Essex, Conn. –  PostalVision 2020, the pioneering forum that encourages and enables no-nonsense discussions about what constitutes a modern mail and parcel delivery infrastructure, will hold its fifth annual conference beginning March 10^th at The Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City, Virginia. John Hagel, Founder and Chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge and author of “The Power of Pull,” will join the conference as Keynote Speaker for the first time this year. Also new to this year’s event will be a delegation from the Postal Innovation Platform(PIP), a Switzerland-based group that studies the future of the postal industry under the umbrella of an academic postal research centre, EPFL- MIR, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and Swiss Post. 

 

Launched in 2011 by independent consulting company Ursa Major Associates, PostalVision 2020 began with a mission to jumpstart the national conversation about what a realistic future for the United States Postal Service (USPS) will look like in an increasingly digital and e-commerce driven society. Its conferences focus on the challenges facing the mailing industry in an age of digital disruption, and the opportunities arising from the growing demand for residential delivery of goods purchased on the Internet.

 

PostalVision 2020/5.0 will expand the conversation to consider how the forces of “Customers, Connections and Collaboration” are driving radical transformation and reinvention of a dynamic, sustainable global postal ecosystem. John Hagel’s keynote remarks will examine how the Internet has fostered an unprecedented, worldwide shift in power towards customers. He will then join a “fireside chat” on consumer empowerment with Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine.com, author of “What Would Google Do?”, Larry Weber, author of The Digital Marketer, and Marshall Van Alstyne of MIT and BU. PIP Chairman Bernhard Bukovc will moderate a discussion on the new postal logistics and ecosystem and its application of “Big Data” and “Internet of Things,” as well as new postal products that may hasten the pace of change, with UPU’s Deputy Director General, Pascal Clivaz, SwissPost’s Ulrich Hurni and DHL Parcel Germany’s Ole Nordhoff. 

 

“Each year the conference digs deeper and uncovers more about what a next-generation postal service should look like and we take pride in showcasing a variety of inventive solutions that may influence its re-design. Examples are re-invented address models, delivery to secure locker boxes, even delivery by drone.  said John Callan, Managing Director of Ursa Major Associates and PostalVision 2020 conference founder. “It’s very stimulating to have global postal industry leaders, government and private sector operators come together with digital experts, ecommerce visionaries and entrepreneurs to openly discuss the various possibilities for the USPS and the future global postal ecosystem. There are promising solutions to the challenges facing the industry, and our esteemed panelists and engaged audience members are pushing hard to discover and implement them.”

 

Updates on the conference, and registration information, are available on the PostalVision 2020/5.0 Event website .