Tag: IBM

Saudi Post Signs Deals on Electronic Services

Posted by | Nov 16, 2007 | |

The Saudi Postal Incorporation signed two memoranda of understanding on postal money services with Egyptian and Yemeni counterparts in the two-day 1st International Postal Information Technology Conference that ended yesterday. More than 400 companies from 140 countries took part in the international conference.

The first memorandum was signed between Mohammed Saleh Benten, president of the Saudi Postal Incorporation and his Yemeni counterpart Mohammed Ali Marghani on providing postal money services, followed by another memorandum signed between Benten and his Egyptian counterpart Alaa Fahmi for the same facility.

Saudi Postal president also signed another memorandum to establish an electronic market with a number of Saudi companies.

More importantly, postal companies should increase their investment in technology in order to be able to compete with banks in providing financial services to their customers, saying that financial posts are no more calling themselves as postal companies but rather as postal banks.

Saudi Postal recently released project “Waseel” (which translates reached), Benten said, features an address system that can be read electronically whatever the language or origin of the sender, to which Dayan quipped, “if we cant reach the address we cant deliver.”

Benten added that a number of countries have requested to be granted the rights to implement the Saudi-owned technology.

He said that the Saudi Postal service is currently cooperating with the other GCC countries to implement “Waseel” Project.

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UPS Global Small Business Forum offers world of opportunity to Atlanta companies

Posted by | Oct 3, 2007 | |

To help Atlanta-area small businesses grow at home and abroad, UPS will conduct a Global Small Business Forum on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. In addition to providing expert advice on how small companies can capitalize on the opportunities of global trade, the event will honor the winners of the third UPS Best “Out-of-the-Box” Small Business Contest.

This year, UPS took its small business contest global in search of the world’s most innovative small business and the Forum is designed to help small businesses gain practical advice on growing outside the United States. The half-day event will offer real-world advice about conducting business across borders from trade experts, including Israel Hernandez, Secretary for Trade Promotion and General Director of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service.

“Exporting represents an untapped growth opportunity for U.S. small businesses,” said Kurt Kuehn, UPS senior vice president, worldwide sales and marketing. “With the most expansive international delivery portfolio in the industry, UPS makes exporting easy.”

The event kicks off at 11:30 a.m., followed by a complementary luncheon and awards ceremony to honor the contest winners followed by several expert panel discussions on topics important to small companies.

Throughout the Forum, participants will have the chance to visit an Expert Expo that will feature exhibits displaying the full range of UPS solutions for small businesses as well as exhibits by Forum partners IBM and Inc. magazine. The U.S. Commercial Service also will have an exhibit. The Expert Expo is designed to offer advice and to provide networking opportunities for local small-business owners.

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A Q & A with with Ms. Janet Webster, Manager of Retail Service Network & Access Management for the United States Postal Service (USPS) Retail Services!

Posted by | Sep 6, 2007 | |

EKN: “Ms. Webster we are pleased that you have taken time out of your schedule to speak to our readers. Tell us a little about your position at The United States Postal Service?”

Janet: “Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you, Robert! Right now I’m the Manager of Retail Service Network & Access Management. Long title – basically it means I have responsibility for retail optimization and access management initiatives, retail service equipment programs, and alternative access policies and programs. Lucky for me that includes the Automated Postal Center (APC) program!”

EKN: “Explain briefly how you identified the self service opportunity, and began planning for such a massive undertaking?”

Janet: “The Postal Service has a goal of being Quick, Easy, and Convenient for our customers – and, a self-service kiosk solution contributes to that goal. Plans for our APC included providing easy access to our products and services at 2,500 of our busiest post offices and offering 7/24 access in most locations.

Based on our Point of Service (POS ONE) data, customer feedback, and marketplace initiatives, it was apparent that the APC would be a good addition to our post offices. We started with a Market Test of 30-kiosks in selected geographic locations. And the results were excellent – customer acceptance was fairly quick, and the usage grew at better than projected rates.

The positive customer acceptance and overall success of the Market Test enabled us to move forward with a plan to purchase and implement the current 2,500 APCs in a production mode. This procurement process was completed over multiple years, and we were able to begin implementation in April, 2004.”

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Argos to roll out self-service kiosks

Posted by | Aug 15, 2007 | |

Argos will be rolling out self-service kiosks to more of its stores through a new deal with Retec Digital and IBM. The kiosks allow customers to order and pay for items in one go.

According to the Daily Mirror, the order is for more than 300 kiosks, although Retec chief executive John Cole hopes Argos will eventually install kiosks in all 700 stores.

Argos customers currently have to choose their item from a catalogue, fill in an order form, queue to pay and then queue to collect the item. The additional kiosks aim to cut waiting time for customers.

Retec said it had deployed a significant number of kiosks across the Argos estate in the financial year ended June 30, 2007 and that the latest order was a further endorsement of the success of the kiosks in Argos stores.

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Self-Service economy arrives gradually

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

At airports, supermarkets and big-box retailers, “customer service” in recent years has meant self-serve _ aided by touch-screen kiosks.

As digital kiosks become more user-friendly and capable of handling more complicated tasks, health care providers, fast-food chains and other businesses say trading face-to-face encounters for face-to-monitor transactions improves service and saves money.
Yet the complexity of human decision-making and service expectations in different industries means any possible self-serve revolution is more likely to be a gradual transition.

“Every time you see a door, there’s an opportunity for a kiosk to be deployed,” Juhi Jotwani, director of marketing and strategy for retail stores at Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, likes to tell her staff. Opportunity is knocking: IBM’s kiosk orders have quadrupled in the past four years.

Numerous airlines use IBM’s customer kiosks. Caribou Coffee and Cheesecake Factory employees use them to manage recipes and to enhance order speed and accuracy. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square has 150 kiosks that process 450,000 music previews per month.

Still, “none of the players in this market have even scratched the surface” of the multibillion-dollar potential, Jotwani said, even though consumers hooked on text-messaging and interactive Internet gaming now expect greater control over their purchasing experiences.

An April report by consulting firm Summit Research Associates Inc., estimated 800,000 customer kiosks, not including ATMs, will be installed in North America by the end of 2007 and hit 1.2 million by 2009.

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