Service-oriented - Die Schweizerische Post

14 Annual Geschäftsbericht Report | Service-oriented 2006 | Group
of PostFinance services and products on
offer at post offices and setting up our
own PostFinance branches as well as expanding
our sales platforms on the Internet,
we want to coordinate our distribution
channels more effectively with one
another.
By steadily adapting structures and processes,
dividing in-house tasks among post
offices, using state-of-the-art technology
and adopting a lean approach to cost
management we will continue to boost
productivity. Maintaining a dialogue with
those around us, we are committed to
further developing the regulatory conditions
under which we operate, in order to
safeguard our entrepreneurial scope and
reach and to ensure fair “rules of the
game” for all market players. Industryspecific
employment conditions and contracts
subject to the Swiss Code of Obligations
are a key aspect if we are to enjoy
a level playing field and succeed in the
fiercely competitive market.
We aim to compensate the decline in our
core postal business: by profitable growth
in international niche markets, by internal
postal services for companies and institutions
and by taking over business proc-
esses in the value chains of third parties
(incl. order platforms, fulfilment, invoicing).
This will provide us with growth in
our post-related markets and enable us to
reduce our dependency on both our core
business and the domestic market. In the
long term, PostFinance should be granted
a banking licence and thus be able to
expand the range of its financial services.
In order to make use of this potential for
success, we want to maintain a high level
of motivation and willingness to per-form
among our staff. By pursuing this strategic
direction, we will be able to implement
our vision of an efficient and socially
responsible Swiss Post.
Important steps
In implementing our vision and strategy
we achieved the following important
milestones in 2006:
We began building the two letter centres
in Eclépens and Härkingen as part of
the REMA (Reengineering Mail Processing)
project. The Zurich-Mulligen centre
has been undergoing refurbishment since
February 2005. The three letter centres
will be among the most modern in the
world. Zurich-Mulligen will commence
operations in summer 2007, and Härkingen
and Eclépens will become operational
in the summer and autumn of 2008 respectively.
In addition to the three new
letter centres, there will be six sub-centres
in Switzerland for letter processing and
two locations for video coding and returns
processing (Chur and Sion). REMA
will enable us to save 170 million francs
in letter-processing operating costs
each year. Swiss Post will invest over one
billion francs in the entire project.
On 14 January 2007, PostFinance took
over the processing of payments for
Glarner Kantonalbank. This is an important
step along the way to becoming
a leading provider of payments processing
for other financial institutions. Post-
Finance has now been processing slipbased
payment transactions on behalf of
UBS since autumn 2005.
The PostBus unit of Swiss Post was transferred
to PostBus Switzerland AG on
1 July 2006. The Federal Office for Justice
had previously looked into the project,
before issuing an expert opinion that
deemed it to be legally permissible. The
subsequent agreement affiliating PostBus
staff to the collective employment con-
“ In future, Swiss Post should
deliver mail throughout
the week at a standard price
to places like St Antönien.”
Silvia Brembilla
Mayor of municipality, St Antönien