What SDBB | CSFO does

SDBB | CSFO (Schweizerisches Dienstleistungszentrum Berufsbildung | Berufs-, Studien- und Laufbahnberatung) is the mandated Fachagentur of the Swiss cantons under the EDK, supported by the federal government through the SBFI, and functions as the central national provider of vocational education, career-guidance and study-counselling information services across all three Swiss language regions (German, French, Italian). It serves cantonal education authorities, cantonal BIZ and RAV offices, career-counselling professionals (BSLB specialists), apprentices, students, and adult learners navigating Swiss vocational pathways. Its institutional role is reinforced through 20+ national partner organisations (SK BSLB, SBBK, LCH, SGB, SAV, SGV, AGAB, profunda-suisse, Travail.Suisse, SWBK, etc.) participating in RIO governance.

The agency operates a portfolio of interconnected web platforms led by berufsberatung.ch (career-guidance portal, 13M+ visits in 2025, tied 2nd in Unic's benchmarking of 13 international career portals) and berufsbildung.ch (vocational education reference). Supporting platforms include shop.sdbb.ch (publications shop on q-digital), weiterbildung.sdbb.ch (continuing education on Daylight), panorama.ch (information portal), otp.sdbb.ch (online testing with a record 57,800+ executions in 2025), validacquis.ch, and adressen.sdbb.ch. SDBB operates the authoritative national data infrastructure for Swiss vocational education: sedex (secure data exchange), DBLAP2 (in-firm and inter-company grading), the Lehrstellenregister LSR (national apprenticeship register), and the Profession Service (national register of basic VET occupations). It publishes 600+ print media titles in three languages, including the trademarked Chancen series (32 issues) and Perspektiven series (48 titles), plus the Swissdoc trilingual classification system. The technology stack is Drupal-CMS-based, with a major rebuild underway — the RIO project will relaunch berufsberatung.ch on a modern Drupal CMS in Summer 2026 with a RAG-based AI chatbot using multiple intelligent agents, pseudonymised data and Swiss DSG / EU GDPR compliance.

Revenue is generated through four primary streams: (1) institutional public-sector funding from the Swiss cantons via EDK and the federal government via SBFI; (2) print and digital publication sales through shop.sdbb.ch (CHF 15 per Chancen issue, CHF 20 per Perspektiven issue, CHF 215 per Berufe easy Grundset, etc., with volume discounts and free PDF downloads introduced January 2026); (3) advertising sales in the Chancen magazine handled by Gutenberg AG (CHF 2,750 per full page, up to 25% volume rebate); and (4) continuing-education programme fees for BSLB specialists via weiterbildung.sdbb.ch. Go-to-market is multi-channel: direct-to-consumer via the portals, channel partnerships with cantonal BIZ and RAV networks, event-driven training programmes, and community-led outreach through the RIO expert forum and Euroguidance contact-point function.

Name

SDBB | CSFO

Legal name

Schweizerisches Dienstleistungszentrum Berufsbildung | Berufs-, Studien- und Laufbahnberatung (SDBB)

Website

https://sdbb.ch

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

SDBB | CSFO is the Swiss cantonal Fachagentur providing national vocational education, career-guidance information, online tools, and data platforms across German, French and Italian language regions, serving BIZ, RAV, BSLB professionals and learners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Print and digital media sales (webshop): Revenue from sale of the SDBB/CSFO publishing house's print products (e.g. Chancen CHF 15, Perspektiven CHF 20, Berufsfenster CHF 22, Berufe easy CHF 215, Der andere Berufseinstieg CHF 25) plus volume discounts, standing-order subscriptions, and free PDF downloads introduced in January 2026. Frees up PDF for public since 2026 but paid print continues.
2. Advertising sales in Chancen and Perspektiven magazines: SDBB sells print ads in the Chancen magazine (e.g., 1/1 page CHF 2,750, cover positions CHF 3,250-3,450) with volume discounts up to 25%. Media documentation is handled by Gutenberg AG as advertising sales partner.
3. Continuing education (Weiterbildung) programme fees: Revenue from paid training courses, webinars and self-evaluation tools for BSLB specialists, organised via the weiterbildung.sdbb.ch platform. Specific course fees are not publicly listed.
4. Public-sector funding (cantons and confederation): Core institutional funding as a Fachagentur of the Swiss cantons (via EDK) with additional support from the federal government (via SBFI). The SDBB is a public specialist institution; the Jahresbericht 2025 reports separately on cross-cutting themes including finances.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Core offering

SDBB provides centralized information services, publications, online tools, and data management infrastructure for Swiss vocational education and career, study and guidance counselling (BSLB). The portfolio includes the berufsberatung.ch and berufsbildung.ch portals, more than 600 print media (Chancen, Perspektiven, Berufe easy, Der andere Berufseinstieg, Berufsfenster), national registers (Lehrstellenregister LSR, sedex, DBLAP2, Profession Service), the Online Test Platform (OTP), a webshop for publications, and continuing-education programs for BSLB specialists. It operates as the mandated Fachagentur of the Swiss cantons under the EDK with federal support through the SBFI, providing trilingual coverage across the DE/FR/IT language regions.

Product overview

SDBB | CSFO (Schweizerisches Dienstleistungszentrum für Berufsbildung / Centre suisse de services Formation professionnelle) operates a platform-plus-modules architecture rather than a single unified product: a core portfolio of interlinked web portals — led by berufsberatung.ch (career guidance, currently being rebuilt as the Drupal-based RIO project with an AI chatbot) and berufsbildung.ch (vocational education reference) — supplemented by specialty modules such as shop.sdbb.ch (publication shop on q-digital), panorama.ch (information portal), weiterbildung.sdbb.ch (continuing education, on Daylight), validacquis.ch (adult qualification validation), otp.sdbb.ch (online test platform with SWOT self-evaluation and Berufe-Explorer), adressen.sdbb.ch (directory), swissdoc.sdbb.ch (classification), plus login-gated national systems lsr.sdbb.ch (apprenticeship register), profession.sdbbservices.ch (basic VET register), dblap2.ch (grading) and sedex (data exchange). The portfolio also includes the Chancen, Perspektiven, Sprungbrett, and Berufe easy/Berufsfenster print and digital publications sold via the shop, with marketing integrations to MailXpert, SurveyMonkey, Ostendis, YouTube, and analytics via Google Analytics, Matomo, Google Tag Manager, and Google Ads/Doubleclick.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Chancen – Weiterbildung und Laufbahn: Heftreihe (booklet series) covering education and career paths across 32 industries/branches.
• Perspektiven – Studienrichtungen und Tätigkeitsfelder
• berufsberatung.ch
• berufsbildung.ch
• panorama.ch

Products and services

• Chancen booklet series SDBB's flagship print magazine series covering continuing-education and career-path information across 32 industries and occupational fields; aimed at career counsellors, BIZ/RAV staff, schools and the public.
• Perspektiven booklet series SDBB's 48-title booklet series providing in-depth information on Swiss study programmes at universities, ETH, universities of applied sciences and pedagogical universities, plus related occupational fields.
• Berufe easy Grundset SDBB/CSFO card-based vocational guidance toolkit (91 cards) for EBA (eidg. Berufsattest) vocational guidance, with photo and interest cards for use by career counsellors and schools.
• Der andere Berufseinstieg 122-page guide for adults re-entering the workforce without a vocational qualification, available as a full PDF or per occupational field from the SDBB webshop.
• Berufsfenster 2026 Occupational information material for career guidance, sold per copy and in 20-piece / 100-piece bundles via the SDBB webshop.
• berufsberatung.ch portal Central Swiss information portal for vocational, study and career counselling (BSLB); currently being rebuilt as part of the RIO project on a Drupal CMS with a RAG-based AI chatbot and multi-agent architecture. Recorded more than 13 million visitors in 2025 and tied 2nd place in Unic's international benchmarking of 13 career portals.
• berufsbildung.ch portal Information portal on vocational education and training (Berufsbildung) in Switzerland, operated by SDBB.
• panorama.ch portal Information portal for professionals in vocational education and BSLB counselling, providing topical content on careers, education and labour-market themes.
• weiterbildung.sdbb.ch continuing education SDBB's continuing education programme (Weiterbildung) for BSLB specialists, providing paid training courses, webinars and self-evaluation tools via the weiterbildung.sdbb.ch platform.
• Online Test Platform (OTP) SDBB's web application for managing and conducting diagnostic online tests used by BSLB specialists (career, study and guidance counsellors) across Switzerland's three language regions; operational since 2014.
• Lehrstellenregister (LSR) National register of open apprenticeship positions in Switzerland, operated by SDBB as part of its national VET data infrastructure.
• Profession Service National register of basic vocational training occupations, operated by SDBB as part of its national VET data infrastructure.
• sedex (secure data exchange) SDBB's secure data exchange platform for the Swiss vocational education and training ecosystem, enabling data exchange between cantons, the confederation and organisations of the working world.
• DBLAP2 grading system SDBB's grading system for collecting in-firm and inter-company experience and exam grades across various basic vocational trainings in Switzerland (login-gated).
• shop.sdbb.ch webshop SDBB webshop for selling print publications, magazines and educational materials (Chancen, Perspektiven, Berufe easy, Der andere Berufseinstieg, Berufsfenster) with paid print and free PDF downloads since January 2026.
• swissdoc trilingual classification system SDBB trilingual (DE/FR/IT) classification system for indexing and retrieving information in career, study and guidance counselling.
• adressen.sdbb.ch directory SDBB directory of addresses of career guidance offices, schools and VET stakeholders across Switzerland.
• validacquis.ch portal SDBB portal supporting validation and acquisition of vocational qualifications for adults.
• Berufsspezifischer digitaler Bildungsbericht SDBB's occupation-specific digital education report, launched February 2026, enabling assessment of in-firm apprenticeship training across vocational school, inter-company courses, learning documentation and target agreements; covers around 150 EFZ and 40 EBA occupations.
• BSLB self-evaluation tool (SBFI qualification profile) Online self-evaluation tool enabling BSLB specialists to self-assess their competences against the SBFI BSLB qualification profile, providing a basis for targeted continuing-education planning.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 13 million visits on berufsberatung.ch in 2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• EDK (Schweizerische Konferenz der kantonalen Erziehungsdirektoren)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerEDK is the principal mandating body: SDBB operates as the Fachagentur of the cantons. EDK-related sub-bodies such as SK BSLB, SBBK, SVAK, SMAK and SWBK also sit on RIO governance bodies and shape content.
• SBFI (Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSBFI is the federal supporting authority; co-owner of the SBFI BSLB qualification profile integrated into SDBB's Weiterbildung programme.
• Terminal8 GmbHcoreTechnology or IntegrationBern-based digital agency Terminal8 GmbH (Monbijoustrasse 99, 3007 Bern) is responsible for design and programming of sdbb.ch and the chancen.sdbb.ch website.
• UniccoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDigital agency Unic is leading UX/usability benchmarking of berufsberatung.ch against 12 international portals and is responsible for the visual design (Cyan/Lime/Türkis palette, dark blue and white retained) of the new portal.
• Gutenberg AGcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGutenberg AG (Feldkircher Strasse 13, 9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein) is the advertising sales (acquisition) partner for the Chancen magazine and handles insertions.
• Somedia Production AG (Viaduct)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSomedia Production AG (Viaduct printing), Sommeraustrasse 32, 7007 Chur, handles the printing of SDBB publications such as the Chancen magazine.
• q-digital (Q-Digital)coreTechnology or Integrationq-digital operates the SDBB webshop infrastructure (hosted on sdbb-shop-prod.q-digital.dev) for shop.sdbb.ch, including product pages, search, cart and PDF download functionality.
• SK BSLB (Schweizerische Konferenz der Leiterinnen und Leiter der Berufs-, Studien- und Laufbahnberatung)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSK BSLB is represented in the external project steering committee (PSA) of the RIO project, supporting strategic steering decisions on content.
• SBBK (Schweizerische Berufsbildungsämter-Konferenz)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSBBK is represented in the external project steering committee (PSA) of the RIO project alongside SK BSLB.
• Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsbund (SGB)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrade union federation SGB is one of more than 20 national and language-regional organisations represented in the RIO expert forum.
• Schweizerischer Arbeitgeberverband (SAV)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmployers' association SAV is one of more than 20 national and language-regional organisations represented in the RIO expert forum.
• Schweizerischer Gewerbeverband (SGV)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCrafts and SME federation SGV is represented in the RIO expert forum.
• Dachverband Schweizer Lehrerinnen und Lehrer (LCH)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeacher federation LCH is one of the organisations represented in the RIO expert forum.
• profunda-suisseminorStrategic or Co-development Partnerprofunda-suisse (professional association for career guidance in the secondary labour market) is represented in the RIO expert forum.
• AGAB (Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Angestelltenverbände der Berufsberatung)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAGAB is one of the organisations represented in the RIO expert forum.
• Travail.SuisseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmployees' federation Travail.Suisse is one of the organisations represented in the RIO expert forum.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• SBFI (Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation): Swiss federal authority that funds and steers SDBB and the wider VET system; comparable as the public-sector counterpart defining policy and budget envelopes within which SDBB operates.
• EDK (Schweizerische Konferenz der kantonalen Erziehungsdirektoren): Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education — the principal mandating body of SDBB; comparable as the supra-regional governance layer that aggregates cantonal interests in education.
• AHK (Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer) Career Guidance: German chambers of industry and commerce providing dual-apprenticeship information, qualification procedures and credential recognition — comparable as an organisational counterpart on the 'organisations of the working world' side of dual VET that SDBB supports.

Direct peers

• Office national d'information sur les enseignements et les professions (ONISEP): French state agency under the Ministry of Education producing national information on careers, study paths and qualifications — comparable editorial mandate, publication model (print + digital), and portal offering to SDBB's Perspektiven/Chancen and berufsberatung.ch.
• Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA): Germany's federal employment agency, which operates the national career information portal 'berufenet' and 'arbeitsagentur.de', provides diagnostic self-assessment tools, and runs JOBBÖRSE — directly comparable in mandate to SDBB's berufsberatung.ch, OTP, and Lehrstellenregister.
• National Careers Service (UK): UK government-funded universal career information, advice and guidance service with a national web portal, skills assessment tools, and adviser network — structurally analogous to SDBB's BSLB services across all three Swiss language regions.
• Euroguidance: European network of national career guidance resource centres, of which SDBB is the Swiss contact point; comparable in mission, multilingual scope and policy alignment across EU/EFTA labour mobility contexts.
• Centre INFFO (France): French national centre for information on vocational training and employment, producing documentation, portals and resources for career counsellors — a closer peer in continuing-education/diagnostics than ONISEP, mirroring SDBB's Weiterbildung platform.

Regional players

• BIZ (Berufsinformationszentren): Cantonal career information centres where SDBB's 600+ print media are placed and reused up to 32,000 times per booklet; comparable as the regional-level operational layer that delivers SDBB's content to end users.

Emerging players

• LinkedIn Learning: Global consumer-facing career development and learning platform with self-assessment and course content; partial overlap with SDBB's career exploration and Weiterbildung offerings, but commercial rather than public-mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sdbb-csfo

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SDBB | CSFO