Applying Data Science to Improve Service Quality in Portugal’s Postal Operations

Ana Mata is Head of Quality Assurance at Portugal's national postal operator, where she oversees service quality KPIs across national and international operations.

She joined the programme to strengthen her data science capability and move beyond traditional reporting in a high-pressure environment shaped by reduced team capacity and demanding performance targets.

A key development in her approach was shifting from manually interpreting tables and reports to using more targeted analysis through data visualisation and clustering. This enabled her to identify where performance issues were most concentrated, rather than applying the same response across the entire network.

For Ana, data science is not abstract; it is a practical way to use operational data more intelligently to improve service quality in a large, complex organisation.

In practice, that led to better decisions, more focused action, and lower cost. Rather than investing time and resources in areas already performing well, her team could direct intervention where it would have the greatest impact.

For Ana, data science is not abstract; it is a practical way to use operational data more intelligently to improve service quality in a large, complex organisation.

She is now progressing to the MSc, where her research will examine KPI performance, the variables that influence it, and how machine learning can support deeper operational insight