Informed Visibility
May 30, 2017   Dave Lewis

Good stuff, but SnailWorks it isn’t “This is a game changer!” the Postal Service proudly claims about its new Informed Visibility(IV) platform. Umm…no.  Game modifier, maybe.  Certainly a game enhancer.  But it’s still the same game – a lot of data – in fact a lot more data – that someone needs to interpret and craft into usable reports. We’re excited about the new capabilities that IV will allow us to offer our clients – the ability to track trays, pallets, and bundles, and more real-time data are the primary benefits. But we are a little concerned about the Postal Service portraying this as some new reporting system.  In the end it provides data that looks very much like today’s Intelligent Mail Tracing data – just more of it.  If you struggle to work with today’s tracing data, you will struggle more with IV.  Don’t get us wrong – it’s great data.  But it’s not easy to work with.  That’s why you use SnailWorks – we turn raw data into intuitive reports. In SnailWorks’ secret product development lab, our pocket protectors are locked and loaded as we begin to develop new tools with the additional data that will be provided. We are participating in the IV pilot program, and are already getting new IV data.  It still has issues, but we are excited about the new insights it can provide.  With tray and pallet tracking you will be able to get at the root of delivery issues, and better forecast delivery.  Bundle tracking will make flats sorting much more reliable.  We’re developing the reports today that will support those features, but the Postal Service still has a way to go in making the data consistent. While the IV system will support individual data queries, these interfaces are not particularly intuitive. You will still need customer facing reports to leverage the new IV data.  Count on SnailWorks to provide that reporting. Look for new features to be added to SnailWorks in the coming months based on IV, and count on SnailWorks to keep you up to date on all of the mail tracking products available from the Postal Service.

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