SingPost unveils SmartPost initiative to improve service
A lady using SingPost's SAM, which recently won top honours at the 2017 World Post and Parcel Awards. SingPost's new initiative, SmartPost, is an integrated suite of solutions that combines near-field communication, radio frequency identification, digital imaging and electronic notifications. Photo: SingPost
SINGAPORE — Singapore Post (SingPost) customers can look forward to better service quality after the postal and logistics services provider on Monday (June 12) unveiled SmartPost — what it calls a transformational initiative at the leading edge of harnessing wireless and digital technologies.
SmartPost is an integrated suite of solutions that combines near-field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification, digital imaging and electronic notifications. It will help SingPost elevate its operational capability and efficiency across the entire postal operation, from collection to sorting, last-mile delivery and quality assurance, the company said.
Under the initiative, SingPost will equip more than 1,000 postal delivery workers across the island with smartphones loaded with a customised postal delivery app. Used with NFC and serialised code scanning, the app will help them keep track of the deliveries made. The first phase of the rollout will focus on the delivery of registered mail, SmartPac and other trackable postal items.
Customers can get delivery status updates via SMS or email, and receive notifications of where they may collect their items if they have missed the delivery. They may also collect the item at the post office using an electronic notice on their mobile device instead of a physical delivery note.
SingPost’s group chief executive Paul Coutts said: “SmartPost is one of many innovations SingPost is using to exploit and leverage the proliferation of digital technology, this time to address traditional postal challenges and take a disruptive step forward to meet evolving expectations for faster and more flexible deliveries, especially for e-commerce.
“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.” Apart from equipping SingPost’s postal workers with smartphones, NFC tags will be installed at more than 50,000 delivery and collection points across the island.
Data of crucial operational activities ranging from collection to delivery can be obtained, enabling extensive and dynamic analytics for customer service enhancements and work-process improvements, SingPost said.
Proof-of-concept and ground testing for SmartPost’s last-mile delivery solution were completed earlier this year. Application, system and infrastructure development is under way, in preparation for the rollout, which will start later this year and is targeted to be completed by March 2019, SingPost said.
