How does a succession work? What do I have to prepare? What is the value of my company? How do I find a successor for my company? Am I a suitable successor? The "Initiative Nachfolgebus" and its team of experts in St. Gallen are available to answer these and other pressing questions for SME owners and potential buyers.

Benefit from expert and practical knowledge

Under the motto "We present company stories and discuss realities", the 2019 Succession Bus Tour will focus even more strongly on succession practice. To this end, in addition to the individual discussions, insights into the succession stories of a wide variety of Swiss companies will be provided by means of interviews and practical dialogues with regional SME entrepreneurs and experts with succession experience. 

It is better to succeed than to start from scratch

Apart from the fact that entering entrepreneurship via succession is often more successful than a start-up due to the already existing basis, this thesis is also supported by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2018/19 close. The Country Report Switzerland of the GEMwritten by the Fribourg School of Economics (HSW-FR) and SUPSI with the support of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF), dispels the myth of "Start-up Nation Switzerland". The Swiss population's intentions to start a business are significantly lower in 2018/19 (6.9%) than in 2017 (10.5%). (...). In fact, only 7.4% of the Swiss have started a business. This means that the start-up rate is strikingly below the average of the comparison countries (10.4%). In a resulting recommendation, the Country Report Switzerland states that the focus of support programs should be increasingly directed toward business succession.

Promoting company succession in a more targeted manner

This is a tailwind for business succession and the succession bus. According to the country report, there is an increasing need for the Swiss economy to offer SMEs the same targeted support for their succession planning that startups have long received. This is where the succession bus comes in as a free exchange platform. This is one of the few opportunities for buyers and sellers to tackle business succession directly, practically and discreetly.

Program and other dates: www.nachfolgebus.ch

The German Stevie Awards are a high-profile business award for the German-speaking European corporate world, recognizing outstanding achievements in over 200 different categories awards. They are part of the Stevie® Awards, which among other things host the prestigious International Business Awards® and receive more than 12,000 entries from over 70 countries each year in seven competition programs. The German Stevie Awards were launched in 2014. The initiators had already deliberately chosen the name "German Stevie Awards" at the time because they wanted to signal that the Stevies are more than just a country award.

Open to the entire German-speaking region

Now these considerations from back then are being implemented: Starting with the 2020 competition year, the German Stevie Awards will open up the participation boundaries and will now be open to all organizations operating in a country where German is an official language. This applies to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgium. Geographically, these countries form a German language area in Central Europe. The westernmost point where German or a German dialect is the current colloquial language is the municipality of Rambruch in Luxembourg, and the easternmost is the Austrian municipality of Deutsch Jahrndorf in Burgenland. In the north, the German municipality of List on Sylt is the end of the linguistic area, and in the south, the Swiss municipality of Zermatt on the Matterhorn.

Organizations of all sizes, public and private, for-profit or non-profit, as well as individuals from the business community are eligible to participate. Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards, is pleased "that we are now inviting all Swiss, Austrian, German, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgian business leaders and innovators to submit their achievements and successes and face international German-speaking competition."

Just one more business award?

According to the German Stevie Awards, what is at stake is nothing more or less than the Business Champions League in German-speaking Europe. Gallagher sees quite big chances for the Swiss participants in the award, after all they come from one of the most stable economies in the world. "I'm eager to see the entries from Switzerland, which has outstanding players especially in the service sector with its trading and financial companies, but also shines in tourism and industry, for example in chemicals and pharmaceuticals, watch and precision instrument manufacturing, mechanical engineering and food."

Companies from Switzerland would benefit in many ways from winning a Stevie Award. These range from increased media and public international attention to positive employer branding effects and new networking and acquisition opportunities. By applying, companies show that they recognize the achievements of their employees. In addition, applicants benefit from the jury's qualified feedback on their applications. These comments provide insight, into the strengths and weaknesses of the application and/or the company. And because the award ceremonies are streamed live, Stevie winners receive international exposure through the broadcast alone. In addition, the Stevie Awards PR agency creates European, regional and local awareness for the Stevie winners.

Submission deadline starts on September 11, 2019

All companies and organizations may submit as many nominations as they wish free of charge - in English, of course. The application phase of the 6th German Stevie Awards will start on September 11, 2019, and all those who submit their applications by the first deadline for participation, December 4, 2019, will benefit from a discount of 25 euros on the award fees per successful nomination. Several jury panels will then determine the gold, silver and bronze award winners, who will be presented with their trophies at a ceremony on May 8, 2020. Each award winner will receive a trophy according to their winning level in gold, silver or bronze. For the International Business Awards® 2019 the two Swiss companies DHL Express based in Muttenz and Swisscard AECS from Horgen each won two Stevie Awards.

An overview of all winners of the German Stevie Awards 2019 can be found at https://stevieawards.com/gsa/2019-gewinner-der-german-stevie-awards listed.

Following a high at the beginning of 2019, demand for new specialists in the Swiss economy declined somewhat towards the middle of the year. This is shown by the survey established by the recruitment company Hays in Switzerland. Skilled Workers Index (FKI).

Demand for skilled workers at a high level

With an index value of 210 in Q2 2019, overall demand in the Swiss labor market for skilled workers remains at a very high level. At the end of 2018, the counter was still at 204. In Q1, the index even climbed to 222 points - an all-time high since the beginning of 2015, which was set as a reference value of 100. This means that in mid-2019, more than twice as many skilled workers were being sought in this country as at that time.

In absolute terms, 46,077 specialist positions were advertised for new appointments in Switzerland between April and July, compared with 48,705 in the previous quarter. By far the largest proportion of vacancies, namely around 20,000, are in the area of information technologies (IT), followed by sales and marketing with 12,000 positions to be filled.

Fewer engineers wanted

In the engineering sector, the index shrank from 243 points previously to 221 points in the 2nd quarter. 5096 engineers were sought, around 500 fewer than in the previous quarter. The most sought-after profiles include development engineers, e.g. for drive technology, automation, electrical engineering, hardware, mechanical engineering and mechatronics (1090 vacancies), electrical engineers (970) and civil engineers (850).

Finance also recorded a decline, from 203 to 187 points. In the Skilled Workers Index, however, this term refers to academic employees in corporate and bank accounting, but not to the banking sector as such. Here, controllers (20129) and accountants (1950) are among the most sought-after specialists. Controllers were the only specialization in this skill segment to increase quarter-on-quarter - from 230 to 239 points.

Particularly in demand: IT specialists

In the IT specialization, the steep rise in demand for embedded systems developers that had been ongoing since the 4th quarter of 2017 was halted for the first time. During this time, demand had more than doubled. In other specializations, demand continued to rise in Q2, including database developers, web developers, IT project managers and leaders, IT security specialists and IT support staff. By far, the Skilled Workers Index recorded the most vacancies among software developers (4128), followed by Java developers (1466), IT consultants (1431), IT supporters (1398) and web developers (1365).

Slight decline in demand for life sciences

Demand in the life science sector also declined slightly overall; the index here fell from 216 in the 1st quarter to 204 points. Growing demand was recorded in the skill segments of clinical research staff and quality managers. By contrast, demand for life scientists has once again shrunk, so that the number of vacancies in this segment has fallen by a third in 24 months. However, with 412 open positions, this specialization is still the most sought-after in the life science sector.

No break-in detectable

At 204 points, the index for specialists in sales and marketing is also almost at the same level as before the end of 2018 (203). The greatest demand here is for qualified staff in sales: 4766 corresponding positions were available in the past quarter - around 500 fewer than in the previous quarter. Only the customer service and marketing manager segments saw minimal growth.

Despite these mixed results, Marc Lutz, Managing Director of Hays (Schweiz) AG, remains optimistic: "Demand for specialists in all sectors remains at a very high level. There is no actual slump to be seen, especially as companies are advertising more than twice as many vacant positions as they did four and a half years ago."

Source: Hays

And how do you feel about the shortage of skilled workers? Take part in the ORGANISATOR survey!

The two-day event with a clear focus on digital business was convincing across the board. Above all, the various showcases at the trade show proved to be real crowd pullers. Here, digitization could be experienced in a playful way or in the form of model systems. The focus was on current applications for manufacturing, logistics, retail, data management and much more. For example, it was demonstrated how digital price tags work in supermarkets and which digital tools suppliers can use to easily equip their products with the right labels. Or a model was used to show how dynamic, location-controlled advertising gets onto screens in buses. All in all, the 100 exhibitors from all IT sectors presented an impressive overview of the numerous possibilities of digitization for SMEs.

Environment Arena as an ideal trade fair location

Ecologically exemplary and equipped with innovative technology, the Umwelt Arena provided the ideal background for the IT trade fair topsoft. The flexible space available made it possible to offer a comprehensive supporting program in the form of presentations and workshops parallel to the exhibition area on both days of the fair. "Exhibitors and visitors, but also we as organizers, felt extremely comfortable in the Umwelt Arena. There is no doubt that we will be here again in 2020," explains exhibition manager Cyrill Schmid. A shuttle bus running every quarter of an hour provided the connection to the Killwangen-Spreitenbach train station - so the venue could also be reached conveniently by public transport.

Presentations were very well received

The organizers were very pleased with the great response to the technical presentations and workshops. The presentations were very well attended, thanks in no small part to the high-quality program and professional moderation. Topics such as New Work, digital ethics, artificial intelligence and much more left trade fair visitors spoilt for choice. In addition, there were free one-hour workshops with renowned experts, which provided participants with up-to-date knowledge and concrete recommendations for action.

Positive conclusion of the topsoft makers

"This year, we were particularly struck by the high quality of the exhibitors and offerings. We already sensed the great commitment in the run-up. The motivation has carried over to the entire trade fair. We are already looking forward to next year," was the positive assessment of the topsoft organizers. The exhibitors also expressed their appreciation to the trade press and praised the high quality of the visitors. In the meantime, the company is working on further formats that will increase visitor benefits and at the same time make the digital potential even more tangible. The next topsoft trade fair is planned for August 2020.

www.topsoft.ch

Leila Summa - who, as a Swiss national, was one of the first employees at Facebook Germany - is convinced that there is much that can be learned from digital giants like Google, Amazon and others. They cleverly use technological progress to anticipate customer needs and reinvent themselves every day. And relevant, too: They manage to attract the best talent for the long term. In a keynote speech on October 1, Leila Summa will present five essential things that distinguish a "normal" team from a high-performance team.

Leila Summa, explain: What is a "high-performance team"? What are the characteristics of such teams?
Leila Summa: There is no single definition of what distinguishes high-performance teams. I would describe it as follows: This is a team that has a passionate commitment to very ambitious goals and a strong shared conviction. It is characterized by collaboration that is characterized by maximum trust, creative problem-solving practices, a willingness to learn, and short decision-making paths. The willingness of each individual to take risks and innovate is high, and employees think and act entrepreneurially, i.e. take full responsibility to contribute to the company's success on a daily basis.

Why are such teams so important for entrepreneurial innovation?
High-performance teams are a competitive advantage because they shorten the innovation process. It makes it possible to shorten the time-to-market for new products, i.e. to respond more quickly to changing market and customer needs.

Switzerland regularly takes top places in global rankings when it comes to innovative capability. Precisely because it has many such "high-performance teams"?
The decisive factors here are the number of patent applications in relation to the population and in an EU comparison. We are a rather small country, but with a great scientific infrastructure and a good school and university system. In my opinion, a lot of innovation in our country comes not only from the Swiss, but from the mix of immigrant professionals - especially in the university environment. I think we have great people and experts. But I also think that we could achieve a lot more with this base if we opened up to the outside world even more.

Many innovations come from start-ups, but are only then brought to market by global corporations. What is going "wrong" here - or why is this right after all?
Start-ups can naturally develop ideas more quickly and, of course, often think very creatively. What is often missing is the focus on a functioning business model, a well-known brand or customer access, and the structures to make an idea really big. From a business perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense to bring a global corporation on board. I think it even shows maturity to get the right partners on board at the right time.

Your tips to SMEs on how they can improve their innovation capability?
SMEs must recognize that a corporate culture capable of innovation can only be created through the actions of many and not just top-down. In concrete terms, it is important to give all employees as much room for maneuver as possible to develop ideas themselves. Companies must provide them with the right tools and practices and invest heavily in on-the-job development. But more importantly, when looking for new talent, make sure to recruit for potential and willingness to learn. We need more employees who are continuously open to learning and questioning what they already do in order to make it even better.

Leila Summa is an online pioneer from the very beginning and has been accompanying and leading digital transformation projects in traditional and digital companies for more than 22 years. You can experience her live at the Business Innovation Week on October 1, 2019 in Zurich.
www.businessinnovation.ch

The necessity of the seat belt is not recognized as such from the beginning and its history is correspondingly long, lasting until the 1980s! More than 20 years pass from its invention to its introduction in Switzerland. As early as 1959, the seat belt goes into series production with a Volvo model. In 1976, the Federal Council decides to make seat belts compulsory in Switzerland by decree, but the Federal Court annuls the compulsory requirement again due to a legal dispute. It takes another five years until, after the revision of the Road Traffic Act and a federal referendum, the law is narrowly accepted by the people and introduced from July 1981.

The Long Road to Compulsory Seat Belt Use

Today, the obligation to wear a seat belt is taken for granted by most people in Switzerland. Seat belts make an indispensable contribution to our safety on a daily basis and have been widely recognized since their introduction by law in the 1980s. To ensure that seat belts meet the complex safety requirements, they have also been discussed and standardized in international standardization work. The 1980s not only increase road safety with the compulsory wearing of seat belts, they are also the time when the airbag system, also an invention of the 1950s, finds its first important ways into vehicle construction (ISO 12097-1).

The 1980s as the birth of the information age

The beginning of the information age is dated to the early 1980s. Computer technology makes great progress, IBM launches the first personal computer and people scramble for new inventions such as answering machines, microwave ovens and CD players. The new sound carrier, the compact disc (CD), will replace the vinyl record by the end of the decade and become the new technology (SN EN 60908). The Internet protocol TCP/IP is also spreading worldwide and becomes the standard for networking (SN EN 62457).

Invisible helpers ensure safety and smooth interaction in everyday life

Just as we now rely on the safety of vehicle seat belts when buckling up in a car, we use countless objects every day that only thanks to standardized regulations, procedures and processes guarantee us absolutely unnoticed safety and ease of use.

Sources: Wikipedia, Bfu.ch, ISO, German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies DKE

A few weeks ago I spontaneously took the train over the Bernina Pass to Italy for two days. The Bernina mountain line is part of the UNESCO World Heritage, as one of only three railroad lines worldwide. Switzerland in particular has a large number of fascinating railroad lines, all of which have one thing in common: purely rational economic reasons could hardly ever justify their construction (exceptions prove the rule). What was needed was the sometimes obsessive passion of individuals, combined with a firm belief in the possibilities and in doing something good for the respective region. And for the whole thing to be economically viable, it needs ongoing marketing, often even worldwide.

1000 reasons against

My point is this: at any point in time, there have certainly been 1000 reasons NOT to do the project. And yet it was done. Why? Because it's hard, and because we can. And because it ultimately does good, at least in the perception of the originators. We can think it's crazy, or we can think it's irresponsible. But it's exactly this kind of mindset, combined with passion and perseverance, that moves us forward. We can, of course, argue about the direction.

How you can create great things

What does that look like in your company? You don't see much of this "winning spirit" in most of them. Instead, we get discouraged very quickly by reasons not to. Here are three foundations for creating truly great things at your company, too:

1. Passion. What are you and your team obsessed with (in a positive sense)? What do you believe in with all your soul? This passion can be generated (even passionate golfing is not innate). The reality: in most teams and companies I see task fulfillment instead of true passion.
2. Courage. The legendary former Swiss Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi always likes to talk about the "windows of opportunity" that need to be seized in major projects. This requires not only passion but also the courage to move forward as soon as such a "window" opens. Instead, many leaders prefer to wait (or have another analysis done). The window then closes again.
3. Battle. Yes, for the realization of great projects and also for every outstanding success you need a certain fighting spirit. By the way, this can be expressed in very different ways (if you think of Mahatma Gandhi, for example). In too many companies, I see instead indifference and the fear of getting one's hands dirty.

My appeal is: Use reasons that speak against your idea as fuel to really step on the gas now. Of course, this assumes that your idea will do something good for others.

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

Identity thieves are up to their mischief in many ways: Criminals are targeting identities primarily through phishing technologies (67%) and malware (33%). That's according to NTT Security's 2019 Global Threat Intelligence Report (GTIR). Phishing attacks target Google (27%) and especially Microsoft accounts (45%), most notably Office 365, according to GTIR 2019. However, Microsoft applications are not only popular targets for phishing attacks; malware spam campaigns are also a big problem. Over 95% of identity theft-related malware targeted vulnerabilities in a Microsoft Office application or operating system, with nearly 35% exploiting the CVE-2017-11882 vulnerability. When it comes to keylogger malware, the Trickbot Trojan (62%) plays a big role. Previously, Trickbot only targeted banking data, but the new variant can also grab passwords from other applications.

Identity theft with big consequences

The impact of identity theft on companies is enormous: millions in damage can quickly be incurred when fraudsters pose as company directors and direct payments to false accounts. Industrial espionage or blackmail, including ransom demands, can also have serious financial consequences. If companies no longer have access to important data, for example in the event of a ransomware attack, ongoing operations are disrupted or, in the worst case, come to a standstill.

With five tips against identity thieves

However, with five measures, companies can make identity theft more difficult and take the right action in an emergency:

1. First, companies need strong passwords. Weak passwords are often still the biggest security weakness. If the same or a very similar log-in is used for different accounts, hackers can reuse stolen credentials. For real protection, users should have to prove or enter a second factor for authentication in addition to the password, which an attacker cannot know or possess. Modern tokens used as part of multi-factor authentication (MFA) are an effective solution. Some sort of unique password is generated for each authentication process - for example, a code sent via SMS or a push message prompting "confirm" or "deny." Multi-factor authentication is especially necessary for systems that require administrator rights to access. This makes it much harder for attackers to gain access to sensitive information and networks by using old usernames and passwords. In addition, electronic data should be encrypted and documents protected with digital signatures.
2. Not every employee needs to be able to access every area in the company's network. Companies should segment the network and define exactly who has what rights. This is especially true for cloud and hybrid environments. This way, criminals who gain less privileged access cannot immediately penetrate the entire company network.
3. An important point is the training of employees. Targeted training on security policies, current threats and how to deal with them increases the vigilance and awareness of individual users. Among other things, rules should be defined that specify behavioral patterns for e-mail inquiries regarding bank transfers.
4. An incident response strategy helps in the event of an attack. In addition to the question of the appropriate response, the main question is whether and how quickly an incident can be detected at all. Answers are provided by a comprehensive real-time view of network traffic and sophisticated logics for successful analysis. When an incident does occur, those responsible must first qualify, assess and classify a security incident. Critical to this is the context and associated risks, as not all incidents are security incidents and have the same impact. After identifying the problem, the next task is to stop the cyber attack and limit the damage. To do this, IT staff must use a security playbook that details how to proceed to examine in detail all potentially affected components, such as operating systems, configuration files, applications and data, and also initiate the necessary data recovery measures if necessary. Ideally, a disaster recovery plan (DRP) exists that describes exactly how the damaged company is to deal with a security incident, what measures are to be initiated and who is responsible.
5. An identity governance strategy is a prerequisite for fending off targeted attacks. Put simply, identity governance is the combination of policy-driven identity management and compliance. The concrete requirements include, for example, the company-wide assignment of roles and authorizations, the regulation of user access and the monitoring of the fulfillment of compliance requirements. Against the background that many companies lose track of which services are running with which account on which server or which cloud, the topic of identity governance is of great importance.

No 100 pr0cent protection

"There is no such thing as one hundred percent protection against identity theft. This makes it all the more important for companies to consider basic points," explains Frank Balow, Director Identity & Key Management EMEA at NTT Security. "With stolen identities, hackers can penetrate deeper and deeper into corporate networks. Even if the initially stolen username and password does not yet allow access to highly sensitive areas - in combination with social engineering or with other known or obtained passwords, attackers can get further and, in the worst case, carry out dedicated attacks. Compromised accounts can also be used by attackers to launch external attacks on business partners and customers."

Source: NTT Security

The fake boss is getting competition. In addition to the "fake president" scam, orderer fraud ("fake identity") and payment fraud ("payment diversion") have also been on the rise in recent years. According to analyses by credit insurer Euler Hermes, these three deceptive crimes have resulted in losses totaling more than 190 million euros since 2014, especially for companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. There was a sharp increase in the number of cases in 2018 with +35% compared to the previous year, especially in orderer fraud and with +24% in payment fraud.

Smaller amounts, but easier...

"For fraudsters, both orderer fraud and payment fraud definitely have their appeal," says Stefan Ruf, CEO of Euler Hermes Switzerland. "Both are much easier to execute than Fake President." A fake president scam requires a relatively large amount of strategic planning as well as time-intensive preparation, such as spying on customs. In addition, perpetrators must be skilled at "social engineering" to get employees to make the desired payments while keeping it a secret. "However, to redirect payment flows or provide a different shipping address, a short email is usually enough," Ruf says. "The amounts are usually smaller, but it's quick as a flash - even for several companies at the same time. The numbers speak volumes here."

Fraud is usually only discovered during the reminder run: perpetrators and prey long gone

In orderer fraud, hackers impersonate customers. They initiate an order and then specify a different delivery address for an order via e-mail. For example, shoes are ordered to a vacant building, and the invoice goes to the existing customer. Since the latter never ordered the goods and, more importantly, never received them, he does not pay the invoice.

"The fraud usually only comes to light with the reminder run - several weeks later, depending on the payment deadline. By then, however, the fraudsters are long gone with the loot," says Rüdiger Kirsch, fraud expert at Euler Hermes. "The number of cases has risen sharply recently for both deception crimes. This means they are slowly but surely competing with 'big brother' Fake President."

Hacker fraud: a case for fidelity insurance

The goods or money are gone and, in the worst case, the balance sheet is ruined - usually even if the company has cyber or trade credit insurance. "Trade credit insurance protects against defaults by buyers - but only for real companies, for example, if they are insolvent. However, I can't have a limit of insurance on a fraudster," says Kirsch. "So if there is an underlying fraud and a hacker impersonates a company, has the goods delivered to a different address and this results in a financial loss, this is not a case for regular trade credit insurance, but for fidelity insurance (VSV). Incidentally, cyber insurance usually doesn't pay out for such cases of fraud by hackers either."

Cyber insurance falls short

Cyber insurances usually focus on modules to protect against liability risks as well as against damages resulting from a business interruption caused by a cyber attack or damages due to negligent misuse. Comprehensive assistance services, in the case of reputational risks or, for example, for the rapid restoration of the IT infrastructure or the web store after cyber attacks, are also important elements, together with modules from legal protection and D&O insurance. Criminal acts are covered - if at all - only to a very small fraction.

Fidelity insurance, on the other hand, primarily insures against targeted, criminal acts against a company. Unauthorized acts such as fraud or embezzlement by a company's own employees as well as by external third parties - especially hackers - are the main focus of fidelity insurance. Accordingly, financial losses caused by fake president, orderer or payment fraud are insured, as are phishing, keylogging or "man in the middle" and "man in the cloud".

Overview of fraud schemes and their respective methods

• Fake President / Chief Fraud: Pretending to have a false identity: The fraudster pretends to be the CEO of a company and uses "social engineering" (e.g., special esteem as well as strict secrecy and pressure) to induce employees (mostly by e-mail, sometimes also by telephone) to make payments, mostly for strictly confidential company purchases abroad that are declared as very urgent
• Fake Identity / Orderer Fraud: Pretending a false identity: The fraudster pretends to be a customer (often an existing one) orders goods and then has them sent to a different delivery address.
• Payment Diversion / Payment Fraud: Pretending a false identity: the fraudster pretends to be a supplier and gives a different account number for the payment of the already made delivery.
• Phishing: The scammer sends fake emails to employees of a company on real topics. The goal is to infiltrate Trojans or keyloggers via the link in the email in order to obtain sensitive company data
• Keylogging: The fraudster infiltrates the system with software that records and stores credentials and passwords, e.g. of account data, cloud, server accesses, etc.
• Man in the middle: The fraudster hacks into the communication between two communication partners and thus has access to the data traffic. He can view this data and manipulate it at will for his own purposes
• Man in the cloud: The fraudster hacks into a cloud where company data is stored (e.g., through keylogging) and can view this data and manipulate or delete it at will or introduce malware

Source and further information: Euler Hermes

Digitization and automation are the most important topics in the steering committees of companies in Switzerland in the current year - this is shown by the swissVR Monitor, which is produced by the swissVR association together with the consulting firm Deloitte and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In the current survey of around 400 board members, it becomes clear that when it comes to the topic of digitization, companies take a pragmatic approach (91%) and the majority (60%) are convinced that they are already further advanced than their competitors. The latter statement applies to a much greater extent to large companies (70%) than to SMEs (54%). However, the surveyed board members are also somewhat uncertain: Less than one-fifth are fully convinced that their company's board of directors (19%) or executive management (18%) have sufficient expertise and competencies to successfully drive forward the digital transformation.

Board members believe in the opportunities of digitization

The vast majority of respondents are completely (36%) or rather (46%) of the opinion that digitization opens up new business opportunities as well as opportunities for additional sales. Large companies (90%) see this more positively than SMEs (78%). However, digitization also brings risks, for example, it requires high investments and causes additional costs that put pressure on margins and business results: For 15 percent, this statement is fully true, and for 42 percent, it is somewhat true. 69 percent also believe that digital data exchange on the board of directors tends to increase the security risk from cyberattacks. And only a minority of 46 percent of respondents are concerned with potential digitization risks of an ethical nature, such as job losses, discrimination, manipulation or data protection.

Change management critical to success

"These results largely correspond to our experience as consultants for a wide variety of transformation projects. To ensure that the costs of digital transformation do not get out of hand or that projects do not reduce profits for years, clear leadership and assumption of responsibility by the executive board is just as necessary as comprehensive change management and serious project reporting. Furthermore, the board of directors must by no means ignore possible ethical challenges - it is exactly the right body to ask such questions and provide clarification," says Reto Savoia, CEO Deloitte Switzerland.

Digitization encompasses a wide variety of technologies. The respondents rate Big Data and automation as the most important of these (see graphic for details). The provision of storage space, computing power or applications via the Internet (cloud computing) and the networking of physical and virtual objects with the aid of information and communication technologies (Internet of Things, IoT) also have broad significance. Artificial intelligence and mobile computing were still cited as significant topics by more than a third of respondents.

Blockchain important for financial services providers

Technologies are ranked very differently depending on the industry: Blockchain technology remains highly important in the financial services sector (60%), while IoT (61%) and robots (35%) are above average in the manufacturing sector.

"Two digital technologies are clearly in the foreground for most Swiss companies: on the one hand, the collection and evaluation of large volumes of data and the prediction of trends derived from this, and on the other hand, the automation of functional sequences and work processes in order to increase efficiency along the entire value chain. Other technologies such as 3D printing or robots are only of interest to specific industries. The results are a snapshot, because maturity levels and application possibilities of digital technologies develop and change rapidly. Blockchain technology, for example, has not yet been able to fulfill the hopes placed in it - but wider use in a few years is still likely," explains Cornelia Ritz Bossicard, President swissVR.

Digitization is a matter for the boss

According to the swissVR Monitor, the digitization topic is clearly driven from the top of the company: The main drivers are the board of directors as a body (48%), the CEO (46%) and the executive board (43%). All other response options were selected by less than 18 percent. In four out of five companies (79%), digitization is therefore also an integral part of the corporate strategy, and fewer than two out of five companies (17%) have a separate digitization strategy. However, not all companies are reacting quickly enough or taking enough time to address the issue: One-third in each case say that their company is reacting too slowly to the challenges of digitization (31%) or is taking too little time to address the issue (33%).

Pragmatic board members

Prof. Dr. Christoph Lengwiler, lecturer at the Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Vice President of swissVR explains: "It is gratifying to see that the boards of directors are dealing with the digital transformation intensively, but also with the necessary pragmatism. A successful digital transformation requires the full support of the board of directors and management, otherwise failure is inevitable. At the same time, however, sufficient space should also be given to initiatives from lower levels of the company. And external impulses such as workshops or further training, as well as new members with digitalization knowledge, can also help a board of directors move forward in terms of digitalization."

More information: www.swissvr.ch

In 2019, the jury will again consist of employees who evaluate their company using a scientifically based questionnaire that is well established in practice. In doing so, they respond to perceived organizational conditions at their employer, such as collaboration, dealing with change, management, leadership, employee involvement, work content, employee development and compensation, and provide information about their basic attitude (attachment and satisfaction as well as attractiveness and recommendation of the employer) toward the company.

Already 19. implementation

Sven Bühler, Managing Director of icommit, and his team have again this year - and for the 19th time - surveyed employees from 121 companies on their behalf and analyzed their responses. Over 28,000 employees submitted their evaluations, making the survey the largest of its kind in Switzerland. According to Bühler, this shows how great the interest of the workforce is in being heard. This is because the number of participants has been consistently high over the years, also because the companies systematically use the findings of the survey to further develop themselves and thus continuously improve their attractiveness as an employer.

Corporate strategy beats work-life balance

What is particularly interesting about this year's results: Despite a sharp increase in burn-out and other stress-related absences from work, the influence of a balanced work-life balance on the commitment of the workforce is very small. icommit CEO Sven Bühler provides a simple explanation for this in his presentation at the awards ceremony: "Employees who show genuine commitment see meaning in their tasks, care about set goals, make an effort for their company, and motivate themselves autonomously. For us, these are the "Willis", they want. And when a Willi knows the goal, they are willing to embrace change." A good work-life balance or high compensation, on the other hand, is more likely to attract an "Egon," according to Bühler. He also has a bond with his company. But they are calculating. Egons always have their own advantage in mind. Companies would therefore do well to create a working environment in which Willis - female and male - feel particularly comfortable.

The best employers 2019

This year's winners can already increasingly look forward to Willis in their workforce, because they consistently promote a work environment in which appreciation, independent work, short decision-making paths, co-entrepreneurship and responsibility are emphasized.

Click here for the complete rankings.

More information: Swiss Employer Award

The Commercial Association and the VillageOffice Cooperative are entering into a partnership as of today. Independently of each other, both organizations pursue the goal of promoting modern and flexible forms of work and preparing professionals for the working world of tomorrow. With the new cooperation they want to use common synergies. As a professional association for commercial and business employees, the Kaufmännische Verband currently serves around 46,000 members. VillageOffice has been working since 2016 to build a nationwide network of Partner Spaces. These are coworking spaces embedded in an ecosystem of local service providers. Today, the network consists of around 60 coworking spaces. Under the new partnership, members of the Kaufmännischer Verband are allowed to cowork one day per year for free at one of the selected locations. For all other days, they benefit from a special rate of CHF 30.00 per day.

Companies also benefit

With the new partnership, however, members of the Kaufmännischer Verband benefit from more than just financial advantages. In Switzerland, around 70% of working people commute to a place of work outside their community of residence (BfS 2019). By using nearby coworking spaces as off-site offices or meeting rooms, working people become more flexible in terms of time and geography. Shorter commutes allow more time for family, friends and hobbies. "Our goal is that by 2030, every person in Switzerland will be able to reach the nearest coworking space within 15 minutes by bike or public transport," says Jenny Schäpper-Uster, partner and co-founder of VillageOffice. This not only promotes the local economy and relieves the traffic infrastructure, but also contributes to a better work-life balance. This in turn has a positive effect on motivation and commitment to the company. Coworking spaces benefit not only employees, but also employers. With the external infrastructure, they can offer their employees flexible solutions and save on internal fixed costs at the same time.

Partnership for a better work-life balance

The Commercial Association also sees great potential for the future labor market in the new form of work. The largest increase is currently being recorded by the occupational group with higher functions in the commercial and business management area. They potentially benefit the most from the opportunities for flexible working in terms of time and location. Decentralized working is also becoming increasingly important with the steadily growing gig economy. "At the political level, we are campaigning for a modernization of the labor law and for good framework conditions for new forms of work," explains Ursula Häfliger, responsible for policy at the Commercial Association. The goal, she says, is to favor flexible working while strengthening health protection. "In addition, social security for new forms of work must be guaranteed. Flexible working can be the key to continuing gainful employment, especially for people with non-work commitments." The Commercial Association has a long-standing commitment to work-life balance.

Free coworking during Work Smart Week

The partnership announcement comes just in time for this year's Work Smart Week (work-smart-initiative.ch). From August 26 to 30, 2019, various companies will organize events on topics related to flexible and location-independent working as part of the initiative. Members of the Kaufmännischer Verband and interested parties can try out the Member Spaces of Coworking Switzerland (coworking.ch) free of charge during these days. The Kaufmännische Verband has been a patron of the Work Smart Initiative since it was founded in 2015, and VillageOffice supports the initiative as a partner.

More information: kfmv and VillageOffice