Exploring New Frontiers

Derek Osborn is an enthusiastic, innovative and inspiring business coach, speaker, management trainer, forum organiser and workshop facilitator. Through his company, Whatnext4u, he works all over the world, especially in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific – focusing on postal business strategy, investing in people (human resources), innovation and fresh thinking, developing future leaders, stakeholder engagement, and supporting those who are leading change – all with the main objective of ensuring a more sustainable future for everyone. He has wide experience and knowledge of the postal business, with 23 years in senior management in Royal Mail in the UK and now over 24 years working internationally across the postal industry. He is passionate about creating opportunities and platforms for collaboration to share knowledge and ideas and benchmark best practice so as to promote the industry externally, develop capability, encourage learning and foster innovation. Derek has coached many people and organisations, including governments, national postal operators and other postal stakeholders, working with them to formulate innovative strategies, improve operations and efficiency, develop greater customer orientation, strengthen people engagement, and to lead change and transformation. He specialises in devising and delivering bespoke senior executive programmes, roundtables, regional postal business forums and benchmarking workshops. He has designed and facilitated strategy-development workshops, using books like this and previous ones as texts to help focus thinking and trigger productive discussions. Previously, he co-edited three volumes of ‘The Future is in the Post’, and edited three volumes of ‘Reinventing the Post’ and the first volume of ‘Exploring New Frontiers’. He can be contacted at derekosborn@whatnext4u.com.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE EDITOR
INTRODUCTION
Derek Osborn

SECTION 1: Exploring New Directions and Evolving Technologies

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE BRING FOR POSTS IN A POST-COVID WORLD? Holger Winklbauer
THE COVID-19 CRISIS HAS BROKEN DOWN THE BARRIERS BETWEEN DIGITAL AND POSTAL
Stijn Braes, Pierre-Yves Charles and Jack Hamande
BOUNDARYLESS POSSIBILITIES FOR POSTS
Wayne Haubner
DRIVING FORCE – THE ‘DNA’ OF STRATEGY
John Acton
POSTAL FINANCIAL SERVICES IN TIMES OF CONTINUOUS (DIGITAL) DISRUPTION
Michel Stuijt

ROLLING BACK THE FRONTIERS WITH EVOLVING TECHNOLOGIES

FIRST PAST THE POST
Richard Hagen
QUANTUM COMPUTING
João Melo
ADVANCES IN PARCEL OPERATIONS BY UTILISING AI
Dr Thomas Bayer
THE POWER OF AI FOR INTELLIGENT ROBOTIC SYSTEMS IN POSTAL AUTOMATION
Stefan Berndt
AUTOMATED VEHICLES RESHAPING THE LOGISTICS INDUSTRY IN 2021
Dr Eva Savelsberg, Markus Sekula and Matthew Wittemeier

SECTION 2: Navigating the New Digital Landscape

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROVIDING A BETTER EXPERIENCE FOR CUSTOMERS
DELIVERY INTELLIGENCE AT THE SERVICE OF A BETTER NORMAL
José Ansón
THE DIGITAL JOURNEY FOR POSTAL OUTLETS AND CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINTS
Erwin Lenhardt
POSTAL SECTOR AT THE CROSSROADS – AN INTEGRATED APPROACH IS IMPERATIVE
Padmagandha Mishra
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF JORDAN POST
Suhair Wraikat
THE BENEFITS OF INTEGRATING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY FOR SHIPPING AND LOGISTICS
Santosh Gopal

E-COMMERCE LOGISTICS ECOSYSTEM IN A DIGITAL WORLD
NUMBERS GAME – THE DIGITAL IMPERATIVE
Anders Lildballe
FULFILMENT CENTRES AND THEIR PIVOTAL ROLE IN LOGISTICS
Jacob Johnsen
BUILD IT AND WILL THEY COME?
Tom Forbes and Alex Johnston-Smith

SECTION 3: Exploring New Frontiers of Business Sustainability

MORE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
GREEN POSTAL PRODUCTS – CAN THEY BENEFIT POSTAL OPERATORS AND CONSUMERS?
Jean-Philippe Ducasse
HOW TO STOP THE USO FROM BECOMING AN ACHILLES’ HEEL
Mike Richmond and Ethan Morgan
HOW TO ADAPT TO THE ‘VUCA TIMES’ – MANAGING UNCERTAINTY
Yu Yan
REUSABLE PACKAGING
Alvin Dammann Leer


MORE SUSTAINABLE URBAN LOGISTICS
URBAN LOGISTICS – NEW CUSTOMER-CENTRIC MODELS
Bernhard Bukovc
THE POST OFFICE IN THE SMART CITY
Prof John Trimble
TRULY SUSTAINABLE DISRUPTION IN THE LAST MILE
Alberto Pereira
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR LAST-MILE DELIVERIES
Angela Hultberg

REGULATION TO UNDERPIN BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY
REGULATORY OPTIONS FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATIONS (USO) FOR THE SECTOR IN 2030
Ian Streule
REFORMING THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR PARCELS AND LAST-MILE DELIVERY
Cara Holmes
LAST-MILE REGULATION – FRIEND OR FOE?
Graeme Lee

POSTSCRIPT
Derek Osborn

CONTRIBUTORS