As a result of the pandemic, SME export sentiment has fallen to its lowest level since Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) first conducted its export survey in 2010. According to the current survey, conducted between the beginning of May and the beginning of June 2020, around two-thirds of the Swiss SMEs surveyed will have to accept a decline in their exports by the end of the first half of 2020. The pandemic has negative business consequences for 81 % of the companies, primarily due to the slump in demand suffered, the loss of sales and revenue, and the lack of certainty in expectations and planning. Looking ahead to the second half of 2020, 39 % of SMEs expect exports to increase, while 23 % anticipate stagnation and 38 % expect a further decline.

Credit Suisse Export Barometer also shows low export sentiment

The Credit Suisse Export Barometer, which tracks foreign demand for Swiss products, also clearly shows the effects of the Corona crisis. Its April value of -2.59 was only undercut during the financial crisis in 2008. In May 2020, the export barometer rose again to a value of -1.54, although this is still well below the growth threshold. Tiziana Hunziker, economist at Credit Suisse, says: "In particular, government protection measures and production stops led to interruptions in international commodity chains and triggered an investment backlog. We assume that for the majority of exporters, the low point was reached in April. Exports by the machinery, electrical and metal industry (MEM industry) to the Asian region were already showing signs of an upward trend in April. However, income shortfalls and rising unemployment are likely to persist for some time. Industries that are particularly dependent on consumer sentiment, such as the watch industry, will probably have to wait longer for an upturn."

Global trade is slowed down

Alberto Silini, Head of Consulting at Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), notes: "The Corona crisis has put the brakes on global trade. Internationally oriented Swiss SMEs have been severely affected by this slump, which is impressively reflected by the historically low level of export sentiment. However, our survey shows that many companies have been able to stabilize in the meantime and are once again more optimistic about the future. After a phase characterized by crisis management, Swiss SMEs must now quickly adapt their own value chains to the new circumstances and return to their target markets with a better strategy than their international competitors. The diversification of sales markets and procurement sources as well as the use of hedging instruments against currency and other export risks play an important role in this context."

Source and further information: www.s-ge.com/exportperspektiven

For many companies, Covid-19 and the lockdown have changed a lot. So it's only logical to take a look at whether the strategy still fits and where adjustments are needed. Right? Wrong!

After all, if you had a robust strategy, one based on a strong vision, a clear "why" and clear aspirations, little will change. If, on the other hand, your strategy was on too thin ice (i.e., perhaps just a "better" continuation of the past or a "more of almost the same"), then it is more than appropriate to rework the strategy anyway. The past weeks were then only the stone that provides the necessary impetus.

Where the danger spots are for your strategy

But even if you say you have a strong and robust strategy, I keep seeing three issues that get far too little attention when it comes to successfully shaping the future. Better to look at this immediately for your company or area. Time is of the essence.

Because far too quickly we often assume that business will continue much as it has in the past, that our future success will be derived from past success, that the team that got us here will be the one that leads us into the future. And these assumptions are precisely the danger spots for our success in the future.

There are no "stupid questions

In contrast, I recommend three crucial and usually underexposed questions for a strong strategy:

1. Who do we want to become? This question is hardly ever asked seriously, but it is at the beginning of everything. How are we going to join forces and strive together for excellence if we don't have a unified understanding of who we want to become? Without the answer to this question, you will remain mediocre.
2. What business models do we want to have for this? Most of the strategy discussions I see revolve around expanding what already exists. Only a few think radically enough in terms of new business models. Most also don't even know how to approach this systematically.
3. What demands do we set ourselves for this? Claims or standards are those ways of thinking and behaving that we demand from every member of the organization at all times. Strong strategies define very clearly how we must behave every day to achieve the strong goals. By the way, this doesn't have much to do with the "values" that are often used.

As always, it's your choice whether to seize the opportunity now and revamp your strategy. The time to do so has never been better.

To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

BWI is led into the future by a new quartet of owners: Andrea Rutishauser, Christian Bachmann, Christoph von Felten and Mike Hubmann are adding consulting to the continuing education offering. "In this way, we are developing BWI into a holistic
partner that supports leaders, teams and organizations in their ongoing transformation," says Andrea Rutishauser, Managing Director at BWI. The former owner Jürg Kuster remains with the company as a member of the Board of Directors and supports the new team in customer acquisition.

Four partners, two complementary pillars

At a kick-off event, the new BWI started into a new era on June 24, 2020. Actually, this had already been planned for March, but due to corona there was a postponement. However, the "forced break" was used to launch the service offering cleanly and to adapt it where necessary.

As of now, a fresh wind is blowing accordingly through the historically rich BWI (formerly: ETH Institute of Management Sciences, founded in 1929). The new orientation of BWI is based on two pillars: Continuing education and, as of now, consulting. "Companies with a need for continuing education often find themselves in a profound process of change. With the new complexity created by digitalization, artificial intelligence, globalization, individualization, environmental threats as well as economic and social changes, the need for qualified consulting increases. In response to many customer requests, we are now closing this gap and offering consulting in addition to continuing education," explains Andrea Rutishauser.

New skills for contemporary approaches

With this complementary offer, BWI strengthens the future security of organizations for a time that brings great uncertainty, but also opportunities: "The topic of continuing education gains even more importance with COVID-19. The battle for the most interesting jobs is decided by ongoing training - experience alone is not enough. Remaining capable of acting, being resilient under pressure and being able to navigate complexity will become the decisive competitive factor for individuals as well as for organizations in the future. Our incentive is to convey this knowledge and ability in a practical and simple way using the latest methods," says Mike Hubmann, Chairman of the Board of Directors and consultant at BWI.

Continuing education, consulting, inspiration: united under one roof

BWI's continuing education offerings focus on leadership in all areas of the organization, "including leading oneself - because we believe that only those who know and can lead themselves are empowered to lead others," emphasizes Christian Bachmann, partner and trainer, adding, "This is an essential aspect when it comes to developing personal resilience and also promoting resilience in the team."

With its range of consulting services, BWI supports organizations in change processes, in the implementation of core projects, in the development of high-performance teams, in conflict situations or in the accompaniment of executives. The goal of both continuing education and consulting is to strengthen existing strengths and combine them with new skills so that people and organizations remain capable of action and fit for the future. The new combination of continuing education and consulting enables a holistic approach and facilitates the transfer of knowledge and skills into practice.

New web portal

The refreshed web portal, launched on June 24, invites you to seminars for self-leadership, team leadership, organizational leadership, project leadership, and customized in-house seminars. The new "Consulting" offering ranges from mediation and crisis management to support in digital transformation and massive change processes. Regular info evenings,
Impulse aperitifs and events provide inspiration and enable the exchange with interesting personalities from business, culture and science as well as know-how transfer among like-minded people and further education colleagues.

www.bwi.ch

Home office instead of traveling on business: This is what the working day looked like for many employees for weeks because of the Corona measures. According to the German Travel Association e.V. (DRV), 69 percent of business trips have been replaced by virtual meetings since March. This represents an increase of 39 percentage points compared to 2019. Although business trips were possible despite the lockdown, only 16 percent of meetings with external participants such as customers or service providers have taken place since the outbreak of the pandemic, and 16 percent each were postponed or canceled altogether. And one in three conferences was held virtually for the first time. The business travel industry thus came to an almost complete standstill during the acute phase of the Corona pandemic.

Even though virtual meetings are now routine in many places, business travelers want to rely more on face-to-face meetings again in the future. 85 percent of respondents say they prefer this type of meeting. 43 percent of them plan to hold significantly fewer virtual meetings in the future. On the other hand, 42 percent would like to continue holding some of their meetings virtually.

Face-to-face meetings bring more sales - despite Corona

Many employees have noticed in recent weeks that video and telephone conferences do offer advantages. 79 percent mention lower costs, for example, and 73 percent time savings. However, 68 percent also notice a serious shortcoming - the danger posed by technical problems. In addition, there are other aspects that speak more in favor of face-to-face meetings. As plus points, 51 percent mention the personal sense of achievement for employees and 49 percent the better relationship management. Face-to-face contact also seems to be advantageous from a sales perspective: 45 percent say that they generate more sales in face-to-face meetings. With virtual meetings, this is true for only one-third of respondents.

"A face-to-face meeting creates a basis of trust that is difficult to establish virtually," says Verena Funke, Country Director at Egencia. "Important discussions will therefore certainly take place more often in person again in the future. By working with the experts at a business travel agency, Corona-related security risks can be avoided."

Some business travelers are particularly productive on the road

Another advantage of face-to-face meetings and the travel required for them is that 19 percent of business travelers can work more productively on the road than at their fixed workplace. One in two still achieves the same level despite the travel effort. This is mainly due to the fact that solo travelers can use the time between or after appointments to work sensibly. Two out of three respondents cite this as a reason why they are productive on the road. Six out of ten attribute this to the fact that they can relax in between appointments. For one in two, a different environment promotes creativity and thus also helps productivity.

But business travelers don't find the right conditions to work productively everywhere. This is particularly true of airports and train stations. 31 percent are dissatisfied with the WLAN access offered there. 33 percent would like to see more soundproofed cabins for undisturbed phone calls, and 35 percent would like more quiet work areas with a table. "Companies can encourage employee productivity on business trips," Funke says. "This includes, for example, organizing access to lounges and providing WLAN access. Business travel agencies help their partners find the right solution for employees."

So is there now faint hope for the business travel industry?

Source: German Travel Association e. V. (DRV)

Very different strengths and weaknesses are often associated with established companies and young start-ups. Start-ups are usually good at developing innovative ideas and prototypes, but often have difficulties in marketing their services and rarely experience scaling their business model. Established companies, on the other hand, usually fail to develop and successfully implement radically new ideas and ventures. However, they have access to sales channels, well-established processes, and financial resources for developing products and personnel with a wide range of qualifications. Routine, industry knowledge and business expertise on the one hand, speed, flexibility and a willingness to experiment on the other, at least according to the perceptions of Swiss managers and employees.
These are some of the key findings of the SME Mirror 2020, which is published annually by the Institute of Management IFU-FHS at the FHS St.Gallen. The KMU-Spiegel examines practical issues that are of particular interest to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and could be carried out thanks to the financial support and content support of Helvetia Insurance and BDO Switzerland.

Innovative but inefficient or efficient but operationally blind?

More than 70% of the respondents agree that the greatest strengths of startups lie primarily in tackling new things, developing innovative solutions and bringing them to market. However, the flip side of being innovative is often a simultaneous lack of financial resources and lower efficiency and profitability. The opposite is true for established companies. Their strength lies in consistency and in making efficient use of what already exists. However, these capabilities often come at the expense of innovation and flexibility. The participants in the study emphasize, however, that innovations can also take place in established companies. But these often get in their own way. "The focus of mature companies is often on day-to-day business, which generates profit and with which a wealth of experience has been built up," says Prof. Dr. Petra Kugler of IFU-FHS and co-author of the study. In the longer term, routine, sometimes also entrenched patterns of thought and behavior develop; a "business blindness". Especially successful companies operating in a stable environment have no incentive to deviate from the tried and true. "However, if the situation of mature companies changes, then new solutions are also needed," adds Kugler. Which also succeeds, according to one participant in the study, because "established companies are also capable of finding radical solutions, but only in critical situations where it is unavoidable."

Innovations are then not understood as a continuous process, but rather as an intermittent necessity. Because of the different strengths and weaknesses, different support services are also needed. "The need for consulting services of start-ups and established companies differs fundamentally. However, we find that digitization is a key issue for both startups and established companies. Especially for start-ups, digital technologies are often the basis for innovative solutions," adds Stefan Gerber, Head of Markets, BDO Switzerland.

When startups and established companies work together, both can win

The perceptions of the study participants coincide with numerous findings of the scientific community. Thus, young and mature companies complement each other in terms of their respective strengths and weaknesses. "However, both categories of companies find it difficult to implement the strengths of the other category without losing their own identity," says Prof. Dr. Rigo Tietz, co-author and project manager of the study. The challenge is to maintain the respective strengths and yet learn from the other side in order to benefit from both worlds. Different options are available for this, he says: While young companies gradually become more stable with increasing success, mature companies have agile processes or flexible working methods at their disposal, among other things. Or collaboration is the goal.

By means of cooperation between young and mature companies, targeted learning processes can be initiated or existing strengths can be leveraged. "At Helvetia, we work intensively with various start-ups. We have also found that collaboration is very valuable for both sides and that we often complement each other well. The prerequisite for this is that both sides are open and want to learn from each other," Adrian Kollegger, Head of Non-Life, Helvetia Switzerland, reports on his experience.

More information: www.fhsg.ch/kmu-spiegel

The maxon Group achieved a new sales record in the 2019 financial year, despite a noticeable economic slowdown worldwide. Cash flow fell to CHF 44.9 million (previous year 55.7 million), due to the resurgence of the Swiss franc against the euro, goodwill amortization at the UK company Parvalux, which was acquired in 2018, and the conversion of Group-wide IT to the new next-generation ERP solution. "In 2019, we again invested a lot of time and money to make maxon Group fit for the future," says Karl-Walter Braun, majority shareholder. "Due to the healthy financial situation, we have been able to make all investments from our own funds. We are continuously adapting the Group's organization to the new size of the company in order to be able to handle future growth," says Karl-Walter Braun.

Pilot project with federal certificate of proficiency

Compared to the previous year, the number of employees increased by 125 to 3,050. 15 apprentices successfully completed their training. Since 2018, maxon has also offered employees the opportunity to obtain a federal certificate of proficiency as an automatic assembler. "The vocational training class started in 2018 with eight female employees aged between 25 and 50, many with a migration background and family," says Karl-Walter Braun. The training program, which maxon launched together with the canton of Obwalden and in which more than 20 employees are now participating, is the first pilot project in this form in Switzerland.

Supplier of complete mechatronic drive systems

maxon has been investing a high single-digit percentage of sales in research and development for years. In 2019, investments amounted to over CHF 38 million. "Around 340 R&D employees ensure that we are constantly developing and innovating. We have long ceased to be a pure electric motor manufacturer, but are continuously developing into a supplier of complete mechatronic drive systems, consisting of precision electric motors, high-performance gearboxes and intelligent control electronics," says Eugen Elmiger, Board Delegate and CEO. The company benefits from the fact "that we can design and produce gearheads, electric motors and control electronics ourselves within the Group," says Elmiger. This has enabled maxon to act flexibly and quickly "to develop, manufacture and supply motors for respirators and linear drives for laboratory automation to evaluate corona tests," says Elmiger.

Mars rover with motors from the maxon Group

The sectors with the highest sales are medical technology and industrial automation and robotics. Other large markets are measurement and testing technology, aerospace and the automotive industry, where a major order for urea injection in trucks (AdBlue Technology) has had a positive impact. In international space programs, maxon is an important partner. This summer, for example, the next NASA rover will be launched to Mars - equipped with 16 maxon motors.

Globally active and broadly positioned

Following the rapid growth of more than 15 % in 2018, sales in Sachseln declined slightly, as expected. The headcount rose to 1,316, with most of the increase taking place in the indirectly productive area in order to cope with the increased organizational effort and complexity within the Group. For Sexau/D, 2019 was the most successful year in its history. Sales increased to EUR 80.9 million, with a slight decrease in the number of employees. In Hungary, sales increased by a good quarter to over CHF 25 million. Around 500 people are now employed in Veszprém/HU. In South Korea, sales rose by around 35 % to just under CHF 40 million. In Taunton/USA, two engine lines went into operation during the year. Various major US customers in regulated markets such as medical technology have already given their consent for their products to be manufactured or finished in Taunton/USA in the future. Parvalux in Bournemouth/UK generated sales of CHF 25.8 million in its first year at maxon with around 180 employees. With Parvalux products, the maxon Group is taking an important step towards becoming a complete system supplier of small and micro motors up to geared motors of up to 1.5 kW. Meanwhile, a new manufacturing and administration building is being built in Lyon/F.

Somewhat gloomier outlook for 2020

The maxon Group is globally active and broadly positioned in the markets and has a solid foundation to be able to maintain its position as a global market leader in the future. Order intake for the second half of 2020, except for medical technology products, is still weak, says Eugen Elmiger. "We therefore currently anticipate a sales reduction of around ten percent compared to the record year 2019."

Source and further information

Heinz Karrer has been on the board of the business umbrella organization economiesuisse since 2008, and has been its president since 2013. His fourth term of office on this body will regularly end in September 2020. Heinz Karrer decided at the beginning of the year not to run for another three years. He will thus also relinquish the presidency in the fall after seven years.

Heinz Karrer took over the presidency of economiesuisse in a difficult phase for the association. Resignations at the top of the association, the announced departure of a major member association, and a lost referendum were major challenges for the association. After taking office, Heinz Karrer quickly started the process of filling the position of director. With the election of Monika Rühl as the new Chairwoman of the Executive Board and further management appointments, organizational stability and calm returned step by step. The association was able to realign itself and return to its original operational strength and professionalism.

Positive balance under the presidency of Heinz Karrer

During his seven years as president, Heinz Karrer has consolidated and further developed the association's internal structures and processes and strengthened member involvement and loyalty, for example by creating new decision-making bodies with executives from the member organizations. In this way, he has succeeded in giving the association's decisions and positions broader support and creating an important prerequisite for greater unity within the umbrella organization, economiesuisse writes. In addition, governance was improved under Karrer's tenure by initiating a strategy committee and a personnel committee within the board.

Above all, however, Heinz Karrer has strengthened economiesuisse's genuine role as the umbrella organization of the Swiss economy by accelerating the development of the association's communications, according to economiesuisse's further assessment. This is also reflected in the positive course of many referendum campaigns: Of the 19 referendum campaigns that economiesuisse has conducted under Heinz Karrer, the association was able to successfully conclude 17 campaigns in favor of Switzerland as a business location - most recently, for example, against the self-determination initiative, for tax reform and AHV financing, and for the implementation of an amendment to the EU weapons directive (Schengen/Dublin). Only twice was economiesuisse unsuccessful: on the mass immigration initiative and on corporate tax reform III.

Intensified exchange with politics, business and the public

Finally, Heinz Karrer has launched a new "Business and Society" program, with which the association will stimulate and intensify long-term dialog with the population about the economy through various initiatives. At the same time, the aim is for business representatives to talk directly with people to find out what concerns them and where the shoe pinches. With great personal commitment, Heinz Karrer himself has also cultivated open dialog with politicians, the media and the public - always respectful, but also always persistent and, above all, fact-based. In this way, he successfully represented the concerns of companies in numerous important dossiers and thus increased the association's ability to assert itself.

"It has been an exciting and interesting time for me over all these years, but above all a great honor to be able to represent this important organization to politics, business and the public. I am grateful for that," he says looking back. Now Heinz Karrer wants to turn to other professional activities from October 1 - i.e. after the referendum on the termination initiative.

Christoph Mäder to be successor

At its meeting today, the economiesuisse Board Committee considered the succession to Heinz Karrer and is now unanimously recommending that the Board elect Christoph Mäder (born 1959) as the new President at its next meeting. Christoph Mäder knows economiesuisse extremely well, having already been a member of the Board Committee from 2008 to 2019 and Vice President of the association from 2011 to 2017. Christoph Mäder grew up in the canton of Aargau and qualified as a lawyer after studying at the University of Basel. After working as a research assistant in constitutional and administrative law at the University of Basel, he spent several years with the Aargau Chamber of Commerce and Industry before serving as lead legal counsel for Sandoz and Novartis from 1992.

In 2000, Christoph Mäder joined the Syngenta Executive Committee, where he was responsible for various corporate functions - including Legal, Tax, Patents & Trademarks, Health/Safety & Environment, Governance, Risk Management & Compliance - and for all Group activities in Switzerland until 2018. During his time at Syngenta, Christoph Mäder also served for many years as President and Board Member of scienceindustries, the Swiss trade association of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

Christoph Mäder is a member of the Board of Directors of various national and international companies, such as Bâloise Holding AG, Ems-Chemie Holding AG and Lonza Group AG. Since 2019, he has been a partner in the law and notary firm Becker Gurini Hanhart Vogt in Lenzburg. In addition, he is a member of various advisory boards and also holds functions in non-profit organizations.

www.economiesuisse.ch

From one day to the next, banishing employees to the home office while keeping the business running: This caught many SMEs unprepared. Studies According to the survey, digital collaboration left much to be desired in many places. According to a survey by the telecommunications service provider Sunrise, 45 percent of the companies surveyed were not sufficiently equipped. The most common problems were, for example, too little experience with working in a home office, insufficient bandwidth for Internet connections or telephony that was not integrated into collaboration solutions. Many employees also lacked the appropriate equipment for working from home - this could be seen, for example, in the sharp increase in laptop orders in online retailing.

Efficient digital work

Sunrise now wants to take the changed needs of B2B customers into account. Switzerland's second-largest telecom service provider is launching "Unlimited Mobile Workplace 2.0," a new offering with a comprehensive business connectivity portfolio consisting of mobile subscriptions, Work Smart and network solutions. These are available individually or in combination and offer everything needed for efficient digital working, according to Sunrise. The size of the company is irrelevant, as is whether the company operates locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. With just a few clicks of the mouse in the Sunrise Business Portal, every company can put together the perfect solution for each individual employee.

New Business Mobile subscriptions with 5G, Business Priority, 3 extra SIMs

There is now a choice of 4 flat-rate subscriptions for unlimited calls and unlimited data usage. Customers only have to decide whether they want to use their smartphone primarily nationally or internationally, including roaming. According to the company, the combined premium services available with the new Business Mobile subscriptions are "revolutionary": With high-speed 5G, for example, mobile Internet connections of up to 2 Gbit/s are possible. This actually makes logging into WLAN connections superfluous, as Robert Wigger, CBO of Sunrise, explained during a presentation for the media. And if bottlenecks do occur - for example, if urgent business needs to be done at a major event - you have the right of way on the mobile network thanks to Business Priority. And the new Business Mobile subscriptions can be used not only with smartphones, but also with other devices.
like tablet and laptop can be used. There are 3 extra SIMs for surfing. The new Business Mobile subscriptions are also available as a basic version with 4G+, Standard Priority and 1 extra SIM with the same flat-rate services. The monthly fees for the Business Mobile basic subscriptions are then CHF 15 lower.

Business Voice: Digital work becomes uncomplicated

Smart companies choose flexible and cost-effective solutions such as Microsoft Teams including integrated telephony. This is now also offered by Sunrise: Fixed network telephony can be easily integrated into Microsoft Teams. Corporate customers determine individually for each employee which service package is needed, e.g. Voice Flat Switzerland (Business Voice M), Europe or even worldwide (over 200 countries). This ensures maximum flexibility and saves unnecessary costs. This solution is currently unique, says Sunrise. No other national telecommunications provider currently has a comparable fixed network telephony offering for B2B customers. The Unlimited Mobile Workplace can be set up with just a few mouse clicks. Microsoft Teams can be installed on a variety of devices (smartphone, tablet, laptop, PC), allowing employees to benefit from many different options for when, where and how they work while stationary and on the move. Corporate telephony via the landline number is available at all times for incoming and outgoing calls.
ensured, as well as video conferencing, collaboration, access to documents, etc.

Business Connectivity: Everything very simple

Simplicity seems to be the general credo for Sunrise's new B2B offerings. With Sunrise Business Connectivity, there is now only 1 product, and there is no longer any differentiation between Internet bandwidths with different prices. For CHF 59 per month, the telecom service provider offers Internet speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s and automatically always the fastest Internet connection available at the respective location via 4G/5G, glass or copper. With this basic offer, the customer chooses whether he wants Internet access only or site networking or both. The rest is configured and set up fully automatically. As additional premium services, scalable and modular configurations of additional services can still be made, such as guaranteed bandwidths, fixed Internet addresses, quality of service, different service levels, etc. Existing Sunrise customers can migrate to the new offerings without any problems.

More information: www.sunrise.ch/business

With the gradual easing of the Corona measures, the first traces of the crisis in the Swiss economic area are beginning to show. In order to be able to comply with the exit restriction, many companies have had to restructure their business practices in recent months and adopt new approaches. Wilhelm Heckmann faced a particular challenge as he simultaneously launched the Swiss operations of his SAP consultancy. "To protect our employees and customers, we immediately switched to a 100 percent home office," says Heckmann, explaining CNT Management Consulting AG's approach. Even at the new location in Zurich, all ongoing projects had to be continued via remote working and customer contacts held via digital conferences and meetings. Nevertheless, this extensive change did not dampen the demand for SAP consulting: "The changed conditions were received constructively and calmly by our clients - we were even able to win new customers with whom we now work completely remotely," explains Heckmann. With the gradual return to normality, the question now facing many consulting firms is which of these practices will endure and what new "best practice" models might look like for the future. According to Heckmann, consultants should be prepared for some innovations, but digital working will not completely replace personal contact with clients.

Consulting becomes more digital - and helps save money

During the Corona crisis, many companies switched to digital communications to keep in touch with their employees and customers and greatly increased their skills in using the relevant tools. "We expect that correspondence with customers will take place more frequently via the Internet in the future. Above all, because video conferences can be scheduled flexibly and at short notice," explains Heckmann. Management consultants should therefore familiarize themselves with the most common tools and make spontaneous correspondence possible while on the road. On the operational side, Heckmann sees a similar trend: during the contact restrictions, many companies have had their first positive experiences with remote working, and confidence in working at a distance has risen sharply. Many tasks that previously had to be completed on site can therefore increasingly be handled from the office or home office in the future. For customers, this has the advantage that travel and accommodation costs can be saved at the same time as less time is spent.

No more working on site: then there are virtual coffee breaks 

At the same time, it is particularly important in consulting to create trust and find a common human level. "A short personal conversation between two meetings or a shared coffee in the company cafeteria can often have more impact than a two-hour technical lecture," says Heckmann, explaining the main issue of remote working. When working from a home office, on the other hand, many things are different: There are no chance meetings in the hallway, assessing participants' reactions and presenting data in video conferences is significantly more difficult, and the lack of exchange with customers and colleagues impairs the sense of togetherness. For this reason, CNT introduced virtual coffee breaks and after-work sessions, among other things, which were particularly important for employees at the new location in Zurich. To separate private and business matters, Heckmann advises using a separate video service for such meetings. In order to find a personal level on the Internet, consultants should also always switch on their camera during digital conferences and ensure high image quality and transmission rates. Video services that also make it possible to share presentations and digital whiteboards are particularly suitable here.

Why personal contacts are irreplaceable

However, Heckmann believes that digital communication and remote working will not completely replace personal customer contact and on-site work. "If you work entirely from home or remotely, the negative effects will outweigh the negative effects in the long term - it's simply because we are social beings," Heckmann explains. The physical presence of a consultant is irreplaceable, especially when it comes to acquiring new customers and managing change and conflict, when it comes to showing closeness and building trust. In the future, consulting will primarily be about finding a good balance, for example, by using consultants on site who work with remote support from the company center. In CNT's new Swiss office, "The Circle," in Zurich, Heckmann therefore wants to make many work processes agile and implement the learnings from the last few weeks in a meaningful way. Together with his team, he supports customers in the life science, pharmaceutical and medical technology, mechanical and plant engineering, engineering and construction, manufacturing, and equipment and component manufacturing industries.

Source and further information: CNT Management Consulting AG 

With the economy reopening after the lockdown, many businesses are facing new realities. For example, commerce is shifting toward fast and efficient online shopping and personalized experiences for limited-time store visits. With this in mind, Lightspeed has enhanced its eCommerce onboarding process with 24/7 customer service for new and existing merchants, supporting increased customer requests and volumes as they move online and integrating the latest features into their operations. Recent additions include Live Preview themes, which allow merchants to test the look and feel of their online store before it effectively goes live, and Multi-Location Inventory. This gives SMEs the ability to show their customers inventory availability for all warehouse locations online, so no sale is missed. Merchants can also take advantage of a variety of extensions available in the app store that work seamlessly with the multi-channel and multi-currency system, opening up a new world of sales opportunities.

Efficiency increased thanks to omnichannel solution

One of the first to use Lightspeed's new functionalities is Daniel Bischoff from Enchanté Concept in Inwil. "Lightspeed was one of the first providers in Switzerland to offer an Omni solution," he says. "So we were one of the first Swiss customers to apply the omni solution for our stores & webshop. Lightspeed's omnichannel solution has extremely increased our sales capabilities and efficiency." In fact, Lightspeed saw a 400 percent increase in eCommerce volume processed by its retailers in April 2020 compared to February. This clearly demonstrates that retailers who deployed Lightspeed's eCommerce solution to support their online business were able to quickly adapt to changing consumer behavior during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further eCommerce functions in the pipeline

The following digital tools will also be available for Lightspeed users in the near future:

• Lightspeed shipping: an enhanced shipping brokerage service so Lightspeed merchants have instant access to shipping rates and labels through Lightspeed eCommerce.
• Curbside Pick-Up: Enables customers to shop conveniently and flexibly at the roadside.
• Personalized Shopping: Allows customers to make appointments with their favorite retailers in a risk-free environment and benefit from the greatest possible care from the
  to benefit from the expertise of our staff.

"Lightspeed is a company that helps retailers and restaurants go digital. By introducing these eCommerce capabilities, we are able to provide immediate
business needs of SMEs," says Dax Dasilva, founder and CEO of Lightspeed. "Omnichannel is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have."

Source and further information: Lightspeed

Accelerated digitization and automation point the way out of the current crisis. After all, they rightly promise cost savings, higher productivity, new products and services better tailored to customer needs - the basis for stable growth in the future. Companies are well aware of the central role played by the quality of their data - especially the historical data containing intellectual property and knowledge about customer history - and the ease with which it can be accessed. "In addition to operational as well as customer experience data, historical information determines the current as well as future value of companies. Radically simplifying and cheapening the lifecycle management of this information not only helps save costs in the short term and support current business initiatives such as mergers & acquisitions or carve-outs much more flexibly than before. Rather, it creates a solid, technically modern and economically attractive, in short, resilient basis for all major digitization projects. These include, for example, the transformation to SAP S/4HANA or business processes and models based on Big Data, which rely on the highest data quality," explains Thomas Failer, founder and Group CEO of Data Migration International.

Well-filled pipeline and positive outlook

The knowledge of how to build vehicles efficiently and with consistently high quality is older than the design of an electric car and the corresponding control software and is not losing its value. The human body, its size and dimensions are not subject to the same changes as viewer tastes in series and films; even dress patterns from the 1950s therefore continue to be part of the valuable intellectual property of a textile company. Machinery and equipment, on the other hand, have a life cycle of several decades, so not only blueprints but also maintenance reports over this period hold valuable insights. These can provide a great service in the development of future products, even if the software share in them or in their manufacture will be incomparably greater in the future. The value-creation potential inherent in historical company information explains the further increase in interest in JiVS IMP. For example, the increased marketing measures since 2019, including sponsorship in racing, have significantly increased the number of leads. Around half of the 1500 leads counted last year were from large companies, the other half from SMEs. "This is a very pleasing result and, in addition to the sheer quantity, means that the quality of our pipeline of sales opportunities is also as high as it has ever been. The measures have therefore borne fruit and massively increased our profile in the target markets of Switzerland, Germany and the USA. This explains to a large extent the fact that big names such as SAP, KPMG and Deloitte, as well as authors of management books, have taken notice of us and are collaborating and publishing with us," Failer analyzes. "What's more, our subscription model also makes it easier than ever for our customers to opt for our JiVS IMP platform from a business point of view. Although this reduces the amount of revenue per order, it will give our business an additional boost. So the outlook remains positive, and we are sticking to our double-digit growth targets."

Corona and the current situation

Since the lockdown in March, DMI has been focusing on digital formats and regularly organizes webinars in German-speaking countries and in the USA, each of which attracts hundreds of participants. This results in a well-filled pipeline of potential buyers. Most of these planned projects are aimed at decommissioning legacy systems and business scenarios such as mergers & acquisitions, but also increasingly at optimizing data quality. Says Failer: "This trend was already emerging before Corona due to strong market movements and turbulence in sectors such as the automotive industry, but intensified once again during the crisis." In no case, however, do interested parties want these more short-term initiatives to come at the expense of their long-term strategic digitization projects; on the contrary, in everything they are currently planning and doing, they are simultaneously looking for new ways to master digital transformation more easily and with less effort. "Admittedly, they are postponing the corresponding projects to the coming year in some cases," Failer notes. "But the positive experiences that customers are having with JiVS IMP as part of their current projects are making them realize very quickly what potential they can also achieve with the help of our platform in other application scenarios, right through to digital transformation projects."

Global Move with SAP

In order to facilitate the transformation to SAP S/4HANA for existing SAP customers and to accelerate the corresponding projects, SAP has launched the SAP S/4HANA Movement program. The Movement program differentiates between four main phases in the transformation, starting with the identification of the strategy, through the concrete design of the project and the selection of the appropriate technologies, approaches and solutions, to the continuous optimization of the new environment and the processes based on it. JiVS IMP supports all phases of the Movement program, in particular due to its high degree of automation and simplification potential - through the automated separation of operational from historical data. Moreover, the benefits that can be achieved with the help of the platform do not remain a one-off effect, but can be integrated into a continuous optimization cycle.

In addition to innovations at the product level, DMI's new corporate structure, introduced last year and geared towards internationalization, supports global cooperation with SAP. In 2019, for example, not only was the international group of companies established, but also the first foreign subsidiary, Data Migration International Americas LLC, based in Dallas, which employs a powerful local sales team. In addition, the management team was expanded to include proven industry experts and new roles such as Chief Operating Officer (COO) or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO); the latter is based in the U.S. and manages global marketing activities from there. "Even though the current situation has impressively demonstrated the strength of virtual and distributed working and will determine everyday life even more than before, as a Swiss company we are expressly committed to Kreuzlingen as our headquarters and central development location," Failer emphasizes.

Data Migration International's growing partner ecosystem

More and more service providers are also recognizing the potential that lies in the end-to-end management of historical data and documents. DMI is currently holding in-depth discussions with three to four potential partners every week. In total, the Swiss company is currently working with more than twenty service providers on customer projects. DMI has already entered into a formal partnership with five of them, including most recently in the German-speaking region with SAP partner Orbis from Saarbrücken or in South Africa with the Data Management Partner Pty Ltd. Internationalization and increased cooperation with SAP have also aroused the interest of large, globally active consulting companies and system integrators in JiVS IMP. These include in particular KPMG and Deloitte, at whose events for customers and interested parties DMI is increasingly appearing and presenting the technical and business advantages of its platform for information management.

JiVS IMP: separate, automate, simplify, save

In order for history to become a source of higher value, it is important to separate operational and customer experience data from historical data and to manage the lifecycle of historical information separately on a dedicated Platform to manage. This approach has numerous advantages: Significant cost savings occur even in the short term because the legacy systems can be completely decommissioned after the information has been separated and outsourced. As a result, operating costs can usually be reduced by around 80 percent lower. What's more, no upfront investment is required, as JiVS IMP can be subscribed to as a service, as is customary in the cloud age, which reduces amortization times to a minimum.

In the wake of the new challenges currently facing microenterprises and a large proportion of SMEs, IT and telecoms service providers are coming up with new or additional offerings. New services from Swisscom are designed to relieve the burden on SMEs.

ICT Assessment

After the lockdown, many SMEs are working more digitally than ever and are dealing more intensively with digitization issues. They are also concerned about the extent to which their own IT environment can keep up with the challenges of the digital world. Swisscom's ICT Assessment aims to provide an answer to this question. This offer is aimed at SMEs and promises a comprehensive analysis of the ICT environment, i.e. the telephony and IT infrastructure. A team of Swisscom experts takes stock of the situation, identifies potential for improvement and uncovers risks. Product-independent recommendations for action are then summarized in an assessment report. According to the telecommunications service provider, all this is done at a fixed price. An additional management presentation can be booked as an option. The ICT assessment is now available in German. For French and Italian-speaking customers, the market launch will take place in fall 2020.

Service package for small businesses and self-employed

Many SMEs have introduced home offices and new digital tools in recent weeks. The increasing digitalization of the way we work brings new opportunities, but it also creates new tasks. This is where Swisscom wants to come in with a new service package: With My Service Business, the telecoms service provider relieves small businesses and the self-employed of technical concerns so they can concentrate on their core competencies. The service package is aimed at businesses with up to six employees and includes all-round support for all office devices (PCs, smartphones, printers) and operating systems as well as Microsoft 365 applications. This includes, for example, setting up applications, data backup and synchronization, and technical support in the Swisscom Shop, on the hotline or on site.

More information about Swisscom's services: ICT Assessment / My Service Business