Tag: Europe

The McCue Interview: Robin Dargue, Group CIO, Royal Mail

Posted by | Jun 11, 2008 | |

Robin Dargue has long been known as something of a high-flyer in CIO circles – and that’s not just about his hobby of flying planes (more of which later). After hitting the heady heights of CIO for drinks giant Diageo aged just 36, he has now taken on what most people would view as a daunting challenge at Royal Mail.

What attracted Dargue to the job? A GBP 2bn technology-based business transformation programme aimed at making the organisation leaner and able to compete better in the de-regulated postal market – essentially it’s about saving a somewhat unwieldy 360-year-old organisation against new competition.

Dargue says: “This is one of the largest transformations in the UK, if not Europe – a business transformation. It is in everybody’s interests that we do transform Royal Mail. Royal Mail Group is 360 years old and I think we have a duty to improve the business and get it in a great state to pass on to future generations and the concept that there wouldn’t be a Royal Mail Group I don’t think is acceptable.”

Dargue, just voted top CIO in the UK, has been in the CIO post six months and replaces the now retired David Burden – who has gone off to travel the world – but the structure of the role has changed slightly. Essentially Dargue has two CIO hats.

Firstly he is group CIO for the Royal Mail Group – which includes General Logistics Systems, Parcelforce, Post Office Ltd and Royal Mail Letters. With that hat he sits on the Royal Mail Group executive committee and the individual CIOs of the group businesses report into him.

Then, with his other hat he is also CIO for Royal Mail Letters – the biggest company in the group, accounting for around GBP 7bn of Royal Mail’s overall GBP 9bn revenue. As CIO of Royal Mail Letters he also sits on that individual business’ executive committee.

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Union call to sack Royal Mail Chief (UK)

Posted by | Jun 11, 2008 | |

A union leader has called for Royal Mail Chief Executive Adam Crozier to be removed from office as part of a “new vision” to secure the future of the business.

Dave Ward, Deputy General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union attacked Mr Crozier, and Royal Mail Chairman Allan Leighton for “managing decline” in the face of competition.

Mr Ward told his union’s annual conference in Liverpool that the leadership of the Royal Mail, and the management’s business plan were both in “crisis.”

He went on: “One week the company is in crisis, then they announce there has been a fundamental turnaround, then they are in crisis again.”

Mr Ward attacked the GBP 3 million salary paid to Mr Crozier as “obscene”, adding: “It is unacceptable and he has to go. The business needs a new vision to succeed.

“Royal Mail is doing the Oliver Twist thing by asking the Government for more money to pay for pensions and to transform the business.

“They want between GBP 8 billion and GBP 9 billion from the Government, which they know will not be given, so they will come out and say the only solution is privatisation.

“They are managing decline, and their business plan will not succeed, but we have these people on the run and I am convinced that if we carry on being united we will get rid of them and come up with solutions to secure our members’ future.”

The threat of industrial action over pensions is expected to increase when delegates discuss holding a ballot over the “unacceptable imposition” of pension reforms.

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Bernard Hodes Group bags Royal Mail group recruitment marketing contract (UK)

Posted by | Jun 11, 2008 | |

After a fiercely contested pitch process, Bernard Hodes Group will continue as Royal Mail Group’s recruitment marketing partner. The team presented alongside two other agencies in the final stage after a competitive tender from eight agencies.

Bernard Hodes Group will largely focus on recruitment communications, web development, candidate management and Royal Mail’s overarching employer brand.

The account will span the entire Royal Mail Group including Letters, Parcelforce and Post Office Ltd, and will look to attract and engage posties and other frontline staff, management, graduates, apprentices, seasonal staff and specialist hires.

Cassie Sissons, Head of Client Services at Bernard Hodes Group said, “ Royal Mail is on a journey to become a more flexible and diverse employer and we are thrilled to to continue our work with such a hugely important and exciting business. After 4 years together, we’re very clear about their vision and look forward to helping them continue to achieve this.”

Alison Hodgson, Director of Talent and Resourcing said: “This tender decision for Royal Mail is a business critical milestone. I am delighted that Hodes have been re-appointed and am confident that we have arrived at the right decision for the organisation. We very much look forward to continuing along the journey of transformation together with Hodes.

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Itella testing electric mopeds in mail delivery

Posted by | Jun 11, 2008 | |

Itella will test the suitability of electric mopeds for mail delivery service use in various parts of Finland by acquiring, for trials, a total of ten electric mopeds, specially designed for mail delivery purposes. The trial runs will start during the summer in Espoo, Pori, Pirkkala, Lempäälä, Vaasa and Teuva.

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NetApp Delivers for Belgian Post Office

Posted by | Jun 11, 2008 | |

The Belgian Post Office recently collaborated with NetApp for its data backup and archival. To manage this data, the post office is switching to a virtual infrastructure developed by NetApp in combination with conventional physical tape. In doing this, the post office is keeping pace with the current trend of virtualization in the storage environment, minimizing risk, and maximizing its return on investment in IT spend.

Because of the increasing quantity of data and activity on the post office’s network, implementing a more flexible system became a critical business need. After researching its options, the Belgian Post Office decided to partner with NetApp to create an archival and backup system that took advantage of the flexibility of disk-to-disk speed and flexibility and integrated with its existing tape infrastructure. The resulting system allows for near-constant availability of backed up data, more robust disaster recovery, and the ability to grow the system in the future with less overall cost.

“The Belgian Post Office had a classic need that growing businesses often face — and that the NetApp® VTL was specifically designed to fulfill,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing at NetApp. “We’re extremely pleased to share this example of how partnering with NetApp to reduce backup times and increase data availability can also have a greater effect on reducing future costs and achieving broader business goals.”

The NetApp NearStore® Virtual Tape Library is a disk-to-disk backup appliance that appears like a tape library to a backup software application but provides the superior speed and reliability of disk technologies. Developed specifically to address the requirements of backup administrators, NearStore VTL solutions increase the performance and reliability of backups, simplify backup management, and reduce D2D storage costs by up to 67% through the use of high-performance disk compression.

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