The Blockchain Leadership Summit, taking place on March 9, 2018 in Zurich (Dolder Grand), is aimed at business leaders, regulators, decision makers and investors. The Summit is initiated by InnMind, the global business network for innovative community, together with the KICKICO fundraising platform and in collaboration with the Crypto-Valley Ecosystem.

Speakers from all over the world

Over 700 visitors and more than 30 renowned speakers are expected, including: Prince Michael of Liechtenstein, Sony Kapoor, William Mougayar, Johan Gevers, Efi Pylarinou, Kevin van der Veer, Louis de Bruin and other experts. Top representatives of the financial and financial technology trade media will moderate the presentations and lead the discussions. Included are: Tech Crunch, Forbes, and Bitcoin.com.

The Summit will provide a professional platform for those who want to explore the potential of tokenized assets, or for companies considering the adoption of blockchain, or for those who have already successfully raised funds through ICO campaigns. But also anyone who is simply interested in global financial developments and who wants to learn more about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The motherland of blockchain

Zurich is the obvious location for the summit. "Developers, investors and entrepreneurs no longer travel from Switzerland to Silicon Valley when it comes to blockchain," says Cantonal Councillor Matthias Michel, head of the Department of Economic Affairs in the canton of Zug, the motherland of blockchain and cryptoactivities in Switzerland. "On the contrary, people are now coming from California to us in Crypto Valley to see what's coming forward."

The conference and workshop discussions include following topics:

• The financial and social implications of blockchain
• The integration of blockchain business
• The increase in efficiency through tokenization and the integration of blockchain
• Blockchain-based project investments
• Trends and prospects, risk assessment methods and portfolio management
• ICO Market Analyses
• Scoring procedure
• and last but not least, traditional fundraising methods are contrasted with crowd sales

The Blockchain Leadership Summit will include panel discussions, workshops, face-to-face meetings with experts and market players. Summit attendees will be able to network exclusively with traditional and crypto investors, investment funds, decision makers, crypto banks, tokenized businesses and blockchain developers. Additional highlights include a gala dinner, hosted by Cryptospace, and an art auction with proceeds benefiting Children's Aid.

The complete program and information on ticket sales are available at swissblockchainsummit.com.

The cooperation between Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) and Sage will enable startups and small businesses to better manage their liquidity, settle wages, and automate order processing from quotation to invoice. The focus is on the new Sage Start offer, which ZKB customers will receive at a discount from March 2018. With this cooperation, Sage aims to expand its market position as a leading provider of business management software in the Swiss market. Further collaborations with leading financial institutions are planned.

New solution on the market since November

The new Sage Start solution was launched last November. The product complements the service offering for start-up and SME customers of Zürcher Kantonalbank from March 2018. They will receive a 10 % discount on the Sage Start offering. "We focus on solutions that are both innovative and mature," says Zürcher Kantonalbank. The cooperation with a leading provider of SME software gives the bank the opportunity to decisively expand its range of services for startups and small businesses. Sage sees further growth potential thanks to this cooperation. Tobias Ackermann, Country Manager of Sage in Switzerland, comments: "The partnership is an important step for us to expand our position in the Swiss market. Customer proximity, security and the familiarity of Zürcher Kantonalbank are of central importance to us. In addition, we share the aspiration to free entrepreneurs from administrative tasks so that they can concentrate fully on their core business." Sage says it is looking into cooperations with other financial institutions and insurance companies.

Sage Start for SME customers of Zürcher Kantonalbank

Sage Start (www.sagestart.ch) enables customers of Zürcher Kantonalbank to process orders, quotes, invoices and wages. The integrated financial accounting can be connected directly with the e-banking of Zürcher Kantonalbank - if required, also with any other Swiss bank. In this way, all cash accounts can be reconciled with this software solution. The program assigns the movements in e-banking directly to the appropriate customers and suppliers. This ensures full control over liquidity. In addition to liquidity management, Sage Start automates many double-entry accounting processes in the background.

The research was conducted by Korn Ferry's Hay Group division and is based on employee surveys of 350 companies and 6.8 million workers. "According to estimates, Millennials will make up around 75% of the workforce by 2025 and accordingly represent a real force. They are a highly educated and tech-savvy generation," says Stefan Baldenweg, senior client partner at Korn Ferry Hay Group. Key findings from the study are:

Feedback and opportunities for advancement

• 71% of Millennials believe that their direct reports support their development. Among the total workforce, only around 63% held this opinion.
• Millennials are more likely to report that the feedback they receive from their supervisors helps them improve - 67% compared to 63% of the total workforce.
• The Millennial generation also believes that good performance is appropriately recognized. This was confirmed by 67%. Among the total workforce, the figure was 63%.

Faith and values

• 78% of those born between 1980 and 2000 are positive about their employers' prospects for success in the next two to three years, compared with 72% of the total workforce.
• Millennials care more than the overall workforce that their companies treat employees with respect. This was said by 82% of the Millennial generation compared to 79% of the total workforce.
• 80% of Millennials support that their employers value and promote diversity. 77% of the total workforce felt the same way.

"Members of the Millennial generation want more than lip service. They also want their employers to act socially and ethically. Millennials want proof that the company places great value on doing the right thing," says Stefan Baldenweg.

Millennials demand challenge and recognition

While Millennials demonstrated greater agreement in many areas, the Korn Ferry Hay Group analysis showed that individuals of this generation are eager to demonstrate their abilities and be rewarded for their efforts.

• Compared to the overall workforce, Millennials were less likely to report that their employers make good use of their skills and abilities - 71% compared to 74% of the overall workforce.
• Only 47% of Millennials believe they are paid fairly for their work. At 50%, half of the total workforce believed they were fairly compensated.
• Some may think restless Millennials are leading the job-hopping trend, and to some extent that's true. Korn Ferry's research shows that the Millennial generation is less likely to intend to stay with their current employer for more than five years - 48% of them versus 60% of the total workforce.

"But the greater mobility among Millennials could also be a factor of their young age. Statistics show that Millennials with college degrees stay with their employers longer than people from Generation X did in 2000, when they were the same age as today's Millennials," explains Stefan Baldenweg. "Given the low unemployment rate, it's important to offer all employees challenges and more advanced roles to ensure they are ready to contribute to the company's future success."

Managers have a strong influence on the performance and daily work of their employees. Their behavior usually has a direct impact on the success of a team. That's why most managers see themselves in the role of setting the pace for collaboration: 58 percent of the supervisors surveyed in Germany say that they give their employees clear direction so that no uncertainties arise.

Symbols of success with a clear vision of the future

According to the results of the study, most managers are self-confident about their role. Seven out of ten respondents assume that their employees see them as a symbol of success and performance. Just as many managers believe that they have a vision of the future that spurs employees on. However, this vision does not always seem to have anything to do with the dominant future topic of "digitization" - being involved in the development and implementation of a digitization strategy themselves only applies to just under half of the managers.

Bosses do not want to monitor

When it comes to communicating benefits and positive messages, supervisors tend to be more reticent. 43 percent inform their employees about what they will receive if they meet the employer's requirements. However, managers' trust in their teams seems to be high anyway. This is shown by two results of the study by StepStone and Kienbaum. On the one hand, the majority of bosses assume that their employees can also organize themselves independently (64 percent). On the other hand, only one in ten bosses considers it necessary to guide a team very closely so that tasks are actually completed.

Source: www.stepstone.de

The Höhere Technische Lehranstalten (HTL) and the Höhere Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsschulen (HWV) became Fachhochschulen (FH) more than 20 years ago. Since then, the HTL and HWV graduates have been able to retroactively the university of applied sciences title acquire. Since 2009, those who hold a UAS title can simultaneously use the bachelor title due to the Bologna reform. Nevertheless, until now, HTL and HWV degrees were assigned to the category of today's higher technical colleges (HF) in the salary structure survey (LSE) of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Correctly, however, they should be assigned to UAS degrees (category 2) or reported separately.

HTL and HWV graduates received the wrong salary for years

By no means all HTL and HWV graduates have subsequently acquired the FH title. As a result, a large proportion of them have been assigned to the wrong salary category in the official LSE. The informative value of the HF and FH categories was thus impaired. Both employers and employees received inconsistent wage references. A worse position of HTL and HWV graduates could not be excluded.

After a Coverage of the Aargauer Zeitung from 21.8.2017 The umbrella organization UAS Switzerland intervened over this grievance and sought talks with the FSO and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The talks had an effect: the SERI submitted a proposal to the FSO to classify the HTL/HWV titles in the category of UAS degrees. The FSO has now given the green light: they want to reflect reality as accurately as possible with the statistical information they produce.

New wage structure survey brings equality

As of the 2018 salary structure survey, HTL and HWV degrees are now assigned to category 2. The classification of salaries is done via the employers and a system available to them. Since it is possible that this has not yet been updated, employers must in some cases manually assign the degrees to category 2. In order to ensure that the degrees are correctly assigned, FH Schweiz therefore still recommends that HTL and HWV graduates submit the subsequent acquisition of the FH title and to notify the employer of this.

More information: www.fhschweiz.ch, www.titelumwandlung.ch

Everyone agrees that if you want to become healthier, slimmer, fitter or whatever, you have to do something about it every day. It's not enough to eat healthily once a week and otherwise eat junk food. Or to brush your teeth only once a month and trust in the powers of nature. Or to run five kilometers once a month and believe that you can keep going in the next marathon.

Here's the exciting part: When it comes to mental fitness and a strong mindset (i.e., what we need as a foundation in any team to post sustainable successes), most believe an annual workshop is all it takes. Here's the unpleasant truth for many: for a strong mindset and mental fitness - and thus for your success - you need to do something every day(!). As a team leader or CEO, it's your job to work on this with your team on an ongoing basis.

Here are three exemplary topics (from a variety of others) that you should practice daily:

1. Objective. Set daily goals (in writing!) and work consistently to achieve them: Which top goal do you absolutely have to achieve today, no matter what? What are your number 2 and 3 goals? Write them down as your first action in the morning. This takes maybe 3 minutes, and keeps you on track throughout the day. More importantly, it trains your mindset in that it will Targets are what determine your success, but not tasks (many confuse this).
2. Commitments. Yes, integrity (you do what you promise) can and must be trained. Because our instinct is always to go for the short term advantage and don't care about our promises. Therefore, work on keeping EVERY commitment, especially the ones you make to yourself. Most people are extremely careless with their own commitments.
3. Personal Growth. Soak up knowledge, ideas and inspiration from top experts every day. Use all channels like books, articles, audio courses, video courses, mastermind groups, conferences and much more. I'll tell you from my own experience: daily personal growth is a habit.

So go ahead: Create your training plan for your mental fitness and train daily. The best thing to do is to get a coach who will constantly remind you and support you.

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

Personalized digital offerings with high utility value that are already merging with consumers' everyday lives: this is just one of the important technology trends currently under discussion. At the same time, providers of such offerings are transforming themselves into agile "intelligent companies" through the feedback of acquired data. This is underpinned by a study on which the Technology Vision is based, conducted by the consulting firm Accenture among 6,300 business and IT decision-makers worldwide. According to the study, more than four out of five respondents (84 percent) are of the opinion that, thanks to technology, companies now play an important role in people's everyday lives. Among other things, reference is made here to the growing influence of AI-based voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, which are already integrated into many products and are thus also gaining relevance in more and more situations in daily life.

Providers must assume more responsibility

However, this presents companies with new challenges in the area of tension between future growth opportunities and greater social responsibility resulting from the ubiquity of technology. The more seamlessly technology becomes integrated into our private and professional lives, the more important it becomes for companies to redefine their relationship with customers and business partners and to focus on the responsible use of technology. "Information technology is now an integral part of our lives and is therefore also changing work and society," says Marc Zollinger, Head of Technology at Accenture Switzerland. "The greater the impact of digital innovations on our everyday lives, the more important it becomes for providers of corresponding services and technologies to take responsibility. On the one hand, this means that companies have to solicit more trust from customers and stand up for transparency. On the other hand, customers must become accustomed to sharing personal information if they want to derive maximum benefit from digital services."

The Technology Vision also describes how the relationship between companies and consumers is changing from a one-way street to a highway on which data is exchanged in both directions. Whereas consumers were previously primarily passive users of products and services, they now use their data to contribute to their functioning and continuous further development. This development enables companies to engage in "integrated innovation," but requires a trusting, partnership-based relationship between the players that goes far beyond the purely functional value of products. Shared goals and values will shape the relationship between companies and individual customers much more strongly in the future. This requires the right management in the companies.

The five technology trends for business

To fulfill their social responsibility and build new partnerships in the digital ecosystem, companies should take these five technology trends in particular to heart:

1. AI for all: advancing artificial intelligence (AI) for business and society. The better artificial intelligence works, the greater its influence on people's everyday lives. For companies whose business models are increasingly based on AI, this means fulfilling their social responsibility and defining clear rules about what AI can and cannot do.
2. Augmented reality: the end of distances. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are increasingly blurring the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds. These technologies are thus changing the way people live and work and leveling spatial distances.
3. Data accuracy: the importance of trust. The more companies' business models rely on data, the greater a new form of vulnerability becomes: incorrect, manipulated, and biased data that leads to flawed business insights and biased decisions with a significant impact on society. The best way for companies to meet this challenge is on two tracks, by paying even closer attention to correct data sets while reducing incentives for manipulation.
4. Boundless business: partnership on a grand scale. Companies depend on technology-based partnerships across industries to grow, but their own legacy systems are not built to support such ecosystems of partners. Tomorrow's leading companies will be those that seek and enable partnerships on a large scale today, but design their internal systems and processes early to do so
5. Internet of thought: creating smart environments. Companies have high expectations for intelligent environments created through robotics, AI, and immersive experiences. To bring these intelligent environments to life, companies must not only educate their employees and build new capabilities, but also update their enterprise IT.

"With the rapid spread of new technologies, the role of companies is also changing: They are increasingly transforming themselves from pure suppliers to partners in a comprehensive innovation process, developing new solutions together with customers, employees, research institutions and other companies," continues Marc Zollinger. "Thanks to this networking with a wide range of players and the resulting stronger anchoring in society, trust in companies is also growing. In this way, they are laying the foundation for tomorrow's growth."

More information on this year's study: www.accenture.com/de-de/insight-technology-trends-2018.

How satisfied are employees in their jobs? And how willing are they to change jobs? This is what the online network XING wanted to find out and surveyed around 500 working people in German-speaking Switzerland.

More than half of boys would change jobs in 2018

85 percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat satisfied with their current job. Only 6 percent were really dissatisfied. The survey found that this positive picture was evident across all genders and age groups. But even if the vast majority like their current job, 30 percent of Swiss employees would be open to a change, and another 10 percent have already taken concrete steps. Younger employees are particularly keen to change jobs: at 60 percent, well over half of 18- to 29-year-olds are prepared to change their job this year.

Job search in Switzerland is a local affair

According to the GIM study, an important criterion when choosing a job is the place of work. Four out of ten respondents would like a job at their own place of residence. 51 percent would still be willing to travel a maximum of 50 kilometers to work. Overall, men and full-time employees are willing to travel somewhat further for work than women and part-time employees. Only very few are drawn beyond the country's borders: Just 3 percent would leave Switzerland for a job.

Job search: Swiss use their personal network

When looking for a new job, Swiss people most frequently obtain information from acquaintances, friends or family members: Almost two-thirds use their personal network to look for a job. This is followed by general job exchanges on the Internet (58 percent) and specialized job portals (56 percent). Companies can take advantage of this fact by actively integrating their employees' personal online networks into their e-recruiting strategy. "Taking advantage of such new opportunities is particularly urgent at a time when there is a shortage of skilled workers and full employment," says Yves Schneuwly, Managing Director of XING Switzerland.

Top desired employers among Swiss XING users: Swisscom, Migros and SBB

A recent analysis of the employers of choice entered in XING profiles shows the most frequently mentioned Swiss companies:

1. Swisscom
2. Federation of Migros Cooperatives
3. SBB CFF FFS
4. Roche
5. UBS
6. ABB
7. The Swiss Post
8. Credit Suisse
9. Swiss International Air Lines
10. Federal Administration

As expected, big names with high appeal are found at the top of the list. "The larger Swiss companies in particular, which stand for progressive working conditions, enjoy the status of employer of choice among employees. Despite their size, these companies are well anchored locally," says Yves Schneuwly. To make it easier for smaller Swiss companies to identify who is interested in working at their company, XING has set up a desired employer function. In this way, the search for the "perfect match" can be targeted.

Source: www.xing.com

Searching for content on the Internet has improved significantly in recent years. Not so on the company intranet: here, time seems to have stood still in many places. It is still difficult to distinguish the essential results here from numerous superfluous search results - almost like in the early days of the Internet. These problems are constantly getting worse with the exponentially growing amount of data in companies: Every two years, the amount of data available in the company doubles. For employees, the search thus becomes a search for a needle in a haystack.

Swiss search engine for intranet

Now Swisscom, together with the Swiss software provider Hulbee, is launching a central solution that massively simplifies finding relevant documents - regardless of where they are stored - within the company itself, making it comparable to searching the Internet. "Enterprise Search" is - as it is called - a flexible and scalable solution that can be implemented not only internally, but also on the company's own website or external online store. The advantage for companies: They can tailor the search to their needs and have the guarantee of not finding external advertising in the results. In addition, the customer chooses whether to use "Enterprise Search" hosted in Swisscom data centers or on-premise on the company's own servers.

20 percent more productive

Until now, one of the few solutions for companies was the "Google Search Appliance": a hardware solution for using Google search technology for your own intranet. But this product will be taken off the market this year. The need for new in-house search solutions is therefore great. Not least because poor internal search reduces productivity massively: employees spend up to one fifth of their working time searching for internal information. While many companies have recognized this - with newly introduced document filing systems, however, they have achieved exactly the opposite: ever new filing locations, different file formats and often parallel cloud services only make the search even more confusing. Andreas Wiebe, CEO of Hulbee AG, says: "Although there are approaches to solutions, they often fail to establish themselves due to a lack of user-friendliness. The reason for this is simple: In private life, people are used to querying the search engine even for addresses and domain names. Why should one switch back to directories and filing systems in the professional world? We want to close this gap with our offer".

"Enterprise Search" focuses on intuitive use for the employee, which leads quickly and reliably to the target: Regardless of the storage location and file type, all information is searched and, if desired, automatically summarized. How this works is explained by the CEO of Hulbee in a Video.

More information about the product: www.swisscom.ch/enterprise-search

Coaching is about building a bridge between our current life and our future life. And the coach? He supports his clients in mastering this challenge - among other things, by causing them to self-reflect, which leads to an identification of the causes of the problem and possible solutions.

People can trigger this reflection process in themselves even without professional support. And we increasingly need this competence to master our lives. Because our living environment is changing faster and faster, we have to set a new course in our lives more often.

Key question: What do I want?

A prerequisite for successful self-coaching is that we have the necessary power to do so. This in turn requires that there are "stable zones" in our lives. For example, social relationships that give us support. Or a profession that fulfills us. Such stable zones are extremely important for us as human beings, because they give us the strength to actively shape our lives. If they are missing, we need professional help.

Another prerequisite is that we must not harbor the mistaken belief that there is one right path. And if we find it, we will be happy for the rest of our lives. This path does not exist - also because our needs change in the course of our lives. That's why we have to ask ourselves the questions

• What is important to me?
• What kind of life do I want to lead? And:
• How can I realize it?

over and over again.

Actively shaping life

Self-coaching is based on the assumption: Every healthy person carries the solution to his problems within himself. So, when faced with a challenge, he can find a solution on his own - or with self-organized support.

This assumption is in turn based on the assumption: We construct the world as we experience it to a large extent ourselves - through our way of seeing and evaluating things. This also applies to our problems. Here is an example: Suppose you had changed your job several times in the last few years. Then you might come to the conclusion: I have a problem - namely, going through with a job. But does that have to be the case? Perhaps it is part of your concept of a fulfilled life to regularly try something new professionally? Where is the problem then?

The example shows: We construct many problems ourselves, through our way of evaluating situations and constellations. That is why some problems seem unsolvable to us. It follows from this: If we learn to see and evaluate problems in a new way, they often become solvable.

Have patience

From a neurological point of view, learning is a very tangible process in which new nerve connections are formed in our brain that become stronger and stronger as a result of appropriate impulses. At the beginning, these neural pathways are barely visible trails that gradually become country roads or even highways.

When building up new behavior patterns, we have to expect relapses and phases of apparent standstill - because learning processes often seem to proceed in leaps and bounds. Here's an example. Suppose you were a tennis player and wanted to practice a new stroke. So you practice all afternoon without making much progress. Frustrated, you go home. But a week later, you're back on the court, and suddenly you hit the new shot right away. The reason: While you were apparently doing nothing, your brain continued to work. It established new neuronal connections, replayed the sequences necessary for the shot again and again, and associated them with similar movement patterns. That's why you suddenly succeeded in the stroke.

You will register similar processes during self-coaching. Then, often for weeks, seemingly nothing happens. But then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, you have the famous flash of inspiration - for example while cooking. That is, you have the solution to the problem in front of your eyes. Because while you were apparently only busy with other things, your brain stayed on the ball. That's why you suddenly know the solution. So, provided you continue to supply your brain with the necessary stimuli, you will also eventually exhibit the desired behavior.

Imagine the future

In order to achieve this goal, it is important to regularly imagine the life you want - in other words, to mentally anticipate the future. Top athletes know the power of imagination. They know it is a very effective tool for approaching a goal step by step.

Henry Ford is credited with the statement, "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're always right!". It refers to the great influence our expectation has on the outcome - positive and negative. You can test for yourself how much our thoughts influence how we feel.

Imagine biting heartily into a lemon and pay attention to how your body reacts. Your mouth probably puckers just by imagining the sour taste of a lemon. And this only because of a few, imagined words. How great must be the effect when we regularly imagine our future life and take steps in the desired direction?

About the author: Sabine Prohaska is the owner of the consulting company seminar consult prohaska, Vienna (www.seminarconsult.at). Among other things, she is the author of the book "Solution-oriented self-coaching: Getting closer to your goals - step by step".

When it comes to new appointments to the board of directors, increasing overall diversity is a very high priority. This is the result of the semi-annual survey conducted by swissVR in cooperation with the consulting firm Deloitte and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Last November, 448 people from listed companies and SMEs were surveyed. More than three quarters (78%) of the respondents attach high or medium importance to the goal of greater diversity and support the future inclusion of members with new skills and experience or different personality traits on the board of directors. Just under one-fifth of the boards surveyed (19%) already see themselves as well positioned in this respect, and only a very small minority (3%) consider an increase in general diversity when making new appointments to be unimportant.

The second most important priority for new staff appointments cited by 71% of respondents is increasing expertise in digitization and IT. 29% assign a high and 42% a medium importance to this goal. Other target criteria, such as rejuvenating the board of directors or increasing the proportion of women, are considered less important.

Gender distribution vs. diversity

Only a small proportion of respondents sit on boards that already meet the benchmark of 30 percent women for listed companies proposed by the Federal Council and the National Council Commission. According to the survey, the gender distribution is somewhat more balanced in larger boards: on average, 21 percent of board members with six or more members are women, compared with only 10 percent in smaller boards with three to five members. Around two-thirds (64%) of the board members surveyed welcome an increase in the proportion of women on boards in Switzerland, but 91 percent reject a gender quota imposed by law or the articles of association.

Reto Savoia, Deputy CEO of Deloitte Switzerland, interprets the results as follows: "Diversity and gender equity are clearly differentiated by Swiss board members. They have learned that diversity on the steering committee has a positive impact on business success. Equal representation of women on boards, on the other hand, is not a priority. Although the federal government's rather tame quota proposal could probably be implemented without major effort, quotas of any kind continue to meet with fundamental rejection."

HR topics gain in importance

In the third swissVR Monitor, the top issues for boards of directors are once again efficiency enhancement and process optimization (40%). They are also concerned with digitization (38%) and revising corporate strategy (35%). In fourth place, personnel challenges at management level were named. Behind them is the topic of talent management and recruitment, which climbed up from seventh place in August 2017. A year ago, the topic ranked a distant 11th. Also moving up are risk management (25%) and compliance (24%). Participants were able to select the five most important VR topics of the past twelve months from among several dozen.

Time expenditure increased

According to the assessment of many survey participants, the environment for their work has changed relatively significantly within a year. The time required for board activities has increased for more than half of all board members surveyed (56%) in the last twelve months. Even a year ago, a majority of respondents reported an increase in time spent. Exchanges with management have also intensified for more than half of the respondents. Almost one-third also perceive an increase in reputational pressure and shareholder influence over the past year.

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: "The work on the board of directors is becoming more demanding and more time-consuming, as the variety of topics and the formalism are also increasing. The tasks have long since ceased to be limited to defining strategy and appointing management. This is also reflected in the large number of topics named as top issues by respondents to the swissVR Monitor I/2018. Even if the boards of directors respond to this expansion of topics with more diversity on the board, each individual member still has to cope with the broad spectrum of topics if they want to perform their duties seriously."

Boards of Directors assess economic outlook as positive

Most of the board members surveyed (67%) expect the Swiss economy to develop positively over the next twelve months and are more optimistic than they were six months or a year ago. The overall economic outlook is now viewed slightly more positively than the business outlook for their own company (64%). Board members from the information and communications sector are particularly positive about the future of their company (86%). The assessments for manufacturing and life sciences (66%) are also above average.

The members of the Board of Directors further assessed the current and future importance of external factors for their company on a scale of 1 to 5. The highest current importance is assigned to economic development in Switzerland (4.0) and economic development abroad (3.5). Both factors are also forecast to improve in the future (43% and 41% of respondents, respectively).

Using earnings sustainably

Board members also attach relatively high importance (3.4) to the exchange rate of the Swiss franc against the euro and the US dollar. Just under a third of respondents also expect the Swiss franc to strengthen, while just under a third anticipate a weaker Swiss currency. Interest rates (3.2) and inflation (3.0) are considered to be of medium importance. A majority of respondents expect both variables to rise.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Wunderlin, President swissVR, on the outlook and general conditions: "While many companies consider themselves more successful than the industry average, they do not believe that they will grow much faster than the general economy in the process. All in all, the outlook is very positive and the general conditions for companies are better than they have been for a long time. The task now is to use the earnings generated to actively strengthen our sustainable positioning. Investing in people and their education is a key pillar of this."

Source: swissVR Monitor

Small and medium-sized enterprises face greater challenges when it comes to digitization. Day-to-day business suffers due to administrative work. There is a lack of time and knowledge to simplify the administrative work and digitize the business. The newly founded organization Swiss21.org has therefore set itself the goal of providing Swiss startups and small businesses with a free overall solution. It operates a cloud infrastructure in Switzerland and provides users with software for accounting, a CRM solution, an online store, simple time tracking and an online cash register including a solution for invoicing.

Sustainable free of charge for small businesses

For up to 2,100 invoices/year, 2,100 items in the store, 2,100 contacts and 21 users, the offer is free of charge for the entrepreneur. This ensures that no costs are incurred in a start-up phase or in the case of smaller organizations, even in the longer term. The software providers involved have committed themselves to maintaining the free use over the longer term. If a user exceeds these limits, CHF 21/month will be charged for up to 5,000 invoices/year, 5,000 articles or 5,000 contacts. A change to another system is possible at any time and the data can be exported.

Broadly supported by renowned partners

Several well-known companies are involved in Swiss21.org, such as Abacus Research AG, Fasoon AG, Glarotech GmbH and Orphis AG. More companies will be added to expand the offering, especially with industry-specific cloud solutions. The management was transferred to Fasoon AG in Appenzell. Swiss21.org is financed primarily through advertising: partners can use the platform for advertising purposes (banner ads). Data sovereignty always remains with the user. To ensure all requirements are met, those responsible are in contact with the Swiss Federal Data Protection Commissioner.

St. Galler Kantonalbank was the first financial institution to become a partner: "As the 'first bank' for SMEs, we support this innovative platform out of conviction. It promotes digitization among small businesses and stands for lean, efficient and end-to-end processes," says Albert Koller, Head of Private and Business Customers and member of the Executive Board.

Competitive advantage for Swiss companies

The Swiss21.org initiative sees its main task as supporting Swiss companies in digitizing their business processes. It is also widely accepted by business representatives, associations and government officials, according to the statement: "I welcome any initiative that relieves Swiss SMEs and startups of administrative work and supports them in digitization. This is how we strengthen Switzerland as a business location and secure jobs," says Federal Councilor Johann Schneider-Ammann, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER). The platform for small businesses and startups also receives support from the KMU Schweiz foundation. The president of the foundation's board of trustees, Hans-Ulrich Bigler, describes Swiss21.org as a "valuable contribution to promoting the digitalization of the SME economy. And Bruno Sauter, Head of the Office for Economy and Labor of the Canton of Zurich, sees great advantages for startups in particular with the launch of the free platform: "In the course of digitization, companies of all sizes must ensure their accessibility and efficient administration, but the cost consequences weigh heavier for startups and SMEs. I very much welcome the fact that the Swiss21.org initiative has recognized this fundamental need and wants to proactively meet it."

Start in spring 2018

The Swiss21.org service will be launched in spring 2018 and will then be available to all SMEs in German-speaking Switzerland. In 2019, the offer will be extended to French-speaking Switzerland, followed by Ticino in 2020. Walter Regli, CEO of Swiss21.org, says: "We are convinced that our non-profit offer will quickly gain broad acceptance and that by the end of 2020, around 10% of all Swiss small businesses will be using the free Swiss21.org solution."

www.swiss21.org