29.03.2005

International AddressCleaning

Data quality with Swiss precision: correct addresses from 240 countries with a mouse click

Particularly with international mail the correct address is important to ensure that letters and parcels reach their destination safely and on time. Swiss Post International now has a new online correction service specially for this purpose: International AddressCleaning checks addresses from all countries and in all languages and data formats, and gets them into shape in just minutes. No investment in software or hardware is required.

Addresses are hardly ever written on envelopes or labels according to the same rules in any two countries. A new online service from Swiss Post International (SPI) knows where the house number should appear, what the correct postcode is and whether a street really exists: International AddressCleaning is available as a round-the-clock self-service tool and enables the user to check and correct either large or small numbers of addresses independently and in just a few minutes. In this way, address errors which have occurred when entering or recording data can be eliminated quickly and cost-effectively.

The new SPI portal at www.swisspost.com/addresscleaning accesses the world’s largest collection of postal street and postcode directories. It’s very simple to use: addresses can be entered in Microsoft Excel and edited directly in this program. Alternatively, address files are sent in encrypted format via a website to a high-performance server and are corrected and ready for downloading in no time at all. The results can be formatted and set out in a number of different ways. The “clean” data can be used directly for addressing or fed back into databases.

“International AddressCleaning offers maximum flexibility: it can be used for both domestic addresses and addresses abroad”, says Christof Lenhard, Head of Marketing Mail Solutions at SPI. “It also helps mailers reach customers in countries with non-Latin alphabets, e.g. in Japan.” The online service supports Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Cyrillic and other alphabets.

International AddressCleaning has been developed in conjunction with the German software company Platon® Data Technology, which operates the service and handles billing on behalf of Swiss Post. Platon® has offered address correction solutions under the AddressDoctor brand for 14 years.

Swiss Post International is the international unit of Swiss Post. Through its cooperation with leading postal and logistics companies, Swiss Post International guarantees the worldwide dispatch of goods and documents. It has its own companies in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and the USA which support numerous firms with direct mail and letter dispatch worldwide. Swiss Post International also works together with franchise partners in Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. In March 2004, SPI entered into distribution partnerships with the postal organizations in Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia and maintains partnerships with global providers for parcel and courier services.

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