Posten Norge enjoys a high level of trust in Norwegian society, and no one knows Norway better than the mail carriers. Posten Norge and Telenor now want to see if this can form the basis for offering new services at home. The idea is that mail carriers, while on their delivery route, visit people on request, and provide practical help or services, giving peace of mind for the elderly and their relatives.

"The most important thing about this test is to gain insight into the different needs a visiting service can fulfil. Then we have to find out if there is a willingness to pay for simple services in the home," says Tone Wille, CEO of Posten Norge.

Participants in the test will not pay anything or be under any obligation. The visiting service could be a supplement to home services provided by Bodø Municipality, which is also involved in the project. Only residents in certain areas of Bodø can participate in the test at this time.

"In the future this could become a nationwide service. It depends on the answers we receive from the test in Bodø," says Wille.

New business opportunities

Politicians have recently proposed new tasks for Posten Norge with a view to securing postal distribution five days a week. The development of the visiting service and the test in Bodø are not related to this proposal and were planned before it was announced.

"We want to explore new business opportunities that can expand our service offering and generate new revenue. But there must be a market, the services must build on our advantages and expertise, and they must contribute to increased profitability," says the CEO.

A smarter welfare society

Telenor, together with Posten Norge, will develop the digital end-user solution for the new service. Work is already under way to develop an app where both elderly and their relatives can order services. The ambition is to connect this service to other Telenor applications such as Smart Kommune (Smart City) and Min Familie (My Family).

"Technology gives us useful tools for organising everyday life in completely different and better ways than we do today. In the future, welfare services will be far more integrated with digital solutions, so this is an exciting step in the right direction. This means we are looking at the opportunity to also add voice control to the app so that the service will be easy to use for those with limited digital skills," says Ove Fredheim, head of Telenor Bedrift.

Source: Posten Norge