The amount of money extracted through the Extra Cash service in Ciego de Ávila at the end of April could be translated into ignorance on the part of the clients and workers of the Commerce: 51,250.00 pesos is very little, even more so if we take into account the recent situations with the ATMs. Another piece of information also speaks of immobility: the service has only been implemented in 56 units of the 1,078 scattered throughout the province, the same as a year ago, when we reported on the new procedure.

The information consulted by Invasor in the Report on the results of the improvement that the Ciego de Ávila Business Group of Commerce (GECCA) recently prepared, shows a stagnation in this component of electronic commerce, since the Extra Box modality is not applied in eight of the 10 municipalities of the province.

Except for one carried out in Florencia, all the transactions through Extra Box were carried out in establishments belonging to the Ciego de Ávila Municipal Commerce Company.

However, it seems that some gears have been set in motion: weeks ago, Lázaro Edel Granados Gelenian, director of GECCA, reported to the Provincial Council on the behavior of electronic commerce in this sector, at the end of the first quarter of 2023, of just 21 registered operations. A month later, that number doubled.

"How many customers go to the warehouse and do not have enough money?" Granados Gelenian reflected, who also alluded to the amount of cash that is deposited daily in banks with the consequent queues, after a transfer sometimes signed by poor protection of financial resources.

Not in vain, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, at the head of the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN) had declared in November 2022 to the Granma newspaper that the most important thing is the decrease in cash flow in the country's commerce network.

And that is precisely what it is about, as Osmany Quiala Díaz, manager of Unit 115, Micro Ortiz, confirmed, the one that groups the largest number of clients (no less than 8,260) and the one with the best results in terms of the actual use of the QR Code in the province.

“It is normal here that a lot is sold daily through this channel, which causes the daily deposit of physical money in the bank to be less. With the Extra Box, virtual payment by cash withdrawal can be up to 1,000 pesos”, he assures, while the crowd of consumers at the counters confirms how necessary it is to further encourage all forms of payment electronically, using a magnetic card.

Nevertheless, resistance to change can be seen in the slowness with which it happens. Resistance of those who sell and those who consume. Insufficient digital literacy affects both, without forgetting the quality of the telecommunications infrastructure, including the terminal equipment in the hands of citizens and the time invested in the processes of readjustment of contracts that cause structural transformations in the sector.

“Previously our winemakers seemed uncomfortable to carry out operations. They were even afraid and asked users for a series of data that made the service tedious, this has been clarified in the improvement meetings that we do. We have explained that only the amount of the amount and the number of the transaction should be noted”, Diana Sánchez Díaz, Director of Development at GECCA, explains.

The directive adds that, in addition, the dividends of the training actions, in charge of the Ciego de Ávila Territorial Division, of the Information Technology Company (XETID) are appreciated.

In the urgency of the Extra Cash service, the probable leakage of a part of the collection when the money is handled "with full hands", or what is the same, without using modern technologies, is not negligible either. It is known that, in these circumstances, some unscrupulous could commit crimes without consideration. The province does not escape this weakness, a red button that demands extreme vigilance to avoid practices such as the elaboration of more than one IPV (Inventory at sale prices) in the desire to take illegal advantage of what the State provides with significant expenditures.

Electronic payment using the QR Code on gateways such as EnZona is not a routine step, it is part of the computerization of society and the improvement of domestic trade. The growing insertion of this sector in the digital transformation of the country, forces the Ciego de Ávila management of the Business Group of Commerce to put the extra to the generalization of the Extra Box, a change that results in better customer service and economic management more effective.