Australia Post is upgrading its tracking software for packages with a new platform built on Google Cloud.
According to ZDNet, the nationwide mailing service is updating its “event management platform” after the online shopping boom of the last year.
“What we saw in 2020 was that four out of five Australian households—so almost nine million households—were making an online purchase at some point during the year, and included in that number was more than 1.3 million households that purchased in 2020 that hadn’t bought online in 2019,” Australia Post CIO Munro Farmer said via the outlet.
In an Australia Post report into the eCommerce sales of the last financial year, the company said that there had been a 31.8 per cent year-on-year increase for the 12 months to the 30th June 2021. In the 20 days to the 17th July, NSW saw online purchases increase by 36 per cent year-on-year.
“That can be attributed to two key factors: Regular shoppers are buying much more frequently online… but also quite a lot of new shoppers are entering the market for the first time,” Farmer said.
“People are getting more comfortable with the online channel because there weren’t many choices where they might have been able to go to a store before; they’ve had to go online to get what they need every day.
“What that’s done for us is it’s really increased the volume that comes through our business, and to cope with that we’ve had to invest in some cloud-native solutions which are able to scale as the business grows so much more dynamically.
“Events are really the lifeblood of our business… as parcels go through our network, we scan them, that gives you a measurement point on where that parcel is actually at in its journey.”
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The new tracking system, which aims to better track parcels through its warehouses, will use a number of Google Cloud software, including Big Query, Looker, and Anthos. The proposed platform, Farmer says, will allow Aus Post to “connect our customers, our consumers more effectively with really low latency data… and built-in security to get much better levels of visibility.”
Previously, the company had used Goole Cloud to backup mailing information after moving it from its data warehouse and rolled out a notification system that notifies customers when a delivery will arrive within a two-hour window.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a package waiting at my front door.