Last mile delivery company Hermes is to use Cognito IQ’s Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD) system for its UK network of couriers and 4500 Parcelshops. The company will have 20,000 licenses and be the biggest single European customer of the technology.

The system will tell Cognito through geofencing technology to confirm to Hermes and its clients where and when parcels are delivered. The software additionally enables Hermes to retain high quality images, taken with the camera on the new handheld devices.

CEO of Hermes, Carole Woodhead said, “We aspire to achieve 100% first time delivery success and this new technology will assist us to reach this goal… Our focus is on providing an outstanding delivery experience, so we have invested in the software to increase the choice and convenience to our clients.

“The Cognito iQ partnership gives us the flexibility we require, will allow us to enable navigation routing and become the first company in the market to offer time window deliveries to customers for standard parcels.”

There was a competitive tender for the technology that was eventually used, and Cognito was eventually selected for its cloud based cross-platform solution that supports the scalability needed by Hermes. One of the winning factors was the Operational Performance Management (OPM) that along with the Hermes parcel tracking system will provide real time delivery insights for Hermes and its clients with managements information delivered through online dashboards.

Laurent Othacéhé, CEO of Cognito iQ, commented: “Working with Cognito iQ, Hermes is well-placed to optimise its service and systemically drive continual performance improvement, while giving customers the preferences they want, the couriers the experience and technology they require, and delivering innovation for Hermes overall.”

In an increasingly competitive market, technology can give you the edge, and the new system that Cognito has proved Hermes may yet prove decisive.