Swiss Post acquires Global Business Services Plus
Swiss Post has acquired Global Business Services Plus, which specializes in digital document management and has offices in France, Germany and Slovakia. Swiss Post is thus enhancing its offering in the field of in-house mail. In addition to internal physical mail services, customers are increasingly coming to expect that documents can be entered electronically, processed and digitally archived.
By acquiring Global Business Services Plus (GBS+), based in Paris, Swiss Post is reinforcing and completing its offering in the field of document solutions in Germany and France. It is thus an attractive partner for international companies which also look for an offering of this type from a single source. Corporate clients are increasingly seeking to not only outsource their in-house postal services. They also want to have a partner handle the digitization of documents, the integration of these digitized documents into their in-house electronic processes and the electronic archiving of these documents. One important customer segment for the newly acquired company GBS+ in France is banks, for which the company will handle cheque processing. Up to now, Swiss Post has been represented in this market with large units in the UK, the USA and Switzerland. The newly acquired company generated just under CHF 60 million (USD 58 million) in sales last year with a workforce of 1,000 and operates in the rapidly growing business process outsourcing market. In addition to France and Germany, GBS+ relies on its production facility in Bratislava (Slovakia).
Swiss Post has acquired Global Business Services Plus, which specializes in digital document management and has offices in France, Germany and Slovakia. Swiss Post is thus enhancing its offering in the field of in-house mail. In addition to internal physical mail services, customers are increasingly coming to expect that documents can be entered electronically, processed and digitally archived – all from a single source. With Global Business Services Plus, Swiss Post is one of the leading providers in the Swiss, British, German and French markets in these areas, which are both up- and downstream from its core letters business.
By acquiring Global Business Services Plus (GBS+), based in Paris, Swiss Post is reinforcing and completing its offering in the field of document solutions in Germany and France. It is thus an attractive partner for international companies which also look for an offering of this type from a single source. Corporate clients are increasingly seeking to not only outsource their in-house postal services. They also want to have a partner handle the digitization of documents, the integration of these digitized documents into their in-house electronic processes and the electronic archiving of these documents. One important customer segment for the newly acquired company GBS+ in France is banks, for which the company will handle cheque processing. Up to now, Swiss Post has been represented in this market with large units in the UK, the USA and Switzerland. The newly acquired company generated just under CHF 60 million (USD 0.97) in sales last year with a workforce of 1,000 and operates in the rapidly growing business process outsourcing market. In addition to France and Germany, GBS+ relies on its production facility in Bratislava (Slovakia).
As of 2009 GBS+ will be merged with other parts of Swiss Post subsidiaries such as GHP Germany, MailSource Germany and MailSource France and is part of the document solution business of the Strategic Customers & Solutions (SKL) Group unit. Thanks to its increased presence in a number of leading markets and its broad product portfolio, Swiss Post is in a position to offer its services to large-scale international customers. Including GBS+, the international portfolio in the document solutions field already consists of over 500 business customers.
For several years Swiss Post has been working to counter deregulation of the postal markets and declining margins in its core business for letters and parcels with a targeted growth strategy abroad. Here it is focusing on selected niche markets.