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In some countries, parcel volumes increased by up to 50 percent in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic led people to search for everyday staples online. Arun Pradeep, Business Head for Travel, Transportation and Hospitality in Europe at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), explains how the industry has adapted to these changes and how it uses technology for the future.

2020 was an extraordinary year; What now for the postal and logistics sector?

At the start of the pandemic, companies quickly focused on employee safety, reliable delivery, and customer satisfaction. Now her focus is on keeping up with the new normal that the pandemic sparked, such as the huge surge in online shopping.

Most operators already had digitization plans, but there is a new urgency to move ahead with their plans. I think investments will likely focus on making informed decisions, smart automation, and creating new business models.

What is the roadmap for the digital transformation of the industry and how does TCS help its customers?

The opportunity is to take a fresh look at the end-to-end customer journey – digital channels will be the most important means of reaching customers. We recently redefined all of a postal organization’s digital channels to accommodate different customer personalities across the country and the results have been phenomenal.

We are now working with them to realize their vision of being a digital leader. Working with an industry that is changing is extremely exciting.

Can you give us some examples of your work that is changing this industry?

On a broad scale, we help in five main areas: customer experience, smart operations, becoming an ecosystem player, creating new business models and sustainability, which are at the heart of every business today.

We help our customers redefine the physical touchpoints to achieve a digital customer experience. For one of our logistics customers, we are making operations intelligent and sustainable by using technologies for optimized delivery on the last mile. Warehousing is another area where we work closely with our customers to help them unlock synergies from the ecosystem.

What important innovations do you think will help drive the postal / logistics industry forward?

First, contactless sorting and efficient distribution on the last mile. I believe that redesigning sorting with autonomous robots, as well as redesigning automation across software – and the way humans and machines can interact – will have a huge impact on this industry. Second, creating a delivery ecosystem will also be a key differentiator.

A customer can order three packages in one day, and consolidating that shipment is a huge benefit. And it’s possible through a digitally transformed ecosystem that includes retailers, manufacturers and regions. After all, this industry never really had to think about who the customer belongs to. You were paid by other companies to ship goods.

But now, when a customer buys Gucci on Amazon, pays for it from Klarna and gets it delivered by PostNord, who does the customer belong to? The answer is with the right technology – cloud-first, service-oriented architecture and equipped with the right insight and advanced data-driven decisions.

What are the basic principles TCS follows for a successful relationship?

How we can help our customers to successfully fulfill their mission is our main focus every day. We stand with clients during difficult times and use our contextual knowledge to do what is best for them. The partnerships we form are deep and the understanding goes even deeper. It is a team whose sole goal is to meet and exceed business needs.

How will the industry reconcile increasing demand with sustainability?

Sustainability is an essential part of a company’s business today. We work with clients who are also committed to their sustainability goals and I believe this is a phenomenal way to bring the forces together to do something right.

While there are many initiatives – such as green logistics, circular economy – companies are taking on, all of our customers make a conscious effort to put sustainability at the heart of their business. Only a strongly data-driven organization will win the first step in the game to make operations sustainable.

What now for PostNord?

Amazon came to Sweden in October 2020, a market in which there are already many niche providers. How can IT innovation support PostNord on its way to becoming a sustainable logistics company? TCS works with this nearly 400 year old company to drive innovation in the organization. If we can help PostNord to fulfill its ambition to “make everyday life easier” and thereby make it the “favorite carrier of the Nordic countries”, we would get a great feeling of satisfaction.