SingPost Advances Digital Innovation in Integrated Logistics with Generative AI from Google Cloud
2 Jan 20245 min read
Summary
- Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) has entered a multi‑year strategic collaboration with Google Cloud to migrate all on‑premises IT workloads to the cloud and equip its workforce with AI‑powered tools aimed at boosting productivity and streamlining tasks.
- SingPost deployed generative AI and document‑AI solutions built on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform to convert unstructured logistics and trade‑document data into a searchable repository with a natural‑language chat interface, thereby reducing administrative burden and enabling faster strategic decisions and customer interactions.
- The initiative delivered about 30 % cost savings in IT operations and is being scaled to optimise supply‑chain orchestration, while also embedding AI into workplace productivity tools (e.g., Duet AI in Google Workspace) and supporting a culture of digital innovation across the organisation.
Google Cloud and Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) is set to have a strategic collaboration. This is to accelerate SingPost’s digital transformation journey and drive its next phase of sustainable growth.
Said multi-year collaboration aims to empower SingPost employees with easy-to-use AI-powered tools. Such gears towards helping them boost productivity, streamline repetitive tasks, and foster seamless collaboration with external partners and customers.
“
“SingPost is no stranger to embracing innovative technologies, from data analytics to warehouse automation, to meet the evolving needs of our customers. This, coupled with strategic investment in high-growth markets, has resulted in international logistics generating 86% of the Group’s revenue – a key milestone in our ongoing transformation into a technology-driven logistics enterprise. Our positive engagement with Google Cloud to develop an AI solution—through their joint AI Trailblazers initiative with the Singapore Government—gave us the confidence to embark on the next step of this journey with them as our strategic cloud services provider. Google Cloud’s industry leadership in responsible AI, sustainable technology innovation, and cybersecurity will be core tenets in establishing SingPost as a trusted and customer-centric logistics leader in the Asia Pacific region,” said Noel Singgih, Group Chief Information Officer, Singapore Post Limited.
From left: Noel Singgih, Group Chief Information Officer, Singapore Post Limited; Vincent Phang, Group Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Post Limited; Mark Micallef, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud; Axel Bader, Enterprise Team Lead, Singapore, Google Cloud.
Establishing a secure foundation for digital, AI-driven innovation
SingPost has migrated all IT workloads hosted in its on-premises data centers to Google Cloud. The company is in the process of harmonizing and consolidating its technology stack, establishing a robust and secure foundation to power accelerated AI-driven innovation.
This strategic move has yielded substantial cost savings of 30% in IT operations. Moreover, it allows SingPost to take advantage of Google Cloud's AI-optimized infrastructure, purpose-built to handle complex AI workloads. Whilst ensuring cost-efficiency, scalability, and sustainability.
To further safeguard its enterprise data and applications, SingPost is also deploying Google Cloud's BeyondCorp Enterprise platform. This is to enforce zero-trust security principles. These include multi-factor authentication and device verification, ensuring that only authorized staff can access proprietary company information.
Supercharging logistics and supply chain management with gen AI
A successful participant in the AI Trailblazers initiative, SingPost has developed an AI solution prototype to streamline its eCommerce logistics operations. This solution eliminates the administrative burden of manually re-entering partner and supplier information from trade documents. Such including those with handwritten inputs—into its database.
It also liberates employees from the drudgery of digging through document archives to find the information they need. Thereby, enabling them to focus on making strategic decisions and delivering high-quality customer interactions.
Built using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform, foundation models, and Document AI, SingPost’s AI solution transforms unstructured data from trade documents into a searchable repository. This is with a gen AI-powered chat interface that comprehends natural language queries and surfaces accurate and relevant information.
Moreover, in collaboration with Google Cloud, SingPost will scale the use of its solution. Wherein, the goal of optimizing supply chain orchestration across its logistics network and facilitating faster deliveries.
Additionally, SingPost is leveraging Vertex AI to explore solutions for several other use cases. Such includes automating internal legal document reviews and providing more personalized interactions to enhance customer care.Vertex AI gives customers full control and segregation of their data and intellectual property. When using Vertex AI, SingPost retains complete control over its data, including prompts and user inputs at inference time.
The data does not need to leave SingPost’s dedicated Google Cloud environment. It is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and is not accessible by Google Cloud or any other external parties.
“
“We are pleased that the AI Trailblazers initiative has assisted SingPost in building a gen AI solution that will increase productivity. This is in line with Singapore’s efforts in establishing ourselves as a thriving hub for AI innovation by encouraging more experimentation and rapid prototyping. We look forward to more Singapore-based companies creating impactful gen AI applications from this initiative,” Philbert Gomez, Vice President and Head, Digital Industry Singapore (DISG), shared.
Democratizing the use of gen AI tools
SingPost is replacing previous legacy productivity tools with Duet AI in Google Workspace to help its employees write, visualize, organize, and connect more meaningfully. Duet AI in Workspace enables a powerful new way of working.
It seamlessly embeds gen AI into familiar cloud-native communication and collaboration applications like Gmail, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Meet, and Chat. With Duet AI, SingPost’s sales teams can produce memos and presentation decks with greater velocity in response to requests for proposals (RFPs).
Also, marketing and customer support teams can speed up marketing copy development and reduce average response times to customer inquiries. To empower citizen developers and foster a culture of digital innovation, SingPost is also deploying Duet AI in AppSheet.
Meanwhile, integrated with Google Workspace, Duet AI in AppSheet lets anyone rapidly build applications for streamlining work tasks by describing their idea using natural language, all without writing a single line of code.
This could include applications for frontline service management, inventory management, delivery route optimization, and more. Into which IT administrators set governance parameters on the creation and consumption of how these applications.
“
“By investing in AI development and collaborator platforms with built-in privacy, control, security, and compliance capabilities, SingPost is empowering every employee—regardless of their role or function—to identify and capitalize on new opportunities for work optimization. This serves as a strong example of how a large enterprise can move swiftly to extract diverse benefits from gen AI adoption. We look forward to continuing to support SingPost’s deployment of enterprise-grade AI solutions, accelerating the company’s time-to-value and reinforcing its leadership in delivering innovative and trusted eCommerce logistics services at scale,” said Mark Micallef, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud.