How Kellerhals Carrard managed 10,000 COVID-19 fraud cases from a single digital platform

The COVID-19 credit scheme and the fraud cases it left behind

In March 2020, the Swiss government launched an emergency credit programme for companies facing liquidity problems — the COVID-19 credits. The relief scheme came in record time to rescue businesses in need. With a 30-minute online application, companies of all types could secure a credit loan of up to CHF 500,000 within a single day. Though fraud cases were minimal relative to total payments, dishonest businesses triggered a myriad of legal procedures. The task ahead: follow up on 10,000 cases over the next 8 years.

Three separate systems, three parties, and 10,000 cases to manage

The Swiss Loan Guarantee Cooperatives, working with Kellerhals Carrard — one of the largest law firms in Switzerland — had a clear mandate: review the pay-outs, flag potential and actual fraud cases, and report to the Swiss Government daily. The caseworker team quickly realised that manual administration was not a viable approach:

• Information was scattered across multiple stakeholders with no unified overview.
• Three separate admin systems slowed case processing across the parties involved.
• Data extraction from CRM systems, local drives, and personal inboxes made the case for automation.
• Compiling data in Excel and generating daily reports consumed full-time capacity.

One platform replaced all existing systems — deployed in 30 days

To address this, Kellerhals Carrard chose Nextway as their digital partner. With a 30-day delivery timeline, a fully digital solution was in place to handle existing cases and thousands more to come. Next Digital Workplace replaced all existing systems and tools. No CRM. No Excel sheets. No back-and-forth emailing. Every case is handled from Next Digital Workplace — and only there.

Thousands of admin hours saved — across 100 legal professionals

All 100 legal professionals have access to the same system — with a structured overview of cases, documents, and correspondence, from anywhere, at any time. With everything digital, files are located in seconds. Documentation, emails, lawsuits, or internal information — all traceable at the push of a button. The legal team receives automatic notifications when new cases arrive, tasks are delegated, or documents are shared. This saves full-time manpower used for manual administration, makes collaboration easier, and significantly speeds up case processing.

Every action logged: who viewed, edited, or deleted, and when

In Next Digital Workplace, confidentiality and document permissions are managed to the highest security standards. Only the relevant people see the relevant cases and files — nothing more. All activity is logged in full: who viewed, edited, or deleted, when, and how. Earlier revisions are easy to trace, and verifying document history becomes straightforward.

Daily government reports generated and sent automatically

Excel-generated stats are a thing of the past. In Next Digital Workplace, live data is available at all times — from case status and geographic distribution to industry classification and potential fraud amounts — and the list goes on. Up to 30 reporting options are available in a single click. Daily reports to the Swiss Government are generated and sent automatically, and published on covid19.easygov.swiss for public access.

8,400 cases filed in year one, with a total value of CHF 144 million

In the first year alone, the legal team filed 8,400 cases in Next Digital Workplace, with a total value of CHF 144 million. Kellerhals Carrard now has a modern, future-proof solution in place — a digital assistant that saves valuable hours for the legal team and cures their admin headaches, now and in the future.