An Post deploys Oracle systems for operational efficiency

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(Image: An Post)

29 January 2016

An Post has deployed Oracle Engineered Systems, software and cloud services to transform its operations, providing near real-time insights, and that will enable faster roll out of new value-added services, while minimising fraud, reducing reporting times, and providing easier management of more than 2 billion transaction messages processed each year.

The postal service weekly serves 1.7 million customers through its national network of more than 1,100 post offices and 2,000 PostPoint payment channels at retail outlets across the country. With Oracle’s solutions, it can now analyse and extract insights from the data generated by these processes in a matter of minutes, down from several hours. This allows An Post to pinpoint and drive opportunities to improve its core mail, parcel, and retail services more efficiently than before.

The specific technologies implemented include the Exadata Database Machine; Oracle Database 12c; Oracle Multitenant; GoldenGate; Advanced Analytics; Advanced Compression; Data Integrator; Business Intelligence Suite Foundation Edition; Financial Planning and Database Backup Cloud Service. Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Foundation Edition has enabled An Post to optimise its cash management by delivering a same-day view of cash flow and the ability to access this information via easy-to-use dashboards. Using Advanced Analytics, An Post is enabled to minimise fraud with real-time alerts on suspicious transaction activity, and this will enable provision of the monthly financial results in a matter of minutes and automatically run weekly cash accounts at the touch of a button, instead of spending hours consolidating data from numerous source systems.

Additionally, with more than 9,000 Employees in An Post, Oracle’s analytics solutions allow An Post to rapidly collect, process, and deliver consolidated HR data – including payroll and workforce analytics. Oracle has also helped the company obtain a single view of its employee data, eliminating thousands of spreadsheets it previously used.

“We operate the largest electronic network in Ireland, including information on retail purchases, energy and mobile phone bill payments,” said John Cronin, group chief information officer, An Post, “and foreign exchange transactions. It’s therefore crucial we’re able to manage all these processes to an exceptionally high standard so we can deliver the best possible service to our customers. We’ve been an ‘Oracle first’ business for several years now, and this is further solidified, to the extent where this latest implementation has helped us to use big data more intelligently, speed up both our internal and external processes and roll-out exciting new services for our customers.”

The design and delivery of the solution, as well as service management was carried out by Oracle Platinum partner Vertice, of whom Cronin said, “Vertice provided and continue to provide us with a great service, representing Oracle extremely well. I have nothing but the highest respect for Vertice’s consultants, with whom I have worked successfully for several years.”

“An Post’s successful implementation of Oracle engineered systems, software and cloud services is a ringing endorsement for how companies that make the most of big data and cloud computing can improve the way they work,” said Paul O’Riordan, managing director, Oracle Ireland. “From much faster internal processes to smarter employee management to new, exciting services for its customers, the company has in one fell swoop set a new standard for technical innovation among organizations operating in Ireland.”

 

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