Yamuna Betschart, Senior Marketing Manager Asia Pacific of the Lufthansa Group in Singapore until the end of 2021, is the new Market Manager Switzerland at ST as of June 1. The holder of an MAS in Communication Management from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is returning to Switzerland after numerous positions with global brands and players in Singapore and will assume responsibility for the "Market Switzerland" department at ST.

Main market of Swiss tourism

In 2019, almost 18 million hotel room nights were recorded in the Swiss market, giving domestic overnight stays a market share of over 45 percent. The pandemic year 2021 even saw an all-time record of almost 21 million hotel nights. The marketing measures of ST and its partners are now the responsibility of Yamuna Betschart, an experienced communicator with a great deal of marketing competence and leadership expertise at an international level. Her task will be to maintain and strengthen the Swiss people's renewed love of their homeland as a vacation destination beyond the pandemic. "I am looking forward to welcoming a new face to ST with a great international marketing track record. Yamuna Betschart will continue to drive our so central market Switzerland and enrich our activities here with her worldly view," was the appreciation of Martin Nydegger, Director ST.

Anyone who does not have a PA as a leader today is often looked at askance by his or her peers. After all, anyone who thinks he's something needs a Personal Assistant and thus implicitly communicates: "One person can't manage all that I have to do alone, an assistant is needed who prepares everything in the front and clears everything away in the back. But why is everyone suddenly talking about their PAs? It just sounds better than Management Secretary. Those who call themselves Chief "Wasweissichwas" and not Director or Department Head, for whom this linguistic difference is apparently important, because it is supposed to demonstrate open-mindedness and modernity. But if then also zeitgeisty creatives and marketers in middle management are clamoring for PAs, then something is definitely rotten.

Sharing is better than delegating

Yes, gender writing is being strained here, but let's take a look at the glass-ceiling index for equal opportunities for women in the workforce - published by the Economist based on sources such as the European Institute for Gender Equality, CSCI ESG Research, OECD, GMAC and national figures. Then it may become clear why. On a scale of 0 to 100, the global average for equality of opportunity is just under 60 and still has room for improvement to reach 100 - which, for women in the workforce, would mean equality of opportunity, not a majority. Compared with the 30 countries considered, however, Switzerland is only behind Turkey, Japan and South Korea, so there is little room for improvement. So the fact is that at C-level in Swiss companies, unfortunately, the majority of Cs are still male and the majority of PAs are female. There are really only three ways to counteract this: The first is to provide women with working conditions and structures that enable them to have a career, so that they can break through the glass ceiling in companies. The second is to distribute the work better among different people of equal status and to simply do what is left themselves. Because that works better than Mann thinks. The third would be to apply the other widespread meaning of the acronym, that of the technical device PA (Public-Address-System), which has integrated microphone and loudspeaker for announcements in a public place, and to announce loudly to the gentlemen: "DIY!"

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* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.

Around 200 guests found their way to the Bern Kursaal, the venue for the SAQ's traditional event. Nothing more than the "quality of tomorrow" was the topic of the day. Accordingly, the first speaker, Dr. Martin Menrath, lecturer for Global Quality Management at the Technical University of Berlin, gave the topic a main stage. His presentation was entitled: Why must quality be more than quality in the future? He pointed out that people must become part of the new "Quality 4.0." Adapting to change would become more important than following a plan. Specifically, employees must be involved in all processes. When it comes to introducing agility, for example, employees must not be overburdened, so the negotiation processes must be iterative, Menrath said.

How agile organization and quality management "get along"

So is agility combined with quality wishful thinking? This was the question addressed in the presentation by Peter Pedross, a specialist for agile concepts, for example in the automotive and aviation industries. Quality is still needed, he said, even if agile concepts might sometimes give a different impression. "Agile is here, but it has not yet arrived in all topics," Peter Pedross said. He pointed to the new role of quality management within agile processes: Moving away from being a pure testing authority to becoming a service organization. After all, when developing new solutions, quality management must first provide answers. Last but not least, agile concepts require more metrics and even more planning - but distributed over smaller and shorter process steps and overall with a leaner QMS in each case.

New Leadership: Also a Quality of Tomorrow

The panel discussion between Diego Politano (Hasler Rail) and Nadja Perroulaz (Liip) focused on New Leadership - another factor that plays an important role in the question of tomorrow's quality. Two cultures met there: On the one hand, an internationally active industrial company that is managed in a quasi-classical manner - albeit with a remarkably high proportion of women in senior management at 50 percent. On the other hand, there was a software company that was completely committed to Holacracy: No more bosses, but roles and a circle structure. "And that works?" one might ask, which Diego Politano did, expressing his concerns about whether Holacracy is an ideal model even in challenging times. Nadja Perroulaz spoke of good experiences, "even with layoffs we've had to make." She acknowledged, however, that Liip was operating in a somewhat "luxurious industry." The lively, adversarial discussion, led competently by moderator Andrea Vetsch, allowed the conclusion that new management models are needed and that these can also work in industries that have operated successfully with "conservative" concepts up to now. "Managers of tomorrow have a difficult task in any case," the discussants agreed.

Quality management in circular economy and education

The second part of the conference was devoted to the topic of quality in the circular economy and in education. The participants were actively involved in the form of workshops - a format that met with great approval. There was a great deal of activity in all the workshops. For example, the role of quality management in circular design was discussed. How does an idea become a marketable solution? And when along the entire value chain do we need to talk about quality? One answer: Actually, always. And it was also shown that the Circular Economy offers opportunities for many new business models. Who would have thought, for example, that a business could develop from renting out lying minutes on mattresses? Another insight from the workshop on "Quality in Education" was that it is increasingly a question of teaching skills instead of pure knowledge. This means that the requirements for personal certification are changing. This should therefore not remain static; the 360° assessment is likely to become the tool of choice in the future.

Some philosophy at the end

Yves Bossart's lecture was the philosophical conclusion. It revolved around the question of how people should deal with change. "Change was yesterday, today it's acceleration," Bossart stated right at the beginning. Instead of saving time, new technologies are leading people to live in shorter and shorter cycles: relationships are getting shorter, including the duration of employment relationships. "Everything flows," Bossart said, referring to the ancient philosopher Heraclitus, who coined the phrase. While life is a miracle, it is also "an imposition" with ever-new challenges, Bossart continued. He recommended stoic composure as an attitude against this: to be content with what is at the moment. A good dose of humor also helps in dealing with change. With all the uncertainty that the future brings, philosophy can help, for example with Socrates: "I know that I know nothing," because ignorance is the normal state of people. Last but not least, human beings are nevertheless very capable of change, as the Corona pandemic has also shown. "Suddenly you have to get used to not wearing a mask on public transport again," says Bossart. And if nothing works at all anymore, Bossart recommends something Seneca: Be a friend to yourself. This was a good way to get back to the theme of the conference: "Quality tomorrow" also includes a lot of care for personal quality of life... More information: www.saq.ch

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/der-qualitaet-von-morgen-die-hauptbuehne-verliehen/

The new market presence reflects Medics' expertise in laboratory medicine. The previous departmental AGs will appear in a common look in the future.

A new brand architecture

eyeloveyou used the precision of the daily work in the laboratory and the interaction of the different departments as a basis for the brand architecture, the logo refresh and the visual concept of the new overall appearance. In close exchange with the client, color scheme, typography, visual language as well as a headline concept were developed and subsequently captured in a digital brand portal.

A modular image world

The new image world consists of modular elements that, inspired by the process of cell division, can be flexibly combined depending on the area of application. It integrates different formats and publications and comes on the new website in animated form.

Broad range of measures

Brochures for patients and partners, instructions for handling laboratory medical equipment, but also trade fair roll-ups, give-aways or the annual business report appear in an overall look that reflects Medics' expertise in analysis and laboratory services.

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Responsible at Medics: Felix Ackermann (Head of Customer Service & Marketing), Alessandra Decorvet (Marketing Associate). Responsible at eyeloveyouChristoph Merkt (creative direction), Alexandra Theiler (screen design), Martin Sautter (video & animation), Robin Bodmer (conception, strategy), Benedikt Lachenmeier (text), Zoe Bensmann, Oliver Kirschbaum (project management, consulting). Website programming: Liip. Photography: Mike Niederhauser (Merlin Photography)

During the pandemic, the US outdoor market boomed to an unforeseen extent: people sought freedom in nature and bought all kinds of equipment for this purpose. The corresponding e-commerce sales grew by double digits during the pandemic. A group of entrepreneurs noticed that this equipment had one thing in particular in common: it was functional, but often looked boring and of limited aesthetic appeal. This gave rise to the idea of functional outdoor equipment with the design aspirations of urban millennials. For this target group of "Design Conscious Outdoor Enthusiasts," who use the backpack not only for their newly discovered weekend hikes but also for going to university or to the co-working space, it is not only functional values that count. An international target group survey conducted by Brandpulse on social media in the primary target market of the USA and then in Europe revealed clear preferences with regard to product design and the look and feel of the prototypes presented.   In addition to a clear purpose, the new brand also received a sustainable Brand Promise. For example, a portion of sales will be donated to the institution "1% for the Planet," a global network that addresses the most pressing environmental issues and helps drive positive change for the benefit of future generations. Brandpulse developed the name Trexxflex, which was trademarked for the USA, the entire EU region, and Switzerland. The agency developed the Trexxflex branding, the website and realized the most important touchpoints such as the international webshop, an image film, a social media campaign and, in cooperation with US specialists, an influencer campaign. The first product, the Trexxflex backpack, is available on the webshop Trexxflex.com.

18,531 trade visitors to Control 2022 finally experienced QA developments from the fields of vision technology, image processing, sensor technology, and measuring and testing technology again in Stuttgart - up to date, live and present. 617 exhibitors showed solution innovations and efficient QS cutting-edge technologies on nearly 23,000 square meters in six halls from May 3 to 6, 2022 in Stuttgart. "It's great that we can exhibit at Control again after two years without," said Gerhard Mohr, managing director of Kapp Niles Metrology GmbH in Großostheim. "It's gratifying to see that the trade visitors are arriving again, that the attendance fairs are picking up speed again and that we're getting a bit closer to the old reality." Georg Gutsch, area sales manager at Kapp Niles reinforced this statement, adding, "Face-to-face exchange simply has many great advantages that are not even possible with online formats." Hubert Meintrup, Advisor New Technology at Matrix Automations GmbH in Ostfildern, also expressed his relief at finally being visible again to interested parties and users in the industry. "We are happy to be here again." Matthias Ruf, head of sales at the SKZ Plastics Center in Würzburg, Germany, was equally pleased. "For us, Control was successful from the very first day of the fair, with great interest on the part of visitors," Ruf explained. "We are happy to be able to present ourselves here as SKZ in a professional manner."

Control 2022: Finally live again!

For the 2022 industry highlight, 31 percent of exhibitors came from abroad; six percent of exhibitors came from Switzerland, four percent from Italy, three percent from the USA, and a good two percent of exhibitors came from the UK. Fabian Krüger, Control project manager, expressly thanked every exhibitor, including the trade show teams, for making the Control restart a reality. Bettina Schall, Managing Director of trade fair promoter P. E. Schall, also expressed her delight and satisfaction: "This trade fair was awaited with great anticipation, with excitement, and with the best mood in the run-up to the event. Because we all missed the personal exchange, the expert discussion at eye level, the real experience of the plants with all our senses. Fortunately, this is now possible again!"

Fast, precise and inline

Control is regarded as a pacesetter in quality assurance and provides trade visitors with everything they need to score points in international competition with excellent QA in manufacturing. In all the halls, it was consistently noticeable that there is a huge demand for personal exchanges on new developments. In the past three years since the last Control, quality inspection and quality assurance have taken on a new importance due to growing automation and digitalization, non-contact processes and remote services, small batch sizes, zero-defect manufacturing and data analysis. Therefore, news around measuring and testing technology, materials testing, analysis equipment, vision technology, image processing, sensor technology as well as weighing and counting technology were eagerly awaited. Above all, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) processes also met with great interest. The fact that AI has long since arrived in production and significantly simplifies QA processes could be experienced in many places. Even small industrial companies can realize a simple entry into AI support, as demonstrated, for example, by Dr. Dominik Lausch from Denkweit GmbH in Halle together with Marvin Krebs from Xactools in Bönnigheim. Measurement processes have to be increasingly fast, and they have to be more and more reliable. AI-supported methods provide support in this regard. One of the current topics is that measuring, testing and inspection processes are an integrated part of the manufacturing processes. Instead of taking place in specially created measuring environments, inspection processes are instead taking place in environments with dust and vibrations as well as under time pressure, resulting in new challenges for measuring machines and inspection equipment. "We are increasingly working on this," confirmed Dr. Heike Wenzel, Managing Partner of the Wenzel Group, who was also excited to finally be back live in Stuttgart.

Next Control in May 2023

On an international scale, Control is the most interesting and also the largest trade fair on the subject of quality assurance. With top-class events accompanying the trade show with the renowned research institutes of the Fraunhofer Institute, Fraunhofer Allianz Vision and Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), as well as the special show "Contactless Measuring Technology", Control is traditionally a firmly established marketplace of innovations. The next Control - International Trade Fair for Quality Assurance - will take place from May 9 to 12, 2023. More information: www.control-messe.de

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/control-2022-erfolgreiche-rueckkehr/

With the arrival of the new CEO, Daniel Grieder, in June 2021, a new era has begun for the MDAX company Hugo Boss from Metzingen. The agency group Forward Advisors/ Swisscontent worked with Grieder and the fashion company's communications and strategy team to prepare a comprehensive new corporate strategy called "Claim 5" for communications and spread it across suitable channels. The project manager at Hugo Boss was Carolin Westermann, Head of Global Corporate Communications. It was of central importance that every employee knows, understands and, in particular, lives the strategy. This also required a new type of communication to help shape the new corporate culture right from the start. For this purpose, the consulting agency Forward Advisors developed an overarching and cross-channel communication strategy with the main goal of communicating the new corporate strategy in a catchy and sustainable way. The communications and marketing agency Swisscontent implemented the communications measures and tools developed by Forward Advisors. The implementation was carried out through many channels, some of which were new and innovative. In doing so, the agency group, in close cooperation with those responsible at Hugo Boss, broke completely new ground and set an international benchmark - in the internal introduction and positioning of the CEO as well as in internal communications in general.

The kickoff: A global, virtual employee event

In order to present himself, his ideas, and future core values for Hugo Boss, an unusual type of presentation combined with an inspiring performance was important to CEO Grieder. Under the overarching motto "Timing, Mindset, Energy," the new strategy was staged with a stage performance. This was streamed globally from Metzingen to around 14,000 employees. Dynamic films with multimedia elements and animations, fast-paced sequences, statements by famous personalities and stirring music guided the audience through the speech. Transporting emotions and energy played just as important a role as the content itself. "The goal was to position the new CEO authentically and clearly when he took office," explains Daniel Kaczynski, Senior Partner of Forward Advisors and CEO and Chairman of the Board of Swisscontent. "The response was phenomenal".

Strategy videos and a CEO app

In a further phase, a strategy video was developed based on the storyline of the virtual employee event. Grieder, the Executive Board in general, and managers and departments worldwide used this video for internal and external presentations. In less than ten minutes, the CEO sums up the new corporate strategy and culture.

Proximity, exchange, informal interaction, trust and transparency within the company are central to Hugo Boss; they are among the most important elements of the new culture. To promote and sustainably transform this, the CEO app "My Hugo Boss" was also developed and implemented - in terms of content, visuals and technology. This enables Grieder to communicate with employees regardless of time and place. Not only stories and impressions from everyday business are shared. Under the "Ask me anything" label, employees also have the option of liking and commenting on posts, taking part in surveys, and uploading pictures and videos to the social wall.

The culture in focus

Every sustainable change requires an initial analysis of the starting position and the circumstances. It was therefore important to understand the prevailing culture in the company right at the beginning in order to derive specific desired developments for the future. To this end, Forward Advisors developed a "Cultural Change Program" in parallel with the introduction of the communications strategy. Based on this, the agency formulated recommendations for the future and conducted workshops with the executives.

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Forward Advisors stand for strategic, digital and data-based Kommunicationsation. The Swiss agency advises companiesnehmer, C-Levels and Boards of Directors as well as their companies in solving their communication challenges. Youre Work is based on many years of experience as a strategic acting Untentrepreneurs as well as digitally minded and well-networked Kommunication profis. Swisscontent is one of the leading Swiss agencies in the Areas Kommunication and marketing. The agency advises and untSupports their customers from strategy development through Konception to the cross-media orchestrated implementation of the defined Massnahmen and distribution.  

The photography agency 13Photo has been committed to dedicated and creative author photography since 2009. As an agency for photography, 13Photo develops sophisticated imagery and, supports or advises the client from the first to the last planning step. In doing so, 13Photo works with experienced and award-winning creatives and promotes young, exciting talent Communications design agency Sofie reimagined the content and design of the website while creating a new visual identity for the 13Photo brand. With the new website, the user and brand experience has been optimized and the customer journey simplified - potential customers can get to the specific service offering and contact person in just a few clicks. The numerous features and functions such as animations, video and filters also ensure a very successful usability of the website at all times. The visual brand identity was simplified and reduced to the minimum. This conceptual element is reflected above all in the logo and the letterhead. Power, variety and diversity are provided by the unique imagery from campaigns, portraits, reports and film. This variable component complements the reduced visual language of the brand. Various interactive elements - as conceived in the menu, for example - allow the user an insight into the diversity of the visual world of 13Photo. The co-creation concept of the agencies Sofie and Marke17 was used for the conception and implementation of design and code.  

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Responsible at 13Photo: Lisa Schneider (agency management), Adam Schwarz (agency management). Responsible at Sofies Kommunikationsdesign: Kevin Casado (Brand Management & Consulting, Concept, Design), Carla Berger (Design), Anja Meier (Design), Luca Fontana (Text). Responsible at Marke17: Pasquale Li Voti (consulting, concept, technology), Luca Moor (code), Timo Buff (code).

According to the latest "KPMG Forensic Fraud Barometer", Swiss courts dealt with 68 cases of white-collar crime in 2021. The total damage of CHF 567 million, including a CHF 300 million case, was 37 percent higher than in the previous year. The actual figures are likely to be much higher, as many cases are not even reported. Every year, KPMG's Forensic Fraud Barometer records the court cases that have been publicly heard and published in the media. The cases taken into account are those with an offense amount of more than CHF 50,000.

Public institutions most frequently affected by white-collar crime

With 25 out of a total of 68 cases heard by the courts, public institutions were particularly frequently targeted by white-collar criminals. In seven cases, there were convictions related to illegally obtained Covid 19 loans. "I expect that we will see more such cases in the next editions of our Fraud Barometer due to a delayed effect," explains Anne van Heerden, Head of Forensics at KPMG.

The second most court cases related to white-collar crime involved commercial companies - with a loss amount of CHF 134 million. Financial institutions were affected as victims in only three cases, with a single fraud case accounting for more than half of the total loss for 2021 at CHF 300 million.

Private individuals were the largest group of offenders

Commercial fraudsters were replaced by private individuals as the largest group of offenders in 2021. This group accounted for 23 out of 68 of all negotiated white-collar offenses, or one third. The average offense amount was around CHF 700,000. With 18 cases with a total offense amount of more than CHF 123 million, employees in executive functions ("management") were the second largest offender group. The average amount of crime per case was almost CHF 7 million, which is around ten times higher than for the perpetrator group of private individuals.

"The crime amounts caused by management are generally higher than for private individuals or employees. On the one hand, this group of offenders often has inside information, and on the other hand, they are in a strong position to use this information for criminal purposes," explains Anne van Heerden.

Most cases in Zurich, the largest in Bellinzona

Zurich was the region most affected by white-collar crime last year: with 22 out of 68 cases, this region accounted for just under a third of the crimes tried - compared with eight in the previous year. In the Lake Geneva region, which recorded the most white-collar crimes in the previous year with 19, only six cases were tried in 2021. The largest cases of white-collar crime were heard at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, including the largest case with an offense total of CHF 300 million. The average offense total of the largest six cases was over CHF 70 million. Even excluding the largest offense or damage total of CHF 300 million, the average offense totals heard in Bellinzona were many times higher than those of the other regions.

(Social) insurance fraud most common offenses

The most frequent type of offense in 2021 was (social) insurance fraud, with 20 cases, which was litigated much more frequently compared to the previous year (2020: 8 cases). This is partly due to the seven fraud cases related to Covid 19 loans mentioned earlier. "White-collar criminals try to exploit new legal frameworks and loopholes in the system immediately and specifically for their own purposes," says forensic scientist Anne van Heerden. "Unsurprisingly, this was also the case with Covid 19 loans." Also on the rise last year were court cases involving fraud. In these cases, perpetrators convince the victim to make an advance payment under false pretenses, for example, but the payment is not followed by the agreed-upon or promised service. Source and further information: KPMG

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/oeffentliche-institutionen-im-visier-von-wirtschaftskriminellen16335-2/

Your company will only run if your IT is up and running. And only if IT problems are solved efficiently can employees perform optimally. That's why excellent IT end-user support is so important. Support that guarantees maximum reliability and creates new wow effects every day. This is exactly the kind of wow support Pidas wants to deliver. With this DNA in mind, Pidas has developed a new support concept for the DACH region. From now on, the company will focus exclusively on IT end-user support. The solution is based on the interaction between man and machine or, in other words, between chatbot, support staff and the intelligent IT machine "CORA".

Making people wow!

Under the umbrella of the new promise "Making people wow!", Pidas' new look was launched in the spring. The company now comes with a modern, clear and sustainable identity. Scalable to all communication channels, the new design works both classically and digitally and is intended to convey the "wow effect" both externally and internally to the company. The company's own employees form the basis of the refreshing visual world.

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Responsible at Pidas: Frédéric Monard (CEO), Melanie Müller (Head of Marketing & Communications). Responsible agency: Agencychef.ch.

Supervisory bodies are increasingly required to fulfill their legal control and supervisory duties also in dealing with cyber risks, according to the findings of a new study on dealing with cyber risks in companies. In addition to the legal obligation, there are also good reasons from a business perspective to invest in cyber risk management, according to the study, which was conducted by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts together with the insurer Mobiliar and the business umbrella organization economiesuisse. After all, cyberattacks could cause considerable damage to organizations, which in the worst case could mean heavy fines, a severe loss of reputation, the withdrawal of operating licenses or bankruptcy.

A ship without a captain: lack of statements on cyber risk readiness

According to the study, many companies seem to lack a central foundation for managing cyber risks: None of the organizations surveyed explicitly defined the extent to which cyber risks should be consciously taken in order to achieve business goals. "From a risk management perspective, it's comparable to a ship that doesn't have a captain," says Stefan Hunzikerauthor of the study and head of the Risk & Compliance Management Competence Center at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Apparently, the development of so-called risk appetite statements causes great difficulty in practice. The HSLU study further shows: in dealing with cyber risks, there is a gap between the technical IT infrastructure level and the organizational level. "Cyber risks are still understood too strongly as a purely IT issue. Accordingly, they are managed in a decentralized and operational manner and are not integrated enough into enterprise-wide risk management," explains Hunziker. Here, a discrepancy between the relevance of risk (awareness) and "risk governance" can be observed. "This circumstance prevents a consistent comparison - and thus also a meaningful prioritization - of cyber risks and other risk categories at top management level," says the expert. As a first step in the right direction, he recommends fostering collaboration between the chief information security officer (CISO) and risk manager. "Because this is primarily where the bridge is built between technical cybersecurity and business risk management," Hunziker says.

People" as a risk factor: additional investments required

Often, the simplest and equally effective measures for dealing with cyber risks are still neglected. Stefan Hunziker: "The definition of cyber risks may therefore also be somewhat misleading, as many causes of risk are not to be found in cyber space, but in human misconduct." The analogy with medicine is helpful: there, it has long been known that correct human behavior prevents the transmission of diseases. Regular disinfection, disciplined hand washing and keeping a distance have been established behaviors - at least since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. The present study confirms that the "human factor," or human behavior, is still too little addressed in the area of cybersecurity compared with technical measures. "The 'human factor' makes up only one element in the continuous improvement process of cybersecurity, but it is a very important one," Hunziker said. Human behavior in dealing with cybersecurity should be trained so that it becomes as natural and "normal" as sneezing into the crook of your arm.

Cyber Risk Management and Cloud Migration

Many cyber risks are caused by cloud usage. This makes it all the more important for organizations to plan their move to the cloud well and accompany it with appropriate measures. "The creation of a clear strategy is at the very beginning of a well-planned migration to the cloud," says Armand Portmann, author of the study and head of Information & Cyber Security | Privacy at the Department of Computer Science at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Fortunately, the majority of the organizations surveyed have such a document, which describes the framework conditions for the introduction and use of cloud services. This allows the conclusion to be drawn that the topic of cloud computing now also enjoys attention in the management bodies. "There is an awareness that the use of cloud services is associated with risks," says Armand Portmann. When it comes to naming the risks involved in using cloud services, however, the organizations surveyed are not at a loss for answers. "Among the top three are loss of confidentiality, or breach of data protection, dependency on the cloud service provider and issues of liability," explains Fernand Dubler, study author and research associate at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The topic is complex. Therefore, he says, it is not surprising that the measures needed to mitigate these risks are not straightforward. Dubler adds, "These measures are extremely diverse and must be developed individually from the specific outsourcing situation. This often poses very significant challenges for the organizations concerned." Source and further information: Lucerne University

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/cyber-risk-management-bewusstsein-allein-reicht-nicht/

Companies are collecting more and more diverse data and using more and more channels to interact with their customers. Not infrequently, this results in fragmented data silos that can only be broken up and centralized with great effort. Against this backdrop, there is a great danger that inaccurate, incomplete, and outdated data sets will be created, reducing the meaningfulness and timeliness of the insights gained in analyses.

Risk Big Data

The complexity has also increased in legal terms - keyword: EU Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO). This also relates in particular to the question of data deletion. According to a Blancco studya specialist in data maintenance, almost all (96 percent) of the more than 1,800 companies surveyed worldwide have guidelines for handling and deleting data. However, most companies fail to communicate these regulations comprehensively to their employees.

Sensitive data can fall into the wrong hands

Against this background, many companies have a feeling of false security in data handling - especially when it comes to deleting data. As the study further shows, this often takes the form of the purely physical destruction of data media or deletion or formatting processes. However, simply formatted hard disks are comparatively easy to recover, and this can potentially lead to sensitive data falling into the wrong hands. A similar risk also exists when employees leave the company or obsolete laptops, desktops, hard drives or server hardware are earmarked for disposal. According to the study, about half of all end-of-life devices are disposed of by third-party vendors, removing them from the company's immediate sphere of influence. If the devices are stored for a long time before being deleted, or if there is insufficient documentation of what data has been securely deleted, companies can quickly find themselves in need of explanation. 

Institutionalize data competence and create clear responsibilities

The mere formulation of guidelines for compliance and data protection as well as for handling and deleting data is not sufficient against this background. Companies that work with data and its analysis also need clear personnel responsibilities for the topic of data competence and data security - for example in the form of a CDO (Chief Data Officer or Chief Digital Officer) - above and beyond the mere text of the regulations. This person is responsible for the implementation of the relevant guidelines, drives their compliance and implementation, and calls for or communicates the processes required for this.

How to delete data securely and in compliance with the law 

• The first step is to define the framework conditions. This includes defining standards with regard to availability, use, data quality, access, security and data protection.
• Responsibilities for policy implementation and compliance monitoring must be clearly assigned.
• The times for purging and deleting personal data as well as retention periods should also be defined in the framework. The legal requirements (such as the DSGVO) must also be taken into account here.
• The predefined guidelines must be communicated throughout the company and all employees must be sensitized to the topic of data quality.
• The data erasure policy should cover all IT assets - including smartphones, tablets, PCs, servers and the virtual infrastructure.
• It is important that devices with sensitive data do not leave the company or the data center environment - this is especially true in light of the fact that hybrid work models no longer clearly separate the private and business use of end devices.
• Care should also be taken with end-of-life devices to ensure that their data remains within the IT infrastructure sphere of influence of the respective company - for example, in the case of recycling or donation. In these cases, data should be deleted from the devices on site and the cleanup should be verified with an appropriate certificate.
• If an external provider takes over the disposal of old devices, he should create a complete chain of evidence of how the goods have been handled in detail since collection. In this case, it is recommended that a data destruction certificate be issued for each device.
• Devices should be disposed of at the end of their service life, preferably within 24 hours.

Source: Sage

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/risiko-big-data-viele-unternehmen-vernachlaessigen-die-datenqualitaet/