POSTAL service providers must adopt modern technology through sustainable diversification of services in order to meet consumer changes and become relevant in the current century, an expert said.

"The most obvious challenge post offices are facing is the challenge from alternative technologies, where consumers today are using other means of communication more than the traditional postal services," said Shailendra Kumar Dwivedi, a lecturer from the Asian Pacific Postal College Bangkok, Thailand.

"But there in lies a solution as well, and that's towards diversification through adopting modern technology.".

Speaking to The Brunei Times yesterday, Shailendra revealed that many post offices including in Brunei's have always thrived on the existing physical network, but the growing challenge faced by post offices urged a reinvention of the system through a convergience of different forms of communications.

"There's no way you can fight new technology and there's no reason to, because you can always provide a very good platform for convergience of different kinds of services to meet consumers needs today.

"This is the direction in which post offices are moving towards, with innovation as the key philosophy, in order for them to become relevant in the current century," he added.

He said Brunei is among the several postal organisations that are expected to take that route, with the government committed in supporting such initiatives in adopting the diversification of services, riding on new technology and improving cost efficiency.

"Weekly training programmes aren't enough to accomplish this, but probably bring in some behavioural changes on which the organisation has to, with the aid of the government, capitalise by following it up with more multi-pronged strategic steps," he added.

He also urged postal service organisations to generate a new work culture in the organisation.

"In all this, the core philosophy is to achieve sustainable development, so not to waste resources but to find out ways of using resources in a sustainable way, not for your own business alone but for the community as a whole. That's the approach we need to take.

Shailendra conducted a sales management workshop called 'Successful Selling' for officers from the Postal Service Department this week, in which he provided a training on customer service and customer relationship management that is relevant to the sector.

"The most important message out of this training is customer orientation and problem solving mindset, to come out with creative solutions everytime rather than looking at the past and taking it as an excuse why things cannot be done," he said.

Shailendra works for the Asian-Pacific Post Union (APPU), an organisation representing the 33 member countries in the Asia Pacific region.

"We try to implement the global postal strategy in this region and try to help the member countries in doing so, and the most important thing we do in that direction is provide human resource development support, and any other support that we do," he said.

The Brunei Times