Dear swiss made software supporters,
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break and that you enjoyed a smooth transition into the new year.
There will be a number of changes happening at swiss made software in 2016 and would like to provide some initial information to you today.
- Unfortunately, it is not possible to continue the free use of the swiss made software logo at the Level 1 membership level. The volume of requests, supporters, and consultations with members has become so great that we must charge an administrative fee. A fee of CHF 95 per year will be charged for Level 1 membership. The costs for Level 2 remain unchanged.
A second reason for this change is the regular adaptation of the swiss made software criteria. A self-declaration is sent to supporters along with their annual invoice. Naturally, every Level 1 supporter is free to decide for themselves whether they wish to continue benefit from the use of the swiss made software logo.
Simultaneous to the introduction of this new fee, we will be adding a complete list of all supporters to the website (for levels 1 and 2). This list is separate from the current list of companies, which will continue to include only Level 2 members and their products and services.
- Providers were previously split into two groups on the swiss made software website – “products & cloud services” and “services & consulting”, whereby “products & cloud services” generally refers to finished products and “services & consulting” to individual services.
We will be introducing a third category in early 2016: “software-enabled business”. This is directed at companies who would not be able to sell their products or services without using software that was developed according to swiss made software criteria, but do not market this software to third parties. For example, a hosting services provider may offer hosting services across the entire world, but this hosting is managed using software developed in Switzerland. In future, such companies will be able to demonstrate that the core of their product or service was created in Switzerland. These companies must clearly specify what aspect of their product or service offering is to be labeled as Swiss-made and carefully avoid any possible confusion with other aspects of their activities.
- Previously, every product and service could be listed in multiple categories. The number will be limited to four from early 2016. This is to ensure the quality of the directory. This will make it easier for third parties to find the right provider.
We will be publishing a press release on these changes in the early months of 2016.
We thank you for your continued support in 2016.
Yours sincerely,
The swiss made software team