Postcodes signal opportunities for tech firms

Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural resources, Noel Dempsey, has tabled plans to introduce some form of standard postcodes by 2008. Recommendations due soon from the National Postcode Project Board (NPPB) are expected to set out the format of the proposed codes which are being designed to improve efficiencies in sorting mail, and are also seen as facilitating the entry of new players into the Irish postal market if it is liberalised in the future.

“Businesses need the Government to publish as soon as possible the details of the proposed postcode system. We cannot afford for any confusion to arise and an awareness campaign about the new postcode system for both consumers and the business community should be a priority for the Government,” said Lorcan Lynch, director of marketing for information solution consultancy Experian.

Lynch is aiming to publicise bespoke address management software called Quick Address-Pro from Experian subsidiary QAS. He belives the nature of Irish postal communications — whereby companies often use a separate address from their ‘official’ one — could cause mayhem during the changeover expected next year.

“When postcodes are introduced in Ireland, a standardised postal address will be provided to every building in the state. However in Ireland, many people tend to use a ‘preferred’ address rather than their official address, particularly where it is perceived to have an impact on property values. While postcoding should deliver a more efficient mail service by establishing a national standardised address system, its immediate introduction may lead to confusion and delays in matching a customer’s previous or preferred address to their new standardised address,” he explained.

Experian is pushing its Quick Address-Pro package as a solution as it is designed to overcome this problem by taking an address and comparing it against a GeoDirectory file, jointly developed by An Post, the Ordnance Survey and Experian’s own PostAim data. The file should return both the official postal address and the ‘resident preferred’ address.

“For example, it is possible that when postcodes are introduced, mailings, billing, goods and services sent to a preferred address or an unofficial address might not be delivered. The situation could be exacerbated by many people not advising the businesses of their new standard address. So it is important that all companies begin to consider this issue”, he said.

James Kennedy is a director of CRM Ireland which offers consultancy on customer relationship management (CRM) software. Speaking with ENN, Kennedy said the possible introduction of postcodes was a “massive opportunity” for software makers and vendors who specialise in customer contact solutions.

“Postcodes will simplfy these systems,” said Kennedy, “Often two or three man days can be wasted having to manually ‘clean’ data when it’s transported from, say, a paid-for database, into a businesses CRM system because of address duplicates or the original address entries being entered in different formats.”

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