Post NL is currently by far the most delivery company in the Netherlands. Post NL has three main business units: ‘mail in the Netherlands’, ‘Parcels’ and ‘International’. The company is putting its efforts into improving efficiency. A changing market structure (more parcels and less mails) has caused a shift in attention toward e-commerce. PostNL has managed to integrate its entire infrastructure into its IT. Notable is the cloud strategy of Post NL in which their entire IT was transferred into a cloud. The data that PostNL gathers is stored in a central database. The firm’s IT based platforms provide customers with many features. For example, the PostNL app allows customer to view detailed information about their parcels (e.g. expected delivery times, invoices and a track and trace option). The extensive network and the technological advantage (advanced machinery such as SMX) of PostNL provide the company with an unmatchable competitive advantage over the other competitors.
sUAS technology, or better known as drones have made their appearance in the parcel delivery market. Package delivery by drones has become reality and tests have been conducted by many companies. With Amazon being the pioneer with this technology, many other firms in this market (such as DHL) followed. Even though consumers are excited about the drone technology, skepticism remains within PostNL. Benefits of the technology are for example significant faster delivery and delivery to places that cannot be reached. Thus, granting PostNL an even a bigger competitive advantage. We believe that PostNL could benefit greatly from the drones. Therefore, we proposed a business plan for the implementation of the technology. The implementation of the drone technology implies that the IT strategy of PostNL has to be altered. A network which supports the drone technology has to be integrated into the current IT infrastructure. This network should allow drones to operate as independently as possible (such as independent interaction with the inventory and the data warehouse).
A business plan has been written in order to assist PostNL in implementing the drone technology into their strategy. Objectives include: ‘The delivery time with the drones should be no more than 30 minutes’, ‘all urgent parcels up to 500 pounds will be delivered by drone’, and ‘Drone delivery will be launched if safe operations can be demonstrated’. A new mission and vision has also been formulated: ‘Enhance delivery in the Netherlands while privacy and safety are guaranteed and cost are kept at a minimum’ and ‘In the future, all B2C parcels in the Netherlands will be delivered in 30 minutes or less’. The changes in IT that have been proposed are: ‘Integrate a drone network’, ‘Drone interaction with the mobile app and PostNL website’, ‘SMX adjustments’ and ‘R&D investments’. The following keys to success are expected to make the implementation of the proposed strategy a success: ‘Inform the customer’, ‘Reduce noise pollution’, ‘Keep it safe’, and ‘Make it possible’. We expect that the drone technology will increase customer satisfaction and revenues.
