PostNord wanted to rapidly update its customer-facing, self-service systems to help SMB customers’ ship orders outside of Sweden. It needed to provide information about various taxes, duties, and shipping regulations, while also adapting its website to cope with international demand. In partnership with Capgemini, PostNord went through solution ideation, prototyping and testing in just three weeks. This, in turn, helped PostNord rapidly enhance its service offering and customer experience into the eCommerce import and export market. It allowed PostNord to help its customers help their customers. Presented at IBM InterConnect 2016 by Kenneth Verlaghe of PostNord and Gerger Wikstrand of Capgemini.

1. Innovating with BlueMix DTA-2552
IBM InterConnect 2016 Conference
Kenneth Verlage
CIO PostNord
Greger Wikstrand
CTO Capgemini Sweden

2. PostNord
• Dates back about 400 years
• 500,000 parcels delivered every day
• 60,000 pallets of goods transported everyday
How can we be flexible and innovate while keeping
costs low and time to market short?

3. A small sportswear company
challenged us
PostNord’s clients’ issues are PostNord’s
issues. In the case of the sportswear company,
they were concerned about:
Returns – customers are surprised when they
had to pay customs and VAT
Reimbursements – customers claim packages
were lost in transit and ask
for refund
Delays – Variable and unpredictable delivery
speed

4. Some of the roadblocks
to innovation
In large organizations such as
PostNord, there are many roadblocks
to innovation:
• Pre-study
• Pilot
• PoC
• Design authority board
• Investment board
• Corporate culture

5. KENNETH VERLAGE
Good morning network! I need to
talk to those of you that tried
Rapid Software Prototyping and
with Rapid I men lighting rapid –
like 3 weeks cycles.”
“
GREGER WIKSTRAND
We can help you with that. When
should we talk? ”
“

6. Engagement overview
Capgemini Team
PostNord Team
PostNord Leadership
SetupandPrep
Workshop1–15/4
Firstprototype
FinalPackaging
Workshop2–5/5
DeliveryValidation
SME
CUSTOMERS
SME
CUSTOMERS
SME
CUSTOMERS
SME
CUSTOMERS
PHASE 1
DESIGN
PHASE 2
BUILD
Delivery Lead
Customs, UX, SME
Developers & Testers
Developers & Testers

7. The innovation workshop
Two motives drove the workshops, which were called Logistics Labs. The first was quick innovation. Covering a lot of small
topics quickly. Failure is ok, if you fail quickly, inexpensively and learn from it. The second idea was to work quicker and
more as a start up.

8. Next came the hard work
How does a company not used to speed face the
challenge of having to deliver quickly? By
combining frontend genius and backend reality.
Key to success is core business competence in
both discovery and delivery.
• Sudden new challenge for speed
• Frontend genius and backend reality
• Core business competence

9. The outcome
The look and feel is the same as existing PostNord offers. Because it is customizable, the interface can still accommodate
new functionalities intuitively. The result is an optimized user-experience.

10. What we learned from this experience
KENNETH VERLAGE
• Being a startup is not a pre-requisite
for innovation
• It is possible to make pace-layered IT
happen
• A cross-disciplinary team is valuable
(SME, BD, IT, Partner, Customer)
• Innovation builds on our strengths but
also puts a spotlight on our
weaknesses
• If we don’t fail enough, we are not bold
enough
GREGER WIKSTRAND
• Build your network before you need it
• You need a core of top talent in the
innovation team
• Innovation is about customers,
products, operations and pricing, not
only IT.
• Working as one team with the customer
requires commitment and boldness for
success
• It is ok to fail, because we learn from it.
We both learned that a long term innovation habit thrives in partnership

11. Contact us
KENNETH VERLAGE
Twitter: @verlage
kenneth.verlage@postnord.com
GREGER WIKSTRAND
Twitter: @GregerWikstrand
greger.wikstrand@capgemini.com