Swiss Post needs to speed up its transformation with a forward-looking ‘out of the box’ new strategy for the coming years, according to new CEO Roberto Cirillo.
The CEO, who took over in April, told journalists at a media briefing at the new parcel centre in Cadenazzo last week that he has been impressed by the staff’s commitment. During his first few months in charge Cirillo has held meetings with staff, customers, stakeholders and other relevant parties.
But the 48-year-old also stressed that Swiss Post needs to get a move on so that it can to continue to finance the universal service without taxpayers’ money, “which is the clear goal”. The company must become more relevant again to people and companies in Switzerland through a new strategy for 2021 onwards.
“I’ve discovered a modern, innovative Swiss Post”, he declared. “Our network of mail carriers and branches is our trump card. It’s unique in Switzerland. Who else comes to the front door of every home in Switzerland each day?”
Cirillo has already made decisions and introduced changes in his first few months at Swiss Post, including a solution for CarPostal France and developing a future-proof e-voting system.
But he has also spent time conducting an in-depth analysis of Swiss Post. His intention was not just to examine the units such as PostLogistics, PostMail or the branch network in isolation. “We’ve used the time to carry out a holistic analysis of Swiss Post across all its units”, he explained.
The result is conclusive. “In ten years’ time we won’t be able to finance the universal service out of our own pocket – unless we take action now.” He emphasised: “We must stay relevant to the people and companies in Switzerland, so that Swiss Post remains a key part of the identity of a modern Switzerland in the future.”
Cirillo is thinking outside the box in developing the strategy for the period starting in 2021, according to the postal operator. “We’re not drawing up the strategy in an ivory tower,” he commented.
The CEO has formed a group of employees, mostly aged between 30 and 40, and not necessarily from senior management. “They’re prepared to adopt a different approach, look beyond convenient solutions and break free from old habits. It’s important to think about the future, which means listening to the ideas of the young employees at Swiss Post. They’ll help us to develop Swiss Post’s strategy for the period from 2021.”
Although the strategy process is still ongoing, “some ideas are obvious”, Cirillo said. The significant expansion of local distribution and last mile services for Switzerland is just one example.
Other ideas are more forward-looking, such as the promotion of circular economy business models. “Here we’re looking at services such as logistics without packaging, repair & reuse services and platforms for the sharing economy.” As part of a project with the working title “Public Digital Services 2.0”, the newly-formed strategy group is investigating how Swiss Post can offer its services and strengths as a pioneer of a digital, paperless Switzerland.
Swiss Post should also be able to move in completely new directions in the future, however. “After a series of discussions with partners, customers and the authorities, we’ve decided to examine cross-unit industry solutions as well, for instance in healthcare, in assisting with the tasks performed by public authorities or in the financial sector”, Cirillo explained.
“These are some of the approaches we’d like to examine as we develop the new strategy for Swiss Post, and for Switzerland as a whole. We’ll continue to work on these ideas in the coming months.”
