Digital Platforms for Postal Services in EU and Japan
Digital Platforms for Postal Services in EU and Japan

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present and compare utilization of digital platforms used by national postal operators in the EU and Japan. Tasks include a biased review of digital platforms introduced recently and operated by national posts in several European Union countries and in Japan. Authors chose the most interesting cases, including those deemed as the most successful, those that failed, and the most modern ones. The next task is a comparison of diverse European experience with modern solutions introduced by the Japan Post. Methods used for delivering the study include direct interviews with Japan Post officials and systematic review of official documents and announcements by national post operators in European countries. European Union Member States, and their national postal operators seem to be well ahead of Japan in the way modern technology is utilized in the process of providing traditional (and new) postal services. Paper makes successful attempt to show how representative national postal operators benefit from advanced Information and Telecommunication technology and by replacing the manner in which postal services are rendered. There are numerous successful cases of digital platform implementation, like those from Denmark, France, Czech Republic, and Poland, among others. One may find interesting insight into reasons for failed case from Italy among conclusions, at the end of the paper. Environmental issues are also addressed, along with e-government issues. It happens that European Union postal operators optimize their operations with modern technology in the form of digital platforms in a much wider scope than the Japan Post. Japanese organizations deal with extremely challenging geographic conditions. This, in turn, should motivate much more advanced optimization by the means of solutions enabled by digital platforms. European postal operators have been recognized as leaders in maximizing benefits offered by digital platforms so far.

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