Parents in Sweden today want to communicate with their children's day care centre and school through electronic channels, while decision-makers in Swedish municipalities believe in sending information through traditional channels such as letters. These are some of the findings of a survey that TeliaSonera Sweden commissioned to poll 6,000 private persons and 250 municipal decision-makers in different areas of Sweden.

More than 70 percent of the respondents in the survey said they wanted news and general information from their children's day care centre and school via e-mail. The corresponding figure for municipal decision-makers is 56 percent. Municipalities in Sweden prefer to distribute information the conventional way in letters, according to 60 percent of the polled decision-makers in the municipalities.

"We see a loose connection between the needs of municipal residents and the service offerings of their municipalities. Communication channels in schools and preschools is an example," says Indra Åsander, head of the consumer segment at TeliaSonera Sweden. "It is apparent that parents today want to communicate in a simple and efficient manner with day care centres and schools via e-mail and SMS."

Easier to report children sick by SMS

The service at the top of the wish list is the possibility to receive an SMS message when a child is absent from school (56 percent) and to send an sms or e-mail message to report a child sick to the day care centre or school (50 percent). An equal number of people (50 percent) want to be able to check the waiting list for a day care centre or high school on the Internet. In addition, 40 percent want to receive a weekly newsletter from a day care centre or school by e-mail.