Digitization has long been a factor of major importance not just in the world of business, but also in public service. Municipalities use their own websites to publish information about practical issues and dates for voting, waste collection, paper collection and events. These websites also provide services such as placing orders for official documents. However, not every local authority has systematically put this digitization process into practice, for example in terms of orders, deliveries and payments. The new Swiss Post app “My Local Services” will make it possible to integrate services, information and offers of all kinds on a single platform and digitally link them to physical services.

Digital sales channel for local businesses

The same app can be used to access services from a region’s businesses, associations, event organizers and Swiss Post. These can range from vegetable boxes from neighbourhood farms, tickets to a local event, a meal service or membership of an association to having mail retained while you are on holidays, a dance event at Pro Senectute or a parking disc from the municipality. Everything can be found, ordered and paid for directly. For local business, event organizers and municipal authorities, “My Local Services” is a new digital sales channel that raises the profile of their products and services while giving customers easy access to them. Handling the platform requires only basic IT skills, so service providers can use it to advertise their offers independently and individually. To make sure that users can easily navigate their way through the growing number of services, their smartphones pinpoint their location using GPS and display relevant services prominently. In addition, it is possible to take personal preferences based on past usage and add them to the selection of relevant content.

Pilot scheme with Bienne, Nidau, Evilard-Macolin and Pieterlen

Swiss Post is launching the pilot project today in the four municipalities of Bienne, Nidau, Evilard-Macolin and Pieterlen. Building on the experiences of the pilot municipalities, we plan to roll out the service to other regions. The app is now available as a free download from the App Store and the Google Play Store. “My Local Services” is the first Swiss Post product to be launched under the “early” label, a byword for products and services that are still in development and will be further developed on the basis of customer feedback and market demand.

Information

Swiss Post Media Unit, Oliver Flüeler, +41 58 341 21 95, presse@swisspost.ch