Certified mail, savings of 6 billion in Italy since 2008

Certified Electronic Mail introduced in Italy in 2005 continues to generate significant benefits in terms of economic and environmental sustainability. In fact, the economic benefits deriving from its use in the period 2008-2022 amount to approximately 3.5 billion euros, based on a series of criteria that measure the effects of replacing the traditional paper registered letter with the digital equivalent.

This is what emerges from the IDC study Benefits and opportunities of certified e-mail: pillar of the digital trust services of the future, created in collaboration with Aruba, InfoCert-Tinexta Group and Tim Enterprise through Trust Technologies (a TIM Group company – 100% owned by Olivetti – for digital identity solutions). Furthermore, the PEC will produce a further 2.5 billion euros in economic benefits between 2023 and 2026, of which approximately 650 million in 2026 alone. In the year in which there will be approximately 20 million active PEC boxes, which will generate almost 3 billion and by means of certified messages.

It is estimated that the use of certified e-mail in 2026 will significantly reduce trips to post offices, public offices and company headquarters generated by sending a traditional registered letter, avoiding 349 million kilometers of unnecessary journeys (+35.8% compared to the figure 2022), with a saving of 107 thousand tonnes of CO2 emitted. Storage space will be reduced by 1.7 million square meters and, thanks to the reduced use of paper, over 70 thousand trees will be saved.

Certified e-mail is the most widespread legal means of notification in Europe. Based on official data from Agid, in 2022 around 15 million certified email accounts were active in our country and more than 2.5 billion messages were exchanged during the year. «Certified email is consolidated as a pillar of digital trust services in Italy and is starting to evolve within the framework of new frameworks and use cases, also for the whole of Europe, embracing multiple spheres of economic and social life. The benefits deriving from the PEC go well beyond the simplification of administrative procedures and practices, including economic and sustainability issues relevant for the future”, comments Erica Spinoni, senior research analyst at IDC.

According to Gabriele Sposato, marketing director of Aruba, «the use of certified e-mail represents a distinctive feature of the digital evolution of our country, a pioneer in the field of trust services, and the evidence emerging from our recent internal survey underlines this trend in a unequivocal: approximately 90% of users recognize the essential usefulness of the PEC and its extreme ease of use. This is data that confirms the general consensus on the relevance and prospect of further diffusion of this tool both at an Italian and European level”.