ZIMPOST stung by TelOne decision to send accounts to customers is moving with speed to embrace the e-commerce and targets to link 100 post office online by the end of the year.
MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT
TelOne has with immediate effect started sending accounts to customers via e-mail raising concerns about the relevance of slow mail, which for years has been the mainstay of Zimpost, formerly known as Post and Telecommunications Corporation.
In an interview with Southern Eye, Zimpost managing director Douglas Zimbango shrugged off assertions that his organisation faced its sternest test following the loss of TelOne business.
Zimbango, acknowledging that developments in the information technology sector worldwide threatened the traditional roles of post offices, said Zimpost envisaged having 100 post offices online by the end of 2014.
“The aim is to have 100 post offices online in real time by end of year 2014.
“At the moment 57 offices are online with another 20 nearing completion,’ he said.
“This interconnection will allow real time updates of principal databases so that doing business in a post office will just be like doing business in the principal’s office.
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“This has the effect of reducing the cost of doing business especially for rural communities who, previously had to travel long distances to effect transactions.”
Zimbago said they were rolling out community information centres so that government and information is easily accessible to the wider section of the community.
“As society moves to e-commerce, the post office will play a key role in linking buyers and sellers for example the electronic and financial revolutions can only be enhanced through an efficient physical distribution network,” he said, adding that postal companies around the world were diversifying and Zimpost is no exception.
In this regard Zimpost has embarked on a project to automate its systems so that the business could move to do more of e-based services for the government and the private sector such as money transfers and e-government.
Zimbango said despite the electronic revolution, Zimpost was still moving 14 million mail pieces and over 140 000 parcels per year and handled over $300 million in third party financial transactions per month.
Zimpost also connects over 700 000 Zimbabweans daily and is linked to 730 000 post offices worldwide. Zimpost has introduced a new local and international money transfer service called Zipcash.
Currently, Zimpost offers agency services to ZINARA, POSB, ZBC, NicozDiamond, Champions Insurance, NSSA, ZB Bank, FBC, Kingdom Bank and other players to take services to the marginalised communities.
