After the end of World War I, the procurement of chemical raw materials was very expensive and inconvenient. This led to the fact that in 1919 some textile companies founded an import company under the name IMPAG. Now, after 100 years, the small importer has become a specialized trader and service provider, distinguished by the opening of new markets and the differentiation and further development of traded products. Over the years, the company has developed into an international supplier of raw materials with national companies in Germany, France, Poland, Austria and Switzerland, focusing on the Chemicals, Nutrition & Health, Personal Care and Pharma sectors.

IMPAG relies on reliable partnerships that are characterized by fairness and openness, according to a statement on the anniversary. Remo Bernardi, CEO of IMPAG Group, sees further reasons for the company's success in its management culture, which allows a great deal of flexibility and freedom: "Our culture thrives on the entrepreneurship of our employees, the associated implementation of ideas and visions, and the simultaneous exemplification of corporate values and clarification of expectations". The broad base with its own companies in Europe gives the company strength and flexibility. The teams of the individual national companies are in close contact, use synergies and benefit from the existing know-how.

Throughout the year, IMPAG celebrates the past 100 years through a variety of events and activities, looking back, but above all looking forward, to a dynamic and digital future in which the company intends to assert and develop itself.

More information

How widespread is artificial intelligence in companies? And what does this mean for corporate culture, managers and employees? These questions were recently addressed in a study published jointly by EY and Microsoft. For this purpose, members of management boards as well as top and middle management in companies from 15 European countries were surveyed. In Switzerland, 20 companies, including AMAG, SBB, Credit Suisse, Jansen, Lonza, Swisscom and Visana, took part in the study. The conclusion of the study: All of these companies position themselves as advanced in terms of AI maturity, but do not occupy top positions in comparison with other European companies.

Data-driven industries leading the way

PwC comes to of a similar CEO survey come to the same conclusion: around 40 percent of the Swiss CEOs surveyed say they are not currently planning any AI applications. Less than ten percent say they have already implemented AI in their business. According to PwC, the reasons for this are complex. In some cases, Swiss companies have had other priorities in recent years. In addition, some companies have reservations about the performance of the technology or are critical of automation. An important building block is the handling or availability of data. The more comprehensive and complete data is available, the better AI systems can learn from it. Therefore, it is not surprising that the telecommunications (TMT) sector is the most advanced in terms of AI. "TMT and financial services sectors benefit from the fact that both industries are data-driven and already largely have the data quality and analytics tools needed for AI applications," analyzes the EY/Microsoft study in this regard. Accordingly, it is less costly for companies in these industries to launch pilot projects and develop further projects with more advanced AI applications.

SMEs as pacesetters?

Is AI not a big issue in SMEs either? This impression is deceptive. Among the top 100 startups listed by Startupticker, for example, a large proportion of IT-savvy companies are involved in some form of artificial intelligence, neural networks, data analysis or machine learning. And the SMEs surveyed opposite are also working on or with specific AI solutions. In other words, artificial intelligence is about to arrive in companies - and at an ever faster pace. In fact, it seems that it is smaller companies that are stepping on the gas when it comes to artificial intelligence. They develop the AI tools that are then used by large companies. This fits with the findings of the EY/Microsoft study, which found that the use of AI in the Swiss companies surveyed tends to proceed from the bottom up compared to their European peers. The PwC study, however, found no clear AI strategy in the companies it surveyed.

More EQ thanks to AI

The study by EY and Microsoft finds a correlation between the maturity of AI implementations and an organization's emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ is the ability to recognize other people's emotions and deal empathically with relationships. In business, this means: Openness, collaboration and customer focus. 80 percent of the most advanced companies in terms of AI describe themselves as emotionally intelligent. Conversely, only 16 percent of respondents who were rated least mature in AI considered themselves more than moderately competent in terms of emotional intelligence. "Our study shows that 61 percent of companies expect AI to help empower employees. Democratizing AI in a company frees up time for employees to be creative and innovative. Companies want exactly that because that's where the value is," said Dr. Marianne Janik, CEO of Microsoft Switzerland. Some companies also emphasize establishing a culture and leadership that embraces AI and is ready to face the challenges it brings.

Asked: Artificial intelligence not an issue for SMEs?

Here are some comments from companies for whom AI already plays a role in their business:

How high do you estimate the usage potential of AI for your company?

We see enormous potential primarily in demand-driven resource management and in the service desk. It is a major planning challenge to ensure that employees with the necessary knowledge are available on time for support, mandates and projects. This is precisely where AI can relieve employees with generated expert knowledge and support recruitment, training and deployment planning in a timely manner.

Where is AI already used in your company or your products?

The first interesting AI approaches are built into our software offerings from SAP, Thing Worx and Microsoft in the form of machine learning scenarios. They support our customers and us in recognizing recurring data patterns to trigger preventive actions, relieve employees and thus reduce risks.

What influence does the increased use of AI have on corporate culture? Does it need more emotional intelligence, for example?

When people are relieved of complex routine tasks, they can turn their attention more intensively to customer, supplier and internal relationships. In addition to specialist knowledge, social skills and emotional intelligence play a decisive role as success factors. The corporate culture benefits and becomes even more human.

AI also stirs up fears, for example of job losses. How can these fears be allayed?

Employees must first be shown the opportunities and limitations of AI. The intelligent helpers should relieve them of time-consuming routine tasks. The aim is to make complex tasks easier. Humans can invest their freed-up creative capacity in other tasks. This does not necessarily require better or different training, but an appropriately adapted work environment and good coaching.

How high do you estimate the usage potential of AI for your company?

In fact, we value the potential of AI so highly that our company's purpose is primarily to optimize and make our customers' processes and data more efficient using AI.

Where is AI already used in your company or your products?

We already implemented numerous models for data prediction and analysis based on Machine and Deep Learning for our SME customers. Our focus is on text and image analysis as well as customer churn prediction (churn analysis).

What influence does the increased use of AI have on corporate culture? Does it need more emotional intelligence, for example?

Open and honest communication with employees forms the basis for successful integration of AI. Training and education are important, as is demonstrating the benefits to employees.

AI also stirs up fears, for example of job losses. How can these fears be allayed?

The use of AI will not replace employees in the short term, but will complement teams by automating monotonous work. In the long term, there will certainly be a structural change.

The digitization of the business and working world requires new skills on the labor market. If average life expectancy increases with improved health, the number of working years is also likely to increase in the long term. Under this premise, employees must continuously adapt, retrain, and continue their education in order to keep pace. Lifelong learning has become essential.

Lifelong learning is a must

Myriam Denk, Head of Future of Work at Deloitte Switzerland, says: "Jobs are becoming more varied, interactive and complex. Accordingly, the competence requirements on the labor market are also changing. The demand for employees with distinctive competencies in the areas of creativity, social intelligence, and the use of digital technologies is increasing. This requires adjustments in the education and training of today's and tomorrow's workforce - and also poses challenges for companies. We're already seeing companies - in the healthcare or ICT sectors, for example - having trouble finding enough workers with the right skills." Lifelong learning is more important than ever, Myriam Denk adds. "It's not an option, it's a must." The skills required on the labor market today could already be obsolete in a few years. Employees and employers alike must now realize that careers will rarely be lifelong and linear, but dynamic, multi-level and multi-dimensional.

One-third of the workforce does not undergo continuing education

However, the reality paints a different picture: According to the Deloitte study "Motivated, optimistic and oblivious", 30% of the Swiss employees surveyed have not taken part in any further training in the past year - a high figure that even puts Switzerland above the European average. Even more alarming: more than half (53%) of those who have not attended any further training see no need for it.

The study reveals a correlation with the level of education: Employed persons with a higher level of education tend to be more likely to undergo further training. Only 17% of employees with a university degree have not undergone any further training in the past 12 months - compared with 40% of those with a compulsory school leaving certificate and 39% with vocational training. 58% of respondents with a low or medium level of education see no need to participate in any form of education or training - again, a much higher number than the more highly educated workers (45%).

Barriers to lifelong learning: lack of time, lack of personal responsibility?

The majority (53%) of employed persons who have not taken continuing education in the past year cite "no need" as the main reason. Another third give no time (20%) or too high cost (13%) reason (see figure above). When asked in detail about barriers to learning (see figure below), lack of time is again cited most often. Overall, however, external factors - such as the lack of a supportive work environment, lack of guidance or unattractive learning methods - are generally perceived as a greater barrier than factors that lie within the individual's own area of responsibility.

"Our study shows that employees perceive learning barriers strongly on the side of employers and less on their own," says Michael Grampp, chief economist at Deloitte Switzerland and author of the study. "Surprisingly, older workers tend to see fewer barriers to learning or reasons not to learn than younger workers. What causes the most trouble for the 55+ generation is the lack of advice on which area they should further their education."

Who should finance continuing education: State, employer or employee?

However, once the missing skills have been identified and the barriers to learning have been overcome, the question arises as to who should finance the continuing education. Half (50%) of the respondents stated that the employer currently has the main responsibility, with the state (26%) and the employees (24%) each having a quarter of the responsibility. The distribution of the desired ideal state looks quite different: 42% would see the greatest responsibility with the state, almost the same number with the employer (46%), and only 11% with themselves. "The call for the state and employers to take care of the issue of continuing education is very strong in Switzerland - more so than in other European countries. In this context, it is therefore no longer possible to speak of employees actually taking personal responsibility for their own careers, which is a very thought-provoking result," says Michael Grampp. "It is therefore all the more important that employers also raise awareness and support employees."

Myriam Denk adds: "Increasing employee awareness of the importance of lifelong learning is one thing. In addition, Swiss companies should provide even more support for their employees in their training efforts - for example, by integrating learning into everyday working life or by helping their employees to create and follow a personal development plan. The state education system also plays a crucial role in preparing the workforce for future trends. Ultimately, the interplay between government, employers and employees is central - but so is each of these groups taking responsibility themselves."

Source: Deloitte

Some compare Industrie 4.0 projects to a marathon, while for other companies digitization is more of an obstacle course. Each company assesses the requirements very differently. The analyst firm PAC surveyed to this end in summer 2018 over 100 IT, production, manufacturing and purchasing managers in Germany. The consultants wanted to know which topics the SMEs consider to be particularly major challenges and which ones they consider to be rather minor.

With SOA against silos

68 percent of the study participants consider the integration of many different systems and data to be a particularly big hurdle. This is hardly surprising, since IT systems and sensor data from networked machines and plants often have to be integrated on the way to the smart factory. In order to overcome this hurdle, modern ERP systems provide numerous starting points - first and foremost the integration options via an enterprise service bus. This eliminates the high maintenance effort and operating risk associated with a confusing network of numerous one-to-one interfaces. Such a service-oriented architecture (SOA) makes cross-client, cross-system and even cross-company data exchange noticeably more efficient.

From hand to hand to hand

Manual operations are often still the norm in both production and commercial areas. The end-to-end digitization of processes is therefore a major challenge for 67 percent of companies. Workflow management can help here: Companies pass information from one instance to the next smoothly, as if in a perfectly harmonized relay. The checking and approval of invoices or the transmission of service hours for invoicing are typical examples that promise a quick return on investment.

Old iron made smart

Even if there is a European or even worldwide standard for the Industrial Internet of Things at some point in the future: It will come too late for machines that have already been purchased. Many IT managers are therefore racking their brains as to how they can network older machines and plants with the ERP system as the control center. Just under half of the participants in the PAC study saw this as a major challenge for themselves. The first promising pilot solutions have already been developed, for example, by connecting a mini-computer between the machine and the ERP system. A Raspberry Pi then receives production commands, processes them and forwards them to the machine. Conversely, machine data is also transferred to the ERP system in the same way. In this way, even older plants can be made fit for the future.

A rolling stone gathers no moss

Every manager knows that they have to constantly develop their area, and thus the processes. For 42 percent of companies, however, reconfiguring existing processes or developing new ones is a gauntlet. Industry-specific ERP solutions and easily configurable applications provide a remedy. Power users, for example, are able to customize their variants without having to write a line of code.

Turning employees into top performers

According to PAC, the top 5 challenges for one in three companies include the ERP expertise of their employees. They have recognized: The most modern and powerful ERP system is only as good as the team that works with it. Poor ERP knowledge is slowing down their digitization. Extensive training for a wide range of needs, from power users to management reporting, only leads to limited success. This is where ERP manufacturers are called upon: Especially for small adjustments or optimizations, they must create offerings, for example, through remote consulting, that quickly help users move forward. The result: greater efficiency, optimized processes and satisfied employees.

Source and further information: proALPHA

In order to win over applicants, it is no longer enough to present the economic success of a company. Future employees are interested in what is offered to them apart from sales figures. This also includes a positive reputation as an employer, as employees find out about a company on various platforms.

Satisfied employees as a goal

Companies should also not neglect networking, because contacting potential applicants at an early stage facilitates future recruiting. Keeping an eye on employer rankings on job portals is also a must, as this allows companies to see whether their external image is changing.

Last but not least, employee satisfaction is one of the key objectives in developing a strong employer brand. Because if they like their job, they can act as ambassadors for the company and communicate their liking for their workplace to the outside world. The channels for this vary: among friends and family, on social media, or in business networks.

How to drive employer branding safely against the wall

The dpa subsidiary news aktuell and Faktenkontor show what companies should avoid when developing an employer brand:

1. The intern does employer branding. Bosses have more important things to do.
2. What do we offer potential employees? Uh... We don't know ourselves. No one has ever thought about that before.
3. As an employer, we are interchangeable. So what?! An employer brand with a strong profile is completely overrated.
4. Promising much, keeping little. Once the new employees are here, we no longer have to keep our promises.
5. We don't care about bad reputations. Anyone who doesn't come to us because of our bad reputation doesn't fit in anyway.
6. Top positions in employer rankings are only for nerds. We don't need any additional arguments for applicants that we're great.
7. Employee satisfaction is a nice luxury. Worrying about satisfied employees only distracts from our performance standards.
8. Networking is only for HR professionals who don't have a hairdresser to talk to. Establishing contacts with applicants at an early stage? Much too time-consuming!
9. The best way is printed job ads. Digital channels are newfangled nonsense!
10. Once the employer branding budget is spent, it's gone. We don't even measure the strength of the employer brand. That only leads to unnecessarily high expectations on the part of the bosses.

Of the approximately 600,000 companies in Switzerland, almost 74,000 are currently facing a succession plan. 30 percent fail in this task. The reasons are manifold. But in many cases, the process of succession planning, which is associated with multi-layered aspects and complexity, prevents SME entrepreneurs in particular from dealing with this important topic in good time or at all. When it becomes unavoidable, it is often too late. A good 5,000 companies and 30,000 jobs are lost every year as a result.

Succession experts are available to answer questions

What is lacking is comprehensive, well-founded information that creates clarity, shows possible solutions and motivates. Something can be done about this. The succession bus has set itself the task of bringing the topic of succession directly to the people. Initiated by succession expert Carla Kaufmann, this info-mobile on business succession toured across German-speaking Switzerland for the first time in 2018. On board were 15 experienced succession experts who answered the questions of interested entrepreneurs in free talks on all facets of succession.

The successor bus starts on April 4

The response to the premiere of the "Initiative Nachfolgebus" was extremely positive. After a good 170 hours of informational talks and 950 tour kilometers, it was clear that the successor bus would be back on the road in 2019. The tour will kick off on April 4 in Zurich. A foretaste is provided by the Trailer with impressions of the 2018 tour. And already now a Appointment book on the roadshow.

www.nachfolgebus.ch

The publisher and book expert Max Friedländer (21.11.1879 - 6.2.1976) published the first issue of ORGANISATOR on April 1, 1919. In doing so, he performed pioneering work to a certain extent: now there was a publication in Switzerland that regularly offered practical help for companies. The ORGANISATOR has accompanied many managers over the years, and for quite a few the magazine has become an institution, as it were. This year, what is probably the most established SME trade magazine in German-speaking Switzerland is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Trends set and anticipated

Competent, practice-oriented and close to the target group: this principle applied then as it still does today. In each issue, ORGANISATOR presents essential topics for managing directors and executives of SMEs. The topics - it may come as a surprise - have hardly changed in the 100 years of the publication's existence: It is about organization, leadership, personnel management, marketing, customer relationship management, labor law and much more. What has evolved are the technologies: Whereas in 1919 a well-managed card file was the nerve center of a business, today CRM and ERP systems take over. ORGANISATOR has always succeeded in anticipating developments and trends or even setting them itself: For example, the SME trade magazine promoted the introduction of "Mit freundlichen Grüssen" as a greeting formula instead of "Hochachtungsvoll" at an early stage. Or with the magazine "Orgamatik", an additional publication was created in 1983, which was dedicated exclusively to office informatics. And the topic of "occupational health management" also found its way into the editorial section at an early stage and has since become a permanent feature with the "Fit im Job" column.

Corporate management yesterday - today - tomorrow 

The editorial team is using the anniversary year 2019 as an opportunity to look back into the past. In each issue, articles from the archive are published on individual topics. These are sure to elicit a smile or two from readers about the "good old days. Issue 1-2/2019, for example, will feature a Articles from the early 1920s which reports on the advantages of a business trip by automobile. Of course, however, in addition to "yesterday," the focus will continue to be on "today" and "tomorrow" in corporate management. In three issues, individual aspects will be dealt with in greater depth. For example, the April issue will deal with the topic of "Corporate management in transition. The June issue will deal with the topic of customer relationship management under the motto "From business letters to social media marketing. And in the October issue, a special section is devoted to employee management yesterday - today - tomorrow.

Deliver specialized information tailored to SMEs

Then - in 1919 - as now, companies are facing major challenges. What was the final breakthrough of industrial mass production and the beginning of mass consumption immediately after the First World War is today the digital transformation. The constant adaptation to changing conditions accompanies companies every day. This has hardly changed in the 100 years of ORGANISATOR's existence. Publishing manager Rolf Gubelmann concludes: "Then as now, executives in SMEs need specialized information tailored to them. This is what the founders of ORGANISATOR made their mission. We want to continue to fulfill this claim with our SME trade magazine - adapted to today's reading behavior."

The amount of information and data that many people are confronted with every day at their workplace has increased massively in recent years. Globalization and digitization are steadily increasing the complexity of business and work processes: What is current today may be outdated tomorrow. As a result, decision-makers must constantly distinguish relevant from irrelevant information.

Forgetting makes you capable of acting

In doing so, they often receive support from digital information systems. Modern organizations, businesses and administrations use these systems, for example, for business calculations and analyses, product development and marketing concepts. But how do these tools affect the user? And do information systems make users "stupid" because they are no longer challenged? On the contrary, say psychologists and business informatics experts from the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster (WWU): the ability to forget things is what makes people capable of acting in the first place - both individuals and entire organizations. The results of the study were published in the journal Ergonomics.

Information systems lead to better decisions

The team led by Guido Hertel, Professor of Organizational and Business Psychology, Prof. Dr. Jörg Becker from the Institute of Information Systems at WWU simulated typical business processes in production companies in which people had to repeatedly decide to which fictitious countries their company's products should be shipped for sale. The results showed that the availability of supporting information systems not only led to economically better decisions, but also freed up the users' cognitive capacities. The study participants retained details of other company products better in their memory than people in the control group who made decisions without system support - and therefore had to retain more information in their memory. In addition, the participants who were able to use the information system reported feeling less stress when working on the difficult tasks.

Trust in information systems necessary

However, forgetting is not always easy for many decision-makers. "The central prerequisite for these positive effects was that the test subjects trusted the information system - only then were significant performance gains observed," emphasizes Guido Hertel. The scientists found that technical reliability and the quality of the information content provided appear to be essential for trust in information systems. In addition, however, the perceived competence and experience of the respective users as well as the existing support structures also played an important role. "We were surprised to find that trust in information systems was determined by many different influencing factors, but that even a small thing, such as a one-off technical problem, was sufficient for distrust to arise," explains Guido Hertel.

Research continues

The results of the studies provide an initial model for the design of trustworthy and thus effective information systems, so that users and decision-makers in organizations can "confidently" forget about superfluous information. The findings are relevant for all areas of work in which computer systems continuously process extensive data for decision-making. Here, well-designed information systems can improve performance, relieve users and free up resources for other tasks. In follow-up studies, the research team is now investigating further factors influencing targeted forgetting, such as the costs of any wrong decisions or the personal security orientation of a decision-maker. The aim is to be able to adapt information systems as well as possible to different framework conditions.

Information on the research project: https://www.getrost-vergessen.de/

Drugs, weapons, serious crime: the darknet is rightly regarded as an international hub for illegal activities. Hackers and cybercriminals are also increasingly using the digital black market as a buying and selling platform. This is the conclusion of security manufacturer ESET, which has scoured the darknet for current trends "Malware in itself is a lucrative business," says security specialist Thomas Uhlemann. "But now criminals are cashing in doubly by selling or renting out the successful tools after their attacks." Even inexperienced criminals are able to carry out dangerous attacks.

Malware with full service

Selling malicious code of all kinds is nothing new on the Darknet. With complete full-service offerings ranging from malware distribution and illegal infrastructure leasing to financial processing, no hacker's wish remains unfulfilled. Ultimately, the "customer" only has to decide what level of service he can afford. Even for those on a tight budget, there are enough opportunities to enter the market as a micro-criminal. "The days are definitely over when teenage pranks threatened the Internet. Cybercrime is a highly organized business - with service, marketing, advertising and detailed operating instructions, many gangs operate more professionally than many a legal business," says Uhlemann. Behind them are large international mafia-like gangs that have successfully made the transition from the analog world to the darknet.

Ransomware serves as an ideal example of this. A wide range of ransomware packages is available on the Darknet as if it were selling legitimate software. Updates, technical support, access to C&C servers and a range of payment options are just some of the features offered. Everything is possible, from a simple one-time purchase to a subscription. For example, "Ranion" offers subscription plans at different prices and durations. They start at 120 US dollars for just one month and end in an annual subscription for 900 US dollars per year - the luxury package costs 1,900 US dollars.

Rent infrastructure instead of buying

For malware distribution, criminals inevitably need servers to get the business rolling. Of course, they can also be rented - from criminals who certainly haven't asked the rightful owner for permission. There are several services on the darknet that deliver login credentials to servers all over the world via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Prices are in the moderate range of 8-15 US dollars per server. User-friendly, the offered servers can be filtered by country, operating system and even payment sites accessed by users from that server. Nothing then stands in the way of sending ransomware or malware such as banking Trojans and spyware.

Denial-of-service attacks are also on offer. The price of these varies depending on how long the attack is to last (between one and 24 hours) and how much traffic the botnet can generate during that time. A three-hour attack is available from some providers for $60.

Oldie but Goldie: Sale of PayPal and credit card accounts

Cybercriminals who have already carried out successful phishing attacks usually do not take the risk of using the stolen accounts themselves. It is profitable enough and much safer for them to resell the accounts to other criminals. For this service, they usually charge about 10% of the total available balance in the stolen account. On top of that, some sellers like to show the tools and fake websites they use to conduct their phishing activities. "Due to the extensive anonymization and payment via Bitcoin, law enforcement agencies have a hard time arresting cybercriminals," balances ESET's Thomas Uhlemann. "In plain language, this means that because of the new possibilities, we expect to see more and more digital gangsters and even more attacks. Because the incentive to drive a Porsche without having to work, and to hardly get caught, attracts them.

Source: ESET

There will be a castling in the leadership of the multi-award-winning Swiss medtech startup Ava. Co-founder Lea von Bidder will take over the role of CEO from Pascal Koenig as of January 1, 2020. Koenig, on the other hand, is to become a full-time member of the board of directors and in this role act as a representative of the founders. In the meantime, 29-year-old Lea von Bidder will be able to prepare for her new role. This will include relocating her current place of residence and work, San Francisco, back to the headquarters in Zurich. Renate Schreiber, CEO of Ava AG, is delighted: "Lea has made a significant contribution to the rapid growth of the company as Head of Marketing. She brings the experience and know-how necessary to take Ava forward on its mission." This includes, among other things, the effort to upgrade the Ava bracelet for non-hormonal contraception and enhanced pregnancy monitoring. "I am honored and exceptionally excited to serve as CEO of Ava, guiding women throughout their reproductive journey," von Bidder said. "Proving that women are not a niche group remains my passion," she adds.

Co-founder new to the Board of Directors

Pascal Koenig (44), Ava co-founder and current CEO of the company, will step down from his traditional position and will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting for election as a full board member and representative of the founding team. "Guiding Ava from its inception to a globally successful company has been the most satisfying work of my career," Koenig says. "My future role as a board member would allow me to focus more on strategic work - including establishing collaborations that would benefit not only Ava, but the femtech space as a whole."

Naemi Benz becomes part of the management team

In addition to the appointment of Lea von Bidder as CEO, Ava has made another personnel change: Naemi Benz (34) will become VP Operations and a new member of the management team with immediate effect. Benz, a lawyer by training, has successfully led Ava's product team for the past two years and will bring experience in business management and growth.

More information: https://www.avawomen.com 

In order to develop groundbreaking new business ideas, a suitable organizational structure is needed. In addition to a permanent willingness to change, speed is a must in order to be prepared for our high-speed future. Yet countless companies, visualized by a common organizational chart, remain stuck in an organizational model that is static and dates back to the deepest part of the last century. This is where the Orbit model comes in. It propagates the transition from an outdated pyramidal to a forward-looking circular corporate organization. Developed by Anne M. Schüller and Alex T. Steffen, both experts in business and transformation, it shows the way to a living culture of innovation that can adaptively, anticipatively and agilely adjust to the requirements of the new era. Nine fields of action are addressed. In "The Orbit Organization", the two authors describe the positive effects of their model on all areas of the company in a practice-oriented manner, with fresh ideas and using numerous examples. They have thus succeeded in producing a comprehensive manual that can be used to rapidly implement the necessary change processes. The result? An organization that is excellently positioned for the digital future: highly profitable and deeply humane at the same time.

Alongside the Corporate Purpose, a company's raison d'être, customer centricity plays a prominent role in the Orbit organization. It will become the number one corporate task of the future. Because if you want to take off, you don't just need new management concepts. It must also radically take the side of the customer. Thus, the authors present the first organizational model that actually and visibly puts the customer at the center. It is also the first model to specifically integrate the increasingly necessary bridge-building functions. Because transformation always means transition. This requires people who pave the way into new territory and create connections between inside and outside and between human and artificial intelligence. In addition, new types of partnerships between old and young companies need to be coupled together. Thus, orbiting organizations create an irresistible attraction. "They are a home port for employee talent - and a place of longing for customers," say the two authors.

The authors

• Anne M. Schüller is a management thinker, keynote speaker, multiple award-winning bestselling author and business coach. She is one of the most sought-after speakers in the German-speaking world. She was named Top Voice 2017/2018 by the business network LinkedIn and Top XING Writer 2018 by XING. More info: www.anneschueller.de
• Alex T. Steffen is a speaker, leadership trainer and entrepreneur. Working with international companies and ministries, he helps better unite the digital and the human to promote digital literacy and an entrepreneurial mindset. More info: www.alextsteffen.com

The book

Anne M. Schüller / Alex T. Steffen: The Orbit Organization. In 9 steps to the enterprise model for the digital future. 312 pages, hardcover, ISBN 978-3-86936-899-3, GABAL Verlag, Offenbach 2019.

Herisau-based clavis IT ag will support the Parliamentary Services in the implementation of their digitization strategy in the next few years and build the digital work platform for the Federal Assembly - based on the Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP). The Parliamentary Services support the Federal Assembly in fulfilling its tasks. They
provide a comprehensive service and thus enable parliamentarians to carry out in-depth and creative legislative work. As a staff unit of Parliament, they primarily perform tasks in the areas of planning, organization, consulting and information; in the area of infrastructure, they provide the resources and services necessary for Parliament's operations (financial matters, human resources, security, IT, logistics, etc.).

"We are very pleased to be working with Parliamentary Services and our partners to build the digital work platform for the Federal Assembly and are proud that the
Parliamentary Services as the right partner for their digitization strategy and are looking forward to the joint implementation," says the company led by CEO Raphael Crivelli. Its range of services includes consulting and design as well as the implementation and operation of integrated software solutions.

Information: www.clavisit.com