With the Digital SME Award, Visable, the operator of the B2B platforms wlw and Europages, creates a stage for SMEs and their ideas and innovations. The award is intended to honor groundbreaking digital projects by small and medium-sized enterprises in the DACH region that make a significant contribution to making their own company more future-proof. "The Digital SME Award pursues the same goal that we have dedicated ourselves to as a company: more visibility for SMEs on the Internet and now also on the DIMA stage," explains Peter F. Schmid, CEO of Visable and jury board member. "We are convinced that innovative small and medium-sized enterprises are faster and more successful than many of their large competitors. With the award, we are putting these hidden champions in the spotlight."

New award with four categories

Until October 10, SMEs in the DACH region can submit their digital projects free of charge in one or more of a total of four categories. In the "Customer Experience" category, projects can be submitted that manage to pick up customers online and take them on a digital journey.The decisive factors here are ideas that invite interaction with the brand, product or service in B2B business. The "Solutions in Sales" category looks for smart digitization measures that give sales new impetus and customers.In particular, this includes well thought-out digital approaches that create added value - e.g. in the sales process, in marketing or in customer loyalty. The core of the "Sustainability in the company" category is the digital development and implementation of ideas that promote and advance the topic of sustainability in the company. The "Innovation" category evaluates the development and implementation of new digital projects that are particularly surprising and convincing due to their high degree of innovation.

Top-class jury of experts awards digital achievements

The jury, which examines each of the submitted projects for its innovative character, its digital character and its impact in the corporate context, is made up of six renowned experts from business, research and digital media. As head of the jury, Peter F. Schmid contributes his expertise in online retail and B2B business. He is assisted by Miriam Wohlfarth, founder and CEO of the financial technology company Ratepay, business journalist Dr. Holger Schmidt, Jenny von Podewils, founder and co-CEO of the startup Leapsome, Prof. Dr. Reiner Kurzhals from Münster University of Applied Sciences and founder of Westphalia DataLab, and marketing and trend expert Oliver Leisse.

The jurors are hoping for lively Swiss participation: "We are looking forward to receiving numerous applications from Swiss SMEs at the award," says Peter F. Schmid. "Switzerland is a very innovative country and I am convinced that there are many Swiss digital projects that serve as role models," says Schmid. The announcement of the winners can be followed free of charge in a livestream on November 18 after prior registration. In addition to the actual award ceremony, the online event will include exciting presentations on current developments in digitization. In addition to an official award, the winners will also receive a company profile on wlw and Europages worth a total of 25,000 euros.

More information: www.visable.com/dima

The study "Strategy development in the digital age" - already the third Swiss study on digital transformation published by the FHNW - shows with over 1,800 participants that only half of SMEs (but more large companies) have a digital strategy. Many SMEs lack a formulated strategy that sets out the digital direction for the next few years. According to the head of the study, Prof. Dr. Marc K. Peter, this value is too low - especially in a highly competitive, global environment driven by new technologies.

The need for strategic transformation

The study further shows that only half of Swiss SMEs conduct a market analysis at least once a year, and a quarter never do so. More than half of the SMEs assume that the corporate strategy will have to be adapted in the next two to three years due to the ongoing digital transformation. One-third of SMEs assume that competitors' digital strategies threaten their own business. This is also a high proportion of companies that feel threatened; and too small a proportion of companies that have a digital strategy.

According to the authors, these study results demonstrate the need for strategic discussions, ideas and plans in Swiss companies. This is also indicated by the fact that just under half of Swiss SMEs have already modified their market or marketing positioning, at least in part, in the last two years.

Key insights into strategy work in Swiss SMEs

• 24% of SMEs never conduct market analysis, 24% do so every 2-3 years or less frequently, and 52% do so at least once a year.
• 50% of SMEs have a digital strategy (7% separately, 43% as part of corporate or IT strategies).
• 56% of SMEs need to further adapt their business strategies due to the digital transformation.
• In 45% of SMEs, the Corona crisis has an impact on business strategy.
• 34% of SMEs feel threatened by competitors' digital strategies.
• 44% had to partially or completely adjust their market/marketing positioning.
• 44% of SMEs are not satisfied with their digitization progress.

Practical guide for strategic transformation

Based on the results, the project team has developed a available free of charge Practical guide with a strategy process and a strategy check (can be carried out on www.digital-strategy-check.ch) for the digital age was developed. The basis for this is the ACT method (Analyze, Create, Transform), which the Strategylab supplemented with many case studies, checklists, a workshop canvas and templates for strategy work in companies.

The research project was supported by various partners (Bank WIR, Mobiliar, AECS Swisscard, Lenovo, Rahn+Bodmer, Swiss Export, KMU Next, digitalswitzerland and the Gewerbezeitung) and authors.

More information

In our private communication, smileys, emojis and the like have long been established. Now we are encountering the mostly yellow faces more and more often in the professional environment as well. But how is that actually - are they appropriate here as well, or rather unprofessional? Michal Bürger, CEO and co-founder of eM Clientexplains when you can safely use smileys in business e-mails and when you should leave them alone.

What is the difference between emoticons, smileys and emojis?

Michal Bürger: "Emoticons are sequences of ASCII characters. With the help of control characters emoticons are entered into the keyboard. The best known is the grinning face with :-). Some programs automatically convert the lying line images into graphic representations - these are then the so-called smileys. So smileys are graphical emoticons. They can be used to better convey moods such as anger, fear or joy. However, smileys can also be emojis. Emoji is the generic term for comic-like representations and, so to speak, the further development of emoticons. Compared to smileys and emoticons, emojis represent not only emotions, but also animals, plants or food and drink."

Why do we use smileys more and more often in communication?

Michal Bürger: "Smileys replace the missing non-verbal communication - what facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice normally do in a face-to-face conversation. A conversation consists of more than just spoken language. That's exactly what we're trying to transfer to digital communication through smileys. In addition, we communicate much faster today than we did in analog times. In the various chats, we receive new messages every minute and have the feeling that we have to respond just as quickly. This is where smileys offer the advantage of saving time: you can express an emotion with just one click on a particular emoticon and don't have to do it in writing."

Are smileys also appropriate in business emails or do they look unprofessional here?

Michal Bürger: "There is no clear answer to this question. For one thing, it depends on the context and the formality of a message. For example, if you are sending an e-mail that you would have sent as a printed letter in the past, it would be better to leave out smileys. Examples include invoices or quotations. Secondly, their relationship to the recipient is crucial. If the sender and recipient have never met, smileys can quickly come across as incompetent. Among familiar colleagues, on the other hand, the use of smileys is completely unproblematic. Even if you've known a business partner or customer for some time and are on familiar terms, you can use smileys, but you should do so somewhat more sparingly than in private communication."

What effects can I achieve on the recipient through emails with smileys?

Michal Bürger: "Especially critical e-mails can be positively influenced by a smiley. With a laughing or winking smiley, you can considerably weaken negative feelings in the recipient. The risk that he or she will take your criticism personally decreases significantly. In principle, however, it is important to use smileys very consciously and to ask yourself beforehand exactly what effect they are likely to have on the recipient. To be flexible here, it is of course very advantageous if the e-mail program you use also technically supports smileys."

Should there be smileys or emojis in the subject line?

Michal Bürger: "Emojis should always be used in moderation and not en masse. If it's a private mail, the subject line can contain three smileys in a row. But the subject line should not be predominantly populated with small icons. If only for the reason that, if these are not recognized by an e-mail client, only a cryptic subject remains. Another thing to consider is that in quite a few companies, e-mails end up in spam if they contain special characters, which, after all, include smileys and emojis, whether in the subject line or in the text."

How do I reply when I get an email with smileys?

Michal Bürger: "If your "counterpart" uses smileys, that doesn't mean that you have to do the same - for example, to avoid appearing rude. Rather, develop your own communication style and stand by it. Of course, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't adapt your language style to different conversation partners. This can also include smileys. In addition to smileys, the language used in your e-mail is still crucial. Avoid words that evoke negative associations. Because then even a smiling smiley won't help."

Numerous Swiss SMEs have been affected by the pandemic in very different ways: Entire sectors of the economy have been paralyzed, global markets have slowed down, suppliers have fallen behind schedule or staff have been absent. Despite these difficulties, however, it is crucial for them to remain competitive and continue to offer innovative products. Applied research at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland HES-SO now wants to support SMEs with concrete projects.

Applied research for the benefit of SMEs

The projects were selected from 100 submissions and come from all the colleges of the Engineering and Architecture Department of the HES-SO: HE-Arc Ingénierie, Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture - HEIA-FR, Haute école du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève - HEPIA, HES-SO Valais-Wallis School of Engineering - HEI, Haute Ecole d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud - HEIG-VD and Changins School of Viticulture and Enology.

The numerous responses to this call for proposals show that researchers from the HES-SO universities maintain close links with SMEs and have skills that enable them to support these companies in their innovation process, regardless of the economic circumstances. The 33 research projects that emerged from this extraordinary call for projects are short-term projects to be completed by the end of 2021. Some enable new technologies to be tested, while others focus on developing innovations that can be used directly by companies.

Wide range of projects

One of these 33 projects is a collaboration between a team of engineers from HEIA-FR and the Freiburg-based startup Softcar. This company wants to launch an electric city car in the coming months and is developing a gas-powered range extender for this purpose in partnership with HEIA-FR. This would give the city car a range of 400 km, compared with 170 km today.

A team from HE-Arc Ingénierie is again developing a new electropolishing process for beta titanium for the watchmaking industry: a material that has excellent cold forming properties and is therefore of great interest to the industry. For this, the team is working with the PX Group - an SME from La Chaux-de-Fonds specializing in high added-value metals.

In Yverdon-les-Bains, engineers work hand in hand with the company Livetools Technology, which provides high-end broadcasting technology for major sporting and cultural events. After all of these events were canceled as part of the pandemic response, the SME wanted to expand its product range and secure a good position for when the market picks up again. To do this, the company turned to the engineers at HEIG-VD: They support the SME in the integration of new algorithms so that in the future, flawless image quality can be achieved at major events, regardless of constraints such as weather or interference with other transmission systems.

Source: HES-SO

In August 2021, many young people will again begin a new phase in their lives with the start of their vocational apprenticeship. Countless SMEs and large companies are once again training young people in a wide range of professions. One of the largest training centers in Switzerland is the car dealer AMAG. This company currently trains 760 apprentices, or around 11 percent of all employees, in eleven different professions ranging from car body mechanic or automotive mechatronics technician to commercial clerk.

No effort spared for a successful start to apprenticeship

At the start of their apprenticeship, new apprentices usually attend a one-day Welcome Camp. There, they learn everything they need to know about AMAG for a smooth start. This year, the introductory event still took place in a digital setting. For example, last Thursday, August 12, AMAG Group CEO Helmut Ruhl welcomed the apprentices via screen, from a specially equipped studio at AMAG headquarters in Cham with countless cameras, a control room and interpreters who translated live for the young people from French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.

Digital exchange with the CEO

Although the 240 new apprentices were not all able to meet in person to listen to the various speakers live, a good atmosphere was nevertheless created, according to AMAG. This was felt, for example, in the interactive (digital) exchange during the event. Right at the beginning, the new apprentices were allowed to ask Helmut Ruhl questions online. The CEO of AMAG supports the fact that apprentices show curiosity and initiative: "As one of the largest training companies in Switzerland, we are very pleased that we have been able to recruit 240 young people for our current eleven apprenticeships. AMAG's vocational training is sustainable, innovative and our apprentices learn - supported by coaches - with a great deal of personal responsibility. An apprenticeship with the AMAG Group provides a great start to a career in one of the most exciting industries of our time: AMAG has the vision of becoming the leading provider of sustainable individual mobility. And apprentices can help shape this."

Source and further information: AMAG

The Faigle Group has acquired Print & More Logistics AG, based in Mellingen, effective August 1, 2021. The company, which has been in business for more than 85 years, is thus expanding the expertise and capacities of its subsidiary Couvertic AG, according to a statement issued to the media. Print & More is a company with many years of experience specializing in data output management and print outsourcing. The company takes over the complete data preparation, printing and machine packaging as well as the mailing of all kinds of documents for its customers. Print & More Logistics AG specializes in transactional printing at a very high level of quality and security.

Even more safety and flexibility

With a second production site, Print & More together with Couvertic can now offer their customers even more security and flexibility. "During the negotiations, I was able to convince myself that the business philosophy and culture of both companies are in line. I am therefore pleased that, with this partnership, we have found a future-oriented solution for both our long-standing customers and our employees that guarantees continuity and high-quality products and services," says Andreas Kleeb, who founded Print & More Logistics AG in 1989 and has also managed it since then.

In accordance with the Faigle Group guideline

Both companies are owner-managed Swiss enterprises. Dr. Andres Iten, Chairman of the Board of Directors and owner of the Faigle Group, adds: "Our business maxim 'high-quality products and first-class service at interesting conditions' has proven itself to date and will continue to be the guideline by which both companies want to be measured. Andreas Kleeb will remain a member of the Board of Directors." As an integrative solution provider, the Faigle Group accompanies customers with what it describes as a sustainable consulting approach and targeted solutions, and guarantees efficient and effective information and output management as well as consistently excellent quality and service levels from strategic planning to operational implementation.

Source and further information

In March 2021, a serious incident occurred in a data center near Strasbourg: after a recent repair, an inverter heated up to such an extent that, as a result, a fire with large amounts of smoke broke out. One area of the four-bay data center, which is operated by a large European cloud provider, was destroyed by the fire, and the others were affected by smoke and soot. Due to the fire, cloud services were unavailable for several days, and data loss could not be ruled out. Several customers, some of them well-known, from all over Europe were affected by the outage.

Check cloud providers before committing "forever"....

This total failure of this cloud provider, which lasted several days, showed how closely companies' IT is linked to the cloud and how important it is to choose the right provider. This is because the effect of so-called data gravity does not allow for quick and easy changes. The more data and services a company uses from a particular provider, the greater the data load and the longer and more sluggish the migration to alternative offerings. This makes it all the more important for companies to clarify a few important points before committing to a cloud provider.

1. are all workloads supported?

The workloads reflect the service performance and innovative strength of the respective provider. Particularly in the case of digitization projects, it is crucial that the provider already delivers important cornerstone services and announces modern modules such as Big Data or IoT (Internet of Things) in its roadmap. After all, the cloud provider should not stand in the way of the digital transformation under any circumstances. The following important workloads should be supported:

• Big Data: These service modules help to quickly evaluate large amounts of data and to gain new insights from the data with the help of predictive models.
• Open Source: The provider should ideally be able to integrate a number of open source platforms in addition to the commercial ones, so that a company has a free choice in these. In particular, platforms such as MongoDB, OpenStack and container-based environments such as Docker or Kubernetes should be covered in order to be future-proof.
• Hyperconverged infrastructures: The provider should support hyperconverged infrastructures and enable the company to connect accordingly so that critical data and applications can operate as highly available and fail-safe as possible.
• Hybrid traditional applications: To enable companies to continue operating their legacy applications, the provider should support hybrid cloud constellations.

2. how smart to recover data?

The case described at the beginning of this article underscores the fact that companies are ultimately responsible for their own data and security. Because if data is not backed up, the provider by no means guarantees that it can fully restore it after a failure. Companies should therefore back up data in the cloud themselves as a matter of principle: The keyword here is "shared responsibility".

How can entire data sets or only important parts be recovered in the event of an emergency? The provider should also support granular recovery processes so that a company can, for example, recover a virtual machine or individual files of a virtual application on a granular basis without having to download and rebuild the entire database. This saves a lot of time and reduces the effort enormously. It must be ensured that the critical applications and data can be reconstructed in a prioritized manner so that important services are quickly available again after a total failure. To ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible in this moment of stress, the following functions should be supported by the cloud provider in the business continuity or recovery plans:

• Automated and orchestrated recovery: This means that entire, complex multi-tier applications can be restored fully automatically at the click of a mouse.
• One-for-One Orchestrations: Here, an IT manager must confirm the steps with minimal commands so that he or she remains in full control of the process.
• Testing the recovery plan: It is important to test this disaster recovery process, as well as possible migration scenarios, in a safe manner without impacting production operations.
• Multi-vendor concept: Recovery mechanisms may need to recover applications of different types on different platforms. Therefore, it is essential to choose multi-vendor or independent disaster recovery mechanisms that can protect the data end-to-end.

3. how to save storage space? 

Many companies already use deduplication in their own backup environments to keep the size of backups as small as possible and save storage space. It would be ideal if the cloud provider also supported this form of deduplication. This helps conserve storage and bandwidth by reducing the total amount of data that needs to be stored. One option is for a backup and recovery solution to bring in this intelligence independently of the cloud provider, enabling a multi-cloud strategy.

It is also important to offer storage with different performance levels. High-performance, critical applications should run on higher, more powerful storage, while less important data is stored on slower and less expensive storage services at the provider. The timeliness of the backup also plays a role in this evaluation.

4. how to keep track of the IT infrastructure?

Anyone who migrates their data to the cloud will very likely maintain a hybrid infrastructure architecture for a long time. Data is distributed across all these different platforms on a day-to-day basis, and they have certain interdependencies. It's important to understand and keep track of these dependencies. After all, if one component fails, it may be necessary to take appropriate countermeasures immediately. It is therefore important to continuously monitor the entire infrastructure, the data stock and the state of health.

In this way, critical situations, such as the total failure of a cloud provider, can be bridged well, since data and applications are backed up and, ideally, all critical services are transferred to the cloud of another provider via an automated disaster recovery process. In this way, the disaster in a data center remains limited to that data center.

Cloud providers: also an address for cybercriminals...

Returning to the fire at the aforementioned data center, according to information from an IT security service provider, the fire also caused 36 percent of 140 command servers to disappear, which were used by cybercriminals to host their malware. That cybercriminal groups are using server services from reputable cloud providers seems to be more common than is commonly thought. And knowing how professional today's cybercriminals are, it can (unfortunately) also be assumed that they have the necessary backups...

Sources: Veritas, ZDnet

Editor's tip: If you would like more in-depth information on the topic of the cloud, you can find it here: https://www.digitaleschweiz.ch/markt/cloud-finder-schweiz/

The ransomware wave continues to sweep over companies and authorities. The security situation seems to be getting worse everywhere. It is only a matter of time before your own company is hit, you might think. There are many guides on how to set up cyber defenses against a ransomware attack, or technologies that promise successful defense. But when the time actually comes, it's useful to know what to do first.

In the event of a ransomware attack: Do not pay a ransom

Panic is a bad advisor in any case. Just like reaching for your wallet to pay the ransom, even if this seems like the easiest solution at first.

The first priority is, of course, to get the data and systems available again as quickly as possible. For this to work and for the right lessons to be learned from a successful attack, a few more measures should be followed.

1. quickly isolate devices

Ransomware should not be able to spread further than it already has. Therefore, administrators should isolate affected systems from the network as soon as possible. Especially when cleaning up after the ransomware attack, it helps to prevent the extortionate malware from spreading further.

2. understand the attack vector

Once the affected devices are isolated, it is important to understand how the incident could have occurred. On the one hand, this helps to manage the incident. It also provides valuable lessons for the future. So it's important to find out: Who was Patient Zero on the network?

3. backup and check backups

Applications and servers can be set up again, but data is irreplaceable. Without backups, it is no longer possible to secure them. Therefore, the measure is to take them off the network first. Attackers specifically look for backups as part of their attack. If they are still online, there is a risk that they will be included in the attack. Of course, it is even better to keep offline backups in a physically separate location from the outset. The 3-2-1 rule of backup (there should be at least three Copies of your data will be available, stored on two different media, a backup copy stored at an external location) is an indispensable prerequisite, especially for securing data against extortionist attacks. This means that a ransom demand may come to nothing - at least as far as the data is concerned. Instead, IT administrators can take care of rebuilding the systems.

4. stop projects and planned tasks

A ransomware attack is an emergency and requires the pooling of all resources. Rebuilding the IT architecture, such as migrations to new environments, or installing new applications and servers should be stopped immediately. Such projects could help the malware spread further. It is equally important to stop scheduled tasks, such as backups. Because in the course of them, the extortionate malware can spread further.

5. quarantine potentially compromised areas.

In general, no possibility should be ruled out immediately after an attack and all potentially affected parts of the infrastructure should be quarantined. This means taking everything offline and examining it individually before it can be used again.

6. after the attack is before the attack: change passwords

Forewarned is forearmed. At the beginning of an incident, it is often not completely clear how it could have happened. Was it just a simple attack? Or was it a complex attack that was possible because the attacker had captured authentication data? If this was the case, he can always make the next attempt. It therefore makes sense in any case to change the passwords of system-critical user accounts.

7. don't panic in case of a ransomware attack - plan and practice critical security situations

If the worst comes to the worst, IT administration will be under a lot of pressure - and there is therefore a risk of making the wrong decision in this pressure situation. To prevent this as far as possible, IT departments should prepare for an emergency. Ideally, those responsible for security should have defined processes. After all, it is precisely in the event of an emergency that companies need a blueprint so that no sensible measures are forgotten. These processes should also be practiced regularly, for example in simulated "red and blue team testing". If employees know that there is a plan that takes effect in the event of an emergency and that this plan has been practiced, the risk of acting incorrectly under pressure is minimized.

Source: Bitdefender

On behalf of XING Switzerland, the market and opinion research company Marketagent.com surveyed 500 working people in German-speaking Switzerland on the subject of professional skills for the working world of tomorrow. The most important results were recently presented.

Willingness to learn new things is one of the most important future competencies

Swiss professionals were asked, among other things, which skills they consider particularly important in relation to the future world of work. The top five are:

1. Willingness to learn new things
2. Communication skills
3. Readiness to perform
4. Adaptability
5. Ability to work with a variety of people

The results show that respondents already feel personally well prepared for most of these skills. Only in the case of communication skills was there a clear gap between importance and personal preparedness, according to the study.

Employer with room for improvement

The respondents are not quite as optimistic about their own employer: just under half of those surveyed (48 percent) think their company is well prepared for the changes in the world of work. A third (35 percent) see their own company as partially prepared and 17 percent believe their employer is poorly prepared for the change in the world of work.

According to the survey, employers also have room for improvement when it comes to the quality of continuing education: Only around half (55 percent) of employees are satisfied with the training and continuing education programs offered by their own company. Another quarter (24 percent) are partially satisfied and 21 percent are dissatisfied.

Continuing education: Preferably on site and in person

Home office, pandemic and virtualization notwithstanding: face-to-face instruction at fixed times during the week is the most popular continuing education format. 30 percent prefer this variant, while 29 percent would prefer a mix of face-to-face and digital instruction. Offerings in the form of time-independent online courses would be the first choice for 25 percent of respondents, while online training at fixed times, e.g. live webinars, are only most popular with just 5 percent.

There are significant differences between the sexes. While time-independent online courses are most popular among women (32 percent), men clearly prefer face-to-face courses at fixed times (36 percent).

Men are more willing to finance continuing education themselves

When it comes to acquiring professional skills for the future, just over a quarter of respondents would be prepared to pay for the relevant training themselves. A further 41 percent would be prepared to invest in appropriate training to some extent, and 30 percent cannot imagine digging into their own pockets. Among men, the willingness to finance training related to future competencies themselves is higher than among women.

Sources: New Work SE / XING

Bank Cler reports positive figures for the first half of 2021 and appears to be on track for success overall. According to a statement by this financial services provider, which says that its offering is geared in particular to the needs of private clients, the self-employed and SMEs, a major part of this interim result is due to a successful growth strategy in the investment business. There, the volume of deposits increased by CHF 0.7 billion. The possibility of benefiting from the advantages of professional asset management from as little as CHF 1 in initial capital is in high demand, it says. The volume in Bank Cler's investment solution also increased by a further CHF 239.7 million (+22.6%) to over CHF 1.3 billion. Of this, CHF 528.9 million or around 40.7% is attributable to the sustainable investment solution. In terms of traditional asset management and advisory mandates, Bank Cler reports CHF 0.9 million (+4.2%) higher commission income from securities and investment business compared to the same period last year. Client assets increased by CHF 1.3 billion (+6.1%) to CHF 21.9 billion in the first six months. A net new money inflow of CHF 0.6 billion contributed to this development.

Stable net interest income

As a result of the persistently low interest rates, intense competition and margin pressure in the lending business, interest and discount income declined by CHF 4.9 million (-4.5%) to CHF 104.0 million in the first half of 2021. At the same time, lower refinancing costs as well as the active management of sight balances at the SNB and interest in the deposit business led to a CHF 3.4 million (-17.9%) lower interest expense of CHF 15.6 million. Overall, net interest income of CHF 88.8 million is slightly below the level of the prior-year period (-0.4%).

Bank Cler's risk-conscious lending policy, which has been in place for many years, continues to pay off. Thus, no additional value adjustments or provisions for impaired receivables had to be made in the first half of 2021.

Bank Cler focuses on positive customer experiences

The increase in operating profit by a total of CHF 2.2 million (+6.7%) to CHF 35.2 million allows the formation of reserves and strengthened internal financing. The half-year profit amounts to CHF 20.1 million.

Bank Cler intends to continue its successful course with further investments in the future. For example, the branch network is to be further expanded. The implementation of the new support concept will be successfully completed with the modernization of the customer zone at the headquarters in Basel at the end of 2021. In addition to the branch offices, the focus will be on digital channels and video consulting. Self-service functionalities are being continuously expanded to enable customers to access products and services independently of time and place. With the neobanking app Zak, the number of users of which has increased by a further 9,000 to 44,000 within the space of a year, Bank Cler has already been providing an app for everyday banking services for several years. Onboarding is possible around the clock.

Source and further information

Nets Group, a European PayTech company, has evaluated the shares of contactless payments in cashless transactions of its affiliated merchants in the DACH region. Not only are the figures still at a very high level, they continue to rise, according to the evaluation: contactless transactions now account for 77 percent in Germany, 82 percent in Austria, and 80 percent in Switzerland on average for the industry. In some segments, almost every payment made with a card or smartphone is already processed contactlessly.

Contactless transactions no longer just because of the pandemic

The Nets Group evaluation also shows that the use of the contactless function is now both decoupled from the developments in the pandemic and independent of specific sectors and target groups. Whether in shoe stores, drugstores, or flower stores, the contactless rate in June 2021 across the entire retail sector rose again by up to ten percentage points compared to the same month last year. In Austria, almost everyone pays contactless at the grocery store (91 percent) or the bakery (95 percent) when paying by card or smartphone. In Germany and Switzerland, the figures for bakeries are also very high (95 percent; 92 percent), while in the grocery trade it is still slightly lower in both countries at around 85 percent in each case, but is rising steadily even after a year of pandemic.

Existing trend was massively accelerated

"Contactless payment was already a strong trend before the Corona pandemic. We would certainly have reached the same high level in a few years, but the general digitization push has now significantly accelerated the transformation," says Marianne Bregenzer, Country Manager Nets Schweiz AG. The tipping point has clearly been passed. More and more people are using Tap-And-Go, and more and more retailers, including many small ones, are offering it and actively encouraging it, she adds. Contactless transactions in retail have thus become the norm.

"We are convinced that the share of contactless transactions will continue to increase in the future," says Bregenzer. "The tap-and-go function is faster overall, mostly without entering a PIN or signature. Once you get used to it, you won't put your card in the reader again." Not only will convenience and speed continue to increase shares, but more and more payments will be made with smartphones and wearables. With increasing digitization, the reduction of reservations and the customer-centric further development of processes and solutions, payment will become more digital, smarter and thus automatically increasingly contactless. New soft POS solutions on the merchant side - i.e., payment apps on the smartphone or tablet instead of card readers - will also contribute to a shift in the overall payment standard. In a few years, magnetic stripes and EMV chips will probably only be used in exceptional cases for cashless payments at the checkout and will often no longer be possible at all, experts believe.

Financial service providers are also accelerating the trend: PostFinance is the first Swiss bank to announce an increase in the limit for contactless payments without PIN entry as of mid-August 2021. Holders of a PostFinance debit card will now be able to make contactless payments of up to CHF 100 - previously the limit was CHF 80. PostFinance is thus responding to the wishes of many customers, according to the statement. However, anyone who does not want to use the contactless function of the PostFinance Card can deactivate it at any time in the PostFinance app, in e-finance or at the Postomat, the financial services provider says.

Shortened waiting times and high comfort

The Corona pandemic has increased the need for contactless payment in Switzerland overall. According to the Swiss Payment Monitor 2021, since the outbreak of Covid-19, the majority of the Swiss population makes far fewer cash payments (60 percent) and cash withdrawals (47 percent) than before. Cash use declined significantly due to the Corona pandemic in favor of digital payment solutions such as payment cards and mobile payment solutions.

The benefits of this change in consumer behavior are great for both retailers and customers: checkout is much faster, which reduces waiting times. Especially for purchases of everyday products or smaller amounts, neither PIN nor signature is usually required. This makes the payment process very simple and convenient for both vendor and customer. Merchants also benefit from automated reporting, an overview of all payment flows on their cell phones, and interfaces to downstream processes such as financial accounting," says the Nets Group, summing up the development, which is also pleasing for the company.

Sources: Nets Group, PostFinance

Are we threatened by a price increase for cars? Yes, says a study by credit insurer Euler Hermes, for example. The reason why European carmakers are likely to turn the price screw more sharply is an unprecedented shortage of materials, especially semiconductors. This is creating a mismatch between supply and demand in the European automotive sector that could last until the first half of 2022, according to Euler Hermes' assessment. This presents carmakers with a unique opportunity to raise prices after almost 20 years and significantly improve their margins, it said.

Possible price increase for cars of up to 6 %

"European carmakers are currently sitting on the longer end of the stick due to the chip shortage," says Stefan Ruf, CEO of Euler Hermes Switzerland. "3-6% price increases are therefore currently possible across Europe, in Germany even between 4 and over 10% - at least until the state of emergency in semiconductors returns to normal. However, this is likely to continue into the first half of 2022."

The automotive sector is already benefiting from rising demand following the major reopening after the lockdown in numerous countries. New registrations in Europe increased by +25.2 % year-on-year in H1 2021 to almost 5.4 million passenger cars (+1.354 million units). According to auto schweiz, 143,969 new cars have hit the roads of Switzerland and Liechtenstein since the beginning of 2021, 14.4 percent more than in the first seven months of the "Corona year" 2020 (125,842). However, the effects of the semiconductor crisis are now causing the further market recovery to falter. After registering a small increase in June compared to the same month last year, the July figures are now below the 2020 result and even more significantly behind the pre-crisis level, according to the preliminary results of auto schweiz. Thus, in July 2019, 25,518 new passenger cars had still been put on the road for the first time - the current market level of 19,422 redemptions is 23.9 percent lower.

Pent-up demand discernible

"The catch-up boom is in full swing and the industry is stepping on the gas again," says Stefan Ruf, meanwhile. "While nowhere near pre-crisis levels, we are seeing significant double-digit growth in new registrations in all major European markets, particularly Italy (+51%) and Spain (+34%). This recovery, together with rising pricing power, is a ray of hope for the entire industry that a return to a new normal will soon be underway."

"We are currently experiencing the bottom of the semiconductor crisis, which is hitting us harder than originally expected," is how auto-schweiz Director Andreas Burgener also sums up the current situation. "The shortage of electronic components and chips at manufacturers and suppliers has reached enormous proportions. However, we see light at the end of the tunnel and hope that the situation will normalize in the fourth quarter." By then, no more restrictions are likely to be felt in the coming year, Burgener concluded.

The industry must set the course for the future

The changes in the automotive industry also have an impact on the Swiss supplier industry, says Stefan Ruf. However, he added, the industry now also urgently needs to think outside the box and set an important course so as not to fall further behind when it comes to sustainability and alternative drive technologies. "With higher prices and margins, this is not the worst starting situation."

Higher margins may well serve carmakers, but not their suppliers, as the example of Hatebur Umformmaschinen AG in Reinach BL shows. This family-owned company, which is more than 100 years old, recently had to cut 30 jobs because demand for machines and services had declined rapidly in recent years, as also reported in the Daily Press was to read.

Sources: Euler Hermes, car switzerland