Christina Alevizou (FedEx): The future is knocking on our door

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the global economy and continues to push for change in all sectors, says Christina Alevizou, CEO of FedEx Express, the company that during the pandemic has delivered vaccines and related supplies to more than 50 Countries.

– What is the impact of the transport pandemic and what changes has it brought? How did you as FedEx Express handle these challenges?

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the global economy and continues to push for change in all sectors now with a highly contagious mutation, including transport and logistics companies like ours. If I could point out the three most important changes I would say are the following:

Alternative modes of transport – Air cargo capacity: Due to the pandemic, most airline airlines operated between 10% and 15% of their normal flight activity on an annual basis. Capacity on commercial passenger airlines is obviously very limited. In any typical year, almost 70% of the commercial cargo between the United States and Europe travels with passenger airlines.

The rapid change in consumer behavior: The second major change is the focus on the even more massive shift in purchasing behavior towards B2C e-commerce. As people spend more time at home, the volume of e-commerce has increased. Even before the pandemic, we estimated that 90% of future parcel growth in the EU would come from e-commerce. We are now seeing global sales increase by 3.5 trillion. dollars to 6.54 trillion. dollars before / after the pandemic and the US domestic market to reach 100 million packages a day by 2022, four years earlier than expected.

The digital transformation: The pandemic has indeed accelerated many pre-existing trends and the supply chain is clearly no exception. The “road race” for digital automation has really begun.

Our network offers the flexibility we need in these changing times to support markets and economies by adapting as needed and aligning with new operating conditions. We have increased the frequency and capacity of our routes, added flights to meet demand and accelerated our plans for innovation and e-commerce. At the same time we adapt our activities to ensure that we provide the safest possible conditions, while we continue to meet customer requirements. FedEx is known for its know-how and ability to manage network customizations with unrivaled flexibility.

– What does the consumer ask today from the companies in your industry and how do you offer it as a company?

It’s a period that gives us a lot of knowledge about consumer behavior and triggers some of the already evolving trends.

Faster satisfaction of customer requirements through increased on-demand deliveries is an example. The deliveries for which we normally had an hour of preparation, now need to be ready in a few minutes.

Visibility in locating missions at all stages, and communication are also the ultimate key. Tracing and other tracking data are very important especially in the final stage of deliveries so that the final recipients can actually define the delivery to their liking.

Data analytics and intelligent technology – The industry is led to understand the value of investing in the right technologies to reduce costs, while maximizing customer experience. Delivery with drones and robots sounds like a futuristic delivery option, but it may not be as far-fetched as the bulk option. It will come sooner or later! ORoxoTM, FedEx Same Day Bot® is currently used in the US for same day deliveries. The future is knocking on our door!

At FedEx we are constantly evolving, challenging ourselves with innovations that will offer the benefits of tracking, communicating and delivering faster to the end consumer in a sustainable way.

Our B2C customers, for example, through the FedEx Delivery Manager ® service we offer, give the final recipients the opportunity to customize their deliveries so that they can be made at the time it serves them, receive updates via SMS or email and easily change the point of receipt, address or delivery date. We offer options and ease of use for the final recipient, which equates to calm and good reputation of the brand for the company operating in e-commerce.

– How is the distribution of vaccines evolving? Has FedEx made a significant contribution to the global vaccine distribution effort?

We are proud of the role we have been playing in providing vaccines and critical equipment around the world all these last few months. And the truth is that our network was created to do just that, to deliver critical missions around the world every day for decades.

We have delivered vaccines and related supplies to more than 50 countries around the world and continue to export vaccines outside Europe – an important hub for some of the vaccines. In its first year of nationwide distribution, FedEx delivered approximately 300 million doses from manufacturers and distributors to vaccine centers across the United States with an average delivery time of less than 20 hours.

– What has changed due to the pandemic in the relationship between employees and leadership and how much has this change affected the achievement of the organization’s goals?

The pandemic, with its huge impact on humans – that is, the feeling of fear and uncertainty – has strengthened the culture of adaptability, but also of trust and cooperation within companies, as this period required us all to support each other. .

At the same time, new skills were needed for employees, especially in the adoption of technologies, and new management skills from the leadership due to the new work routine to which we all had to adapt.

Providing a seamless and differentiated experience to our people digitally and socially responsible are key pillars of the strategy we introduced during the pandemic. We create an engaging employee experience by providing tools and resources that will support and develop our people throughout their careers, while cultivating a work environment where everyone feels valued and valued.

– What is Fedex’s “return to work” policy and which work model do you consider most effective for running an organization given the ability to “return to the office” after a long period of teleworking?

As we continue to support the global supply chain, we are committed to following proposed practices to maintain the safety of our customers and team members. The health and safety of our team members will always be our first priority.

We are constantly monitoring requirements nationwide and therefore remote work remains the default until it is safe to return to work in accordance with local COVID-19 laws and regulations. We have specific travel plans per country for a safe return to work when the time is right. Our goal is to have a sustainable, modern and long-term way of working that suits our ambitions to offer our team members an excellent employee experience.

It seems that a hybrid working model will be adopted by organizations in most industries, as an additional business advantage for new hires. It is important for leaders, of course, to recognize that this change can be difficult as a transition for their teams, so empathizing and offering the right tools to enable people to be successful in the new regularity will definitely be key.

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Source: Forbes

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