In response, companies are using technology to create nimbler workforces, enhance customer service, and personalize services. All the while, they're making hard choices about which projects get funded and which don't. Last month, FedEx introduced software that lets customers print jobs directly from Microsoft Office on their PCs to any of the 1,200 Kinko's stores -- then FedEx delivers the jobs to clients. FedEx bought the copy-shop chain for $2.4 billion earlier this year. Meanwhile, FedEx is changing its distribution systems to support the smaller loads that customers are shipping and to keep up with international growth that's adding the most to the company's profits. At UPS, making drivers' schedules more precise could save $600 million a year in fuel costs and drivers' time by 2007, VP of engineering Mark Hopkins predicts. The company is rolling out a computer system called "package flow technologies" that aims to make UPS's delivery...
[ View Full Essay]