Australia Post has dumped Post Connect, its disastrous two year venture into transactional printing, which saw it set up its business to compete directly with its major transactional printing and mailing clients including Computershare, Fuji Xerox DMS and Sema. Australia Post created PostConnect in 2012 from its Australia Post eLetter and First Direct Solutions. It bought a pair of Oce Colourstream 3700 high speed inkjet webs and various inline inserting equipment, and claimed it was the first mailhouse in Australia to provide full colour inline printing on envelopes.
Nicholas Ficinus ABnote Australiasia chief executive
AusPost has now sold Post Connect to ABnote, which it says is now Australia’s largest provider of variable print and mail services. ABnote is a global supplier of documents, services and solutions, and claims it has now become Australia’s third largest business in the space of print and mailhouse services with operations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. ABnote, acquired Mailcare Systems, a mailhouse and fulfilment services business, last year in February. Nicholas Ficinus ABnote Australiasia chief executive says the acquisition of Post Connect was more attractive because it includes ‘significant proprietary IP and know-how’, which will strengthen communication channels for all of their clients. He says, “Complementing our already diverse multichannel solutions offerings in both document and digital platforms, the acquired business allows for our clients to engage and connect effectively with their own customers, through integrated marketing solutions.” “The simple idea is to deliver smarter ways in order to connect with customers and assist in business growth.” Australia Post is currently under fire from many quarters, not the least from printers for its pricing strategy which seems to be designed to drive print away from mail, and from sections of the Coalition Government for its gigantic losses, which are currently almost $1m a day. The monopoly mail carrier says it is ‘critical that we drive greater efficiencies across all our operations so that we can continue to invest in growing our products and service to meet the changing needs of our customers’. “The decision was made to divest the Post Connect business to ensure that we focus on investing in our core business areas.”
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