Swiss Post IT Campus in Lisbon: 32 employees are already working on the technology of tomorrow
Since February 2023, IT specialists from Portugal have been helping to continue the digitization of Swiss Post’s services. Swiss Post has already recruited 32 IT professionals at its new office location in the heart of Lisbon. As data analysts, cybersecurity specialists or software developers, they help to ensure that customers in Switzerland can continue to rely on Swiss Post in the future. Nuno Pedro, Head of the IT Campus in Lisbon, provides some insights.
The smell of paint still lingers in the new Swiss Post offices in the center of Lisbon. Occupying around 900 square metres over two floors, Swiss Post started renting the space in spring 2023 and has furnished it in line with its needs: modern office workstations, meeting rooms and creative corners, as well as recreational islands where IT talents can put their heads together in search of innovative ideas. 49-year-old Nuno Pedro, who hails from Portugal, is the Head of Swiss Post’s IT Campus in Lisbon and is delighted with the office space and the location: “Even in times of remote working, teamwork is key. And it’s especially important when setting up a new site that we are in close dialogue and grow together into a strong unit. That’s why we all work together in the office one or two days a week. Our office in the heart of Lisbon is the optimal solution for this.”
Video: Site manager Nuno Pedro reflects on the new IT hub’s first months
Strong logistics needs strong IT
In order for Swiss Post customers to receive their parcels or letters safely and on time, numerous fail-safe IT programs need to run in the background. Part of all this is now being developed by the staff at the Lisbon IT site. One such staff member is 29-year-old Saroj Duwadi. Born in Nepal, he has been with the company since April 2023 and is currently working on an application that will enable the parcel carriers to plan optimal routes to individual addresses. His colleague Virginia Nunes is simultaneously developing an application that will provide Swiss Post with more detailed real-time information about parcels transported by train. Around half of all parcels transported by Swiss Post make at least part of their journey by rail. If Swiss Post is able to receive information about any delays more quickly, it can also provide the recipients with more specific details about their parcel’s delivery time.
Video: Saroj Duwadi has been working as an IT specialist at Swiss Post in Lisbon since April 2023
Between February and July 2023, Swiss Post was able to recruit 32 employees for the IT development site in Lisbon. They work in fields including software development, data analysis and cybersecurity. Site manager Nuno Pedro is pleased: “32 employees is fewer than the 50 we’d originally earmarked for the same period. We have to bear in mind that we’re not the only company looking for IT specialists in Lisbon. The advantage, however, is that we have more time to support our new employees during their settling-in period.”
1,600 kilometres apart – and yet hand in hand
Working together across a distance of 1,600 kilometres and with English as the main language is unusual for Swiss Post in this form, even though English has long been established in the IT sector. Saroj Duwadi, who was previously unfamiliar with Swiss Post, enjoys such challenges, however: “I’ve already had the opportunity to travel to Switzerland and meet my colleagues in person. That helped me understand what the customers’ needs are in Switzerland and how we can help them remotely.” Swiss Post organizes such visits to Switzerland for new employees at the Lisbon IT Campus within their first three months. “The collaboration between us and our colleagues in Switzerland is much better as a result,” says Nuno Pedro. “We learn a lot from one another. This helps us to forget the physical distance between us in our daily work.” The diversity of the employees at the Lisbon site is also enriching. The average age is 35, a third of the IT staff are women, and four different nationalities are represented.
-
- Creative corners and recreational islands: innovative ideas emerge at Swiss Post’s IT site in Lisbon
-
- IT specialist Saroj Duwadi makes work easier for parcel carriers in Switzerland
-
- Nuno Pedro is Head of Swiss Post’s IT site in Lisbon
Swiss Post in Portugal?
By setting up the campus in Portugal, Swiss Post is acquiring the IT specialists it cannot find in sufficient numbers in Switzerland. This is the company’s response to the shortage of skilled workers in the ICT market (see press release from 13 September 2022). However, Swiss Post is not relocating any of its jobs from Switzerland to Portugal. The Swiss labour market is and remains of paramount importance to Swiss Post, including for IT professions. Swiss Post also plans to create an estimated 200 new IT jobs in Switzerland by 2030. In Neuchâtel, Swiss Post continues to expand its cryptography center as a hub for the development of its e-voting system. Moreover, it is important for Swiss Post to be present in Switzerland’s various language regions. For this reason, it continues to operate its site in Bellinzona, which has more than 60 IT experts. Swiss Post also takes on around 60 ICT apprentices a year, providing training in information and communication technology.
Swiss Post IT: one of Switzerland’s biggest IT departments, with around 1,300 employees
Swiss Post maintains the third largest IT department of all companies active on the domestic market in Switzerland. Around 1,300 employees and 400 external IT specialists drive forward Swiss Post’s digitization process. The department handles over 400 software projects each year, runs more than 1,000 applications and has around 5,000 databases – with these figures set to rise in future.
Categorised in:
