At this week’s Post-Expo 2009, Deutsche Post’s CEO, Frank Appel, opened the UPU’s Chief Executive Forum, underlining the importance of protecting the environment.
Forum speakers also included the chief executives of India Post, La Poste (France), Poste Italiane and the board chairman of Swiss Post.
Appel’s speech laid out the German operator’s vision for times ahead to an audience of 200 people. “The global logistics market is moving forward to a promising future,” he said. Appel added: “The UPU is a valuable asset with unique expertise and great potential as facilitator of global trade and growth.” The chief executive of the world’s largest logistics company also emphasized that climate protection, growth regions like Asia, the omnipresence of the Internet and an increased need for convenience will dominate customer awareness and industry agenda.
Poste Italiane’s Massimo Sarmi explained how the Italian operator was positioning itself in times of crisis. “Poste Italiane entered the telecommunications sector as a mobile virtual network operator not only to distinguish its business, but also to upgrade its service portfolio,” he said. This resulted in “a new access channel to its distinctive services, such as bill and micropayments”.
For her part, Radhika Doraiswamy, India Post’s director general, described changes taking place within the world’s largest network of post offices. These included innovation in products, services and processes, focusing on quality of service from a customer point of view and employee training.
Swiss Post’s Claude Béglé spoke about his operator’s strategic goals. “We still want to work like a Swiss watch in a regulated, traditional home market, as well as develop like Google in non-regulated news segments,” he said.
Finally, Jean-Paul Bailly, from La Poste France, and Andreas Taprantzis, from Greece’s Hellenic Post, both emphasized the need for Posts to focus on trust and make it a strategic asset.
The Chief Executive Forum was part of the UPU’s World Postal Business Forum, which ends on October 1 in Hannover, Germany.