David Lauchenauer - Managing Director and shareholder of the Myfactory Group - summarizes which developments SMEs must not miss as follows:

The perfect pair: ERP and IIOT

In the coming year, more and more devices, sensors and products will be networked with the Internet. The central platform for the collected data is the ERP system from the cloud. Once stored in the software and meaningfully networked, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular gain an enormous competitive advantage: Whether improved supply chains, support processes or robotic sensors on the factory floor - the Fusion of IIoT and ERP automates business processes and helps with decision-making. To achieve this, however, SMEs need to address the following questions:

• Goal: What do I need the data for, what do I want to optimize?
• Source: What data do I need and where does it come from?
• Interface: How can I integrate the data into my ERP system?
• Result: How can I automate processes based on the data?
• Responsibility: Who is responsible for the overarching data analysis in the company?

Once these questions have been clarified, the ERP system can be selected accordingly or the existing one can be adapted. The most important factors here are the high availability, scalability and flexibility of the solution in order to meet individual requirements today and in the future.

The next step: ERP and digital marketing

Social media users will become more and more numerous in the coming years. This has immense implications for marketing in particular, but also for sales and support. ERP systems must therefore be able to integrate direct marketing across multiple social media channels. This is the only way they can help small and medium-sized enterprises remain competitive. As a result, cloud ERP in particular will no longer focus solely on operational business, but increasingly on marketing as well.

The social web is not only relevant for sales and marketing professionals. It is also gaining in importance for other disciplines. In human resources, for example, more and more recruiters are looking directly in social channels for suitable applicants and potential employees. This development must be mapped in the ERP or CRM.

The ideal complement: ERP and artificial intelligence

The goal of artificial intelligence (AI) is to let machines make decisions. Whether it's taking evasive action in autonomous driving or shutting down a machine in the event of overheating. The ERP system of the future will take a different approach: In the future, it will no longer be a matter of taking over human decisions, but of supplementing them. The focus will therefore be on technological support for the user. The result can be seen, for example, in systems with which the user interacts - for example the Chatbot. It is first fed with the most important questions and answers. Then the system learns independently on the basis of the information entered in real operation. Especially in the case of software that requires explanation, the user is thus supported without much effort and at any time of the day or night.

Source and more information on ERP Trends: Myfactory Software Switzerland AG

Offers without sustainable benefits are in danger of being swept away: This is what Accenture and Fjord, the innovation and design consultancy of Accenture Interactive, describe in the "Fjord Trends 2019" report. By this, the study authors mean the fact that people are increasingly beginning to question things that have come into being in the course of rapid digitization. Particularly under criticism are resource guzzlers - offerings whose production and use demand a high degree of time, attention, personal data and natural goods. "For years, we've surrounded ourselves with more and more new services and devices," says Christoph Loeffler, Fjord's managing director for German-speaking countries. "Now the shine of the new is fading and some of the negative consequences of digitalization are becoming visible. People and companies have developed different ideas of real benefits and added value. We are in for a spring cleaning where consumers will decide what actually benefits themselves, society and the environment. The new challenge for companies, designers and developers is to put people back at the center of innovations."

Trends for 2019: Sustainability is the trump card

The search for sustainable value and long-term relevance of offerings is reflected in seven innovation, design and digital trends:

1. Silence is golden. People are increasingly resisting the flood of digital messages. Politicians and employers are recognizing the increasing health risks of social media and constant accessibility. Some technology companies already offer mindfulness apps for their own products. Companies need to respect the growing group of consumers who are erecting barriers between themselves and the digital world. They should send fewer and more relevant messages, and design products and services that better manage their users' attention.
2. Sustainability? Non-negotiable. Crop losses and low water levels have also drastically demonstrated the consequences of climate change to people in this country. Microplastics have become a global problem, and in many countries politicians are taking action against the throwaway culture. Individuals feel they have a greater duty than ever to take countermeasures. Companies need to focus their business on circular economy and integrate sustainability into their products and services. Consumers are moving from the end of the supply chain to the middle. To do this, companies must make refilling or returning products a similar experience to buying them.
3. Data minimalism. The debate about the use and misuse of data has resulted in people valuing their personal data more highly than companies. They have increasingly strong reservations about sharing their data with companies. Companies should therefore create offers that make do with a minimum amount of data. They also need to educate consumers in the simplest possible way about what data they collect, what they do with it, and what is in it for the individual.
4. From car to "A to B". Inadequate regulation and a lack of planning have led to rampant traffic and transportation services in cities. Public and private providers bustle about, the volume of traffic increases, and individuals lack an overview. Transport providers should think less in terms of means of transport and more in terms of the best way to get people and things from point A to point B. Companies from outside the industry will create their own mobility offerings for customers in their core business. Both require an ecosystem that connects all offerings and is aligned with people's mobility needs.
5. The personalization trap. Today, more people than ever are making their voices heard in public. Companies are already taking many of these voices into account in their offerings. But with the increasingly individualized approach, consumers' expectations of personalized offers are rising. As a result, companies increasingly run the risk of not meeting needs precisely and thus unintentionally excluding certain groups. Companies will solve this dilemma in the medium term with artificial intelligence (AI). In order not to lose any consumers until then, they should use behavioral research methods and so-called mindsets, and not rely solely on demographic data.
6. The vastness of space. Digitization is changing spaces. Retail stores will get a second, digital layer that makes it as easy for customers to pick out, try out and buy as it is in online retail. Companies will adapt workspaces to the agile, more flexible way of working that digitization brings, which many people now expect.
7. Synthetic Realities. Deepfakes and deceptively real voice simulators are challenging our understanding of truth and authenticity. That something is authentic will be more important than ever to consumers in 2019. Companies need to prepare themselves in case they fall victim to a fake. At the same time, they should explore where they can profitably use synthetic realities, for example in entertainment and for simulating medical problems.

Work collaboratively

"Technologies like VR or AI will soon make our everyday lives noticeably easier," says Hartmut Heinrich, Group Director Switzerland at Fjord. "To truly position themselves for the future, companies must work collaboratively across their silos and create new cultures that allow them to think from the customer. This is the only way to turn complex systems into simple and elegant services."

Source: Fjord / Accenture

The SV Group comprises the five business segments of community catering, hotel, public catering, hospital and home catering, and event catering. The company employs around 8,500 people and operates in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Its core businesses are community catering and hotels. The company operates staff restaurants and canteens under the "SV Restaurant" brand, making it one of the leading providers in the DACH region. "SV Hotel" operates the Marriott brands Courtyard, Residence Inn, Renaissance and Moxy in Switzerland and Germany as a franchisee. In addition, individual hotels in Bern (La Pergola) and in Olten (Amaris) are part of the portfolio. The company looks back on a 100-year history. Founded in 1914 by Else Züblin-Spiller as the non-profit organization "Schweizer Verband Soldatenwohl" (Swiss Soldiers' Welfare Association), the original aim was to provide Swiss soldiers with inexpensive and balanced food without alcohol. From this, a dynamic and innovative company has developed and established itself. The billing processes have become correspondingly demanding. With Conextrade, the processes were significantly automated and optimized. 

Old system: time-consuming, confusing, error-prone

For a long time, SV Group in Switzerland did not have an electronic invoice receipt and processing system, even though the company relies heavily on invoice data. With a document volume of 240,000 invoices per year today, managing the receipt of postal documents, 100 percent manual invoice entry, account assignment and approval became a Herculean task. Since the process was neither electronic nor automated, the invoice receipt turned out to be intransparent and error-prone. However, rapid and reliable communication with suppliers is very important for the SV Group.

The traditional approval process was as follows: Invoices were sent by mail from suppliers to the plants for content review. After manual review by their managers, the invoices were forwarded by mail to Accounts Payable, where they were formally reviewed, assigned, and recorded. The problem: excessively long lead times, no possibility for cash discounts, no monitoring of invoices, and not infrequently lost invoices. The procedure was technologically underdeveloped, decentrally organized, and therefore highly confusing. This becomes even clearer when you consider that the SV Group operates 300 locations in Switzerland and 500 in the DACH region.

Work more efficiently with automated processes free of media discontinuity

Years ago, the urgent need to bring order and clarity to the processes was recognized. In 2014, following an overall evaluation, the SV team compiled a requirements catalog for necessary renewals. The goal was to establish the electronic invoicing process and a workflow throughout the Group. This was to replace the manual process in Switzerland and the existing electronic solutions in Austria and Germany.

Since a large number of employees are affected, there was a need for a reliable, but also easy-to-use system with a short implementation phase and a low error rate. In evaluating the appropriate solution, the SV Group held very intensive discussions with all suppliers who also had to be able to cope with the system. In addition, legal framework conditions, including data protection, must be observed, especially in Germany and Austria. The choice ultimately fell on Conextrade, a platform ported by Swisscom for electronic invoicing and electronic data exchange for Swiss SMEs. As an established full-service provider, Conextrade can offer the entire portfolio and fully understood the needs of SV Group. According to Eros Merlini, Head of Conextrade, over 4000 other customers are already working with this solution. 

Automated and transparent vendor invoice processing

Already at the end of 2015, the new, automated system for invoice processing could go live in Switzerland. The Conextrade services "E-Invoicing", "Scanning2E-Invoicing" and "Accounts Payable Workflow" guarantee automated and transparent accounts payable invoice processing and include not only the receipt of invoices from suppliers, their approval and release, but also the sending of invoices to customers.

Olivier Tesoro, Project Manager Finance at SV Group, says with satisfaction: "The processes are now fully integrated and consistent. In addition to Switzerland and Austria, the solution was also rolled out in Germany in the fall of 2018." Conextrade's local and therefore always quickly available service proved to be extremely valuable during the implementation. The SV Group had set the goal of establishing efficient invoice processes without media discontinuity and a 100 percent automated electronic invoice receipt. This goal was also achieved. Today, the SV Group uses all components of the "E-Invoicing" and "Scanning2E-Invoicing" services without any problems.

Cost benefits directly after introduction

"With its solution, Conextrade has covered all our requirements in invoice processing," sums up Heinz Giezendanner, Director Shared Services and Member of the Management Board at SV Group. After the gradual rollout of the system in Switzerland from December 2015, employees were trained using videos. "Today, a good 1,000 people in Switzerland and 1,800 in the entire DACH region are working with the Conextrade system without any problems," says Tesoro. As early as fall 2016, processes became noticeably more efficient. "Our throughput times have become massively faster, and communication with suppliers has become much more transparent in parallel." Due to the more efficient handling, SV Group can already save considerable costs today.

Further projects in planning

The digitization of the value chain remains a top priority for the SV Group following the successful project to automate billing processes. The introduction of further modern forms of communication, such as digital solutions with apps for dialog with the guest, is planned for the next few years. Thanks to the partnership with Conextrade, SV Group can approach and implement such projects step by step, comprehensively improve all processes and thus move into the digital future fit and competitive.

More information about Conextrade:
Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd.
Enterprise Customers
P.O. Box, CH-3050 Bern
Tel. 0800 800 900
www.swisscom.ch/enterprise

Low unemployment, high wages and a skilled workforce: The Swiss labor market is in good shape. However, there are still a number of tests ahead. Digitalization will increasingly require different and new skills from a large majority of the workforce. The demand for employees with strong skills in creativity, social intelligence and the use of digital technologies is growing. Even today, individual sectors such as ICT or healthcare are having difficulties finding personnel. In addition, the aging of the workforce will make better use of previously untapped labor potential inevitable. "In 2016, for the first time, more domestic workers left the labor market in Switzerland than joined it. If things continue like this, we will have a shortage of around half a million workers by 2030. Companies need to start thinking not only about how to find the right trained workers, but how to find enough workers at all in the future. A key strategy is to better exploit existing but underutilized labor pools. There is a lot of potential among women, older workers, and part-time employees," says Myriam Denk, Head of Future of Work at Deloitte Switzerland.

Older workers, women and part-time workers

Various options for coping with the looming labor shortage have already been debated: Longer working hours are probably not a suitable solution, and raising the retirement age seems impossible in the short term. Increasing the immigration of qualified workers also does not seem to have a political majority at present. Increasing automation will indeed trigger structural change in the labor market. However, it is unlikely that automation will be able to fully compensate for the effects of demographic change.

So how can we address the future labor shortage? "We see enormous potential in the existing but underutilized labor pool. This lies mainly with the 'hidden reserve' and with the employed who work part-time and could increase their workload. Women and workers aged 55 and older make up a large part of this," explains Michael Grampp, chief economist at Deloitte Switzerland and author of the new Deloitte study "Motivated, optimistic, and oblivious to duty". "Many are already (early) retired, so they're not actively looking for work - but they could certainly see themselves working. However, to keep the employability of older workers at a high level, it is essential that they are flexible in terms of salary expectations and working hours."

Companies need to rethink the age issue

According to the Deloitte survey, 27% of the over-50s in Switzerland would like to continue working beyond retirement age - with highly qualified workers strongly overrepresented. In addition, 85% of those over 55 say they are motivated at work, 89% like their work and 81% think their work is valued - all significantly higher figures than for all other age groups.

"No longer qualified enough, not motivated enough, not flexible enough - the prejudices many employers have against older employees are unfounded. Companies absolutely must rethink their attitude toward this demographic group. Those who continue to perceive older workers as disadvantageous and focus exclusively on younger ones when recruiting are making a strategic mistake," analyzes Myriam Denk.

For many Swiss companies, older workers are not currently considered a valuable resource. According to the Human Capital Trends 2018 from Deloitte one-third of Swiss companies consider older employees to be a competitive disadvantage. This is significantly above the international average of 20%. In addition, according to the current CFO survey by Deloitte only just 20% of Swiss companies resort to the deliberate recruitment of older workers and other alternative groups to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers.

More flexible career models required

Of the 27% of over-50s in Switzerland who would also like to work beyond retirement age, 51% want to work as they do now, while 35% only want to reduce their workload. If they had a free choice, 27% of the over-55s would prefer part-time employment, 15% freelancing, 10% self-employment and 18% a portfolio career, i.e. splitting their working hours between different activities and/or projects. Accordingly, it is crucial for companies to redesign traditional work models in order to become more attractive to additional work groups. "Companies need to offer more career models that allow employees to work longer and more flexibly. They also need to adapt their HR strategy to enable longer working lives and reduce unconscious bias in the recruitment process," says Myriam Denk.

Alternative career models for the over-55s include so-called "arc careers" - in which workload, responsibility and pay are gradually reduced - job sharing with younger successors for knowledge transfer or roles as coach or mentor. It would also be conceivable to form a pool of interested retired employees in order to bring their know-how back into the company on a needs-oriented basis ("gig basis").

Source: Deloitte

Of course, a reminder does not mean that a payment will not be made. But if such payment arrears accumulate to such an extent that the result is even severely reduced due to the necessary value adjustments, then this can put the liquidity of the company at risk. The daily business routine primarily revolves around acquisition, order processing, cost control, personnel and innovation. Liquidity is virtually taken for granted in many commercial enterprises. Problems are only recognized at a late stage. This is especially true for impending payment defaults. People are convinced that they know their customers and their financial situation well. Delays in payment are sometimes not seen as an alarm signal, but as a good opportunity to show the customer that you are standing by him. In fact, around 70 percent of all bad debt losses are incurred by regular customers. People trust each other. The signs of impending payment bottlenecks are literally ignored. After all, things have always gone well.

Credit and accounts receivable management as a permanent task

Credit management is therefore part of the daily bread of every company. It begins at the acquisition stage, when the seller gets an initial picture of the customer's financial situation. A credit check is mandatory at the latest when the contract is signed. And even after that, it is important to monitor every customer relationship on an ongoing basis and to evaluate events that are relevant to their creditworthiness and, if necessary, to draw consequences from them. This does not necessarily mean that the contract is cancelled, but it can mean that deliveries are no longer made on account. Those who do this will avoid a significant portion of potential bad debt losses at the source. This can easily amount to one percent of sales that are realized and not written off.

When a specialist is needed

Accounts receivable management is just as important. Anyone can overlook an invoice or delay a payment, for example, if there is something objectionable about the supplier's performance. But you can expect a reminder to be responded to quickly. If this is not the case, action must be taken. The spectrum ranges from an immediate delivery stop to professional enforcement of the claim. This collection requires a certain amount of expertise. Small businesses in particular often have a hard time with the legal process. They let valuable time pass or make mistakes. A receivable that could have been collected with strict accounts receivable management may then have to be written off. In many cases, it is worth handing over debt collection to a specialist.

Author:
Raoul Egeli has been President of the Swiss Creditreform Association since 2008 and President of Creditreform International since 2014, as well as a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the SGV. He is also Managing Director of the Creditreform Egeli companies in Basel, St. Gallen and Zurich. From 2009 to 2013, he was the central president of TREUHAND|SUISSE. Raoul Egeli is the author of several specialist books on the subject of credit and receivables management. www.creditreform.ch

Three teenagers who start a company in the attic of their parents' house. What reads like the script of a Hollywood movie is the genesis of Zurich-based IT and telecommunications company Netstream. The popular provider of cloud, Internet, telephony, hosting, TV and wholesale solutions in Switzerland, celebrated its 20th anniversary on December 10, 2018.

Netstream's vision points the way forward

"Imagine people living fulfilled lives in harmony with technology and nature," says Alexis Caceda, CEO of Netstream. This is exactly Netstream's vision, which the company is striving to achieve over the next 20 years. Already this year, some sustainable measures have been implemented. For example, in the summer of 2018, Netstream decided to modernize the cooling of its data center and thus relied on a so-called free-cooling system. The Swiss Climate Foundation supported this ecologically valuable conversion with a grant. Many other exciting measures are already planned for 2019.

20th anniversary of the company: "We plant trees".

As part of its 20th anniversary, Netstream has now come up with a special project and that is that the company will plant a tree for every new customer who orders a product from Netstream by the end of February 2019.

"Trees perform a variety of tasks for us. For example, they produce oxygen, bind carbon and slow down climate change. By planting trees, we want to make a step-by-step commitment to a better world," says Alexis Caceda, CEO of Netstream. In March 2019, Netstream will define a day when employees can plant trees. The goal is to plant a variety of native tree species in the Wittikon region to create a new area of mixed forest. "It makes us happy when we as an IT and telecommunications company can do something good for nature together with our employees," concludes Caceda.

Interview with the founders of the company

On the occasion of the company's anniversary, the three founding members Alexis Caceda, Reto Kasser and Dominik Breitenmoser - who have always remained loyal to the company - recall Netstream's beginnings and report on entrepreneurial ups and downs over the past two decades.

How did Netstream come into being?
Alexis Caceda (CEO of Netstream): The 90s were marked by the digital revolution. The Internet slowly gained importance and Reto, Dominik and I followed the developments with curiosity and Voltage. We were 17 and 18 years old and shared a passion for IT. Quasi there were new products and applications every day. We also had many ideas. And so it came about that we turned our hobby into a profession.

What happened next?
Reto Kasser (CTO of Netstream): After founding Netstream on December 10, 1998, we sold computers, configured routers, programmed websites and started our first IT projects from home. It was an exciting time that us extremely bonded as friends as well as business partners. Nevertheless, we never thought back then that we would run the company so successfully for so long.

At an age when others were all about partying, you started experimenting with web TV. Where did this passion come from?
Dominik Breitenmoser (CIO of Netstream): Already in childhood screwed I disassembled technical devices and hoped that they would work again when I reassembled them. When I knew all the devices inside out, I turned my attention to the programs running on them. Together with Alexis and Reto, I looked at how they were built and how they could be used in other places.

20 years have passed since then. 20 years in which Netstream has grown to 80 employees. Do you think this growth will continue?
Reto Kasser: Growth is all well and good, but not the most important thing at the end of the day. Our priority is the satisfaction of customers and Employees. DafWe still put our heart and soul into this every day.

How has the IT market changed since Netstream was founded?
Dominik Breitenmoser: When the topic of IT was discussed in the past, it was primarily about technology and codes. Today's information technology, however, is much more. It permeates every area of life. Whether in the business or private environment, innovative technologies and user-friendly IT solutions are in demand everywhere. Our vision is therefore that people can live fulfilled lives in harmony with technology and nature. This is precisely why we always want to inspire our customers with groundbreaking products.

What impact has the changing IT market had on Netstream?
Reto Kasser: Of course, we also had to constantly evolve. If we had not done this, Netstream would no longer exist today. We have constantly professionalized our services. And We have always been concerned with what it takes to stay one step ahead of the continuous development process in the local IT market.

With success, as this year's anniversary impressively proves. What other factors do you think have contributed decisively to Netstream's success??
Alexis Caceda: First and foremost naturely the commitment of our employees. In dialog with customers, they develop cloud, Internet, telephony and TV solutions that bring real added value to users. Another advantage is the size of our company, which enables us to stay in personal contact with our customers and respond flexibly to their constantly changing needs.

What are you particularly proud of?
Reto Kasser: We are particularly proud of the results of the renowned Bilanz Telekom Rating, because the Swiss IT market is highly competitive. Regularly achieving top positions in the annual surveys is therefore not a matter of course, but the result of consistent alignment along customer needs.

What milestones come to mind when you look back on 20 years of Netstream?
Dominik Breitenmoser: There were many groundbreaking moments. They include the hiring of our first employee as well as the launch of "ADSL.TV," the first Internet TV offering on the Swiss market. Its launch in 2004 marked the beginning for the distribution of TV programs via the Internet in Switzerland. Other milestones in our corporate history were the construction and commissioning of our own data center in Dübendorf and the new brand identity this year.

In addition to the many success stories, there were certainly also challenges. Which ones come to mind spontaneously?
Alexis Caceda: Due to the constant growth of Netstream, the parallel changing requirements in terms of leadership and management of the company were extremely challenging for us. You have to remember that we started out as a team of three and now employ 80 people. This means establishing functioning processes, redefining one's own role and handing over responsibility. This is a task that we - and above all I - first had to grow into.

Speaking of leadership, you've been running Netstream for 20 years now. Has there never been a fight between you?
Dominik Breitenmoser: But there was, and that was a good thing. We have grown and matured as a result of the discussions. In the meantime, we also know better how best to resolve conflict situations. The joy and passion with which we founded Netstream back then is just as great today as it was then. Thanks to the continuous changes in the market, it has never been boring and I am glad that Alexis, Reto and I have walked this exciting path together over the last 20 years.

Link to the project "We-plant-trees": www.netstream.ch/birthday

Business processes are becoming more flexible through digitization, and operational efficiency is increasing. If companies want to remain competitive in the future and offer their customers reliable and innovative services, intelligent data management will become indispensable. To that end, Dave Russell, vice president of product strategy at Veeam, identified five trends IT decision makers should consider in 2019:

Multi-cloud prevails

Globalization, cross-border business processes and digitization make the use of multi-cloud infrastructures almost inevitable. Analysts expect around 10 percent annual growth in the cloud sector in the coming years. This will not make on-premises solutions superfluous, but will increasingly result in a mix of on-prem, SaaS, IaaS, managed clouds and private clouds.

Increased use of flash memory

Gartner expects flash storage supply to tighten somewhat in mid-2019, but prices to remain stable. We expect to see greater flash usage for the operational recovery tier, which typically holds backup data and replicas from the last fortnight. Due to flash proliferation, we also expect increased use of instantaneous recovery of complete virtual machines (or copy data management).

Systems with copy data management functionality offer complementary added value that goes beyond pure availability: Examples of the additional use of backup and replica data include DevOps, DevSecOps and DevTest as well as patch testing, analytics and reporting.

Predictive analytics are on the rise

According to forecasts, the predictive analytics market will increase by 272 percent by 2022 compared to 2017, an annual growth of around 22 percent. Predictive analytics based on telemetry data for predictions and recommendations built on machine learning (ML) are most likely to gain widespread acceptance.

PRedictive analytics and diagnostics support smooth IT operations and reduce the effort required for system optimization. Against the background of increasingly complex infrastructures with more data and higher performance requirements, they are becoming essential. SLEs, Service Level Expectations, will continue to rise, so IT needs more performance data and projections.

IT generalists are in demand

AI or not - even the data center of the future cannot do without people. A shortage of skilled workers combined with increasingly hybrid infrastructures require the "IT generalist" with knowledge and experience from different specialist areas as well as an understanding of business management. Standardization, orchestration and automation will accelerate this trend: Due to the increasing "self-intelligence" of systems, specialization is less in demand than broad basic knowledge.

Of course, specialized knowledge remains important, especially when it comes to the cloud. But the more IT becomes part of the operational value chain, the more important it is that IT professionals also understand the business environment in order to create added value.

5G offers new opportunities for the industry

The first 5G-capable cell phones will be launched at the beginning of 2019. In the context of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), companies in particular have a great interest in the transmission technology, including for their own regional networks. Nevertheless, 2019 will primarily be about creating the conditions for widespread use so that Europe can become a "gigabit society".

In the medium term, 5G offers new revenue opportunities for retailers and cloud service providers. The processing of larger volumes of data in real time, new hardware and device requirements, and new applications for managing the data open up a wide range of opportunities and will also promote the discussion about edge computing.

Source: Veeam

Between new store concepts that manage entirely without checkouts and the battle for supremacy in online retailing, the retail industry is also exposed to rapidly changing trends in other areas. Retail expert Alexander Henss, Senior Principal Consultant at Namics, reveals what these trends are.

1. data collection: the digitization of space

A great deal of data enters the retailer's showrooms along with the customers. So far, however, they have rarely been collected. As a result, brick-and-mortar retailers are missing out on enormous potential:
After all, the information generates revealing insights from which companies can derive appropriate measures or even new business models. Data can be used to clarify the following questions, for example:

• Which products immediately catch the customer's eye?
• Does the consumer touch certain objects to check the material?
• How do advertising measures work?
• What patterns of movement are created in the salesroom?

Amazon Go is a pioneer in the digitization of space. The American supermarket operates without checkouts, but customers have to register at the entrance using a smartphone code. Their movements and actions in the sales area are recorded by various sensors and evaluated by an algorithm.

2. offline, online, timeline: Network data optimally

Data also plays the main role in the second trend: the more facts are available about the customer, the more important it is to network them. With smart shopping carts, RFID and iBeacon technology, numerous values are collected offline in the retail industry. In order to be able to use these optimally, a functioning link with data from other channels, for example customer relationship management or search behavior on the website, is essential. A sophisticated strategy is needed so that the values can be combined to form a 360-degree customer picture. The following aspects must be taken into account:

• What data should be collected and what do they say?
• Which platform is used to collect or link the data?
• How does the evaluation take place?
• How can I use source data for predictive and prescriptive analytics?

Prescriptive analytics in particular are becoming increasingly important for retailers: they go one step further and enable the company to make additional recommendations for action. One example is the adjustment of parameters as part of a promotion to increase sales figures.

3. from shopping to experience: the in-store experience

Customers themselves are also moving more and more into digital worlds. Be it in online shopping or in social interaction. To ensure that the experience in the real store can keep up with that in the online store, retailers should rethink the design of their sales areas and incorporate digital solutions.

Smart screens can, for example, suggest matching accessories for pants or dresses in the dressing room. The use of virtual reality, on the other hand, makes it possible to better plan furniture or pictures into one's own home decor. Robots can, for example, bring suits in a different size and color to the customer's cubicle. And thanks to intelligent mirrors, new outfits can be shared with friends via social media channels.

4. disruption: B2B platforms on the rise

For the entire B2B segment, the entry of various global players such as Google, Amazon and Alibaba into the B2B business harbors both risks and opportunities. One thing is certain: in the long term, retailers will not be able to avoid platforms such as Amazon Business or Google Shopping. Anyone venturing into this still unknown territory must be prepared with a good strategy in any case. Is the platform in question even relevant for the customer journey? What technological requirements do I have to fulfill in order to become active in the digital marketplaces? Retailers urgently need answers to these questions in the coming year.

5. technology: system architecture in transition

In order to survive in the digital world, the right tools and methods are also indispensable in the retail sector. The technology behind them is becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse. Thanks to modularization, the software architecture is also becoming more flexible. The replacement of systems used to date is up for debate. Today, and especially in the coming year, companies are confronted with the following questions:

• Software On Premises or Cloud-Based Services? However, this question is becoming increasingly rare, as many manufacturers now only offer their software as a cloud service and do not use on premise software.
• Can AI be used to present offers in a more relevant way or to optimize channels? For example, it can help to suggest the right products based on surfing behavior.
• How can data availability be increased across touchpoints? One touchpoint, for example, is the stationary checkout, which shows the retailer the entire purchase history of the respective customer.
• How can the DevOps approach be used to shape a continuous improvement process? For example, digital innovations can go live faster and be brought to the customer.

Regardless of the particular decision, retailers should always keep in mind that the change will not only create more convenience for their own business, but also for the customer.

It is now common knowledge that you should not open an attachment to an e-mail from an unknown sender or use a USB stick that you have found. Most employees are no longer that naive. But there are also IT risks that even security experts are often unaware of. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the integration of numerous systems that are not part of traditional IT into corporate networks have created new potential points of attack. The central problem here is that most providers of such systems, such as elevator manufacturers or manufacturers of building technology, are not at home in IT security technology - yet their equipment and systems are highly relevant to it.

Two kinds of IT risks

There are usually two dangers: On the one hand, the respective systems themselves can be disrupted, damaged or paralyzed by attackers, which can have unpleasant to devastating consequences depending on the type; on the other hand, the attackers can use the systems in question as a springboard - "system hopping" - for penetrating corporate networks.

According to NTT Security, companies should keep the following scenarios in mind:

1. Elevators are a prime example of the range of applications of the IoT - the troubleshooting or remote maintenance that this makes possible increase the efficiency of the systems considerably. Few people realize that maintenance companies, which may not have their own security concept, thus have mostly uncontrolled access to IT.
2. Modern air-conditioning systems are often accessible via the Internet for maintenance purposes - this not only provides dangerous access to the corporate network; tampering with an air-conditioning system - in the data center, for example - can cause devastating damage through overheating or system failure.
3. Fire alarm systems are also usually not considered in safety concepts - manipulations can significantly disrupt operational processes, for example through false alarms; they can also cause considerable damage, for example through activation of a sprinkler system.
4. Access control systems are often integrated into the IT infrastructure, but this creates a gateway through which attackers can gain not only unauthorized access, but also access to corporate networks.
5. More or less all companies depend on an undisturbed power supply. The effects of successful attacks are all the more serious here; an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or power management systems are not perceived as possible points of attack in most cases.
6. Entertainment systems are operated in many companies: for example, the usual TVs in the conference room. Common smart TVs have a connection to the web that can be easily attacked; for example, smart TV cameras can also be activated remotely. But few companies have securing their TVs on their radar.
7. Even in canteens, the devices are now often networked, such as smart coffee machines, some of which have displays for awareness campaigns or general company news. Many manufacturers have remote access to the machines for troubleshooting or reordering coffee, but these accesses are not usually monitored. Since the availability of the coffee machine is taken care of, but not the corresponding software updates and security configurations, this creates another gateway into the corporate network.

Expand the field of view

"The IT security philosophy has traditionally focused on IT systems and networks," explains Christian Koch, Senior Manager GRC & IoT/OT at NTT Security. "However, this no longer corresponds to the current threat situation: in the age of the Internet of Things, potentially everything that is powered by electricity is a system component that can be addressed via the Internet and is therefore automatically a potential target for attack. Companies therefore urgently need to broaden their field of vision and consider these risks as well."

Source and further information

Since the financial market crisis of 2007/2008, society's expectations of corporate responsibility on the part of economic players have changed fundamentally. Since then, the public has increasingly judged companies and business sectors on the basis of the extent to which they fulfill their economic responsibility.

Reputation as a value-adding factor

In the first part, the study looks at the development of public trust in the Swiss economy and its companies. By linking reputation developments with economic key figures of listed companies, it shows that an above-average reputation is also a value-creation factor. The public perception conveyed by the media thus plays a central role both in the development and destruction of reputation and in the economic success of a company.

Reputation is an expression of fulfilled social expectations. The second part of the study examines which forms of representation gained or lost importance in media coverage between 2005 and June 2018. Whereas at the beginning of this period it was mainly economic success and responsibility to shareholders that were important, in the course of the crisis the public increasingly focused on "economic responsibility" as a key differentiator.

"Economic responsibility" pays off several times over

The study concludes that assuming economic responsibility pays off significantly for individual companies and sectors, both on an intangible level (reputational effects) and on a material level (economic effects). Companies that are perceived by the public as being economically responsible have greater power of definition in public communication. They are therefore in a better position to help shape their public positioning with their own messages. In addition, these companies benefit from greater trust in corporate management.

Suva is the publisher of the study

On the occasion of its "100-year anniversary", Suva supported the present study on the Swiss economy. With its business model, which has always been designed to combine social and economic activities, Suva acts as an economically responsible player. Felix Weber, Chief Executive Officer of Suva, confirms this: "With its commitment to the safety of people, Suva has not only made an important contribution to social peace over the past 100 years, but has also contributed to the economic prosperity of Switzerland. We are ready to continue fulfilling these tasks in the next 100 years."

More information: www.commslab.com, www.foeg.uzh.ch 

Against the background of the internationalization and globalization of more and more companies, businesses are faced with the decision to make company data available in the cloud, regardless of location. The advantages of cloud computing, such as flexibility, scalability, resource and cost savings, are convincing arguments for being able to act faster and more efficiently on the market. With its comprehensive Managed Security Services, the Security Operations Center in Switzerland (staffed 7×24 by specialists) and professional Threat Detection & Response Services, Swisscom protects customer systems in real time.

Mail security from Hanover for the Swiss industry leader

Strong global networking is creating new threats, which is why security solutions from the cloud and companies with a high level of expertise in the field of cybercrime are particularly in demand. Swisscom has now found the ideal partner in Hornetsecurity - the headquarters of this company, which operated under the name antispameurope until 2015, is located in Hanover, according to the statement. "We were looking for a provider that could replace the previous different and highly customized solutions and reliably meet the high demands of our customers in terms of scalability, security and convenience. Hornetsecurity convinced us with the wide range of functions of its mail security services, the convenient multi-client interface and high flexibility," says Tim Rückforth, Product Manager Web & Mail Security at Swisscom.

"Beginning of a successful partnership"

Hornetsecurity's services offer the same high-quality protection against sophisticated attacks for all company locations in Switzerland and abroad. When it comes to data protection, Swisscom customers will continue to be on the safe side in the future: "Over the next eight weeks, Hornetsecurity will install its infrastructure in the redundant data centers in Switzerland at Swisscom. The data of Swiss customers will thus be processed exclusively on site. Protecting and securing our customers' sensitive and important data is a top priority for us," says Daniel Hofmann, Managing Director at Hornetsecurity. "With Mail Security based on Hornetsecurity, we will offer our customers the best protection against spam, malware and other threats in the future, which fits perfectly into our portfolio of Managed Security Services and which we will actively market through our channels. I am sure that this is the beginning of a successful partnership," said Rückforth.

Source: Hornetsecurity

Too big to use: Many companies are overwhelmed by the abundance of data sources. In the DACH region, only eight percent use a wide variety of data sources throughout the company, including data from other organizations, for decision-making. In 44 percent, this goal has been partially achieved. Many companies get bogged down in the handling and systematic integration of data from different sources. Four out of ten complain about technical deficits in using data for further analyses. The result: a lack of added value from analytics investments. These are the findings of the BI & Analytics study biMA® 2017/18 by Sopra Steria Consulting in collaboration with the Business Application Research Center (BARC). The studies are based on the biMM® (Business Intelligence Maturity Model) maturity model and the biMA® (Business Intelligence Maturity Audit) analysis method developed by Sopra Steria Consulting in collaboration with the universities of Duisburg-Essen and St. Gallen and the University of Düsseldorf.

Professional utilization of data sources is missing

With new technical possibilities (advanced analytics), the prediction of the future involving differentiated data sources is moving into the focus of companies. Many digital services are based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. These include, for example, forecasts of how customers and markets will behave in order to control production. Moreover, it is no longer just online retailers who want to recommend products to their customers or show them alternatives if the desired product is not available at the moment. Algorithms evaluate many millions of data records for this purpose. These come from an increasing number of data sources, for example geo, social media and sensor data.

The sticking point in the development of new business models and services is not so much the technical power of analysis, but the lack of professional utilization. 43 percent of the companies surveyed have difficulties deriving knowledge and insights from data and, as a result, creating added value through information. More than one in four companies (27 percent) see a need to catch up when it comes to integrating and linking data in their business work. As a result, the information fizzles out or companies draw the wrong conclusions.

Data-driven business models require new approach

Some companies are now moving away from the strategy of using as many data sources and data sets as possible. Companies such as the bank Goldmann Sachs and the German e-commerce group Otto are expressing that the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is more about having the right selection of data, but one that is fully understood. Other companies are embracing new concepts such as data thinking - a method that combines design thinking with data analysis and data mining. These examples show that a rethink is underway in many industries, away from Big Data to Smart Data strategies.

"It's not about becoming the world champion in tapping as many data sources as possible," says Lars Schlömer, Head of BI & Analytics at Sopra Steria Consulting. "It is not the quantity and quality of data that determine the quality of data-driven business models, but the technical and analytical know-how to do something value-added with the data. It is important to bring together qualified teams of data scientists and specialists who systematically identify and develop use cases in an agile working environment and who also answer the question of what data is actually needed," says Schlömer.

Source and further information: Sopra Steria