DHL 2009 Annual Report Download - page 74

STRATEGY AND GOALS
In , economic output dropped sharply nearly everywhere due to the recession.
 e transport industry, which depends heavily on exports, was hit particularly hard.
We armed ourselves against this development by cutting costs and increasing e ciency
in our operations and back o ces, resulting in savings of approximately   billion in
direct and indirect costs, excluding the . In addition, the cost base of our  activi-
ties was reduced by more than  . billion as a result of our restructuring e orts.  ese
are important requirements for achieving our goal to remain the  rst choice in the
international express business, across all products and regions. Our strategy is based
on the following three pillars:
Steadily improving customer service
 e overriding goal of our endeavours in the  eld of express delivery is to satisfy
our customers. With the help of our Group-wide First Choice programme, we work
to ensure that we meet our customers’ high demands for speed, reliability and cost ef-
 ciency. Using standardised systems and processes, we have increased the productivity
of our sales organisation and thus signi cantly lowered costs. We also called and visited
our customers more frequently in person.  e fact that we have become better is evi-
denced by the more than  awards we received from external experts in , includ-
ing renowned awards such as China Best Call Centre, Best Manager and Best Agent.
 e service at our customer service centres is tested and evaluated by our own
employees as part of our mystery shopper programme. We also conduct customer sat-
isfaction surveys on a regular basis to help us adapt quickly to customer needs and
requirements.
Increasing profi tability and productivity
 e core element of our strategy is our International Time De nite air tra c net-
work. We o er competitive pricing and  rst-rate service on all the major trade lanes. As a
pro table express service provider, we are constantly optimising our performance stand-
ards and our costs in order to expand our market leadership. Speci cally, this means:
• Lowering operating costs. We are improving processes and  eet management
through a variety of global, regional and local initiatives. Our costs per unit have
dropped by around   as a result. To reduce indirect costs, we have streamlined
our structures considerably and have continued to standardise processes.
• Integrating  platforms. We have standardised numerous systems in all regions in
order to optimise interfaces and maintenance costs. In the , for instance, we
replaced  legacy systems with  global applications, reducing not only cur-
rent  costs but future costs as well. We also adapt our technology to the needs of
our customers. Today, more than , customers can track their shipment sta-
tus online and by mobile telephone in more than  countries using our ProView
e-commerce solution. In , we will make our e-commerce applications even
more user-friendly and easily accessible.
Deutsche Post DHL Annual Report 
Group Management Report
Divisions

57