Nitor renewed the user interface and information systems of Posti's parcel points

In brief

Customer

Posti

Challenge
Posti needed an efficient system that makes sending and receiving parcels easier.

Results
Nitor renewed the user interface and the digital systems of Posti's parcel lockers together with Posti's ICT team. The new systems were introduced in Finland during Autumn 2017.

Benefits
The new parcel lockers make it easy to send and receive parcels.

Together with Posti's ICT team, Nitor renewed the user interfaces and information systems of Posti's parcel points. The new systems were introduced in Finland during autumn 2017.

The popularity of e-commerce continues to grow

Posti's new parcel points are designed to serve both customers and couriers. In addition, the renewed user interface and digital system will significantly speed up Posti's internal processes.

Home delivery has become standard

In addition to parcel points, Nitor has also been responsible for building systems for another Posti's parcel service, the home delivery lockers placed in the common areas of housing companies. These lockers bring new types of services close to consumers. Residents of dozens of new buildings all over Finland can now receive their online purchases and parcels or even food bag deliveries and fresh food from the housing company's own home delivery locker.

Photos: Posti

1.2 million

parcels Christmas week 2017

37 million

parcels in 2017

Strategic partner in business-critical digitalization

The popularity of e-commerce has increased the entire delivery sector. The new system was in use in all of Posti’s parcel lockers in October 2017 – just before Black Friday and the Christmas season, during which more parcels were sent than ever before.

A record number of parcels sent per week was broken during the Christmas season when as many as 1.2 million parcels were delivered in one week. A total of 37 million parcels passed through Posti during 2017. In addition, during the same period, complaints and critical feedback related to customers, couriers as well as customer service decreased significantly. According to research, customers prefer Posti's parcel lockers to pick up their parcels.

E-commerce continues to grow in Finland. The need for the delivery of parcels and goods is growing, and the new locker system supports the increase in transaction volumes and the parcel locker network. The Christmas time rush really showed that the renewed information systems both speeded up the work of couriers and made it easier to pick up parcels.

Marko Honkaharju, Technical Manager, Posti Oy

From the very beginning, consumers, couriers delivering the parcels and Posti's customer service were involved in the planning. Early prototyping allowed the team to receive quick feedback from customers and future users of the system, enabling the team to respond quickly to changes needed.

Timo-Pekka Viljamaa, Principal Designer, Nitor

A solution that serves the customers, couriers and business

The digital system of the parcel locker was thoroughly reformed
Nitor implemented a new interface for Posti's parcel lockers serving customers, couriers, and business. Customer service tools and several back-end systems were also updated.

Service directly to your door
In addition to parcel points, Nitor has also been responsible for building systems for Posti's latest service, the home delivery lockers placed in the common areas of housing companies. In the design, it was important to ensure the compatibility of the systems with Posti's general parcel locker architecture.

The new parcel lockers are designed for self-service

The new parcel lockers were created as a result of an active dialogue between the development team and various stakeholders. Posti's customers, customer service representatives and couriers were involved in the design process. The new interface and simplified user experience are based on an active dialogue between the development team and various stakeholders. The plans have been validated in user testing and the active discussion proved successful in gathering new ideas.

One of the findings was the users’ desire for a more independent user experience. For example, couriers can now manually set a serial number to open a locker door if, for one reason or another, scanning fails.

Optimizing customer service work gives more time to the development of the customer experience

An important challenge in the project was to facilitate the work of customer service and couriers. As a result of the analysis, the team was able to eliminate and automate several additional functions. For example, arrival notifications are now fully automated instead of being handled manually by the customer service.

The new parcel lockers meet the needs of the customer, couriers, and customer service. In addition, parcel lockers are a profitable business. Contacts with customer service have decreased significantly, a special emphasis was placed on the usability of the service.

nitor posti smartpost uutinen 2018 2x1-full

Agile ways of working increased alignment

The work began with a six-week design sprint that gathered information and increased understanding between different stakeholders. The new parcel points must serve the needs of the customer, couriers, and Posti's customer service - and also be a profitable business.

The concept was developed in cooperation with stakeholders and the cooperation of the multidisciplinary team went well. The development team designed the system architecture based on the concept. The first design sprint helped the entire team understand different perspectives: designers, developers, and business leaders were all in agreement on what it takes to succeed in a project.

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