Second annual TIP Conference focuses on postal strategies

The second annual TIP conference took place on 15 and 16 September 2011 and focused on strategies around innovation and diversification with the postal sector. Karl Rose, founder and CEO of Strategy Lab and former chief strategist of Royal Dutch Shell, provided the keynote speech in which he shared with the delegates some of his reflections on change.

Delegates debated and discussed diversification and innovation strategies in a series of presentations, panel discussions and parallel workshops. Major themes addressed included evolving consumer needs and how they affect a changing industry; IT as an enabler or hinder of transformation and innovation; combining innovation and diversification strategies; how traditional postal operators can grow in a digital world; opportunities for the next generation of postal services; diversification with e-services and e-solution; the long-term future of postal financial services; spin-offs in the postal sector, and whether regulation hinders innovation;

The conference also hosted the graduation and diploma recognition ceremony for graduates of the second edition of the Executive Master in International Postal Management.
The accompanying series of short video interviews provides further insights into some of the major themes and topics discussed at the conference and can be viewed at www.ipc.be and at http://tip-conference.epfl.ch. Video summaries follow:

1. Jeffrey Saunders on postal strategic choices
Jeffrey Saunders is International Projects Manager at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, which has been working together with IPC on anticipating the needs of the consumer in 2020. In this interview he talks about what some of the opportunities and strategic choices postal operators will face along the road to 2020.

2. Peter Somers and Stephane Tomczak on e-commerce
E-commerce represents a huge growth industry and a key opportunity for postal operators in becoming strategic delivery partners for major e-retailers. In this interview Peter Somers, CEO of bpost International, explains how bpost is facilitating international logistics for e-retailers, and Stéphane Tomczak, Transport Manager at Pixmania, talks about his company’s close working cooperation with bpost – and sounds a warning for the integrators facing ever stiffer competition from postal operators.

3. Herbert-Michael Zapf and Matthias Finger on innovation & diversification
Innovation at the very heart of the TIP conference co-organised by International Post Corporation (IPC) and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In this interview EPFL’s Professor Matthias Finger and IPC’s President & CEO Herbert-Michael Zapf discuss types of innovation and ways in which posts can innovate based on their core competencies.

4. Alberto Asquer and Vincent Santacroce interview
Dr Alberto Asquer, Adjunct Professor of Business and Corporate Strategy, Faculty of Economics, University of Cagliari presented to the conference a case study on how Poste Italiane is combining innovation and diversification strategies in its Poste Mobile business. In this video he talks about the favourable conditions for postal diversification, the difference between innovation and diversification, and he and Vincent N Santacroce, Research & Development Manager and Chief Information Office at Poste Italiane, together provide details on the case of Poste Mobile.

5. Herbert-Michael Zapf and Matthias Finger on the conference
In this final interview EPFL’s Professor Matthias Finger and IPC’s Herbert-Michael Zapf give their analysis of the second edition of the Trends in Innovation in the Postal market conference.

A full executive summary of the conference proceedings is available to download here.

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About International Post Corporation
International Post Corporation is a cooperative association of 24 member postal operators in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Over the past two decades IPC has provided industry leadership by driving service quality and interoperability, supporting its members to ensure the high performance of international mail services and developing the IT infrastructure required to achieve this. IPC engages in industry research, creates business-critical intelligence, provides a range of platforms for member post CEOs and senior management to exchange best practices and discuss strategy, and gives its members an authoritative, independent and collective voice. IPC also manages the system for incentive-based payments between postal operators. With members delivering some 80% of global postal mail, IPC represents the majority of the world’s mail volume.

About Trends in Innovation in the Postal Market Annual Conference
Trends in Innovation in the Postal Market (TIP) is one of the most important public conferences for the postal sector, gathering the widest range of postal stakeholders, including senior executives from postal organisations, logistics companies, postal suppliers, government bodies and regulators. The conference focuses on the trends and challenges of the postal industry as well as innovation strategies and management, all covered through a combination of academic and practical papers, presentations and interactive workshops, creating real value for the participants.

For further information, please contact:
Erik Swars
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Office: +41 21 693 00 87
erik.swars@epfl.ch

Rebecca Hughes
International Post Corporation
Office +32 2 724 71 91
Mobile +32 486 57 04 42
rebecca.hughes@ipc.be