Regional meetings connecting the global EMS community

For over 20 years members of the EMS Cooperative have continuously improved EMS, providing a valuable service for customers worldwide. However, the global pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on EMS, yet it’s also demonstrated the resilience of the EMS Cooperative in the way that its members have reacted quickly to tackle global postal supply chain disruptions.

As a cooperative, EMS members are perfectly positioned to exchange information and early on in the pandemic, operators joined regular regional EMS teleconferences. Over a year later, the EMS regional teleconferences have evolved from an emergency response, to an established forum where operators exchange information to ensure business continuity for international postal operations.

Seven regional meetings take place each month where members from all around the world share market situation and identify potential solutions to issues in each region. The teleconferences are also an opportunity to individual members present a more detailed overview of the status of EMS within their country. The meetings are moderated by the EMS Unit’s regional coordinators who adapt the agenda in response to the specific needs of each region and provide updates on new EMS initiatives. For some regions this can be training on a specific are such as new performance monitoring measurements available on EMS SMART, the Cooperative's reporting system.

The growing numbers of EMS member experts attending the EMS regional meetings are testimony to how useful it is to collaborate. The benefits of the online meetings are clear, without the time and expense of international travel the meetings can be accessed by more individuals and involve members from all over the world. In the May Asia-pacific meeting, 57 participants from 23 postal delivery operators took part, including three Board members plus attendees from APP, APPU, and UPU (DCDEV, PTC and the EMS Unit).

These regular meetings are here to stay. Plans are in place for the next round of meetings where members will have exclusive access to new market intelligence, 'Competitive and Market Developments Impact on Posts' presented to members by the EMSC market intelligence consultant.

It is clear that these regular online events have established even stronger connections between EMS operators in a region. Regular online meetings allow operators to innovate to  identify possible ways to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and also look forward to further grow and improve EMS for customers worldwide.