Interview with Wolfgang Eger, Head of Informatics/Technology
“For a modern Swiss Post, the use of AI is indispensable.”
Whether in logistics, banking or the transport of digital data: information technology is the backbone of Swiss Post’s business activities. For the Swiss Post of tomorrow, thinking ahead is crucial when it comes to the issues of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and new digital customer interfaces and giving employees the skills they need to manage these solutions sensibly and responsibly.
Wolfgang Eger, where does Swiss Post make use of artificial intelligence?
Over the last three years, we have taken on around 150 employees to fully exploit the potential of artificial intelligence, or AI. This is about automation solutions, the digital world of work and responsible handling of our data. We have initiatives in place in all areas of the company and have implemented around 20 AI projects to date, focusing for example on customs clearance, delivery volume forecasts or our own large language model, which generates text-based content for our internal machine translation solution or our Contact Center chatbot. We also use AI in our customer interaction for contact reports and voice output systems to support our employees and customers, combined with training programmes such as the Digital Champion programme. For a modern Swiss Post, the use of AI is indispensable. We were one of the first companies to use Microsoft Copilot to support work processes. In 2024, Swiss Post received the Corporate AI Award for its achievements in the field of AI.
Swiss Post received the Corporate AI Award.
What is the importance of trust in the digital world?
The use of AI is exactly the kind of area where trust is important. That’s why we focus in particular on security precautions that adapt to ongoing technological developments and provide the best possible protection of our systems and data. Because we are repeatedly exposed to cyber attacks. We have over 85 security experts working to ensure a secure environment at Swiss Post, who successfully fend off up to 100 attacks every month. This expertise, our transparency and our conscious and ethical handling of data are crucial to maintaining trust in our digital services. But this great trust unfortunately also has a downside that we have to deal with: Swiss Post is one of the most frequently misused brands in Switzerland for phishing attacks, where fraudsters try to obtain personal data.
How does Swiss Post protect its applications and data?
We are one of the first companies to make the majority of the applications we develop in-house accessible in our public bug bounty programme, and the rest will follow gradually. This allows vulnerabilities to be identified and remedied at an early stage, ensuring that the security of our solutions keeps pace even as technological developments continue to move forward. Internally, we use a large network of security champions, who check whether reports have an impact in their area and rectify any security gaps immediately. We also provide regular training for all employees to enable them to recognize and deal with risks.
How does Swiss Post attract the skilled people it needs?
To expand our expertise, we are strengthening our locations in Switzerland on an ongoing basis. In addition to Bellinzona and Neuchâtel, we opened a new IT location in Lausanne in 2024 with a view to building a bridge to IT talent in French-speaking Switzerland. This has met with great interest. If we cannot find specialists here in Switzerland despite our best efforts, we recruit them through our location in Lisbon. So far, we have recruited more than 90 IT specialists for Swiss Post in this way, including highly specialized professionals in the areas of data analysis, cybersecurity and software development.