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BusinessDay www.businessday.co.za Thursday 15 April 2021
INSIGHTS
COURIER SERVICES Sponsored content
Strategies key to meeting sector demands
Company is •confident about
its network and reach, writes Penny Haw
I
n an economy shaped not only by Covid-19 but also by recession and a shift in manufacturing, retail and consumer trends, innovation is fundamental to most businesses. But, says CEO of SkyNet Worldwide Express, Tommy Erasmus, successful and enduring innovation depends on identifying and understanding the demands of every sector you’re involved in and having the international reach and flexibility to meet them. It also means being able to depend on employees who are valued, empowered and encouraged to make positive change. “Respect, professionalism and perseverance — and how these principles relate to our people and how they do business — form the foundation of our culture,” says Erasmus. “We’re viewed by competitors as a market disruptor and differentiate ourselves in four key areas: people, innovation,
Diederick Stopforth … access. smart technology and tailormade services.” Independently-owned and locally-operated, the Skynet Worldwide Express network is an international courier cooperative comprising locallyowned courier companies operating as SkyNet licensees. The success of the model is underpinned by it having recently attracted both local and international investors. “SkyNet is not only a global brand with international reach and a broad footprint in Africa, but also one of SA’s true and abiding brands with an optimistic view of the future,” says Erasmus. “We’re proud of this and, well before Covid-19 compelled other companies to focus on local manufacturers
and companies because lockdown stifled international trade, we developed a strategy and identified 10 vertical markets in which we decided we wanted to prevail.” These markets, he says, were selected because they suited SkyNet’s best-in-class domestic networks and reach — the company has offices in many of SA’s less obvious centres and services outlying areas more frequently than many of its competitors — and its effective network in neighbouring countries. “We strategised with our customers and colleagues to define the most suitable markets but also selected them because we recognised them as markets that drive the South African economy.”
IT AND ACCESSIBILITY
It doesn’t help to identify and target markets if you’re unable to effectively service them. Confident about its network and reach, SkyNet has invested substantial resources developing its information technology (IT) abilities in recent years. One primary objectives was to improve communication with customers, thus advancing convenience. “Some of the most effective services are also, in many ways,
the simplest,” says Erasmus. “For example, we are now able to provide predictive delivery notifications to customers. This is not only convenient for them but also us, and results in notably fewer nondeliveries.” SkyNet also introduced an automatic address checking system, which scans addresses provided to ensure accuracy before parcels and documents are despatched. This has significantly reduced returns and nondeliveries. “On the subject of addresses, we’ve long recognised that many South Africans have informal addresses, which are not necessarily documented or easy to find. We’ve allowed for this market by introducing SkyNet counterpoints with more than 2,000 partners at retail outlets, agricultural coops, centres in townships and the like, each of which is has access to an IT system to simplify and expedite our services,” explains Erasmus.
MARKET SECTORS
SkyNet categorises its vertical markets as follows: education, e-commerce; healthcare; highend cosmetics; high-value items; agricultural; multilevel marketing; information technology and communications (ITC); reverse
logistics; and the cash market. “We were already set up to meet the demands of the ecommerce sector before Covid19, which meant we could service the huge demand that ensued,” says SkyNet marketing executive Diederick Stopforth. “Recognising that, for ecommerce clients, final mile delivery is essentially ‘the moment of truth’ and having invested in our IT systems to advance communication, traceability and security of deliveries meant we were able to conclude more e-commerce business between March and November than we had in the previous three years.” The company’s healthcare delivery service, SkyNet International Healthcare, which was also up and running well in advance of the pandemic, became even more critical during lockdown. “Our wide network and many convenient counterpoints, and the fact we were set up for the specialised handling and support to distribute medicines, instruments and equipment for both regularly scheduled and emergency supply, was key to many individuals and organisations during lockdown,” says Stopforth. “Our specialisation in healthcare, in fact, has enabled us to tender for
the national distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, the outcome of which we await.” SkyNet’s involvement in the education sector goes back about five years to when it introduced a drop-off and collection assignment service for Unisa students. Again, this convenient service became vital to more students and institutions during lockdown. Limited access to shops and the permanent closure of some retailers led to increased demand for SkyNet courier services from the high-end cosmetics market during 2020. Likewise, unemployment, the new establishment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the growth in the “gig economy” led to more business from multilevel marketing companies. Similarly, demands for computer equipment and
software for work-from-home applications saw an increase in the ITC sector. The agricultural sector is, says Stopforth, an important and growing one for SkyNet. Countertop partnerships with co-ops in rural areas have not only provided farmers with better access to agricultural products but have also opened up e-commerce opportunities to their families and employees. Using its extensive network reach and effective reporting and communications technology, SkyNet is growing its reverse logistics business, which requires the courier company to fetch and return products to organisations. “We’ve also tapped into the cash market via our partnership with e-hailing platform Droppa,” says Erasmus. “This not only significantly contributes
towards employment creation and economic development, but also gives individuals and SMEs who don’t have accounts with courier companies quick, easy and cost-effective access to our services.” Innovation, he says, is “the new normal”. Among the sectors receiving attention from SkyNet at present is the highvalue courier market, which is targeted by crime. “This is an important sector for us but, for the safety of our employees and partners and the security of our customers’ businesses and products, we know we have to do things differently,” says Stopforth. “We have come up with some innovations to minimise risk, which are currently undergoing trials, and look forward to introducing these industry-first solutions soon.”
Innovation essential to the logistics business For all its challenges, one of the upshots of Covid-19 is that, particularly due to more and more consumers being compelled to shop online, it accelerated the digitalisation of economic life. This, says GM of business change management at DSV South Africa, Nicholas Diemont, provided opportunities for the logistics industry to innovate. “Demographic and digital trends were already driving the growth of e-commerce, but the pandemic-induced spurt was significant and irreversible, and we have seen e-commerce grow upwards of 1,000% across our client base,” he says. In addition, while supply chains might already have been addressing issues around shorter product life cycles, rising consumer expectations and online trading before March 2020, the lockdown significantly changed the flow of goods and flagged many other challenges, from resilience and design to visibility and renewed emphasis on managing costs and inventories. “The experience of 2020 pushed businesses to ask for more real-time visibility of their products so they could more easily manage their customers’ expectations and experiences,” he says. “This required immediate response and means constant innovation has become an essential part of the logistics business.” Driving both competitive advantage and operational sustainability, DSV’s commitment to innovation means it has to work across many different touchpoints to deliver benefits to its clients and their customers. “By innovating on both horizons (that is, competitive advantage and operational sustainability), we are able to
Nicholas Diemont … solutions. create more efficient solutions, reduce costs for our customers and invent new products and services that improve customer experience and offer growth opportunities,” he says. Among the activities receiving ongoing attention at DSV is supply chain design and mapping. The company’s objective in this regard is to ensure every material, process and shipment is documented and integrated into a compelling and effective customer supply chain strategy. The company’s electronic data interchange and application programming interfaces automate the exchange of data between DSV and its customers’ transport and warehousing systems, handle invoices and enable customer partners to book transport with DSV. “The process is simple and efficient, reduces administrative time and increases security and
THE PANDEMIC INSPIRED DSV TO USE 3D PRINTERS TO PRODUCE HYGIENE PRODUCTS, SUCH AS CONTACTLESS DOOR OPENERS
efficiency and improves effectiveness for both customers and ourselves.” In keeping with global and local business and technology trends and demands, there are several other innovative projects under development at DSV’s Africa Innovation Hub. Among these is the application of the Internet of Things via the company’s visibility platform to counter increasing risk of theft and pilferage, and to advance temperature monitoring on temperature-sensitive cargo. DSV is also developing the use of biometric verification to validate an identity without the need for physical identification. Research and development is also under way regarding the automation of mundane and repetitive tasks via robotics process automation in DSV offices and automated guided vehicles in its warehouses. In addition, DSV plans to introduce an automated expected time of arrival service in SA for road distribution deliveries, following the success of the service in Europe. In addition, the company is looking to introduce automated drones to help manage warehouse efficiencies. The pandemic inspired DSV to make use of 3D printers to produce hygiene products, including contactless door openers. Also, DSV fast-tracked the development of a Covid-19 app to monitor the location and safety of its employees. “The new system gave us full visibility of all employees while observing protocols and enabled us to better manage our way through a particularly disruptive time,” says Diemont, adding that DSV encourages its employees to propose ideas and work with the Africa Innovation Hub to rapidly build and test prototypes.
Drone deliveries a reality Dronamics, a pioneer and manufacturer of large cargo drones, recently announced the launch of Dronamics Airlines. Working with companies in Australia, Canada and Ireland, Dronamics Airlines will undertake same-day drone cargo deliveries using the company’s cargo drone, the Black Swan. The company introduced a prototype of the Black Swan in 2018. The cargo drone is capable of transporting up to 350kg over a distance of 2,500km. According to cofounder and CEO at Dronamics, Svilen Rangelov, the Black Swan can deliver goods faster and cheaper than any airplane currently available on the market. It flies autonomously,
can be monitored and managed remotely via satellite and costs less than a sports car. “It can land on short and unpaved runways, enabling ondemand point-to-point flights and speedy same-day delivery even to the most remote locations that would otherwise take days to reach over ground or sea,” says Rangelov. The company has partnered with organisations in Australia, Canada and Ireland, which will act as subsidiaries to Dronamics to lead local drone regulations for the delivery of e-commerce products, agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and spare parts. Dronamics recently appointed Sergio Oliveira e Silva chief operating officer. He will be responsible for the
airline business’s setup and operations, the deployment of the drone port network and the upcoming operational authorisations under the fastevolving drone regulations around the globe. Silva was previously MD of an Asianbased global aviation company and has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. “This is an important milestone for us, and we are thrilled by the talent we are attracting to our organisation that is embracing our vision to democratise airfreight,” said Rangelov. “We will continue enhancing our experienced management team, who will provide additional expertise to deliver our first commercial flight in the near future.”
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BusinessDay www.businessday.co.za Thursday 15 April 2021
INSIGHTS: COURIER SERVICES
Keeping staff, customers safe in a pandemic
• Company has grown and innovated during Covid-19
D
espite having grown to include 42 hubs across southern Africa, a fleet of more than 1,500 vehicles and a team of nearly 3,000 employees, RAM Hand-to-Hand Couriers retains many of the principles on which it was founded by late chairman Nathan Lazarus in 1988. The company remains an entrepreneurial, serviceorientated family business, which is managed by brothers David and Graeme Lazarus. Most importantly though, says David, RAM maintains its commitment to prioritising the wellbeing of its people, “the RAM family”. This was once again demonstrated in 2020. “Our primary concern was to keep our staff safe during these very uncertain times,” he says. “There was a lot of confusion and many unknowns at the time of the first lockdown and no one really knew how long it would last. Our staff were nervous and we had to ensure that we were able to keep them safe, while at the same time being able to operate as normally as possible. We also needed to ensure our management teams, which are dispersed throughout the country, were able to deal with the pandemic effectively.” The first thing RAM did was set up an internal Covid-19 task team to build a comprehensive understanding of the pandemic and its potential impact on employees, customers and the business. “We needed to ensure we received and understood the information coming out of the department of health and other regulatory structures so we could translate this information into health protocols that would guide our conduct and ensure the safety of our staff and customers,” says Lazarus.
Send your parcel while you refuel The way people live and work has changed dramatically in recent months with the demand for courier services increasing exponentially, and convenience, reliability and safety being priorities when it comes to choosing service providers. Moreover, whereas once courier services were typically used by businesses, these days more and more individuals are looking for cost-effective services to collect and deliver parcels and documents. This, the burgeoning of e-commerce, increase in people working from home and the continued failure of the South African postal services has seen a significant growth in the courier services sector. It has also triggered ongoing innovation to
Brett Sauerman … safe and easy. improve customer service, convenience and efficiency. Catering for individuals and organisations that do not have accounts with courier companies, DSVDirect recently launched a pay by credit card online service. It offers two options — DSV Locker and DSV
Courier — which are designed for different needs. The DSV Locker is an increasingly popular anytime courier option. There are about 400 lockers strategically located at Engen service stations across the country. In addition to not requiring an account, individuals can send a parcel from a DSV Locker to another physical address. Prices include packaging. “It’s the safe and easy way to send and receive parcels. Customers can do it while they fill up with petrol and buy those everyday necessities from the Engen shop,” says GM of efulfilment, Africa sales, marketing and communications at DSV, Brett Sauerman. “They simply go to the shop, buy the
correct packaging and put the parcel in the DSV Locker. The recipient will be notified when it’s at the selected DSV Locker for collection.” Alternatively, DSV will collect a package and deliver it to a DSV Locker for collection. The system has several advantages. It is convenient because customers can send and collect items 24/7. It is also safe since lockers are situated at secure, well-lit public places. In addition, says Sauerman, the service is easy to use and parcels are simple to track all the way to final delivery. The other service — DSV Courier — specialises in delivering small parcels, with vehicles travelling more than 4-million kilometres a month to
collect and deliver 1,8-million parcels to more than 1,600 towns across southern Africa. There are four services on offer from DSV Courier. They are economy (with delivery between one and five working days); express (delivery between one and two days, depending on location); same day (within 12 hours with a city boundary); and cross border (an economy and express service to Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia). “The process is customerfriendly,” says Sauerman. “You simply log on to an easy-to-use platform — similar to many online shopping platforms — follow the prompts, fill in the details to make the delivery possible and pay by credit card.”
Connecting companies to global markets Communication and sharing of comprehensive and accurate information was, he says, critical. The company produced and distributed customised posters, sent short messages via various media platforms and extended more formal communication from management. “We explained the messaging from government in such a way that all staff would have a uniform understanding of how to apply this in the workplace, in their homes and in interactions with others,” he explains.
NECESSARY SUPPORT
RAM ensured availability and equitable access to personal protective equipment and materials across the business and provided the necessary support so staff understood how and when to use these materials to ensure their safety and that of its customers. “In addition, we could not ignore the impact the pandemic would have on the mental health and psychological state of staff,” says Lazarus. “We took time to answer questions employees had about the pandemic and the possible
impact it could have on their health and that of their families. “Protecting the safety of staff and customers has been a collaborative and consultative effort. The contribution of the task team was significant, as was that of the rest of the RAM family who worked hard to protect their colleagues and customers.” The pandemic, however, also brought with it increased business for the courier service industry. This, says Lazarus, came as no surprise to RAM. “In our industry, volumes fluctuate wildly at times. To deal with peaks in the surge of parcels, we have invested in surplus capacity of 25%,” he says. “When the hard lockdown occurred, we anticipated when the economy reopened there would be built-up demand waiting to be released. We were able to forecast the increased volumes with a reasonable level of certainty in most cases and managed to deploy our resources accordingly. Growth also gave us an opportunity to innovate and test new systems and techniques. We learnt many lessons, which we will take into the future.”
Covid-19 and the effects of lockdown protocols accelerated the adoption of and increased overall reliance on ecommerce, resulting in greater demand for courier services by households and businesses. One of the upshots of this is it highlighted the fact that service quality needs to continually evolve and delivery networks to expand as vendors look for suitable partners, says vice-president of FedEx Express Middle East and Africa Operations Taarek Hinedi. “Accordingly, supply chains are adjusting to meet the exact needs of consumers. The processing of returns is growing increasingly efficient and convenient, and retailers are launching new solutions like click-and-collect, hold-atlocation and delivery to alternative addresses,” he says. Among the solutions introduced by FedEx is advanced monitoring
technology, including that which uses its proprietary SenseAware technology. Among the benefits of these solutions, says Hinedi, is that they empower medical organisations and help ensure critical shipments reach their destinations safely. “Shipment data is vital to monitor vaccine movements. FedEx has the experience, global network, aircraft fleet and technology solutions needed to transport Covid-19 vaccines around the world,” he says. “We have more than 5,000 facilities, more than 680 aircraft, 200,000 motorised vehicles and — most importantly — more than 570,000 dedicated team members worldwide to connect companies to global markets.” It has been critical during the pandemic that companies like FedEx keep essential goods moving despite challenging circumstances.
“It takes a dedicated team of pick-up and delivery couriers, drivers and support staff to make this happen. Our teams have moved active pharmaceutical ingredients, critical medical supplies, personal protective equipment and other essential items. Their efforts have helped keep businesses operating and home lives functioning as normally as
can be expected throughout these unprecedented times. I’m immensely proud of our team members for their tremendous efforts,” says Hinedi. Globally, FedEx shipped nearly 80 kilotons of personal protective equipment, including more than 2.1-billion masks, between February 1 2020 and February 26 2021. The company transported more than 9,600
humanitarian aid shipments globally in 2020 alone. Given FedEx’s involvement in global supply chains, the company has also witnessed first-hand how lockdowns around the world have impacted economies. “While the pandemic created a surge in e-commerce and business-to-customer shipments, we are hopeful that distribution and administration of Covid-19 vaccines will help reopen economies and get people back to work in the communities we serve around the globe,” he says. “The pandemic has underscored just how important the movement of goods is to the healthy functioning of global markets. While there are challenges across Africa in relation to infrastructure, socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues, these are balanced by the benefits and advantages of doing business on the continent.”
Your delivery choice. Your payment choice. DSV Direct puts the power to choose in your hands. We’ll collect your package and deliver it to a DSV Locker or a delivery address via DSV Courier. Either way, you pay by credit card, online, whenever it suits you! Or you can go to a DSV Locker yourself and pay as you send your parcel. Whichever option you choose, your parcel will get to its destination safely. DSV Direct. Your anytime, anywhere convenient courier.
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