Incorporating NetDespatch Velocity the suite of innovative web services for managing on-line customer service and depot operations. NetDespatch is also supplying TNT Post with a complete management information system.

TNT Post specialise in Business to Consumer delivery services and was formed following the acquisition of a 1500-strong national courier network from catalogue company JD Williams. This network handles high volume consumer goods; typically clothes and household goods purchased through catalogues or via the web. This doorstep delivery service requires highly localised resources with the ability to address the difficulties of delivering to people at home.

With self-employed delivery agents this sector has traditionally been very low tech and difficult to automate. The NetDespatch solution however addresses this with high levels of automation throughout the delivery cycle.

The TNT Post solution will also take advantage of recent developments in the mobile internet; an area that NetDespatch has pioneered in this sector in conjunction with Cognito. One very significant development is the use of mobile devices to enable the capture of live PODs and signatures during doorstep deliveries.

The traditional lower value goods can be left unattended or with neighbours, but with signature capture TNT Post will be able to use the network to deliver higher value goods as well.

NetDespatch services also offer useful push messaging features that enable TNT Post customers to send automated e-mail, text or voice alerts to provide information such as 'your goods have been despatched' and 'delivery will be made tomorrow afternoon' or 'we missed you today are you at home tomorrow morning when we will try again'.

NetDespatch has been fully integrated with both TNT Posts' customer sales order processing systems and with TNT Express in order to provide seamless data interchange from order to delivery.

As soon as orders are received, NetDespatch makes the data instantly available to both customers and delivery depots; it enables onsite label printing and offers web based bar code scanning as well as integration with TNT's RF scanning systems at hubs and depots.

With manual and mobile entry of delivery information, the system provides enterprise-wide real time visibility of scan and POD tracking information. Crucially data is not being sent anywhere and there is no data re-entry; the original order details are simply updated as the delivery progresses through each scan point.

Live information is available 24 hours a day and all parties can track the progress of each consignment from any web-connected computer or mobile device.

TNT Post, the leading challenger to Royal Mail in the liberalised postal market, is the first new postal operator to claim the letterbox as its territory by providing a range of addressed, unaddressed and home delivery postal services.

TNT Post provides a customer oriented, cost effective, innovative and modern alternative postal service for business customers delivering bills, statements, direct mail and packages.

"With high quality operational systems, an enterprising approach and competitive pricing, we are setting new standards in the postal sector and have become the alternative postal operator of choice handling over 4 million postal items a day" said Matthew Robertson, Sales and Marketing Director, Packets and Parcels, TNT Post UK Ltd.