One of the most important state institutions, the Post Offices of Serbia, will enter the new year with new ideas and innovations in its business activities, while the ongoing digitalization will benefit both users and employees
The Post Offices of Serbia is facing a great challenge to transform itself from a neglected company to a leader in postal and logistics services. In his interview for Diplomacy&Commerce magazine, Zoran Djordjević, the Acting Director of the public enterprise the Post Offices of Serbia, says that he approached the company as if it is his own and started his term in the office in the manner of a good host.
What innovations did the company implement in order to better meet the needs of its customers? Do you have insight into customer satisfaction? Are there plans in place to improve postal services and if they are, could you tell us more about them?
The Post Offices of Serbia is a trusted business partner, fully committed to the meeting needs of its users. With a lot of enthusiasm and ambitious plans, we are focusing on better positioning in the market, winning over new users, as well as improving performance in the online shopping market. Our goal is to become a regional champion in the provision of postal and logistics services in addition to having the leading position in the country. From a not so favourable starting position in March, we have managed to achieve very good results and introduced numerous novelties. We have established new digital platforms and services, started a comprehensive modernization of business and postal network, opened new post offices and counters, extended working hours of over 150 post offices, successfully dealt with delivering goods bought online and increased the number of our Post Express deliveries. We have achieved all this while maintaining the high quality of services that we provide following the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system.
Could you tell us about the Post Offices of Serbia’s new services?
We launched the first e-commerce service in the company, i.e. an E-filatelija online shop, and started issuing digital green certificates, as well as EU-compatible green certificates in about 720 post offices across Serbia. Our users will soon be able to use our postal and financial services from the comfort of their homes. We
also provide services under the auspices of the Smart Delivery System, in addition to e-archiving, e-telegrams and e-greetings. Another important novelty is related to natural and legal persons and small business owners, who can now open post offices or postal counters by concluding a contract with us with favourable terms and conditions. The plan is to open 300 new branches, mostly through this project, especially in less developed and less accessible areas.
Another novelty is that our customers will have 20 days to pick up their parcels and packages from a post office, instead of five working days as it was before. This, however, does not apply to court parcels, documents and packages. This was one of the main objections of our clients, based on which we changed the rules that will take effect on January 1st next year. We have conducted extensive research to improve the services that the Post Offices of Serbia provide.
The fact that our net profit amounted to 2.8 billion dinars in the first nine months of the current year is a validation of how much our users appreciate our efforts and services.
The company is not lagging behind the latest trends, including digitalization. What has been done so far and what are your plans regarding digitalization?
The development of digitalization and the information society, which is a goal set by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, obliges the Post Offices of Serbia to apply new technologies faster. We have started a comprehensive modernization and business reform, which is based on the latest information and communication services, innovations and highly educated staff. We have also established significant partnerships and received support from the Office for Information Technology and Electronic Governance of the Government of Serbia, start-up companies that operate in the Science and Technology Park in Niš, the E-Commerce Association of Serbia, the Austrian Post and others.
One of the projects that we are implementing is parcel machines, which are simple to use and thus can be used by everyone, from the youngest to the oldest customers. Parcel machines are a completely new technology. Users will have the option to register via the app or leave a phone number. When the courier puts the package in the parcel machine, the recipient automatically receives information on the location of the parcel machine and instructions and the code needed to pick up the parcel. If the user is not registered through the application, they will only receive a text message with information about the parcel’s location. In this way, recipients will be able to pick up their parcels when it suits them best. There will also be an option to rent or buy a parcel machine, which can be installed in companies or residential buildings. Moreover, as of next year, postmen will carry with them devices that will help them to perform services related to receiving and delivering all types of mail and packages, as well as to provide payment services with the cashless payment and invoicing option.
Everything takes time, even good ideas. While developing the company, we strive to develop all segments, from the working conditions of employees and customer satisfaction to digitalization, which is extremely important. We need to follow trends. In order for the Post Office to fully utilize its capacity, I expect that the process will take one or two years, i.e. that it will last until 2024.
The Post Offices of Serbia has about 15,000 employees. What are the benefits of working at the company? How has the company improved working conditions and employee satisfaction?
As a business system of strategic national importance, our employees have a great responsibility to perform their jobs as professionally as possible. They are succeeding in that to a large extent, and thanks to their dedication, we were able to accomplish these enviable results. Working in such a prominent company, which is one of the largest in the country, is a matter of prestige and reputation, while our employees have the full support of management for every issue and help they need.
The concrete results we have achieved concerning improving the working conditions and financial position of our employees include payroll stimulus, better evaluation of work performance, and acquiring new vehicles and official uniforms. Also, we take special care of women employees so those female colleagues who have children starting the first grade of elementary school have flexible working hours.
We are also going to increase salaries early next year. We also plan to continue the ongoing negotiations with our founder the Government of the Republic of Serbia, trade union representatives and employees, to constantly improve the financial standing of our employees.
PROCUREMENT OF NEW VEHICLES IS ALSO UNDERWAY
How many vehicles does the company have? Are you planning on buying new vehicles?
Our fleet currently has over 1,600 vehicles – delivery, passenger and trucks. We plan to replace some of the vehicles we use now and increase the share of electric and hybrid vehicles. Procurement of more than 1,000 new mopeds and over 800 standard and electric bicycles is in progress