The UK mail industry has probably embraced more innovation in the last four or five years than in the rest of its 350-year history put together. But there's still a long way to go.

Postal operators are using new technology to offer customers a faster and better service. And this is not just an issue about price. What customers keep on telling us is that they want good service and value for money. That doesn't always mean they're looking for the cheapest option.

We've seen investment in new systems across the sector and are due for much more, including from Royal Mail, which is increasingly able to work in a ‘joined-up' way with the ‘access' operators that collect and sort mail before handing it back to Royal Mail's network of postmen for final delivery.

The postal market was opened to full competition at the beginning of 2006. But postal operators aren't just competing with each other; they are having to face up to the reality of competing communications media, too. Alternatives to post are a challenge.

How can mail adapt and attract customers now that there are more alternatives than ever? If the mail sector is to thrive, companies must use technologies to work with other media in a blended way, retaining and growing their customer base, with services tailored to those customers' precise needs.

Although we saw a small decline - 1.6% - in volumes in the mail market last year (2005-6), the rise of alternative media doesn't necessarily mean that this will continue. It's not a case of the internet versus mail. In fact, internet users get more mail than their webless counterparts, and e-fulfilment (deliveries from Amazon, Play.com and countless other online retailers) is accounting for an ever-increasing proportion of mail.

What technology can help deliver is a healthy and innovative mail market and that, in turn, means a strong and affordable universal postal service. Customers in the UK have more choice than ever before in terms of mail service provider and other means of communication. And the service providers that respond best to customer needs, adapting and innovating to serve the market, will be the ones best able to retain, develop and grow their businesses in these exciting times.

Postcomm is the independent regulator for the postal services in the UK. For more information see www.psc.gov.uk

The express parcels industry is founded on the fast delivery of parcels and providing customers with information on them as quickly as possible, so new technology percolates through the industry at a rapid rate.

Two of the biggest current developments use technologies that are familiar to everyone, mobile phones and the web.

‘On the road' technology
Mobile phone technology has swept the globe in the last 20 years, but continuous improvements in networks and the size of messages and files that can be sent are providing opportunities for further innovation.

If you've signed for a parcel on a mobile device, then you're using technology very much like your mobile phone. The devices are bigger and more rugged because they have to cope with hundreds of transactions each day and the software and servers need to handle huge amounts of information. To give you an idea of scale, at peak times we're delivering around 15 parcels a second and this information can be seen on the web in a few minutes.

As the technology continues to mature, it's bringing opportunities for lots more innovations, some of which are starting to be deployed. These include:

• Satellite navigation through the same device to make sure the driver can always find your address quickly

• Dynamic route planning, so delivery routes can be optimised as collection requests are received during the day or weather and traffic conditions change

• The development of smaller timeslots for delivery using this navigation and route planning technology

• The ability to hold and update delivery preferences (e.g. alternative delivery addresses) for each parcel in real time

‘Under the roof' technology
While the devices that delivery drivers use have been revolutionised by mobile phone technology, indoor activities in depots, distribution hubs and contact centres have embraced the benefits of the internet.

Operating bespoke, local server-based applications in parcel networks makes it expensive to change, slow to roll out and difficult to integrate to customer systems.

Moving systems online means they can operate on common technology that's easy to integrate to and can be accessed by operators or customers through a standard internet connection. It's available 24 hours a day and a change made at the centre is immediately available for all users. As an example we're progressively moving 23 legacy systems on to a single integrated online platform.

This is a snapshot of how two technologies are being applied in the parcels industry. There are many others including RFID and other sensors, voice recognition, text messaging and Semantic web that are creating opportunities for new services, but it's safe to say that the express parcels industry is readily embracing new technologies that can benefit all of our customers.

For more information visit www.parcelforce.com

More and more, its Royal Mail's rivals who are the purveyors of bleeding-edge technology. Organisations such as DHL, TNT and UPS have vast experience in global logistics but had to start from scratch when tackling the UK letter market.

Since Royal Mail lost its monopoly last year, the sector has seen the emergence of 18 rivals that are competing fiercely to delivery business mail campaigns. The benefits are clear: 48-hour delivery instead of 7-10 working days and at least 10% cheaper. All operators operate by a mechanism called Down Stream Access (DSA) which allows them to collect and sort mailbags before passing it to Royal Mail for delivery by the postman.

When you make the switch away from Royal Mail, you benefit from a tremendous amount of technological investment. Firstly, the mailbags that contain your direct mail campaign feature a barcode which enables the operator to build up a rich audit history as the mailing is conveyed. This logs key stages including dispatch by the mailing house, arrival to the operator's sortation centre and provision to Royal Mail.

All of this information can be reviewed instantaneously on-line on a sophisticated site called Docket-Hub. You are able to verify your mailing house's punctuality, the spoil rate and the remaining balance to be posted. Never before have direct mail managers been afforded this level of visibility on the progress of their campaigns.

Technological improvements have also been introduced to the operator's sortation machinery. These machines use optical technology and fuzzy logic to determine the address of both handwritten and typed addresses. After recognising the address, the mail is then physically rooted to correct mail bag for inclusion with DSA mail.

Investment is currently been made in software that is able to analyse a client's database to determine the optimum carrier or carriers to convey the campaign. This has been complicated by the introduction of zonal pricing, which charges different rates depending on geographical location. This has seen the emergence of complex algorithms that can determine the most efficient way to achieve the biggest discount. The UK postal market has become a more complicated business, but conversely it has been the role of technology that has simplified matters for users and suppliers alike.

For more information see www.post-switch.co.uk