You are in: Press Releases

28 June 2001

Managing change – can we deliver?

This article appeared in 4Front Magazine

Nearly 400 delegates attended the World Mail & Express Conference and UK Mail Summit held in London, May 15-17. The Conference, organised by industry consultants, Triangle Management Services, brings together all sides of the industry, both public and private, and is attended by senior executives from all sectors around the world. Paul Jackson, Chief Executive, Triangle, gives an overview.

The European mail and express market is now coming out of its phase of regulatory discussion. De facto deregulation already exists in many areas; some parties are holding a rearguard action and some are taking a more innovative and dynamic approach recognising that to be the first into a marketplace will, in the long run, be best for customers, staff and shareholders. In this context, the conference devoted its energies to establishing whether the industry can deliver in this environment, highlighting innovation and encouraging discussion on the management of change.

Embracing change

The main conference was preceded by a first-ever summit on the UK mail market which is only now set for deregulation. With all the main players assembled – government representatives, the consumer association, the head of Royal Mail and the unions, the debate continued with many observers, particularly from overseas, amazed that all the major players in the UK were able to sit in the same room and discuss openly and frankly their ideas for introducing more liberalisation and competition to the UK market. In fact, with some 40 countries represented at the conference, one observer said that “You don’t know whether you are having lunch with your customer or competitor nowadays”.

Graham Corbett Chairman of the Regulator, PostComm, and Peter Carr, Chairman of the Consumer Council for Postal Services, outlined that as “new kids on the block” they want to introduce competition as soon as possible.

In this context, it is likely that the UK market will change much more rapidly than many observers from outside the UK would think possible. And we can expect to see new market entrants licensed in niche areas and probably early industrial action and confrontation. The UK regulator certainly does not seem to have the German regulator view that if other parts of Europe are not deregulating then they should sit tight.

Managing change

Keynote addresses for the 12^th World Mail & Express Conference were given by Maria Cattaui, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses on a worldwide basis. Not surprisingly, Mrs Cattaui argued the case for liberalisation and was adamant that the way ahead for the less developed countries was to see the western economies grow and for trade to develop between all concerned.

A view shared by Thomas E Leavey, Director General of the UPU. Recognising the emergence of the super-posts, he reminded delegates that there were many other post offices and that the universal service needed to be managed and maintained. The global trends of deregulation, with the regulator now being separate from the operator and increased corporatisation were trends for the good. However, the privatisation of posts is still a rare occurrence and many posts have yet to become autonomous enterprises. Everyone talks of a level playing field but what is it and who manages it? The UPU is increasingly concerned by the widening gap between operators from industrialised counties and those from the developing regions. 

Mr Leavey felt that at the end of the day it would be technology that would hold the UPU network together. There would be increased emphasis on common systems and standards and the UPU intended to work hard to allow affordable access to all basic services, uniformly, globally and with increasingly improved quality. With the emergence of private operators, the UPU has to understand whether it can achieve a universal service for all its members. “Is it a realistic goal?” asked Tom Leavey. It is certainly one that he intends to work hard to achieve.

Evolutionary change

John Modd, MD, Consignia International Mail Services stepped into the brave new world by saying that Consignia's new name was indicative of a changing culture. Citing four key drivers for that change: Customer demand for globalisation; the challenges of the liberalised market; technology and e-commerce; and increased competition, he went on to say that differentiating the customer is the key to success. 

Customers are becoming more sophisticated and are looking for a seamless offering that is both more efficient and offers more reliability. But first Consignia had to create stronger networks and more strategic alliances with the emphasis on value added services for the customer - believing that the opportunity lies in the business-to-consumer and e-commerce area and recognising that the declining business-to-business market, at least for letters, was inevitable. Consignia were managing the change by moving down a path to become a complete distribution company, a “one stop shop” - single global logistics solutions with acquisitions and joint ventures playing a key role in the change process.

Revolutionary change

Developing the theme of acquisitions and joint ventures, Theo Jongsma, Chief Executive, TNT International Mail, outlined the new joint venture between the Consignia, Singapore Post and TPG. After all the toing and froing with the European Commission, it is now expected that the new organisation will be up and running by 1^st July. Operating on a worldwide basis, ‘Delta’ is expected to turnover 450 million euros. “The real problems with the commission,” said Mr Jongsma, “was that this was the first venture of this nature to be notified to them so there was a considerable learning process to go through. Being first to the market can be very advantageous but being first to the regulator is not!”, he added. Interestingly, considering the investors in Delta, Jongsma stated that their mission is to become the best alternative to public postal operators. They intend to shape the industry in terms of service, value, quality and product innovations, presumably something that their shareholders can’t do on their own?

eBusiness Challenges and Solutions

Luis Jimenez, Chief Strategy Officer, Pitney Bowes, gave an optimistic look into the future for the mail industry. All is not doom and gloom for post offices and the death of paper, it would seem has been grossly exaggerated. In fact, the use of paper in US offices has increased by 40% with the introduction of email! Arguing that, fundamentally, new technologies don’t become productive until a generation after their introduction, Jimenez projects that physical mail will maintain the same levels through to 2005; by then email messages will represent some two-thirds of the message market. The growth sector will be marketing email which by 2005 will be reaching the same level as physical mail in the US market.

Next year’s European Conference will be held in Amsterdam, 13-15 May.The Americas Conference is in Orlando, 9-11 December 2001 and the next World Mail & Express Asia Conference is scheduled for Singapore in 2003.

A CD Rom of the presentation from this conference is available for £250.00.
 

Triangle Contacts:

Triangle Links:

For further information please contact:

Chrissie Schuler, Conference & Events Manager at Triangle via ChrissieS@triangle.eu.com

• World Mail & Express Europe •
• Purchase CD Rom •
• Programme •