Building the Smart City Step by Step: How the City of Aarau Digitizes Processes (Event Recap)
How do you digitize the cherished tradition of a city festival in the shortest time possible? The City of Aarau and gateB joined together to tackle precisely that question. At the BSI Customer Summit 2023, Robert Schumacher, Director of gateB AG, and Fabian Hug, Digital Transformation Project Manager of the City of Aarau, gave participants a behind-the-scenes look at the process.
The key takeaways illuminate the central success factors for gradually developing a Smart City and aligning tradition with digitization.
THE METHODOLOGY: Think big. Start small. Grow step by step.
A city doesn't become smart overnight. It all starts with a grand vision, and many small steps are necessary to reach the goal. With the City of Aarau, gateB substantiated and expanded on this approach. Along the way, we confirmed that the journey must also be iterative and hybrid.
City of Aarau & gateB I Building the Smart City Step by Step I BSI Customer Summit 2023
We used both pragmatic conception and iterative implementation.
Conception and implementation need to be closely intertwined. Questions like "What do we want to achieve? What use cases do we have? What is the scope?" set the direction. According to Robert Schumacher, it's then crucial to quickly move into implementation. This means starting with a use case, executing the campaign, and learning from it. We learn what is missing and can then fold that into the requirements for the next iteration.
"The iterative cycle gives us the agility, speed, and flexibility to deal with all the unexpected things that come up in the project." - Robert Schumacher, gateB.
No one can foresee the actual hurdles in a project. A good starting point is a workshop where people from various departments with different skills and responsibilities come together. After identifying a long list of potential use cases, starting with two or three use cases is sufficient.
Robert is one of Switzerland's leading pioneers in data-driven marketing. For more than 20 years, he has been active in various functions in the field of direct marketing. He also lectures at several universities on the topics of data-driven and digital marketing. Since 2015, Robert has been responsible for the business development of intelligent customer engagement at gateB. He supports companies by using data and data-based methods to make their customer relationships smarter and more efficient in order to improve both the customer experience and the profitability of the company.
The iterative process — the pursuit of continuous improvement — occurs not only in projects but also on a human level. As the Digital Transformation Project Manager, Fabian Hug has witnessed this process up close:
"Our city is becoming a Smart City step by step — not through large, unattainable projects but through agile, iterative progress. Every digital improvement is like a paving stone on this path. And the most beautiful part is that everyone can lay a stone themselves."
At the BSI Customer Summit 2023, Fabian Hug from the City of Aarau and Robert Schumacher from gateB discussed the key success factors for gradually developing a Smart City and harmonizing tradition with digitization (in German only).
Fabian Hug
Digital Transformation Project Manager of the City of Aarau
Our city is becoming a Smart City step by step — not through large, unattainable projects but through agile, iterative progress. Every digital improvement is like a paving stone on this path. And the most beautiful part is that everyone can lay a stone themselves.
Digital Transformation
Fabian Hug
Digital Transformation Project Manager of the City of Aarau
THE APPROACH: Use Case by Use Case — Not a Big Bang
Through three use cases, Robert Schumacher and Fabian Hug demonstrated how companies can create real impact with BSI CX in a short time. Instead of opting for a “big bang” approach, the project team consciously chose a gradual development towards the Smart City through specific use cases.
Use Case 1: Maienzug
We digitized the invitation process for the festive parade in the City of Aarau. The goal was to harmoniously, effectively connect the tradition of the city festival with digitization. In just two months, the team transitioned from analog ticket sales at the city office to digital cards with QR codes — while also building six BSI workflows, 11 landing pages, surveys, and internal newsletters.
"For us as a city, this was an innovation." - Fabian Hug, City of Aarau
One key takeaway here: The interface between humans and machines should be optimally designed — always with the user in mind. Only about half of the 2,600 sold tickets had their QR codes scanned because the goal was to provide spot checks, not 100% monitoring. Mindset plays a crucial role here: How do we use technology to benefit people? The interaction between humans and technology is crucial and not always predictable.
Use Case 2: Green Waste Disposal Subscription
For the City’s green waste disposal subscription, gateB and the City team worked together to develop a digital system with interfaces to invoice processing and waste management. The actual scope of the project became apparent over time. New requirements emerged from conversation to conversation. The basic concept was gradually expanded with workflows.
One key takeaway: The "digital-first" approach requires a hybrid blend for public institutions with analog structures. For example, citizens must still be able to order their subscription in person and pay by invoice alongside the digital option. This requires the right interfaces between different systems. The iterative process is one of the most valuable tools to consistently move forward — even if not everything works perfectly in the background right away.
Use Case 3: City Idea
City Idea is a grassroots democratic citizen project where citizens can digitally implement their own ideas with a participatory budget. To power this, citizen data was gradually introduced into the CRM. BSI was only a small building block, though. Many other stakeholders, including three universities, were involved.
One key takeaway: A CRM grows organically. At the beginning, it is rarely clear what hurdles and requirements a project brings. A first step is to collect several relevant use cases and create a comprehensive and scalable data model. Subsequently, the CRM model must be gradually shaped with data migration from various systems.
THE CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, Robert Schumacher and Fabian Hug provided participants with proven tips for implementation:
Start concretely with a use case to learn quickly.
Approach iteratively, continually improve, and scale step by step.
Collaborate with others across disciplines. No one can answer all questions alone.
Work in an integrated way, with use cases and based on user journeys.
Embrace mistakes. Only through them can you learn and move a project forward.
Every step counts. Even small steps often propel a project into entirely new dimensions.
Discuss your use case with us. As a long-standing partner of BSI, gateB advises companies in all industries and implements everything related to customer relationships — from customer intelligence to customer experience at the customer interface. Let us advise you on how to best implement your use case.
Robert is one of Switzerland's leading pioneers in data-driven marketing. For more than 20 years, he has been active in various functions in the field of direct marketing. He also lectures at several universities on the topics of data-driven and digital marketing. Since 2015, Robert has been responsible for the business development of intelligent customer engagement at gateB. He supports companies by using data and data-based methods to make their customer relationships smarter and more efficient in order to improve both the customer experience and the profitability of the company.
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