UPU World Leaders Forum highlights importance of collaborative innovation

The 2024 UPU World Leaders Forum has highlighted the importance of adopting an inclusive, collaborative, secure and human-centred approach to innovation and digitalisation to help drive growth in the postal sector and ensure it remains relevant.

The recent forum covered everything from the essential role of women in collaborative growth in the postal sector, the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and how to combine this technology with human oversight to a human-centred approach to cybersecurity and the key role of partnerships to address modern demands in postal services.

The UPU World Leaders Forum was held last month at Parcel+Post Expo in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. According to the UPU, it brought together key voices from the postal and logistics industry to discuss digital transformation and how to maintain customer trust.

Gender parity

The forum included a session on the essential role of women in fostering inclusive and collaborative growth in the postal sector. Panellists, which included leading female executives from around the world, discussed the unique challenges women face in the postal sector and emphasised the essential need for diverse perspectives, especially from women, for a customer-focused, inclusive postal sector.

This panel, which included speakers from Pošta Slovenije and the Seychelles Postal Service, also talked about the need to eliminate gender biases in AI and the importance of mentorship to inspire women to enter technology-focused roles.

According to the UPU, the panel concluded with advice for emerging female leaders to remain persistent, confident, and proactive in seeking mentors and advocating for themselves within their organisations.

Artificial intelligence

The UPU World Leaders Forum also included important discussion on the role of AI in the postal sector. A keynote speech was provided by Edgar Barroso, CEO of Horizons Architecture – a tech start-up, which promotes collective intelligence between humans and machines.

Barroso discussed how AI, when paired with human expertise, can elevate customer experiences by personalizing services, optimizing delivery, and accurately predicting customer needs.

Meanwhile, an AI-focused roundtable featuring industry figures from the Asian-Pacific Postal Union, PostNord, Nordstrom and Microsoft looked at how AI should be combined with human oversight to ensure the ethical and responsible use of the technology.

Panellists also stressed the postal sector’s responsibility to manage personal data transparently and with integrity, maintaining customer trust as the industry integrates more AI-based solutions.

Human-centred cybersecurity

Another key discussion point at the forum was cybersecurity. Nadja El Fertasi, founder of Thrive with EQ, which pioneers the integration of cybersecurity and emotional intelligence, discussed the need for a human-cantered approach to cybersecurity. According to Fertasi, a lack of emotional intelligence during cyber incidents can harm stakeholder trust and damage reputations.

Fertasi’s keynote was followed by a roundtable on cybersecurity, with experts from La Poste Groupe, Amazon Web Services and Beyon Connect discussing the critical role of human vigilance in cyber threats. The UPU noted that panellists advocated for rigorous security training, regular drills, and strict accountability measures to uphold security standards.

Collaborative partnerships

The forum also highlighted several successful partnerships which have enhanced customer trust and addressed modern demands in postal services.

These partnerships include An Post and Hurricane Commerce’s collaboration to streamline cross-border e-commerce with duty and tax calculation tools; Ukrposhta’s partnerships with AfterShip to develop a comprehensive tracking solution to support Ukrainian merchants on platforms like Etsy and eBay; and SF Express’s work on establishing an intelligent cloud security inspection platform with China Post to enhance the safety of postal workers and customers, improve satisfaction, and strengthen collaboration with global partners.