Intuitive Mobile Application Helps PostNord Manage Spike in Seasonal Volumes

The shopping convenience offered by e-commerce websites has led to an exponential rise in the growth of internet buying. Moreover, the volumes spike during festive seasons, leading to a bitter challenge for logistic operators, while delivering a massive number of parcels. Faced with a similar challenge, PostNord, the leading supplier of communications and logistics solutions to, from and within the Nordic region, decided to create a mobile application to handle seasonal volumes efficiently. The mobile application was intended to help PostNord´s partner outlets to process parcels faster and effectively reducing queues.The partner outlets were limited in number and wanted to offer more flexibility and mobility to handle mammoth volumes. To maintain consistency in the quality of delivery services, a mobile solution was considered, that would free up physical desk space and allow multiple transactions in real-time.

The Solution

Capgemini was chosen as the partner for solving this challenge. Capgemini’s mobile solutions experts began their engagement with initial analysis and design. An agile approach strengthened the involvement of the customer through multiple demos, workshops and feedback meetings. The project team leveraged the iterative and incremental Scrum software development framework to achieve goals faster and more efficiently.The mobile application is based on a Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system and consists of a rugged handheld device, the Motorola MC65. The solution is a lightweight mobile version of the current system – Pablo – that is used by the partner outlets. The solution communicates with the Pablo system through a wi-fi network and a Pablo system API. The devices can be controlled remotely through a device management system called SOTI.

The communication is established through multicast messages sent out by the Pablo system API and received by the mobile application. The mobile application acts as a “dummy client” with only temporary information storage. The application sends requests to the Pablo system API in order to get system backend information.

The Result

PostNord’s new mobile application is currently being used by approximately 200 (out of 1600) partner outlets in and around Sweden with impressive survey results. Capgemini experts have further developed new functionalities which will be incorporated in the application going forward.The mobile solution is faster by about 10 seconds per interaction than the previous, stationary one. Considering the huge number of interactions during peak seasons, this time saving translates into a substantial boost to profit margins.

With the new mobile application, Capgemini has helped PostNord successfully leverage the Scrum methodology, where a focused development team reaches a common goal through cross-competency collaboration and team work.

PostNord has digitally transformed its workforce to brace for a spike in volume of e-tradables.