PARTNER PROFILE AN POST
And digital strategy is core to An Post’s transition from an old world to the new, becoming a leader in e-Commerce and Financial Services, and attracting new demographics to An Post’s range of services. Des has been working with An Post’s highly regarded Chief Information Officer John Cronin, An Post’s IT team and the product and marketing teams in the company’s two business units: Retail and Mail and Parcels. “An Post lies at the heart of communities throughout Ireland, delivering quality services across a wide range of products and services. But our customers live in a digital world and An Post needs to meet them there by providing effortless, always on and omnichannel experiences for their world,” he says. Des Morley says that An Post’s ‘Digital Vision’ is key to the company’s growth ambitions which are being developed with An Post’s ‘digital customer’ at its heart. “We are expanding our Digital ambitions with a number of big moves that will leverage that digital capacity’’ he adds. STRATEGY He outlines how An Post has set three main pillars for their strategy. “We want to grow our digital channel revenue by providing the best digital propositions and customer experience. We want to harness customer data and insights to deliver great omnichannel experiences and digitise our own systems, resources and ways of working to simplify our processes.” Morley’s description of ‘omnichannel’ typifies the scale of An Post’s ambitions. The company’s big number include 1.7 million customer visits each week to post offices and 2 million mail items handled by its mails infrastructure each day. Typically, customers would have several separate pieces of business with the company, each one treated almost as a separate once-off transaction. Des Morley and his team are charged with changing all that, building a structure that allows a personal relationship with customers, whatever and wherever they access An Post services. “We want to change the conversation we have with customers” he says, “we want to build a relationship with them InBUSINESS | YEARBOOK 2020
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and enable them to deal with us whenever and however they choose.” He outlines how, in practice, that means a customer having a single point of access to the company to re-direct a parcel, sign up for financial services, etc. He describes it all as creating an individual ‘MyAnPost’ for every customer. Omnichannel then completes the picture to enable customers to deal with the company over the post office counter, face to face with postal staff, online or via Apps. Each with the same level of service and satisfaction. Des Morley, Chief Digital Officer, An Post
“AN POST LIES AT THE HEART OF
COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT IRELAND,
DELIVERING QUALITY SERVICES ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. BUT OUR CUSTOMERS LIVE IN A
DIGITAL WORLD AND
AN POST NEEDS TO MEET THEM THERE BY PROVIDING EFFORTLESS, ALWAYS ON AND
OMNICHANNEL EXPERIENCES
FOR THEIR WORLD”
AMBITION He explains how in the area of Parcels and Mail An Post has clear ambitions to become the backbone of ecommerce in Ireland. Here, digitalisation and process automation of the mails and parcels operation is key. As indeed are using online channels to increase both sales and levels of customer service. In the retail area, with An Post’s unrivalled network of post offices, digitalisation is driving An Post’s new financial services, enhancing the company’s role in National Digital Strategy and as a key provider of Government services. Des cites the announcement last year that An Post had attracted 40 million, 10-year European Investment Bank (EIB) funding as proof of An Post’s commitment to digital transformation. Visiting Dublin at the time, Andrew McDowell, European Investment Bank Vice President outlined how the loan will accelerate use of innovation and digitalisation to enhance access to financial services and improve mails, parcels and e-commerce services for customers. “We have been trying to encourage what I describe as a digital mindset here where Digital is part of everyone’s role not just the job of the Digital team,” Des says. The coming year will see greater use of data to speed the progress of digitalisation, greater use of digital throughout the post office network, and significant changes for An Post’s postal staff as a new generation of hand scanners extends service options for parcel customers. “We are innovating the last mile. Quite a time ahead,” says Des. 45
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