes. Advertising mail can become a successful new source of mail, and increased B2C commerce can be a source of new parcels. Additional revenue from these activities would enable postal operators to transform their enterprise while reducing average costs and improving service quality through automation. This webinar will look at a postal operator’ main automation areas, including address management, automated sorting and computerized retail systems.
We will provide examples of systems and innovations in each of the three areas above, and discuss issues, benefits and how automation projects should be evaluated.
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This is our fourth webinar in our series of free 2013 postal webinars;
Measuring the performance of a postal operator extends beyond the traditional metrics used by private companies such as return on equity for instance. Postal service is a public endeavor, and its performance must be measured in light of universal service obligations, and limits to missions and risks that constrain its strategy and operation. In addition to that, posts are networks, and the management of networks is inherently complex. In this webinar, we will talk about what makes the postal service challenging to manage and measure, including public service and network issues.
| Webinar | Date | |
| The Adaptable Post Concept | Feb 28 | Recording Slides |
| Combating Postal Revenue Leakage | Mar 21 | Recording Slides |
| Evaluating and Implementing Delivery Sequencing | Apr 18 | Recording Slides |
| Measuring Postal Performance | May 16 | Recording Slides |
| Evaluating Postal Automation for Middle Income Countries | Jun 20 – 10:30 AM EST | Register |
| Improving Delivery Management | Jul 18 - 10:30 AM EST | Register |
| Are Parcel Terminals for You? | Aug 15 | |
| The Concept of Postal Platform and its Applications | Sep 19 | |
| Carrier Owned Delivery Routes | Oct 17 |
In one of our recent blogs, we suggested that cost-effective same-day delivery service needs to be fulfilled from outlets that are close to the consumer, and we suggested that retailers operating an extended retail network are at an advantage to satisfy customer expectations for same-day service.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Macy’s CFO mentioned that 2012 Q4 same-store sales where boosted by online orders fulfilled from retail locations. The CFO underlined that this was part of Macy’s omni-channel strategy, recognizing that the purpose of its retail outlets was changing.
As retailing evolves, retailers like Macy’s will need to establish relationships with nimble and cost-effective regional carriers (e.g., Lasership, Eastern Connection, Ontrac, etc.) to provide same day delivery at a reasonable cost. These regional carriers are not the only solution besides nationwide carriers such as FedEx and UPS. The U.S. Postal Service commands a unique regional infrastructure of plants, post offices, delivery units, and transportation links that can be leveraged forsame-day delivery.
Originally designed for the mail, the USPS regional network is today underutilized and could be re-purposed and adapted to the changing dynamics of e-commerce fulfillment and specifically for same-day delivery. In addition to transport from retailer location to customer, the Postal Service could leverage delivery units to become micro-warehouses to fulfill same-day delivery economically and timely.
Can the Postal Service play a larger role in fulfilling the omni-channel strategies of e/retailers? Is it reasonable to foresee a tighter integration between e/retailers’ distribution centers, their brick and mortar stores, and the Postal Service’s own regional infrastructure that would offer economical same-day delivery service, as well as a range of additional logistical services?
This is the third webinar in our series of free 2013 postal webinars;
45 minute presentation
Advanced postal organizations have implemented delivery sequencing to reduce labour costs and improve the efficiency of their delivery workforce. The availability of sequencing hardware and the quality of multi-line address recognition has made delivery sequencing a lot more affordable than it was 20 years ago. This webinar will discuss how postal organisations in emerging economies can evaluate the cost and benefits of delivery sequencing, and how they can determine which sequencing strategy to use.
Register also for our May webinar: Measuring Postal Performance
Competitiveness in the e commerce market is forcing retailers to continuously tighten their supply chains in order to squeeze out waste. First, they looked to minimize inventory costs by using point of sale information to position items in the most judicious way. Next, they unified their independent channel stocks and inventories (e commerce, store and catalog sales) through multi-channel, then omni-channel retailing.
Now, retailers are working with carriers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to integrate their respective information systems in order to better control stock movements, further adding flexibility and responsiveness. Carriers and 3PLs are investing heavily in integrating their systems with retailers in order to stay competitive and relevant themselves.
To survive, postal service organizations must do the same: align with customers and develop systems that will integrate their operations with that of each major retailer. Another possible step is for posts to acquire or strongly partner with 3PLs with such systems in order to get a leg up. Without such supply chain integration, posts will slowly become irrelevant in the parcel business…