Mail technology - surviving in a new market place

Existing postal enterprises are unlikely to remain the sole operators of letter processing machines much longer. As an increasing number of governments remove the long existing monopoly protection on letters, the functionability of the technology must change to encompass the challenges of the 21(st) century. Vendors and purchasers alike have an increased responsibility to ensure technology continues to develop in such a way that industry Fragmentation does not occur. As a result of having to perform in a deregulated letter market, six characteristics of future technology are presented in this paper. Embracing competition and working actively to grow the letter business must remain the common goal of all forward thinking enterprises, technology vendors and industry influencers.