Pioneering solutions for the inclusion of the rural world | Technology

Correos advances in its commitment to bring its services closer to citizens by offering new solutions for e-commerce that contribute to economic development, especially in the most depopulated areas. An innovative and disruptive project for which the company has received the Best Digital Transformation Enterprise award, thanks to its technological solutions that promote the digital transformation of Spanish businesses, SMEs and the self-employed. From Correos they highlight, for example, the service Marketplace, that “allows businesses to manage their sales on the world’s most important platforms, such as Amazon, eBay or AliExpress, from a single centralized point and without the need to have their own website”. However, the company also offers the service Create Online Store and Personalized Design Service for those companies that prefer to self-manage the sale of their products through their own website, with design templates and customizable modules. “We offer the possibility of direct integration with the comprehensive logistics service offered by Correos and that allows products to be delivered to the customers of any company anywhere in the world”, they explain from the company.

In May 2019, the platform was launched Post Office, a visibility, promotion and marketing channel for Spanish companies with the best distribution network in the country and more than 2,300 offices. More than 1,200 vendors already operate through this platform, offering 15,000 references of quality products from Spanish companies that anyone can receive at home through the Post Office. “It is about taking advantage of the knowledge and trust that the Correos brand inspires. The Spanish public company will continue working to promote the development of the rural economy and facilitate the lives of people who have chosen to live in that environment, thus helping to establish population in the territory”, they affirm in Correos.

Attention to the ’emptied Spain’

Bringing digitization and new technologies closer to rural areas is an objective that has already begun with the computerization of the 2,295 customer service points in rural areas. This transformation allows not only to offer postal or parcel services, but also to bring public administrations closer to citizens through access to the records of the entities attached to the Virtual Registry Office (ORVE), the payment of taxes, collection of receipts, purchase of DGT badges and new products and services. In this way, “we contribute to strengthening the quality and access to public services in small towns and promote entrepreneurship and rural economic activity with the expansion of available services and products,” they comment.

The logistics company also facilitates access to financial services through cash mail, which has already exceeded 166,000 cash deposit and withdrawal operations carried out by customers of the different banking entities with which the company has a collaboration agreement. “Bank customers can make cash withdrawals and deposits at the 4,675 Correos citizen service points (2,393 offices and 2,282 rural service points) and postmen can deliver money to any address in Spain,” they underline in Correos. One more advance in its commitment to face the demographic challenge, which is strengthened with connectivity via satellite in the offices located in towns with difficulties in accessing the Internet thanks to an agreement with Hispasat.

The Spanish company brings Public Administration services to the smallest towns at its 2,300 customer service points

Correos has also developed a pioneering technology for payment by bank card from the PDA (portable electronic device) that has already been extended to 6,011 rural postmen throughout Spain. “In this way, postmen offer directly to the home many of the services that until now were only provided in offices. You can pay bills, taxes or buy envelopes and packaging, send packages, buy DGT badges, access energy and electricity offers, RENFE tickets, etc. taking advantage of the postman’s visit”, they indicate in the Spanish company. In this context, more than 22,000 state-of-the-art devices have already been delivered to its delivery teams.

One of the latest services that Correos has launched has been through devices Citypack, which allow the collection, delivery and return of parcel purchases over the Internet on the day and at the time that best suits you, without having to be aware of delivery times or dates. From this year, they indicate from Correos, “anyone can make the deposit of their national parcel shipments from Correos, as well as returns, that is, reverse logistics shipments, at the ticket offices Citypack distributed throughout the Spanish geography, without the need for prior reservation of the terminal space and only with the delivery number”. Currently, 96% of the network of Citypack already offers this possibility, whose purpose is to process the admission of shipments in a more agile and flexible way and avoid waiting to access the counter of an office.