Thanks to e-commerce, parcel volumes have risen significantly in recent years, leading to increased loads in the network, in sorting and distribution centers, and in the last mile. The challenge of today’s operation is efficiency and maintaining service quality, particularly at peak times, while keeping costs down as much as possible to secure profitability and increase competitiveness. With today’s level of digitization, IoT connectivity is able to generate a huge amount of data – big data – which is the perfect basis for machine learning algorithms and AI to draw conclusions out of these big data sets more or less automatically. Use cases from different clients will be presented to demonstrate how machine learning and AI will lead to operational excellence in the parcel industry. Limitations of the technology will also be covered.

Covid-19 has accelerated the decline of letters and growth of e-commerce parcels, representing both a challenge and opportunity for postal businesses around the world. Operators must ramp-up their transformation timelines to successfully realize these opportunities, improve customer experience and lock in profitability. Postal operators can seize this unique opportunity to address complex legacy structural issues in order to transform their business and emerge from the pandemic with an optimized cost base and more efficient operations. Frank Yu will share frameworks and methodologies for approaching large-scale transformations, shaped by experience working with national postal operators and freight and logistics businesses.

Based on experience with Kyrgyz Post Office, Etronika is looking into digitization of post offices and addressing the demands for essential services beyond traditional roles of postal operators. Let’s see how the modern approach can transform the post office into digital services hubs and even digital marketplaces with physical presence and offerings in three essential areas: financial services, e-commerce facilitation and public services.