Post Office opts for business intelligence

The Post Office has entered into a five-year deal to outsource the implementation of two new business intelligence (BI) systems as part of a modernisation programme designed to improve profitability and business responsiveness.

The deal, signed by Post Office parent the Royal Mail Group with IT services provider Logica, will replace two existing legacy BI systems.

And they will be replaced with Master Data Management (MDM) and Dynamic Intelligence Warehouse (DIW) - two new information management products from BI vendor Kalido.

MDM will hold and manage all of the Post Office's reference data, including office addresses to products for sale like travel insurance and the price of stamps, as well as distribute extracts of this data to other systems overnight.

The DIW will combine the updated information about the numbers and types of products sold daily at post office branches and other outlets it stores with the MDM to help provide accurate sales and reference data and ensure products are priced and marketed effectively.

Post Office spokesman Keith Graves said the deal will "help us meet the challenging targets we have for growth, service and cost effectiveness".

He added: "The new BI system will deliver major improvements in consistency, efficiency and access to information. It will also allow us to move away from our previous disparate systems by having integrated, standardised methodology, resulting in up-to-date reporting processes and information. This delivers true visibility across the entire team and a more efficient way of working, all resulting ultimately in increased sales."

The systems are expected to go live early in 2009 and will be supplemented by Logica application management services for the life of the contract.