[KOREA POST] Korea Post augments overseas exchanges

Korea Post seeks to leverage its advanced technology and services to help modernize the postal system in emerging countries, its officials said yesterday.

The national postal operator said that enhanced exchanges with its overseas peers will offer opportunities for Korean IT firms to enter markets abroad and to provide local customers with better services.

The Korea Post offers guaranteed international delivery service to local customers through an alliance of 10 leading postal administrations worldwide.

Enhancing postal ties

On July 6, the Korea Post signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterpart in Brunei to upgrade Brunei`s postal and financial system.

The Korea Post will help the Brunei government conduct a feasibility study to formulate a master plan for postal modernization.

The Korea Post also held an event for Korea`s five IT companies, including LG CNS, to promote their postal system and equipment in the Southeast Asian nation.

"To aid exports of local postal companies ..., the Korea Post has secured channels for postal cooperation with promising postal export nations and has actively promoted and marketed our postal system and equipment ..." the Korea Post said.

The Korea Post set up a plan to help Korean IT firms advance overseas in 2005 and established a department in charge of assisting with their exports in 2006. The division has dispatched postal IT promotion teams comprised of people from the government, business and academic sectors to potential export markets, and has invited overseas IT officials to Korea for training.

Its efforts paid off, with the Korean IT firm, SK C&C, winning the bid in 2008 to participate in the first phase of a project to modernize Kazakhstan`s postal services. On May 13, the company signed a contract for a $5.6 million project to establish a postal logistics system called "e-logistics" in the central Asian country.

That was the first export of Korea`s postal system since the Korea Post started to support local postal IT firms` entry into overseas markets.

KazPost plans to carry out a postal modernization project worth about $50 million by 2011.

A local firm`s participation in the first phase of the project has raised hopes that other Korean enterprises will be able to join the second and third phases of the project.

The Korea Post sealed separate MOUs with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand for postal exchanges. A tripartite agreement for postal cooperation was also made among Korea, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

The Korea Post has helped Korean firms land deals involving exports worth approximately $200 million since 2006. In 2007 alone, Korea companies forged contracts regarding the exports of postal equipment worth $85 million and a postal IT system worth $37 million.

PostNet and E-Post

The Korea Post`s web-based integrated postal information system known as PostNet has attracted interest from postal administrations overseas.

The system links some 3,600 post offices nationwide to comprehensively manage postal logistical affairs and to computerize the flow of mail.

The advanced system has helped to raise customer satisfaction by making postal service more transparent. The system enables customers to track packages at not less than eight stages of the journey, including pickup and delivery, via a website or call centers. Previously, tracking and tracing was only possible at two to four points and was not on a real-time basis.

Customers are also notified of expected delivery times and get delivery confirmations through cell phone text messages.

The postal logistics system has helped the Korea Post to win several international awards.

In 2004 and 2006, the Korea Post received the Gold Level EMS Certification from the Universal Postal Union for its EMS supported by PostNet. EMS, short for express mail service, is an international courier service.

Since 2001, the UPU`s EMS Cooperative has conducted an annual evaluation of the EMS service quality of all of its 191 member countries` postal operators.

In 2006, Triangle Management Services also granted the Korea Post the Technology award for the PostNet system at the World Mail Awards in 2006.

The Korea Post topped the E-commerce category for its web post office known as "e-Post."

Overseas postal operators are scrambling to learn Korea`s advanced PostNet system. Japan, previously a model for Korea`s system, has showed significant interest in the PostNet system, sending some 210 postal IT experts to the Korea Post.

The Korea Post has deployed and operated "e-Post," which enables producers to sell local specialties to consumers. The site also supports online postal service such as parcel and EMS pick-up requesst, congratulations and condolences cards reception, tracking inquiries and others.

The Korea Post offers financial services through various channels - CD/ATM, land line phones, the internet, cell phone and TV. Electronic banking transactions accounted for 71.9 percent of all postal financial transactions as of May 2008.

The Korea Post also provides one-stop philatelic services - information on Korean stamps, direct sale of stamps, a stamp shop and web-zine.

Kahala Posts Group

The Korea Post is a member of an international alliance of 10 national postal administrations which was created in 2003 to help them compete with international logistics firms.

With delivery to 1.8 billion postal code combinations, the Kahala Posts Group boasts a powerful international network and reliable delivery service.

The alliance has prompted the growth of the international delivery industry, with the EMS` volume rising by an annual 8.7 percent since 2005, when the group officially launched its collaborative EMS service.

The member countries of the Kahala Posts Group gathered in Australia on July 7 to discuss improving the quality of EMS service and introducing IT-based value-added postal service tailored to customer needs.

The other members of the group are China, Japan, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Britain, Spain and France.

In 2003, the group started off as six countries, Korea included, and has since expanded its membership base. Kahala Posts Group was named after the Hawaiian resort where the members stayed during their founding meeting.

By Jin Hyun-joo

(hjjin@heraldm.com)