Software delivers Swift postal service

When the popularity of the web began to grow dramatically a few years ago, some predicted that internet, especially e-mail, would eventually kill the traditional postal service. It didn't. But the internet has changed some everyday habits, with many turning to online shopping to buy goods from abroad, sparking an increase in the use of international postal parcels.

To meet the changing needs of its customer, Maltapost has exploited information and communication technology (ICT) to rise to the challenge. What has happened at Maltapost is so impressive that foreign postal services have turned to the software company that implemented the ICT solution at Maltapost.

A few weeks ago, Ascent Software, a Ta' Xbiex-based Maltese company with just 35 developers but boasting several European clients, announced that it has signed agreements with the postal authorities of Barbados and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for the sale of licences of its Swift Postal software package. The deals also include deployment, training and consulting.

Earlier last year the Guernsey Post, the island's postal authority, had also implemented Swift Postal.

Designed to automate postal counter services, Swift Postal streamlines the post office's counter processes and helps to carry out traditional business more efficiently. The solution gives the postal authority the opportunity to tap into new revenue streams such as financial transactions, bill payment on behalf of third parties, and also to expand the range of retail services and products. It is perfectly positioned to assist small- to medium-sized postal organisations by offering an affordable, value-for-money solution.

The history of Swift Postal goes back four years, thanks to Maltapost.

"It all started when Maltapost issued an international call for tenders for a postal counter automation solution. At Ascent we knew we had the right credentials as we have a lot of experience in retail and point-of-sale (POS) applications," John Abela, technical director at Ascent Software, explains.

The software required at Maltapost was created from scratch and was named Hermes. Its development and implementation led to the creation of Aida, the forerunner of Swift, which has replaced Hermes. Swift was designed from the start to run on standard PC hardware with the Windows operating system. The counter PCs can be regular PCs or custom point-of-sale PCs.

"The main challenges were security, the transaction load, and data replication," Dr Abela reveals. "We wanted to ensure that the system was secure and this meant using strong encryption methods for transferring the data between Maltapost branches and the head office. The number of transactions per day was substantial and we had to ensure that the system could handle the load properly.

"Finally, Maltapost insisted from the very start that data being generated at the branches had to be uploaded, automatically and autonomously, to the head office within minutes. We designed and implemented what is best described as a 'distributed transactional engine' and which we called Aida."

Ascent faced another challenge when it started the roll-out. Maltapost and Ascent tested and tweaked Hermes for four months before the final go-live date. The concern was not with the technical infrastructure or the software but with the Maltapost employees who were going to use it.

"We were expecting some hiccups because some of the counter staff were not IT-literate. To our astonishment, and probably also to Maltapost's, the transition went very smoothly and the staff adapted to Hermes very quickly. Within days, all branches were operating normally. The Maltapost IT support staff did a great job and handled all user queries and issues. Maltapost organised hands-on training sessions for the counter staff and also designated a number of IT-literate counter staff as 'Hermes project champions'."

This successful implementation results into several benefits not just for Maltapost but also for its clients. Queue times were reduced, and new services could be provided. Apart from buying stamps and posting letters (i.e. traditional postal services), customers could pay for utility, TV and internet bills, carry out local and foreign money transfers, buy phone cards and obtain many other services.

Today's postal operators have to face some technology-related challenges to service. According to Dr Abela these challenges are the IT infrastructure and staff training.

"In Malta we are lucky in the sense that we have a very good communications infrastructure," he says. "This meant that Maltapost could install fast and secure VPNs (virtual private networks) between the branches and the head office. With many countries, including some that we are currently negotiating with, the internet infrastructure is a problem. We have to resort to dial-up and, in some cases, to using pen drives and CDs for data transfer.

"These problems mean that some Swift counter services, such as foreign money transfer, cannot be offered at certain branches. The other challenge that some postal operators face is that of training the staff to use modern software applications. In some countries the ratio of PCs per capita is very low and some counter staff would have never seen a PC in their lives."

Dr Abela warns there are some important insights to be gained from the Maltapost case study even for software companies and business organisations needing to implement a software-based business solution.

"It is to Maltapost's credit that, from the beginning, they understood very well that it was important to employ modern professional software development techniques," Dr Abela points out. "They understand that proper functional specification has to be drawn up, and that after each module was developed, it has to be tested properly. One of the main problems facing many Maltese software development houses it that many local clients want to pay only for development, i.e. the actual coding, and not for the preparation for proper functional and technical specifications, testing, etc.

"Mentalities have to change. People still expect us to submit a quotation for a complex software package after a meeting that lasts, at most, a couple of hours. With Swift, we implemented an 'Agile' development methodology where we would spec every module and have it signed off before developing and deploying it. Other software companies have the same problem. With Maltapost, this was not an issue because many of their IT staff and management had previous software development experience."