To stay ahead, Swiss Post has expanded decisively into new sectors, including digital communication services, public transport, and financial services. This shift has deepened its focus on innovation—not as a siloed function, but as a core organizational capability.
Swiss Post has been using the Qmarkets innovation management platform for 14 years, delivering impressive results across a range of innovation and improvement initiatives. As one of Qmarkets’ longest-standing customers, they’ve consistently helped shape the evolution of the platform (and generated some impressive results in the process)—introducing new use cases and creative campaign structures that have pushed its potential further.
More recently, they achieved remarkable results once again through a unique adaptation of the Qmarkets platform to power a nationwide improvement campaign. This success story explores how the initiative was built, how it delivered fast, measurable value—and what other organizations can take from its success.
The outcomes speak for themselves: 202 projects, over 600 improvements, and 2.28m CHF ($2.4 million) in identified savings—all delivered in a matter of weeks.
Innovation and Idea Management at Swiss Post
With a workforce of more than 45,000 employees, Swiss Post operates at a national scale—making the ability to innovate efficiently across departments essential. One of the pillars of the company’s innovation efforts is idea management, which focuses on capturing and implementing employee-driven ideas through structured campaigns and tools. To support this, Swiss Post has adopted a decentralized approach. Each major business unit—including Logistics Services, PostFinance, Digital Services and PostalNetwork—has dedicated idea managers who oversee local initiatives tailored to the needs of their teams.
These decentralized teams are supported by a central idea management function which helps align tools and methods, maintain a shared language around innovation, and provide strategic support when needed. Daniel Gygax, an Idea Management Specialist within this central team, plays a key role in coordinating the Qmarkets platform and supporting idea managers across the business in using it effectively.
This combination of local empowerment and centralized support has proven essential to scaling innovation efficiently, without overcomplicating the process.
The Role of Kaizen in Logistics at Swiss Post
At Swiss Post, progress isn’t driven only by new products or technology—it also comes from improving the way existing operations run. One of the key approaches here is Kaizen—a structured, bottom-up methodology and philosophy that Swiss Post has been using for more than 10 years and that empowers employees to make practical, measurable improvements in their daily work.
Rather than relying on top-down initiatives, the Kaizen team encourages staff across more than 100 sites to identify issues, propose solutions, and implement them directly. This mindset of ongoing experimentation and refinement is a defining aspect of how Swiss Post applies Kaizen in logistics, helping the division adapt quickly to new challenges while continuing to deliver high-quality service. This bottom-up approach is strongly supported by leadership, whose role in enabling, guiding, and championing continuous improvement is essential.
Unlike idea campaigns, which are initiated by management and often focus on broader strategic themes, Kaizen is primarily employee-led. Teams are empowered to identify inefficiencies, suggest changes, and implement solutions directly—without waiting for top-down approval. It’s a practical, decentralized model that delivers results quickly and consistently.
This structure has become a powerful enabler of adaptability. By embedding Kaizen into daily operations across its logistics network, Swiss Post has built a model that allows teams to act quickly and consistently—an approach that illustrates the potential of Kaizen in logistics when applied at scale.
This model reflects a mature, well-established commitment to continuous improvement and operational excellence, underpinned by clear roles, fast feedback loops, and local ownership. It was this foundation that made it possible to launch a new kind of initiative in 2024.
The Kaizenfluencer Initiative: The Challenge
In late 2023, Swiss Post’s Logistics Services division was given a clear mandate by management: deliver immediate, tangible cost savings across its nationwide network of logistics sites. The target was ambitious: assess operations at 73 locations and implement as many improvements as possible in a short time frame. Initially, the team considered hiring several lean managers to conduct the audits using Word templates.
Agim Emini, Quality Manager in the Logistics Services division, was closely involved in shaping the response. Instead of relying on external resources, he and his team looked inward —toward the trained Kaizen experts already embedded across the organization. The idea was simple: empower these employees to visit other sites, conduct structured operational reviews, and record their findings using a digital workflow. The only question was how to manage such a large-scale Kaizen initiative without building a new system from scratch.
That’s when the team realized they could configure their existing Qmarkets platform to support the entire process—transforming what had been an idea management tool into the backbone of a national operational audit.
The Kaizenfluencer Initiative: The Solution
The campaign, branded internally as Kaizenfluencer, was launched in under three weeks. It enabled 130 Kaizen experts to conduct structured reviews at sites other than their own—ensuring objectivity, fresh perspectives, and cross-location learning.
We didn’t need to buy anything or train new people—we used what we already had in place.
Daniel Gygax
Each expert opened a ‘project’ on the Qmarkets platform representing their audit at a specific location. Within each project, they logged:
- The site visited
- The area or process under review
- Audit criteria (based on a standardized checklist)
- Identified issues or inefficiencies
- Suggested improvements
- Estimated cost or time savings (where applicable)
This setup was made possible by repurposing Qmarkets’ campaign and task management features. Projects were submitted as ‘ideas,’ while individual improvement actions were logged using the platform’s robust task management capabilities—creating a structured yet flexible audit record.
We used the platform’s campaign and task manager features— not necessarily in the way that they are intended, but it was easy to configure, and it worked very well.
Agim Emini
What made this approach so effective was its clarity and accountability. After an audit was submitted, responsibility passed to the local Kaizen contact at the site. They reviewed the findings, validated the proposed actions, and made the final decision on whether to implement, reject, or modify each recommendation.
This peer-to-peer ownership model delivered several benefits:
- Improvements were grounded in operational reality
- Local teams had the autonomy to act quickly
- Shared accountability fostered alignment and engagement across regions
The result was a high-volume, high-impact campaign that leveraged the flexibility of the Qmarkets platform — demonstrating just how far the tool can go when paired with a strong process and a willingness to experiment.
The Impact: Culture, Efficiency, and Tangible Savings
The Kaizenfluencer campaign delivered results quickly—and at scale. Within just three weeks of preparation, audits were underway across dozens of sites. This speed and impact were made possible by Swiss Post’s agile, Kaizen-driven approach to ROI-focused innovation—empowering employees to act fast on clearly defined improvement opportunities. As shown in the graphic below, the campaign led to hundreds of improvement actions and uncovered millions in potential savings, with a significant portion already realized.
But the full impact goes beyond metrics.
One of the most valuable outcomes was the cross-pollination of ideas and practices. By sending Kaizen experts to sites other than their own, the campaign created new channels for knowledge-sharing. Teams weren’t just identifying issues—they were learning how other locations operated, which surfaced new approaches, built mutual respect, and sparked a broader sense of alignment.
This kind of peer-driven learning is hard to quantify, but it’s central to building a scalable culture of Kaizen and innovation. It also reinforced trust: both in the system used to manage the Kaizen initiative and in the expertise of the employees driving it forward.
It was an opportunity for the Kaizenfluencers to show their skills. Their work was visible and they got feedback from other sites. That was very motivating.
Agim Emini
Critically, all of this was achieved without introducing new systems, consultants, or workflows. By reconfiguring the Qmarkets platform and mobilizing people already in the business, Swiss Post was able to generate meaningful savings—and long-term cultural value—with minimal disruption.
In addition to the Kaizenfluencer campaign, Swiss Post’s wider Kaizen activity in 2024 resulted in nearly 5,000 improvement ideas submitted, close to 80% of which were implemented. The cumulative impact: approximately 2.9m CHF ($3.2 million) in estimated savings and 100,000 working hours reclaimed.
What Innovation Leaders Can Learn from Swiss Post
The Kaizenfluencer campaign offers a clear example of how large organizations can deliver meaningful innovation at speed—without new systems, heavy budgets, or lengthy planning. For leaders aiming to embed agile, results-driven innovation across their teams, there are four key lessons to take from Swiss Post’s approach.
- Think Beyond the Intended Use Case
Swiss Post used its existing Qmarkets platform for a different purpose—turning campaign and task management features into a national audit engine. This kind of creative repurposing is only possible when teams are willing to explore the full flexibility of the tools at their disposal. - Decentralized Doesn’t Mean Disorganized
The campaign was driven entirely by local teams, but it operated within a clear and consistent structure. This balance of autonomy and standardization allowed Swiss Post to move quickly without sacrificing accountability or alignment with strategic goals. - Small Improvements Can Equal Big Wins
This initiative wasn’t about breakthrough innovation—it was about small, targeted improvements that could be implemented immediately. But the cumulative impact was anything but small. If this level of ROI can be achieved within a single business unit, the potential return—when multiplied across all units and locations—is enormous. - Build a Strong, Scalable Process
The success of the campaign wasn’t just about having the right platform—it was about the clarity of the structure behind it. Well-defined roles, simple workflows, and clear ownership enabled fast, coordinated execution at scale. When the process is strong, the results can follow—without adding complexity.
Delivering Innovation at Scale—Without the Wait
The Kaizenfluencer initiative is a clear example of how focused, well-executed efforts can build momentum for broader innovation goals. It demonstrated that real value can be created when the right platform is in place—and when employees are given the clarity and autonomy to act on what they know best.
Over the years, I’ve seen Swiss Post set the standard for operational excellence. Their consistent drive to improve—paired with the creative ways they use our platform—continues to inspire us.
Michael Stilger, Qmarkets Co-Founder & SVP Global Solutions
At the core of this success was a setup that worked: flexible technology, a strong process, and a culture of ownership. These are the same ingredients that drive effective continuous improvement and operational excellence in any large organization. When these are in place, turning ideas into action becomes not just possible—but repeatable.
Swiss Post has long been one of our most forward-thinking partners, and we continue to be inspired by the creative ways they apply the Qmarkets platform to drive meaningful results.
