The next big thing, or the happening big thing, in the Sultanate is undoubtedly e-commerce. One study reports that as much as 45 per cent of shoppers in Oman are e-shoppers. Obviously the other potential 55 per cent promises exciting times for Oman’s established, emerging and startup e-tailers.
As efficient delivery forms the core of online shopping, a boom in online shopping could present enormous growth opportunities for Oman Post, the country’s 120-year-old postal service provider. With the launching of the first of its kind mobile-based delivery service ERSAL in association with the Dubai-based Fetchr, a leading delivery and consumer technology firm, Oman Post has equipped itself for a key role in the Sultanate’s promising e-commerce future. ERSAL works on GPS technology and helps Oman Post deliver packages even in the most remote areas that may not have a postal address.
In fact, the delivery app ERSAL is just one of Oman Post’s several technology adoptions aimed at making it not just relevant but a leader in the digital age.
Globally, the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) has opened up a world of opportunities as well as challenges to the postal sector. With ICTs being pushed as an enabler of better access to online government services for all, the postal sector is encouraged to aggressively transform all of its operations into digital mode, except delivery, which can also be greatly improved upon through digital innovations.
Oman Post has been keeping pace with the changing times, and is today an agile and highly responsive postal service provider that can contribute significantly towards Oman’s socioeconomic development, with its immense reach that includes highly vulnerable segments of the society.
Its digital transformation agenda focuses on updates in technology, processes, culture, and a business model that can enable it to respond faster to consumer’s evolving demands and preferences in the best possible ways. Rightly, for any postal agency, investing in digital innovation is a long-term process, and the benefits could be quite amazing.
Innovations are not new to posts. For instance, Swiss Post’s IoT infrastructure, developed in partnership with Swisscom, is finding exciting applications in the fields of smart building, smart home, smart city, smart tracking and smart agriculture. Globally, posts are using innovative ideas such as self-guided companion robots carrying mail items that follow human mail deliverers, chat bots and drones and so many other exciting solutions to ensure better customer service.
To be successful and relevant in today’s digital economy, posts are working to align themselves with the respective government’s digital strategies, making the postal network as an enabling tool for effective digital inclusion. They consider themselves as a major part of regional and national digital strategies with clearly defined roles.
In fact digital services enhance post’s competitive edge in terms of its network strength. There are over 661,000 post offices globally, and nearly 1.4 million mail deliverers go door-to-door, making postal service one of the largest physical networks in the world. Studies suggest that adoption of block-chain technologies can considerably cut transaction costs, which can benefit customers.
Oman Post’s recent partnership with Asendia, a joint venture between La Poste and Swiss Post, signed at the Delivery Conference (TDC Global) held in London, towards enhancing its express delivery and e-commerce networks so as to empower it to compete at the international level reflects its broad vision and an indication of its future growth.
Already, Oman Post has its international presence with its Matjar service, which is essentially a virtual mailbox in the US and other foreign countries.
Stressing its social commitment, Oman Post partnered with the Muscat International Book Fair 2019 as its logistics partner, delivering ordered books for free to the customers across the Sultanate.
It’s interesting to see how Oman Post continues to assert its leadership role in making people’s lives better.
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