More time for customer work: Wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme sends service vouchers via Suomi.fi Messages

The wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme started using Suomi.fi Messages in its service voucher processes in autumn 2025. The purpose of activating Suomi.fi Messages was to reduce manual work, streamline operations, and digitalise processes.

The experience so far has been positive. Suomi.fi messages have contributed to faster decision-making processes, more working hours for other tasks, more flexible work, and for example in social services, savings goals were achieved sooner than expected.

Tens of thousands of decisions, tons of paperwork

The wellbeing services county decides on tens of thousands of cases annually, and the majority of these decisions used to be sent by paper mail. Each week, paperwork could take up to a couple of days of the working hours of secretaries.

‘We were entering about 28,000 different decisions into the system annually. The amount of paperwork, mailing, and putting papers into envelopes was awful. That’s why we started considering the switch to an electronic service,’ says Harri Lepänkoski, rehabilitation planner and Effector system manager.

Sending decisions by mail could also slow down the notification process. Sometimes the service provider received the decision before the client did.

‘Our clients were often confused when they would get a call from the service provider talking about some decision on them that the client had not yet heard about,’ Lepänkoski explains.

Piloting Suomi.fi Messages in the service voucher process

Digitalising the service voucher process seemed like the natural first step, as service vouchers are in use in many social welfare and health care services in the Kanta-Häme wellbeing services county.

A large number of service vouchers are used particularly in home care for older people and sheltered housing with 24-hour assistance. Service vouchers are also used in services for families with children and for the disabled, rehabilitation, special health care, and brief therapy for people under the age of 23.

When introducing Suomi.fi Messages, the instructions, attachments and other materials sent to clients were also converted into an electronic format so that clients could receive all necessary information electronically.

An electronic service voucher comes with a producer ID, which the client can activate and show the decision to the service provider directly from their smartphone.

Thanks to positive user experiences, the pilot was soon expanded to other services, including payment commitments for rehabilitation and assistive device services as well as customer letters regarding return or maintenance requests, loan receipts, and negative decisions.

From paper to bytes

The staff were trained on the new operating models and processes. Using Suomi.fi Messages was a major change also mentally and needed some getting used to.

‘We moved from our work being physical to bytes and pixels. At first, our employees were a little bit worried if the messages would really find their recipients. I soothed them by saying that people these days know their cases so well that they will get in touch if they didn’t get their decision. If there’s something wrong with the process, we will definitely hear about it,’ Lepänkoski says.

Although some clients were initially surprised about the transition to digital communications, Lepänkoski says that no significant issues have arisen.

Practical experiences shine light on development needs

The introduction to a new system took time and discussion, but according to Project Manager Pia Vilkman, cooperation with system supplier Polycon went smoothly.

In addition to electronic messages, the wellbeing services county uses the printing, enveloping and distribution service also provided through the Suomi.fi functionalities. The service also makes it possible for the wellbeing services county to send paper mail via Suomi.fi Messages.

One of the development needs noted after service activation was that the wellbeing services county needed a way to check whether the client had opened their electronic message. The Effector system does not yet support checking the message status on Suomi.fi Messages, but there are plans to consider this in further development measures with the system supplier.

Another practical challenge was that currently, the Effector system can only support one service defined for Suomi.fi Messages. Initially, this was not noticed, since the pilot only targeted one service. The limitation was only noted when the wellbeing services county started considering expanding the use of Suomi.fi Messages to other services.

‘We didn’t realise the scale of the system until we started thinking about our service name for Suomi.fi Messages. We started with the service voucher, and when we started introducing more things, we realised that there are about 30 different decision types. We needed to take this into account when naming the service,’ Lepänkoski explains.

Joint development with the system provider will continue. In the future, the goal is to expand the use of Suomi.fi Messages in service vouchers. One development idea is that private service providers - not only clients - could be notified directly of granted service vouchers via Suomi.fi Messages if they use Suomi.fi Messages with their business ID. This would further speed up the service voucher process.

Benefits quickly apparent in everyday work

The greatest benefits of using Suomi.fi Messages have been in the routine work of the staff. Previously, a significant number of working hours went into printing, enveloping, and mailing decisions.

‘It no longer takes our secretaries two working days a week to put decisions into envelopes and mail them,’ Lepänkoski says.

A more efficient process also has financial advantages.

‘The rehabilitation result area set a savings goal of EUR 20,000 for 2026, which we achieved already in June. Of course, not all the costs are yet tallied here, but we are very content’, says Lepänkoski.

Saving time in working hours has freed up resources for processing applications, oversight, and other expert tasks. At the same time, the possibilities to work remotely have improved since the work no longer revolves around physical paper mail.

Investing in communications is worthwhile

The introduction of Suomi.fi Messages in the wellbeing services county coincided with the priority of official digital mail coming into effect in April 2024. The wellbeing services county wanted to put effort into notifying of the changes, since the changes were quite major for both clients and staff.

Several channels, such as websites, local newspapers, electronic billboards, and posters, were used to notify of the changes. Paper "business cards" with the contact details of the support service were also handed out to staff.

In addition, the staff went through training and open support clinics, which provided practical support for questions after service activation.

Tips for activating Suomi.fi Messages from the wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme

Lepänkoski recommends starting the process by making an inventory of all decisions and documents that can be sent via Suomi.fi Messages. It is also best to involve in-house ICT experts at the very beginning of the planning process.

‘At first, we decided that we would send out messages once per day. We have changed the settings to sending the messages once per hour now. This made it easier for our experts to confirm that the message had been sent, and it reduces the stress on the system,’ says Lepänkoski.

The wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme will be further expanding the use of Suomi.fi Messages. It is considered part of the wider objective of reducing paper processes and creating digital services that are more streamlined for both clients and staff.

‘We have introduced a new 'paperless' hospital this spring. The activation of Suomi.fi Messages is also contributing to supporting that,’ says Vilkman.

‘Figure out extensively what is in use and what can be sent via Suomi.fi Messages. This makes it easier to create an activation plan and name the service aptly. It is also highly beneficial to involve your own system support in the early stages to avoid any pitfalls.’

- Rehabilitation Planner and Effector System Manager Harri Lepänkoski

Read more customer storiesOpens in a new window. and see the service naming guidelines on the Suomi.fi for Service Developers page.

Four tips for the activation of Suomi.fi Messages from the wellbeing services county of Kanta-Häme

• Give good consideration to naming the service in Suomi.fi Messages. The name should be comprehensive if the information system only allows one service name.
• Involve your organisation’s in-house ICT experts at the very start of the planning process.
• We recommend a gradual introduction. Start with processes that are easy to digitalise and gradually expand the use of Suomi.fi Messages.
• If necessary, make changes to service settings: the system will experience less load if you schedule electronic messages to be sent out e.g. once per hour.