WME 2010: Indian flavour at Technology Seminar
The World Mail & Express Europe Conference kicked-off on June 15 with an informative and stimulating Technology Seminar. One of the keynote speakers, India Post’s Alka Jha, took centre stage to deliver a fascinating presentation on the technological advancement being undertaken in the Asian country. She also took the opportunity to discuss the upcoming PosTech event, to be held in New Delhi on March 14-16.
Jha provided the forum with an update from the largest postal network in the world, announcing that “India Post is poised to become a modern, computerised postal network – with more than 12,000 post offices already networked.” She also revealed that there is a large focus on the development of in-house software, giving the SpeedNet software as an example. The Post also plans to further innovate via its Centre of Postal Technology Excellence, it was revealed. All developments throughout the country will be conducted in-house via the Centre. “India Post has initiated a comprehensive transformation programme,” Jha explained. Furthermore, it was revealed that India Post is migrating its current IT infrastructure to a scalable, reliable, user-friendly IT system, with Jha saying the Post is “half way through the process.” During the presentation, it was said that a technology enabled India Post will allow greater levels of retail applications, rural life insurance, postal banking, money transfers, and more.
Jha said that PosTech will benefit from the significant growth in Indian postal market, which is already tech-friendly and only improving. There will be a vast scope of interest, and “the entire global postal family should be there”, she said.
Away from India Post, the forum, sponsored by Solystic, provided a valuable platform for the industry as a whole, as the panel discussed how postal services are moving into the age of the Internet.
Walter Trezek, managing director of Document Exchange Network, was in the chair. Trezek quickly commented in his opening notes that with the decrease in physical mail volumes, the industry has seen a rise in online communications. This trend would provide a central point for the afternoon’s discussions. The key issues raised would include: what challenges the industry faces; how businesses can best position themselves for the future; and the development of hybrid mail.
Monika Plum, business development manager at Francotyp-Postalia (FP), was first to address the seminar, with her presentation: Hybrid Mail – Physical Delivery. With hybrid mail now a buzzword throughout the sector, Plum discussed her company’s international roll-out of hybrid mail services, saying the mail form “allows for high convenience; professional mail; optimisation of mailing costs; and a greener image for mail”. Plum said that from an international perspective, hybrid mail has seen an increasing share of international mail and a high customer retention rate for national postal operators, whilst also allowing access to the international network for local postal operators.
The future of hybrid mail was the hot topic for Per Nilsen, manager of business development and concepts, Stralfors AB. He said: “Today’s technology enables new solutions to old problems. The national boundaries of communications are dissolving. Market communication possibilities are increasing more than the marketing budget.”
Ingolf Rauh, mobility division at Siemens AG, continued the smart communications theme by approaching the topic of ‘reverse hybrid mail’.
The World Mail & Express Europe Conference 2010 continues in Copenhagen on June 16-17. Post&Parcel will provide you with regular updates from the event.
