Parcel delivery tracking - Why the Royal Mail is hoping cloud and big data deliver value

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Analysis: As it acquires a cloud-based delivery company the Royal Mail Data Services aims to deliver valuable data as a service.

The Royal Mail is boosting its e-commerce credentials with the acquisition of a cloud-based delivery company.

A highly competitive delivery market is forcing the organisation that was founded almost 500 years ago to dramatically change how it operates.

The now private business has been in the process of embracing technologies in the areas of cloud and big data to make it more efficient.

The acquisition of NetDespatch for an undisclosed amount is designed to help customers to integrate with the Royal Mail, resulting in an improved service, the company claims.

The cloud-based platform from NetDespatch works by enabling order delivery data to be automatically transferred from a retailer's system to its chosen carrier.

With a declining reliance upon traditional postal services, the Royal Mail is finding ways to adapt, as is the Royal Mail Data Services team.

RMDS offers a combination of both consumer and business contact and address datasets, aiming for data quality, data driven marketing. In addition to this is operates a mail redirection service that seeks to prevent ID theft and fraud.

A suite of eight services are available, including; mover marketing which provides customers with data and insight to identify new customer engagements as well as for retention purposes as people move homes.

Data cleansing services are also available for businesses that deal with large volumes of data. RMDS provides this service as either a one-off or it can be on a continuous, automated basis as part of an overall data governance, compliance or data quality programme.

These are just some of the services it provides and they highlight a couple of areas where the business is trying to make money.

These aren't necessarily unique areas, the data market is a competitive one like many others and so it's necessary to find a differentiator, Jim Conning, MD, RMDS says that differentiator is quality and accurate data.

Conning told CBR: "We differentiate on accuracy and quality outcomes, updating data daily, not using daily data updates means you can fail customers."

The RMDS has been in existence for around 10 years and like the Royal Mail, it is evolving and looking for ways to improve.

Conning, said: "I'm looking for businesses and partners to enhance the speed to market while also looking to improve internally - we're constantly looking at sources of third party technology."

Security and privacy standards are something that his business has to deal with, faced with passing both government standards and other penetration tests, Conning say's they have to be constantly vigilant against new threats.

This is part of the nature of the business it works in, dealing with large volumes of customer data means that security is a priority.

Public sector organisations are often described to me as being slow to change, being faced with many stages of red tape before they can get anything done.

Now that the Royal Mail is private it will be faced with adapting quickly if it is to survive