2017 UPU World CEO Forum Final Report
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UPU WORLD CEO FORUM MOSCOW 2017 Leading multidimensional growth: The hows and whys of postal strategy FINAL REPORT December 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Message from the Director General 4 Executive summary 7 Programme 11 Panels and content 11 Speakers 19 Moderators 29 Key takeaways from the discussions 31 Starting basis 33 Global dynamics 33 Stakeholder needs 35 Are traditional postal operators meeting these needs? 37 What could be the best business models for ensuring success? 38 Role of the UPU in this transformation 41 About the UPU 43 Message from the Director General At the first World CEO Forum in 2016 in Paris, over The forum began by reflecting on the issues that 50 CEOs from all over the world met to reflect on Posts need to focus on in this fast-changing world. the future of the postal sector. The forum brought Then we moved into a discussion on the needs of together prestigious speakers and participants from customers and governments: two critical stakehold- Posts, academia and beyond. They delved into a ers for Posts. And we closed day one by evaluating number of crucial topics for the industry, such as the the degree to which the expectations of our stake- profitability of e-commerce, the relationship between holders are being met. Posts and e-retailers, opportunities for postal finan- cial services in the digital era, and the transforma- On the second day of the event, we considered the tional role of big data for postal operators. avenues of change, seeing how any shortcomings of Posts can be overcome. This set the scene for a final Under the title “Leading multidimensional growth: discussion on effective business models that could The hows and whys of postal strategy”, the 2017 be adopted in order to bridge the delivery divide. edition of the CEO Forum in Moscow picked up the conversation from where we left off in 2016. Over In addition, CEOs had the time and opportunity to two days, industry leaders shared their experiences benchmark and network with peers from all over the and vision for the Post of the future. world; indeed, this is one of the key objectives of these forums. As the intergovernmental organization respon- sible for the postal sector, the UPU strives to pro- vide such platforms whenever they help fulfil the organization’s mission, as expressed in the Istanbul World Postal Strategy, which is to ensure that “the postal sector is seen as an enabler of inclusive devel- opment and an essential component of the global economy”. Finally, and very importantly, I wish to thank Russian Post most sincerely for partnering with us to host the UPU World CEO Forum 2017. They have contrib- uted enormously to its success through facilitation in various areas, including sponsorship and hospitality. I hope this report will provide a snapshot of this successful event. Thank you for your participation and support. Bishar A. Hussein Executive summary The 2017 edition of the UPU World CEO Forum was In 2017, the forum focused on the strategy devel- held in Moscow, Russian Federation, from 17 to opment process, from diagnosing the current state 19 September. It was the second time that the cap- of the global economy and postal markets to look- tains of the postal industry had met to reflect on ing at successful business models for fulfilling the the future of the postal sector. This report contains needs of the Posts’ key stakeholders. Under the title a detailed description of the event’s programme, “Leading multidimensional growth: The hows and including the content of the panel discussions, gen- whys of postal strategy”, the forum spanned two eral information about the participation of CEOs days of discussions with high-level speakers from and various speakers, as well as the key takeaways the postal sector and international organizations, in of the forum. It is therefore intended to offer both a total of six panels. a summary of the event and insight into the most important ideas being considered by the leaders of The first day started with the opening session, which the postal sector in this age of rapid transformation. included speeches from the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and The previous edition of the event, held in Paris in Mass Media of the Russian Federation. 2016, saw the participation of over 50 CEOs. The first event of its kind, it brought together prestigious The first panel was devoted to understanding global speakers and participants from Posts, academia dynamics: CEOs asked themselves what Posts need and beyond. They delved into several crucial topics to pay attention to in today’s fast-changing world. In for the industry, such as the profitability of e-com- the second and third panels, participants discussed merce, the relation between Posts and e-retailers, what they understood to be the needs of custom- the opportunities of postal financial services in the ers and governments in this new environment. This digital era, and the transformational role of big data paved the way for the fourth and last panel of the for postal operators. day, which evaluated the degree to which Posts are meeting the expectations discussed in the first panels. 7 The second day focused more on solutions. The fifth Indeed, even though some disparities persist panel revolved around the factors that Posts need to between countries and regions, the circumstances consider in order to better meet the expectations of have totally changed for postal operators, who have their stakeholders, while in the sixth and final panel to face fast-evolving needs. Customers are much of the forum, participants looked more closely at the more demanding: right here right now, digital and business models that modern Posts are adopting in mobile, and choice and control are just some of the order to succeed. buzzwords that describe this new pattern. In addi- tion, Posts continue to feel the pressure from gov- In addition to the panel discussions, the forum also ernments to fulfil their public service mission in included a number of social events, which provided what appears to be an impossible equation: “Make additional opportunities for CEOs to network and your own money, but make things that don’t make share best practices. Throughout all of these events, money”. By and large, the public service orientation Russian Post showed extraordinary hospitality, appears to prevail over the commercial aspects, with something that was appreciated by all participants. Posts called upon to play a special role in social cohe- sion and infrastructure, and not just in rural areas. The first key takeaway from the event was that tech- Pushing this logic even further, Posts could even be nological transformations are bringing not only risks seen by governments as a vector for building a mid- but also significant opportunities for Posts, which dle class and an extended tax base. have retained their role as a network of public ser- vices. The CEO Forum served as the perfect tool to In trying to meet these evolving needs, the tradi- benchmark with peers and provide input for the tional postal operators seem to be falling short of postal sector’s Agenda 2030. expectations. Product portfolios appear mostly unaligned with the needs of customers, and busi- This is crucial because global dynamics appear to ness models are usually not adapted to the local be generally favourable to the postal sector: eco- realities. Moreover, operators typically face chal- nomic output and trade are back on track after years lenges in articulating their value proposition to cus- of sluggish growth, in spite of persistent risks. At tomers, an issue that can be exacerbated by the the same time, e-commerce and light logistics are difficulties postal staff have in embracing the trans- exploding thanks to various macro trends triggered formation required to change the corporate brand by technology, such as new consumption mod- of very traditional companies. Furthermore, opera- els, 3D printing, blockchains, big data, privacy con- tors feel that they are being left in this fight alone, cerns, and the high demand for trusted transactions. with insufficient financial and political support from In parallel to this evolution, demographic trends, in governments and struggling to cover the universal combination with economic growth, are also creat- service obligation. ing demand for new services, which Posts can help fulfil. However, regions with a demographic divi- dend can only seize opportunities if they engage in appropriate reforms and transformations. 8 What would be the best business models for ensuring Rebranding and awareness-raising also appear to be success? To answer this question, traditional postal a critical element of success, as part of the overall operators have been adopting a number of strate- effort to regain the trust of lost customers. Stronger gies to successfully mitigate risks and seize oppor- operations and a whole set of efficiency measures tunities. In several countries, the Post is increasingly are also key. Indeed, if Posts are to be perceived as adapting its portfolio in order to become a one-stop being able to deliver, with speed and reliability, a shop for public services. In doing so, it is nurturing range of services that stretch beyond the traditional an old tradition while fulfilling the expectations of letter segment, they need to improve their opera- governments, which often see post offices as out- tions and customer care abilities. They also need to posts of public service delivery, especially in remote revitalize their labour force. and sparsely populated areas. This orientation goes hand in hand with a strategic repositioning and the Nevertheless, for all the benefits of these different development of new products (e.g.