Innovation Lab series - Guernsey Post delivers innovation

We are excited to have Boley Smillie, Chief Executive of Guernsey Post presenting at October's Innovation Lab, telling us all about how the business embraces innovation from conception right through to delivery.

What could possibly be so difficult about delivering letters and parcels? Well the last decade for Guernsey Post has been anything but an easy ride. In 2010 the Company recorded a loss of £1m and was faced with the new and daunting prospect of competition in the growing parcels market. That’s only the start of the story because two years later the UK Government would abolish LVCR (you don’t need to know what that is) and Guernsey Post lost 8 out of its top 10 bulk mail customers. That event alone resulted in an eye watering £19m drop in revenue, which was almost 40% of the company’s business. Is that still not enough? Well in the years that followed the Company had to deal with an annual 5% decline in its core volume thanks to digital substitution, and a pension deficit which represented a very real threat to its sustainability. Guernsey Post has needed to reinvent itself and continuing doing so just to survive.

Fast-forward to the present day and Guernsey Post is recording some of the healthiest profits in its history, the Company is consistently returning dividends to its Shareholder, it has established Guernsey at the very centre of the personalised greetings card world, and recently embarked on a project to fuel itself on sunshine. Learn from the Company’s Chief Executive about the bits in-between and specifically how its employees have been at the core of the Company’s innovation and turnaround.

About the Innovation Lab:
Originating from an internal States of Guernsey initiative, these free monthly meet-ups are now open for anyone to attend. The aims of the Innovation Lab are to introduce methods of innovative working through a variety of presentations and workshops, as well as developing a network of like-minded people to discuss ideas and encourage co-working across industries.Click here to sign-up to the Innovation Network newsletter for monthly updates.