Introduction

Following the death of King Fahd in August 2005, his successor King Abdullah has already had an immense impact in continuing both the political and economic reforms of the old King. Among the many contributions to the modernisation of Saudi Arabia during King Fahd’s reign was the 2002 decision of the Saudi Council of Ministers to turn the old General Directorate of Post into a public corporation.

In years to come 2005 will certainly be seen as a critical year in the history of Saudi Arabia, with reform in many areas of the life of the country. These included the introduction of municipal elections, greater efforts to promote student exchange, new liberalised trading rules and, perhaps most significantly for the international business community, membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). . An economic boom triggered by rising oil prices has underpinned such advances and greater investment from abroad will be attracted by King Abdullah’s progressive moves.

Developments at Saudi Post (SP) have reflected the new culture within the Kingdom, and Dr Muhammed Saleh Benten, the organisation’s President, has ambitious plans for the next few years. In particular, SP will make much greater use of technological innovation. One example is postal addressing, with significant investment in satellite technology and digital mapping to identify individual delivery points throughout the country.

The WASEL Project

The new postal address and personal mailbox delivery system is a major project urgently required to bring Saudi Post’s delivery network into line with other modern mail organisations around the world. This programme, called WASEL, has been driven by consumer demand for improved service beyond the system of PO Boxes which has until recently been the standard delivery mechanism across the country. The project provides SP with a “last mile” capability, allowing mail to be delivered to houses and businesses in Saudi Arabia for the first time. As Dr Benten says, “In most of Saudi Arabia we don’t have a proper addressing system. There are no street names or house numbers. The new system is quite extraordinary in that we can deliver mail even without the recipient’s name.”

This new departure for Saudi has involved the use of Geographic Information Systems and satellite mapping to determine a postal code for each individual building, all collated into a national database. This numeric system will be a great advantage in a country where Arabic is the written language and translation into a consistent form of English is far from simple. As well as meeting customer demand for domestic delivery, this codification system will also allow sorting machine productivity to multiply three- or four-fold. So proud is SP of its state-of-the-art system that plans are afoot to market the package to others in the Middle East and further afield.

The subsequent phase of WASEL involves a massive network of new postboxes for each home and business throughout the country, ultimately expected to reach 4.5 million by 2008, and all equipped with RFID readers to control and optimise the network’s collection and delivery processes. As of February 2006, 250,000 mailboxes were on the streets of Riyadh, and full coverage of that region should be in place by the end of the year. Installations in the second and third of Saudi’s 8 regional sectors, Makkah and Dammam, have already begun and 2.5 million boxes (55% of the final target) will be ready by the start of 2007.

Other developments

Saudi Post’s modernisation campaign doesn’t stop there. Plans already in the pipeline include making greater use of RFID technology for delivery quality control, the integration of delivery sequencing and route optmisation procedures, mail and parcel tracking systems, and the ultimate elimination of manual sorting of mail.

Mindful of its responsibility to the population of nearly 26 million people, SP has undertaken a major multi-media communications programme to spread the news of its reforms. Saudi Post Sales & Marketing Director Muaffaq Mubarah summarised the multitude of benefits which different customer segments can expect to see from this activity. These include, for the business sector, a reliable mail infrastructure for economic development, direct marketing growth and better track and trace data through RFID. Police, civil defence and other institutions will benefit from the modernised postal service, and Mr Mubarah is enthusiastic that individual consumers will experience an improved quality of life from their postal service, something many in developed countries round the world take for granted.

Conclusion

For nearly 100 years, Saudi Post has played the vital role you would expect from any national postal operator.

Now, as King Abdullah’s reign begins with reforms across the spectrum, modernisation, innovation and new technology are the driving forces of the new SP. The King’s stated aim of reforming his country and making Saudi Arabia “a prosperous society which is well-balanced economically, culturally and intellectually” is being supported by the national postal operator on a scale that is truly monumental.

Separate panel – Saudi Post’s focus on Human Resources

None of this ambitious reform would allow Saudi Post to make the progress it needs without a huge recruitment and training programme to create the infrastructure required for a modern delivery operation. SPs existing network is already undergoing a serious overhaul with hardware items (including a new fleet of delivery vans) being brought in alongside softer service-related areas such as education and instruction. Special staff training centres in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam are being utilised for a massive programme of seminars and workshops.

Siemens International is a prime partner in Saudi Post’s modernisation process, and an integral part of its contract covers the provision of training courses for the postal company’s operational staff.

Great strides are also being made in the employment of women within Saudi Post. Increased recruitment of the female population is another sign of the general reform of Saudi society, and specific guidance is provided by SP for this sector of the workforce.

A women’s postal section has already been opened at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz University, serving the university’s female staff and students. In addition, the computer section of Saudi Post expects to provide greater opportunities for women employees, a move directly related to the WASEL programme and the computerised addressing database which is under construction.