Poste Italiane presents its version to the financial community innovation strategy, fully integrated in the business plan Delivery 2022. Upon expiry, the plan envisages an investment of 2,8 billion for the modernization of the IT infrastructure, in sectors such as cloud platforms, data management and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). The result is that already now, explained the Poste Italiane top management led by CEO Matteo Del Fante in London, the group is already able to take business decisions based on real-time processing and has the possibility of integrating partners into "Open Innovation" specialists to whom he turned for new value-added services.
The combination of internal work and the introduction of innovative startups from outside has names and surnames: ranging from the new Post Code service, with the introduction of payments via QR code, to collaboration agreements with innovative Italian and international companies in the fields of logistics, last mile delivery, financial services and payments, with a current and future investment commitment equal to a total of 200 million euros. Among these Milkman, Moneyfarm, sennder and Tink! whose managing directors attended the meeting with investors in London. Perspectives that have pushed the title of Poste Italiane to Piazza Affari where it is in the middle of the day rise of 3,8% at 10,655 euro.
The goal is always to expand the offer to over 35 million customers in the financial, insurance, payments, telephony and logistics sectors.
“Innovation – he began CEO Matteo Del Fante at the opening of the London meeting – is essential for a diversified company of our size to remain competitive at a time when traditional markets are about to be revolutionised. We can better manage the needs of our 35 million customers moving forward through strategic investments in physical and digital infrastructure. Poste Italiane is connecting in-house innovations, such as our Postepay QR code solution, to successfully drive Italy's transition from cash to digital payments, with partnerships with specialist tech start-ups, made possible by our new IT platform based on Open Innovation. We see a clear and present opportunity to capitalize on Poste's credibility and proven track record of delivering innovations to the entire population, to become more central to our customers' digital world.”
Among the main drivers is the growth of PostePay, one of the major players in the payments sector over 27 million cards in circulation and over 1 billion transactions handled in the first nine months of 2019, which he developed Codice Postepay, an app based on the QR code and designed to serve millions of merchants. By scanning the code with your mobile phone, direct payment is started, a Postepay Code method offers immediate access to over five million customers who actively use the Postepay app for payments. Codice Postepay also offers merchants a series of functions including geo-location, integration into Postepay loyalty and engagement programs, including discounts and cash back programs, as well as money transfers to any bank account. Alipay customers - the payment method of the Chinese group Alibaba, world leader in digital payments - will be able to use the services offered by the QR code in Italy through Postepay, thanks to a new agreement.
Poste Italiane's plan also focuses, as we said, on the progressive modernization of the IT infrastructure, with 2,8 billion euros of expenditure included in the Deliver 2022 Plan, in areas such as cloud platforms, data management and application programming interfaces (APIs). External collaboration agreements, on the other hand, range from logistics with the startup transmitter for full truck load deliveries – tested with the delivery of 8 million parcels between Black Friday and Christmas – from which a reduction of 100 million in costs is expected; to financial services with 7 investment lines in EDF agreed with Moneyarm; to open banking data analysis with Tink! of which Poste has become a shareholder; to finish with scheduled home deliveries with milkman, already tested in Turin, Milan and Rome but gradually being extended throughout Italy.
