Swiss Post now offers digital services, in addition to transporting letters and parcels. How do these things fit together?
For 175 years, Swiss Post has been guaranteeing secure and trustworthy delivery of information. Nowadays, a large proportion of communication and interaction is digital, which is why Swiss Post has expanded its services and invested in building up new competencies. This will enable Swiss Post to meet its customers’ needs, both now and in the future. In Neuchâtel, Swiss Post has set up a center for encryption technology, where our team has developed a new e-voting system that fulfils the Confederation’s stringent legal requirements. The system has now been used successfully in four cantons for almost a year.
Swiss Post is digitizing letter mail thanks to the ePost App. How did Swiss Post also start offering municipality software and other services?
Swiss Post has built up its in-house competencies and expanded its expertise and range of services in the digital sector by making targeted acquisitions. This enables Swiss Post to offer a very comprehensive range of solutions for public administrations – from digital identification and legally valid signatures, to communication platforms, electronic business management systems and tax and HR solutions for municipalities and cantons, right through to cybersecurity services that offer protection against cyberattacks. As such, our customers benefit from solutions from a single source that meet Swiss Post’s high security requirements.
What do you regard as the main challenges for the digital transformation of public administration?
Switzerland is a federal country. The three levels of government each have their own competencies and responsibilities, which means that they also have their own administrative bodies. The advantage of this is that public administration is closer to the public and to business. For this reason, standardization, interoperability and cooperation are essential to ensuring that digitization across the relevant authorities is a success, whether they’re from administration, education, healthcare or elsewhere. Rising levels of cybercrime also pose a challenge. Both the public administration and the solution provider should focus in particular on end-to-end encryption, cyberdefence systems and continuous security checks when procuring a solution. As part of Swiss Post’s range of services, we take account of these challenges and offer our customers comprehensive advice. This enables us to work together to create a secure digital administration that is trusted by the Swiss public.
What role is Swiss Post playing in the digital transformation of the public sector?
As a company owned by the Confederation and with a public service mandate for the whole of Switzerland, Swiss Post itself is part of the public sector. It has always been a trustworthy partner to the Confederation, cantons and municipalities when it comes to the transmission of information. For example, think about sending information, tax documents, voting materials or any kind of written order by post.
Swiss Post was founded in 1849. Since then, it has evolved in order to meet the challenges of each era. As such, Swiss Post plays a dual role: it is itself part of the transition in the public sector, but it also offers solutions and resources for administrations, enabling them to be at the forefront of the digital transformation.
You are taking over the role of Head of E-Government from Martina Müggler as of 1 June 2024. What are your goals for the unit?
I am taking on a very strong unit. We have a comprehensive range of services and can offer digital solutions to public administrations in almost all sectors. Martina Müggler has positioned Swiss Post E-Government as a professional service provider and trustworthy partner all over the country and in all language regions. She is starting a personal project and has therefore decided to give up her role. My goal is to continue strengthening Swiss Post’s position in the e-government market, to launch a long-term development of the systems for electronic business management within municipalities and to keep on expanding our range of services. Previously, I was Head of Ecosystem Development and Deputy Head of E-Government. As the new leader, I’m looking forward to working with the team and our subsidiaries Dialog and T2i, where I serve as Chair of the Boards of Directors, to steer Swiss Post E-Government towards a successful future.