SingPost (Singapore Post) today disclosed its SmartPost initiative which will equip its postmen with smartphones and a dedicated app to deliver registered mail, SmartPac and other trackable postal items.
More than 1,000 postmen will be issued smartphones with the app installed. The app will help them keep track of deliveries made and generate real-time prompts of standard operating procedures.
In a release issued today, SingPost announced SmartPost, which is an integrated suite of solutions that has been developed to enhance service levels and customer satisfaction. Amalgamating near-field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), digital imaging and electronic notifications, SmartPost will equip SingPost’s postal staff with new skills and tools to elevate their operational capability and efficiency across the entire postal operation: from collection to sorting, last mile delivery and quality assurance.
Through this initiative, customers can receive updates about their parcel’s delivery status by SMS or email. If customers miss their delivery, they can receive notifications on where they could collect their items – and use an electronic notice on their mobile device when picking it up directly at the post office, as opposed to showing a physical delivery note.
Paul Coutts, SingPost group chief executive officer, said, “SmartPost has been designed to help our postal team work better and smarter, enhancing their capabilities and efficiency for the digital age. We are starting at the last mile as this is the most vital and demanding part of our business. At the end of the day, we are only as good as our last mile delivery and this will improve our customers’ overall experience.”
The release added, “Further solutions to enhance other parts of the postal operation are in the pipeline. These will be powered by the creation of a digital backbone that lies at the heart of SmartPost, enhancing the integration and data generation across the entire postal operation chain.
It also said, “Apart from equipping SingPost’s over 1,000 postmen with smartphones, NFC tags will be installed on more than 50,000 delivery and collection points across the island, which would make SingPost one of the first postal organisations in the world to do so. Data of crucial operational activities ranging from posting box collection to letterbox delivery can be obtained, enabling extensive and dynamic analytics for future customer service enhancements and operational work process improvements.”