Digital communication for municipalities & communities independent of social media

Communi enables intuitive and structured communication for communities and develops solutions to connect people

Municipalities, local authorities and many other players depend on communicating efficiently and quickly with people. Long decision-making processes and scarce resources increase the pressure with a high workload. Digital tools can speed up and simplify communication, but the usual social media platforms and messengers are not suitable for every community. ‘Unfortunately, our digitalised world is increasingly leading to people not meeting at eye level. This leads to prejudice, marginalisation and a lower quality of life for everyone,’ says Anna Scheler from Communi.

Founded in 2017, the company aims to connect people and create communication platforms that are inclusive and at the same time give the information of the operating organisations maximum reach. ‘Our idea is to develop simple and affordable solutions for communication within municipalities and local authorities and to help strengthen the community,’ says Sebastian Ortler, one of the three founders.

More belonging and fewer unnecessary messages

With Communi, communities can select all the components they need for their community, for example public and private chat groups, a calendar of events or a notice board, according to a modular principle. The company then creates a personalised communication app for the community according to the specifications regarding content and visual requirements. Finally, the app is uploaded to popular stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with the name and icon chosen by the community. From this moment on, members can install the app that matches the look and feel of the municipality or association.

‘Our digital noticeboard in the form of a dedicated app for the respective municipalities ensures that communication is independent of social media. In this way, users build up their own communication structure that they enjoy using,’ says Scheler.

Communi has now created over 750 such apps, including for the municipality of Simmern-Rheinböllen and 23 individual apps for the respective local communities. The most important parameters are to reach citizens quickly and easily, to strengthen the sense of belonging and to save the municipalities a lot of time through clever automation.

‘In our team, we develop solutions to connect people, because when people meet, prejudices disappear. And that creates community. Digitalisation, used sensibly, is a great lever for saving time and money. However, like many other things, it needs to be centred on people in order to unfold its full potential,’ says Ortler.