Australia Post: 'Uber-Like' Shift Awaits Parcel Services

The use cases for blockchain technology are expanding every day into the minds of many. Just recently the Australian Financial Review reported the Australia Post will consider the concept of using distributed ledger technology to store digital identities. Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour said that parcel operations could experience an “Uber-like” moment due to emerging technology and startups.

Also read: Five Bitcoin Features to Get Excited About

Australia Post to Explore ‘Blockchain’s Wider Applications’

The Australia Post is a government-owned corporation that provides postal services all across the region. Fahour states that the Post handles over 90% of Australian passports, and he believes a digital replacement will come.

The CEO has had a strategy to be “future ready” since he began his role with the business in 2010. His starting idea was to add an array of digital choices, creating an “eServices” unit within the company. Now Fahour says that blockchain technology may be helpful with Digital ID distribution, saying:

We do most of the physical IDs, so it’s logical that a trusted organisation like Australia Post be able to not only handle the physical ID but digital ID. A lot of people are thinking about blockchain from a financial services point of view but the reality is it has much wider applications.

While speaking at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit, Fahour explained why identity services via e-commerce is a huge opportunity for the Post. Digital ledger technology is showing great signs of growth right now, and Fahour sees this as a disruptor.

“It’s an innovation economy that we’re in right now,” he said, adding that digital identities are a step in that direction. Investing in innovations like the blockchain is nothing new to the Post, as it has been broadening technology-based infrastructure programs for the past fifteen years.

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) chief officer Elmer Funke Kupper told AFR that blockchain technology will cut costs in companies like ASX by five billion. With added operators like the Post using digital identities, that number could be much smaller in comparison. “What it allows you to do is collapse whole business value chains,” explained Kupper.

The Australia Post’s Fahour certainly agrees with this view and is eager to research the new technology. Not only is the company looking into blockchains to revolutionize identification technology, but the business is also looking into drone-parcel delivery in an effort to keep pace with technological advancement.

What do you think about the Australia Post closely looking at blockchain technology? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Australia Post, Wiki Commons