The Postal Service is an often overlooked sector in most Caribbean countries. Its potential remains untapped in the region, although it is often considered an essential service. With Mr Tracy Hackshaw of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), we discuss the evolving role of the Postal Service in our increasingly digital age, including: the role of the UPU;  key drivers that led the UPU to prioritise cyber resilience initiatives; whether Caribbean countries are using the .POST Top Level Domain; and the benefits of using the .POST Top Level Domain.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

Generally, we tend to think the Postal Service’s role is delivering mail and parcels. However, historically, post offices and the wider Postal Service played a critical role in our communities, as they functioned not only as a common touch point that every citizen interacted with but also as a connector of communities within countries to each other and even to the rest of the world.

In today’s digital age, the Postal Service may be seen as a relic of the past, since we now have e-mail, text messages, the internet, etc., to keep connected. However, globally, its role is becoming more important than ever as we navigate e-commerce and logistics, financial services, data protection, and even bridging the digital divide. Hence, on this podcast episode, we discuss the often overlooked yet evolving role of the postal sector in our increasingly digital age.

 

Introducing our guest

Tracy Hackshaw

Tracy Hackshaw is a highly experienced Senior Digital Economy Strategist with over 25 years of experience in digital implementation and leadership across the private and public sectors, spanning local, regional, and international contexts. He currently serves as the Head of the .POST Business Management Unit, Postal Technology Centre at the 150 year old Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations system agency in Bern, Switzerland.

In his current role at UPU, Tracy leads and manages all activities related to the .POST Top Level Domain (TLD) and an emerging Cyber Resilience services portfolio. This includes strategic planning, technical and legal oversight, marketing, business development, policy, and compliance. A key focus is positioning .POST as the premier secure and trusted digital platform for the global postal sector. One his first projects involved the launch of CYBERTRACK.POST, a fully automated, web-based dashboard for real-time monitoring of .POST domains’ technical compliance with cybersecurity policies.

He is working on expanding its functionality to improve overall Cyber Resilience, including integrating DNS abuse/security threat reporting. At present, he is leading the implementation of SECURE.POST, an online portal for cybersecurity awareness and training, and the Postal and Logistics Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (POST-ISAC), which focuses on improving the cybersecurity posture of the postal and logistics services’ value chain through information sharing and capacity building.

Prior to joining the UPU, Tracy held several key positions within the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He was integral in the design and implementation of globally recognised, award-winning initiatives like ttconnect, TTBizLink, and Star.tt.

Tracy is also a Director and former Chair of the Trinidad and Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group (TTMAG), Convenor of the Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum (TTIGF). He was a Co-Founder and former Chair of the Internet Society Trinidad & Tobago Chapter. He has served as a Coach/Mentor for the Internet Society Youth@the United Nations-Internet Governance Forum / Internet Governance Forum Youth Ambassadors Program and is Co-Coordinator of the United Nations-Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Small Island Developing States in the Internet Economy (DC-SIDS).

 

Insights into our conversation

In a nutshell, this conversation with Tracy was enlightening. The UPU has been implementing innovative programmes and initiatives to help countries reposition their respective postal sectors in our ever-expanding digital landscape, manage their assets better, and capitalise on emerging opportunities that play to the sector’s strengths.

At the same time, this discussion was also frustrating, as the postal sector across the Caribbean region appears archaic and sleepy, and opportunities through which it could emphasise its continued importance and value are not being leveraged. Below are key questions posed to Tracy that guided our conversation.

  1. What is your role at the UPU?
  2. What were the key drivers that led the UPU to prioritise cyber resilience initiatives?
  3. What the .POST Top Level Domain is and how does it contribute to security and trust within the postal sector?
  4. How does .POST Top Level Domain contribute to security and trust within the postal sector?
  5. Are there Caribbean countries that are using the .POST Top Level Domain?
  6. Are there any other benefits successful applicants receive in having a .POST Top Level Domain?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise might be useful

 

 

Images credit:  UPU;  Freepik;  Drazen Zigic (Freepik);  schantalao (Freepik)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez