Posten Norden's CEO Lars Nordström today opened the UPU's annual World Postal Business Forum at POST-EXPO in Copenhagen.
Posten Norden, the first company born out of the merger of two national postal operators - Sweden and Denmark - exemplified the type of dramatic shift some members of the postal sector are ready to take as they define a future strategy for meeting customers' evolving needs.
As Posts worldwide look for ways to remain competitive in an expanding communication market, the Nordic companies' decision to merge was right for them, said Nordström. But Posts have to consider the best strategic direction for themselves, recalling that there are many factors influencing the postal sector today. "Change is blowing at hurricane force and it is blowing all over the world," he said, as the theme clearly came through speaker after speaker.
Innovation
UPU Director General Edouard Dayan picked up on the conclusions of the organization's Strategy Conference, held just two weeks ago in Nairobi, Kenya. Diversification and innovation "hold the keys for the postal sector", he said. He stressed the UPU's role in supporting these trends with projects such as .post, which aims to establish the sector's secure and trusted presence on the Internet and to be a springboard for future postal services.
"To maintain and enhance their role as trusted provider of third-party services, the world's Posts, and their customers and suppliers, have to fully adopt the digital era. This is why the UPU is so excited about the .post project. For a service-oriented industry like ours, it offers an opportunity to develop a trusted space on the Internet, integrating the physical, financial and electronic dimensions of the Post to enable e-post, e-commerce and e-government services and bring new value to customers."
Tailoring products
Japan Post's president and CEO, Shinichi Nabekura, talked about the importance of identifying consumer trends to tailor postal products and services to meet evolving needs. With Japanese consumers increasingly cocooning as a result of the recent economic crisis, the online retail business is growing (on average 5% a year) and providing opportunities for postal logistics services.
Other high-level speakers included Ahti Kallaste, Estonia Post's chairman of the board, Ingimunder Sigurpalsson, Iceland Post's CEO, and Dag Mejdell, Norway Post's CEO. This is the tenth edition of the World Postal Business Forum. Some 4,000 people are expected to visit POST-EXPO, the world's largest postal technology and conference show, over the next three days.