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Reform of postal organisations can take place in many different ways, ranging from corporatisation and commercialisation to complete deregulation and privatisation. Transend has built a track record in developing and implementing programmes that effectively manage the huge operational, organisational and governance issues associated with postal reform. This expertise is based on the successful transformation of New Zealand Post from a government department to a corporate entity. Our experienced senior executives and specialists can lead modernisation and commercial development programmes, working locally with postal management to improve service and financial performance.
Regulatory and Corporate Reform
Postal organisations have traditionally been government owned and there is a continuing trend to reform them from government departmental models into stand-alone corporate structures.
Introducing these structures, and the management practices that go with them, can lead to better results for the governmental shareholder. Improved commercial performance also positions a postal business better to deal with competition from alternative service providers.
Transend has been engaged by a number of governments to transform their existing postal administrations into commercially driven companies.
This process requires:
Business Planning
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Business planning determines the focus and behaviour of every postal organisation. A postal organisation's business plan should establish short- and long-term direction and set objectives. It will influence the organisation’s structure and management style and is critical in developing a more commercial and marketing-oriented focus.
Appropriate communication with staff and regular monitoring processes are crucial to ensuring the business plan’s acceptance. Business planning also requires regular reviews and amendments to reflect changing market conditions and environmental factors.
Transend has international expertise in business planning. As well as undertaking assignments in this area, Transend can conduct audits and critical assessments of clients’ existing business planning processes.
Performance Benchmarking
Performance benchmarking allows organisations to see how they compare against similar organisations. Organisations benefit from measuring existing standards, processes and systems against best practice worldwide.
Transend has carried out a number of benchmarking studies for postal organisations around the world. Our global experience enables access to industry knowledge and best practice, against which benchmarking can be conducted. Additionally New Zealand Post and its strategic alliances provide a wealth of knowledge against which future projects can be measured. |
Performance Measures
Transend, like New Zealand Post, has adopted a financial model that rests on two cornerstones:
- The Balanced Scorecard – comprising four key performance areas that reflect an organisation's business principles
- Economic Value Added (EVA™)* – which measures the amount of wealth created above the return that could have been received from a different investment of equal risk. It is a tool for measuring performance and evaluating investments
*(EVA™ is a registered trademark of Stern Stewart & Company)
Transend also provides advice on implementing activity-based costing models. This is a method of measuring costs so that a cost can be provided for each work activity undertaken in the end-to-end processing and delivery of mail. This information can be used to analyse product and customer margins.
Organisational Change Management
The processes of modernising, becoming more commercially focused and adopting new corporate structures are fundamental changes within a postal organisation.
Many postal organisations have tended to manage organisational change internally, but the scope and pace of these changes require a more professional approach if the necessary reorganisation is to be achieved successfully. Engaging Transend will result in a change process that can be managed with a greater degree of objectivity. It also means that organisational managers can concentrate on day-to-day operations while the organisational and structural changes are being put in place.
Transend has significant hands-on experience managing change programmes in postal organisations.
Staff Training
A key aspect of change management is staff training and up-skilling. We typically seek to ensure that staff training is a key component of any assignment. Staff ‘buy-in’ to a change management process is essential if identified efficiency benefits are to be achieved.
It is critical that the initiatives remain in place after a project is finished and that the learning undertaken during the project remains an integral part of the client organisation’s knowledge base. For this reason, knowledge transfer is typically included in any assignment we conduct involving change.
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