Hasso-Plattner-Institut
Prof. Dr. Falk Uebernickel
 

Helvetia Case 2017/18

Challenge: "How might we make life hassle free for people that move to Switzerland? With these few words our 10-month challenge was kicked off with our Swiss-based-insurance corporate partner Helvetia. As part of the globally observed trend of the ‘globalisation’, every year, 140’000 people move to Switzerland for a variety of reasons and during this relocation face an abundance of hurdles and challenges. The relevant information for the individual person is difficult to attain in the vastness of information available on the internet and is often times too broadly defined in order to generate any value for these newcomers."

This is where Swissify comes into play, a web-based application which can be accessed through both a laptop as well as through smartphones and tablets via www.swissify.org. After answering only five questions, the users receive a personalised timeline indicating each step of their journey to Switzerland in great detail and the respective information is always tailored to their specific situation and needs. By working their way through their personally generated timeline, the newcomers are able to inform themselves on both how a specific process works, as well as learning which documents and information they will need to have ready for the respective step in question. Along the way, they receive information on their Visa, permits, apartments, customs, insurances, banks, telecommunication and also get exclusive access to a variety of events through the Swissify community. Swissify operates with a lead-generation business model, meaning that the customers can use Swissify free of charge, thus enabling them to save both money and time. However, Swissify does not sell the customer data to third-party companies but merely suggests to their users, based on the given information, which service provider best suits their needs. 
This project was realised by a team of four people from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), namely Martina Egli, Florian Misteli, Guy Reiffers and Tiziano Sabbioni. The team worked in a close collaboration with Anja Zimmermann from the Corporate Incubation team at Helvetia.