Grass & Partner, a company established in outplacement, career consulting and filling board of directors mandates, has arranged its succession: Jan Böggering, Stefan Hernandez and Martin Küppers are the new owners. However, the two long-time owners Paul Beerli and André Schläppi will remain associated with the company.

The three entrepreneurial personalities bring great experience in the strategic development and management of companies and individuals. Martin Küppers is a mechanical engineer and holds an EMBA IMD. For more than 20 years, he gained operational experience in well-known internationally active mechanical engineering groups with board positions in international markets. For example, Küppers was Managing Director at Saurer AG from 2016 to 2020. Jan Böggering, in turn, has 20 years of experience in management consulting in the areas of operational excellence and value enhancement strategies. Among other things, he was responsible for the Performance Improvement unit at Volkswagen Consulting. Finally, Stefan Hernandez has been Managing Director at Grass & Partner since 2018 and previously served as President of FC St. Gallen, among other positions.

The three entrepreneurs are taking over one hundred percent of the shares from long-time owners Paul Beerli and André Schläppi and will now form the Board of Directors. The previous owners will remain associated with the company. Paul Beerli, former Chairman of the Board of Directors, will continue to provide his expertise as a freelance consultant, while André Schläppi will act as a senior executive coach for C-level clients. Stefan Hernandez can be quoted as follows: "We are looking forward to continuing and further developing the established company together with our employees. The strength of Grass & Partner is that we specifically address the specific needs of our clients. We will continue to expand this tailored approach." Paul Beerli: "It makes us proud to hand over Grass & Partner into such experienced hands. Grass & Partner is excellently positioned throughout Switzerland. The change of ownership ensures continuity and at the same time opens up new perspectives."

Source: www.grassgroup.ch

Despite higher demand, with the increasing digitization of recent years, and contrary to common expectations, salaries in the ICT industry remain largely stable for 2022. This is confirmed by the annual salary study published by SwissICT. Taking inflation into account (as of May 01, '22), salaries are actually declining slightly, the study finds. Possible explanations for this development are, on the one hand, the recruitment of talents who still need promotion and, on the other hand, the shift in competence levels within the agile job profiles. For SMEs and micro-enterprises, this ensures continued access to ICT specialists. Salaries remain stable across all industries.

However, a more differentiated analysis reveals an increase in the number of mentions and also an increase in the salary level, particularly for lower salaries. This could indicate that the shortage of skilled workers has led to an increase in the number of entry-level employees, who could benefit from a higher salary than before. It remains to be seen what the 2023 figures will tell us about further developments.

Growth in agile professional profiles

As in previous surveys, there was also an increase in agile job profiles this year. The Product Manager and Release Train Engineer profiles were also surveyed for the first time. There were 97 responses to the Product Manager profile and as many as 136 responses to the Release Train Engineer salary. This is very promising for the first survey of these professional profiles and shows that the establishment of agile professions is progressing continuously.

Further innovations this year were made with regard to age grouping. The additional, expanded age grading makes it possible to better view social changes and draw clearer conclusions from salary trends and mentions. Similarly, an industry adjustment was made. The consolidation of industries was made based on input from the past five years. The change increases the informative value and robustness of the figures collected many times over.

Salaries for ICT trainees higher than expected

For the first time, a salary survey was conducted on the wages of apprentices. The survey was carried out in the basic vocational training programs for computer scientists, ICT specialists and mediamaticians. 122 Swiss companies entered their data on apprentices. Interesting: The median is at the upper limit of the recommendations (partly also above) of the responsible association ICT-Berufsbildung Schweiz. The results of the salary survey show that the salaries of ICT apprentices are highest at banks and insurance companies. They are followed by public administrations and other industries. An exciting finding: the lowest wages are found in IT companies.

Source: SwissICT

What is it about? Most of the leaders I meet have fun in their job. They love the technical work. But for the vast majority, the fun of leading people is much less.

When fun is missing in leadership...

Many associate leadership with a burden rather than the opportunity to achieve great things together with others. Thoughts turn to difficult "appraisal interviews," salary negotiations, conflict resolution, remembering deadlines and tasks, and so on. These are all topics that are, of course, less fun. And that's also management rather than leadership.

Here's the thing: The journey to fun leadership starts in the mind, with what I associate with leadership and how I see myself as a leader. So what can you do to significantly and sustainably increase your fun in leadership? Here are three concrete ideas:

Idea #1: Have a vision

It's a classic: If you lead people (and yourself), you need to know where to go. Leadership always means changing the status quo, it means development, it means achieving significant goals. Optimizing the current state, on the other hand, is "management". That is something different.

Developing strong visions and advocating them to others is an exercise I do over and over again with my clients. That's why I know that for many it is anything but easy.

My tip: Answer the question where exactly you want to be with your team in 3 years - and ideally. What do you dream of? What will you have achieved then?

Idea #2: Learning to love human challenges

Yes, you can learn to love the problems that inevitably arise from working with others. Of course, this requires changing beliefs if you've been more introverted and rational in nature. In fact, this is what you learn as a leader needif you want to be successful. In many cases, it is very difficult for you to do this alone, but you need one or more sparring partners.

Idea No. 3: Continuous development

Most of the things we don't like to do, we're not very good at either. In other words, a lack of competence usually leads to a lack of fun. Therefore: make sure that you are constantly developing. Practice dealing with people until you get real enjoyment out of it. Develop your vision repeatedly until it comes naturally to you. And keep educating yourself on all the other leadership topics.

So here are three ideas on how you can massively increase your fun in leadership - and incidentally your success. Now all you have to do is apply them. Have fun with it!

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

Founded in 2006, baeriswyl tschanz & partner ag (BTPAG), headquartered in Ittigen/Bern, supports its customers in the development of sustainable strategies, concepts and in the performance of analyses in the areas of information technology, telecommunications and organization. Effective immediately, the company will be acquired by msg, an internationally active group of companies based in Ismaning near Munich with over 9,000 employees worldwide. It is represented in 28 countries and also supports its customers in the digital transformation. msg board member Dr. Jürgen Zehetmaier welcomes the acquisition: "In addition to the fact that the comprehensive portfolios of msg as well as BTPAG complement each other excellently, this step fits perfectly with our strategic orientation." msg is already represented in Switzerland with group members such as msg systems, Finnova and Optravis, among others. There, msg is transferring its existing business with the Public Sector to BTPAG in order to bundle its strengths in the Swiss market even more strongly as the msg Group.

baeriswyl tschanz & partner continues to operate independently on the market

BTPAG will remain on the market as an independent company and will gain great growth potential through the sale of the share package to msg as a strong international and strategic partner, according to a statement to the media. Marc Baeriswyl, CFO of BTPAG, is pleased with the successful succession plan. "Through today's takeover of the shares by msg, we were able to ensure the continuity of the company, in particular the safeguarding of jobs, as well as the preservation of the name. This in particular is something we attached the greatest importance to in all our deliberations."

Changes in the Board of Directors

Oskar Zodel, CEO of msg Switzerland, will take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTPAG in the future. Bernhard Emch and Remo Tschanz will continue to serve as members of the Board of Directors. Operationally, the company will continue to be managed by Remo Tschanz as CEO. Remo Tschanz will in future sit on the Public D-A-CH Board. Marc Baeriswyl will remain in his role as CFO until his retirement at the end of 2024. The entire management team remains unchanged. The employees of BTPAG will be taken over, and BTPAG will also be strengthened by msg employees from the Public business in Switzerland. With these measures, msg is focusing on continuity. Existing customers will not experience any changes, the company says. In the future, both companies will be represented with co-working offices at the Ittigen/Bern, Zurich and Basel locations, which will bring immediate benefits for customers and employees.

Source and further information: www.msg.group

Many areas in and around our lives are changing as a result of digitization. This includes the public sector such as the federal government, cities and municipalities. Therefore, it is not surprising that more and more smart city projects with unique solutions are emerging. Some examples are street lights that analyze the current traffic situation, apps that display available parking spaces and digital outdoor kiosks that provide city information in real time.

However, what must ALWAYS be at the center of these projects are the people. The ultimate goal of a smart city is to improve the lives of its citizens. To do this, it is important to put yourself in the people's shoes. How do citizens want to be entertained, informed and protected? How do THEY want to be entertained, informed and protected?

With our FORIS® Outdoor Kiosk, a local government is present with its residents around the clock. Citizens are informed daily about important information such as postponements of e.g. waste paper collections, events, education, urban developments, housing and leisure.

Now, you are probably thinking that such information can be found on the municipal website; but let's face it - important information needs to get to citizens quickly and easily.

If your municipality uses digital outdoor ads, it can reach a large audience. By using digital displays, municipalities and cities can inform their residents in real time with effective notifications.

Moreover, important information such as opening hours, further procedure and hygiene rules etc. can be highlighted. And this in all possible languages. Thus, a higher number of people is reached.

Do you know of a municipality that uses digital signage to communicate with its residents?

Learn more about why digital outdoor info boards make sense for communities in our blog.

As the Swiss market leader, we have successfully implemented countless digital projects over the past 30 years. Inputech AG accompany customers on their way to use the opportunities of digitalization for the benefit of the population, the trade and the city administration.

To order further references and information or to arrange a non-binding meeting to get to know us, please call: +41 44 879 20 24 or info@inputech.ch.

The Investor and Business Development Roadshows for Swiss startups are specifically designed to help them achieve their goal of becoming a global player. Thus, once again ten selected entrepreneurs receive an accelerated learning curve and a solid network through exchange with their teammates, contact with the market, feedback from investors and experts, and hands-on business development.

Total 90 applications

Venture Leaders Cleantech is what it describes as a unique business development program in Munich to explore the international market and the potential of high-growth Swiss startups. The cleantech industry is now presenting its own Swiss Startup National Team: A jury of professional investors and cleantech experts reviewed nearly 90 applications and selected the ten Venture Leaders Cleantech 2022. These selected startups reduce man-made negative environmental impacts by increasing energy efficiency, developing sustainable resource production systems or strengthening environmental protection. "The interest in this program and the quality of the applications were tremendous," said Stefan Steiner, co-managing director of Venturelab. "We have been supporting cleantech startups for many years and are excited to expand on this with the first Venture Leaders focused entirely on the cleantech sector. From energy generation to materials recycling, each startup brings an important solution to our world."

The ten cleantech startups at a glance

This year's Venture Leaders Cleantech will present themselves and their startups at the September 9, 2022 in a virtual pitch session. present. The event is open to the public and serves as a showcase for the ten innovations that the Swiss Startup National Team will present in Munich in 2022. The companies and solutions in question are as follows:

• Clemap from Zurich offers a platform for system integrators and metering service providers to manage and control energy flows, improve self-consumption and support the power grid infrastructure.
• CompPair Technologies SA based in Lausanne, has developed the first curable and sustainable composite, a breakthrough innovation in the field of self-healing composites that will bring critical changes to manufacturers, end users and the planet.
• dhp technology AG from Zizers in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland, develops, produces and builds a unique and patented solar folding roof that enables the dual use of industrial space for solar power production.
• Enerdrape Sàrl from Lausanne helps building owners and energy professionals to transform the energy use of their facilities. The start-up is developing the world's first thermal panel for underground environments, transforming them into renewable heat sources for building heating and cooling needs.
• Exnaton AG based in Zurich, helps utilities prepare for tomorrow's energy market with a SaaS platform that enables utilities to offer their customers a range of new renewable energy products.
• FenX AG from Turgi produces sustainable and high-performance insulation materials from mineral waste for the construction industry. These handy, high-performance insulation boards are safe, non-combustible and have a minimal carbon footprint, so there is no need to compromise on price, combustibility or environmental impact.
• INERGIO Technologies SA, Lausanne, is presenting an autonomous lightweight energy system based on innovative fuel cell technology as an environmentally friendly alternative to diesel engines.
• Regli Energy Systems AG based in Glattbrugg, Switzerland, develops and produces uncompromising, highly efficient heat pumps to drive the heat transition and support the Net Zero 2050 goal.
• SoHHytec SA based in Lausanne, develops, builds and operates artificial gardens and forests that provide green hydrogen and electricity as a service. The start-up's "Arb" product is a versatile and flexible system that uses sunlight and water to achieve over 70 % efficiency with minimal space requirements.
• Trea-Tech, also based in Lausanne, transforms waste from a burden into a resource by offering a sustainable and circular solution, producing methane-rich renewable gas, clean water and fertilizer from liquid waste streams.

Source: Venture Leaders

As a rule, the regulation of company succession does not take place without external support. Many trustees, coaches, management consultants or even lawyers and tax consultants offer their services in this regard. However, depending on the situation, important aspects are not given enough consideration in the handling of a succession process, which can have a detrimental effect under certain circumstances. Therefore, experts now agree that a holistic view of succession planning is needed, a so-called "big picture". This is the claim of the recently founded Swiss Umbrella Association for Corporate Succession (CHDU). It propagates an approach that looks at company succession from the perspectives of "family," "company" and "capital" and, building on this, has developed a seven-step process - for example, for the sale of a company to a successor.

Reconciling the aspects of family, business and money

Hans Jürg Domenig from ANSATZ AG - Firmen-Nachfolge-Verkauf in Thayngen also knows about common stumbling blocks in the sale of a company for the purpose of succession planning. He is also an advocate of the three perspectives mentioned above. He always starts with the family of an entrepreneur: "How can the company provide a livelihood for the family?" is a crucial question, says Domenig. Then, of course, there are questions about inheritance, shareholdings of family members and who from the family works in the business. Against this background, it is important to develop the right strategy for reconciling family and business. Only then does the company perspective come into play with vision, mission and strategy. The third factor, "money," is primarily a technical issue that can be represented in mathematical terms. According to Hans Jürg Domenig, this topic should only be addressed after the family and corporate strategy has been clarified.

Tools for successful SME succession

Together with EXPERTSuisse, the professional association for fiduciaries and auditors, CHDU is now offering a full-day seminar entitled "Big Picture of Successful SME Succession" on two dates. It is aimed at succession advisors, fiduciaries, auditors, tax consultants, management consultants, coaches, organizational consultants and other professionals and career changers in the field of business succession planning. This seminar is intended as a preliminary stage for a certificate course to become a succession consultant or succession expert.

More information: www.chdu.ch / www.expertsuisse.ch/nachfolge

Succession expert Hans Jürg Domenig in conversation

Hans Jürg Domenig has accompanied over 300 company sellers, successors, company founders, start-ups and franchise founders on their way to success for 25 years. He is a founding member and on the board of the Swiss umbrella organization for business succession CHDU.

Mr. Domenig, to what extent can business succession be "learned"? For entrepreneurs in particular, succession is a unique process.
Hans Jürg Domenig: Succession cannot be learned in the strict sense, but one can benefit a lot from the experiences of others. The idea that succession is a one-off process is only true to a limited extent: Often, a first succession fails and one has to make a second attempt by learning from the experiences made.

The seminar "Big Picture Successful According to the invitation to tender, "SME Succession" is primarily aimed at people who support companies in the succession process. Where is the greatest need for learning for this target group?
For them, it will have to be about being able to take different perspectives. This is because a company succession involves a large number of topics to which, for example, trustees, lawyers, coaches, etc. bring different know-how. This know-how must now be brought together in a holistic approach. Our seminar will therefore show how to start the succession process with a clear structure. We want to focus on the holistic nature of the succession issue and shed light on the process, which consists of seven steps. A planned certificate course will then deepen these individual steps in 15 training days.

I conclude from this: The topic of succession has been treated "wrongly" up to now?
It is indeed the case that many topics are not given enough weight or are even omitted altogether. For example, money is discussed too early, or only family or entrepreneurial aspects are discussed, but not enough is done to deal with the topic holistically.

What is your personal experience with your own succession consultations?
As a consultant, you must not go into the process too hastily. A cautious approach is important, and the conditions are different in every company: I have seen entrepreneurs who only said at the age of 80, "I should think about my succession". Especially important: It's always about emotions, on both sides, the buyer and the seller of a company. I can now predict quite accurately when an entrepreneur will have his first sleepless nights. Or a buyer suddenly becomes afraid of the risk. That's when you need to bring all your experience as a consultant to bear, but the seller can also make a big difference by sharing his experiences. Over time, you can sense the thoughts behind each statement. Then you can influence them accordingly.

In a succession process, you have to reveal a lot about yourself. Is this often a barrier for entrepreneurs or owners?
Yes, entrepreneurs want to keep a lot of things secret at first, so as not to cause irritation among customers and suppliers. Therefore, a maximum of discretion is necessary. This makes the need for succession consultants who can guarantee precisely this discretion all the greater. Because as you can see: Succession consulting enters very intimate and emotionally charged areas. And a great deal of trust must first be established between the entrepreneur and the consultant.

It is said that succession planning actually begins when the company is founded. What is your attitude to this?
It is certainly not wrong and not too early to start thinking about company succession at the age of 50. At this age, entrepreneurs should start thinking beyond mere consolidation and tax optimization. After all, there are many topics that can play a role from this point on: Spinning off divisions or real estate, setting up a pension fund solution, reducing non-essential parts of the company and assets, or even setting up a management structure that does not place the entire responsibility on the shoulders of the entrepreneur.

How is the interest in the new seminar program and what are the plans for the future?
Initially, we have announced two seminar dates, on December 1, 2022 and February 1, 2023. We expect 20 participants per seminar. Of course, we would like to motivate these participants to then also take part in the CAS, which is to start in 2023/2024.

At the KMU Swiss Symposium, successful personalities from various sectors and industries will speak about their experiences in a practical and timely manner. They illuminate and discuss the topic from different perspectives on key words such as industry, trade, power, innovation, succession, etc.

Switzerland 4.0: Is it reaching its limits?

After the first successful Event from 17 March 2022 (actually the 2021 edition), a second KMU Swiss Symposium will take place on Thursday, September 8, 2022 in the CAMPUSSAAL Kultur + Kongresse in Brugg, the "real" edition of this year. The event deals in the broadest sense with perceptions and realities in business, society and politics. Are we after as good as we think? Are we reaching our limits? Are we in a state of upheaval and are we creating change with probable limitations? Questions about questions, which should be partially answered at the symposium. This also with inclusion of the actualities of the energy crisis coming up to us, world-political tensions and availabilities of production goods. 250-300 participants are expected with illustrious personalities from economy and politics. "In addition to the familiar atmosphere, the participants appreciate the high practical relevance of the presentations," says Armin Baumann, initiator of KMU Swiss.

Supply bottlenecks, energy problems and global political situation in upheaval

Is Switzerland as well positioned as we think? What needs to be done so that we can master tomorrow? This in an environment of shortages of skilled workers, supply problems, expected energy bottlenecks and in the event of armed conflicts. Currently, problems and crises are being replaced by others, and yet things will continue. But how? The facts are and remain that changes happen continuously and crises always reveal weak points. These require farsightedness and decisiveness! Actors who act instead of react are in demand. But unfortunately, people in such situations too often sink into lethargy. People still try to solve problems instead of recognizing the causes and deriving something new from them.

Self-responsibility instead of egoism and narcissism are needed to master the future. What concerns everyone can only be solved by everyone. In addition, political mills work more slowly than economic ones and, unfortunately, sometimes against each other.

Notable personalities

The following entrepreneurial personalities provide lasting impressions:

• Natalie Spross, Spross Group
• Carla Kaufmann, companymarket
• Raphael Gilgen, Vitra
• Dr. Christian Schaffner, ETH Zurich
• Christoph Brand, Axpo
• Dr. Thomas Borer, Dr. Borer Consulting
• Guio Honegger, entrepreneur
• Beat Flach, National Council
• Thomas Först, Switzerland Global Enterprise
• Moderator: Michael Sokoll

For more information on the speakers, please visit www.kmuswiss.ch/symposium

The "Aerogel Architecture Award" was launched in 2020 by Empa and the industry partners Fixit, Agitec, Haga AG Naturbaustoffe, Hasit and the AdvaPor association. For the 2022 elimination, eight offices from Germany, China and Switzerland had submitted their projects. A jury consisting of the five experts Matthias Koebel (Switzerland), Ralf Kilian (Germany), Michael O'Connor (France), Volker Herzog (Germany) and Manfred Wehdorn (Austria) evaluated the submitted projects with regard to the value in terms of monument protection, energy efficiency and originality of the chosen solution. In each case, the renovation uses so-called aerogels, highly porous solids in which up to 99.98 % of the volume consists of pores. They require little space and are very flexible. Aerogels are therefore used where conventional insulating materials are not possible, for example in listed buildings.

First prize for a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The award ceremony took place at NEST, the research and innovation building of Empa and Eawag. The winner was an impressive project from Darmstadt, which was designed by the architects' office schneider+schumacher is being realized. This is the refurbishment of the unique exhibition building on the Mathildenhöhe, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021. In addition to modern glass that allows controlled use of daylight, a new type of high-performance mineral insulating plaster made of aerogel granules is being used in the outer shell of this historic building. This will significantly improve the energy quality of the facade, according to the statement. In the future, better use will also be made of the site's conditions, for example by using the historic water reservoir under the exhibition building to store energy.

Reduce energy consumption step by step

In second place was the Heilig Geist parish in Zurich. The center includes a church, community rooms, offices and apartments and was opened in 1973. The fact that little attention was paid to building insulation at the time was evident from the parish's high energy consumption. Over the years, architect Beat Kämpfen of Fighting Zinke + Partner The company therefore implemented various measures to optimize the energy efficiency of the building. These include, among other things, several solar systems on the entire grounds, the use of aerogel in the façade, and a replacement of the gas heating system with a heat pump system including geothermal probes. It was always important that the external appearance of the parish remain as unchanged as possible. Thanks to the innovations, the center received the Minergie certificate in 2020.

Renovate historic buildings for energy efficiency while preserving their appearance

Third place on the podium goes to a building in Winterthur. The house on Lindberg was built in 1963 and has been systematically developed over the years without changing the basic structure. This was also the requirement that the client placed on the team around the architect for the renovation of the outer shell. Anne-Kathrin Halt. This meant that, among other things, the volume of the building could not be changed and various elements, such as a ceramic relief on the wall of the house, had to be preserved. For this reason, it was decided to insulate the villa using aerogel panels. To do this, the existing trowel cast, including the base plaster, was first stripped down to the masonry. The exposed volume was filled with 20 mm wide aerogel panels, the trowel throw was reapplied and the original exposed concrete structure was reconstructed.

Source and further information: Empa

Thousands of training companies offer around 250 apprenticeships every year. However, fewer and fewer companies are finding the dedicated apprentices they want. With the retirement of the baby boomers, the existing gaps in recruiting young talent are now becoming even more apparent. A little word-of-mouth, makeshift advertising, a presentation at the local school or a video on an online platform are no longer enough. The committed and talented apprentices, i.e. the urgently needed specialists and managers of tomorrow, will rarely be found by training companies in this way.

Young talent challenges training companies

Today's young talents want to be addressed professionally. They have expectations of the employer's style and appearance. They are looking for trainers they can trust. They have ideas about how the company should support them during their apprenticeship. They want to see perspectives on how they can make a career after the apprenticeship. They also need to convince their parents and their environment that an apprenticeship is the right path to a successful life and not a dead end.

Parents, family and friends are the most important decision-makers when it comes to choosing a career. The study "Career Choice Today" has made this clear. The total of 1,400 qualitative interviews among young people, parents, teachers, experts, vocational trainers, apprentices, politicians and the media showed that one-third of young people are interested in craft and technical professions. However, only 1 % of the respondents felt that success was possible along this path. Success was defined as work-life balance. There is also still far too little awareness among young people, parents and teachers of the good training, further education and career opportunities offered by skilled trades occupations. That is why the Career Apprenticeship project supports training companies in recruiting.

Filling apprenticeship positions: Project offers support for recruitment

Jeremias Wirz, project manager of Karriere-Lehre explains: "Many training companies would prefer to delegate the search for apprentices to their industry association. But as useful as such campaigns are, they cannot replace the concrete recruitment of the individual company. The ideal situation is when the company can tie in with industry communications. Many SMEs do not succeed in this, because employee marketing is rarely one of their strengths. Those who look for an apprentice in the same way every three years perhaps fail to realize how young people, parents and teachers now tick. This is where we at Karriere-Lehre can provide concrete help. We start with interviews in the training company and get to know the company well. If desired, we coach the responsible persons in the company, who thus acquire know-how and experience. Depending on requirements, we also carry out tailor-made projects with the training company."

Behind the Career Teaching project is a team with over 30 years of experience in communication for educational topics. The spectrum ranges from seminars for international executives to a school project for the environment and health, summer courses for children, and wage-relevant continuing education for unskilled workers to graduation ceremonies, open days, SwissSkills, and campaigns for young talent for entire industries. Career Teaching is a sister project of Bausinn, a long-standing initiative that draws attention to the attractiveness of construction professions.

Source and further information: Career Teaching
In a other articles (chargeable for non-subscribers) we asked companies about their experiences with hard-to-fill apprenticeships.

SAP used to be perceived essentially as a provider for large companies and the upper midmarket. The many systems available in the heterogeneous Swiss ERP market were better suited to the typical SME customer, it was said everywhere. However, the use of SAP cloud solutions in particular has changed the picture in recent years. In any case, one thing is certainly true: There are a considerable number of Swiss ERP solutions that are still used locally. They are installed in large numbers and definitely have their place in the market. In return, SAP and its partners, whose role for SMEs is still being discussed, have more in their portfolio than the powerful S/4HANA. However, SAP offers three ERP suites for different needs and company sizes:

• SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud: The solution is ideally suited for companies with very extensive process depth. Companies with up to exponential business and data growth continue to rely on this solution from the very beginning.
• SAP Business ByDesign: This unified cloud ERP is designed for midsize companies and is characterized by its simplicity and consistency of operation. It has been available on the market for more than 10 years, was developed from the ground up for the public cloud and accordingly brings with it all the advantages of a software-asa-service (SaaS) solution. This includes, for example, easy scalability, which is crucial for companies growing rapidly nationally or internationally. Suitable for companies with between five and an open-ended number of users, the service connects all of a company's business units, including global ones, on the basis of proven best practices and an integrated end-to-end analytics engine.
• SAP Business One Cloud: Hosted (private cloud) ERP is for micro companies of 1 to about 10 employees that want to say goodbye to Excel or non-end-to-end integrated solutions and manage all business units with one solution and consistent, end-to-end processes.

Audited industry processes and best practices

So while S/4HANA is now too powerful for most global Swiss companies, Business One Cloud is not scalable enough for many. This is because it cannot be scaled with it without migrating to the next higher level. The solution does rely consistently on standard processes - an important prerequisite for scalability. But apart from the SAP data, nothing can be transferred to a new system. Therefore, switching from Business One to Business ByDesign is tantamount to a new implementation with the corresponding migration effort. Business ByDesign, on the other hand, offers one of the decisive advantages of SaaS: A company can scale from five to several hundred or thousand users without having to introduce a new system. In addition, standardization provides transparency by working with industry processes that have been tested worldwide. Companies that want to grow and map new business models, on the other hand, cannot simply unlock additional functions with SAP Business One Cloud, as is the case with the true public cloud solution with modern architecture. In addition, there are a large number of useful add-on developments for SAP Business ByDesign. The midmarket customer can extend his business processes at any time in the standard or digitize them further beyond the standard using add-ons to open up additional business areas or customer segments. This can be crucial for production companies, for example, if they initially want to outsource service processes and offer them themselves at a later date. The processes are already created in the solution and only need to be activated. The ERP system grows with the company and thus represents an essential foundation for corporate growth. The "time to value" is reduced to a minimum.

Differentiation from ERP developed for on-premises

In this respect, the service differs significantly from most Swiss ERP solutions. Most of them were created around or after the turn of the millennium and were developed for on-premises. Accordingly, customer-specific adaptations are already hindering the path to the real cloud because of the architecture. In order to implement new business models, it is sometimes necessary to connect third-party solutions to the basis - including interface problems. Business byDesign can do much more than just generic processes such as those for marketing, sales, or finance and controlling. Most of what is contained in S/4HANA has already been implemented. This is important for project service providers, the life sciences industry, retail, and also for manufacturing companies with purchasing, production, and warehouse management.

Interesting for internationally active SMEs

The solution is particularly interesting for Swiss SMEs that are or want to be internationally active despite their small size. In addition to their Swiss headquarters, these innovative companies need to connect other companies, production sites or warehouses. Swiss ERP solutions usually only cover Swiss needs - for example in terms of processes or financial accounting. However, they reach their limits when it comes to intercompany accounting, distributed cash books and international accounting in accordance with IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standard). Also of interest to international Swiss SMEs: SAP Business ByDesign can be integrated into the SAP S/4HANA Cloud network at the parent company in local branches or manufacturing sites. This is because in many locations, the companies do not need the full range of functions of the parent company, but still have access to the fully integrated and thus technically harmonized ERP data of the head office. In the branch offices, all business objects and processes can be easily accessed via hyperlinks. The solution is mainly distributed by partners and only implemented by partners. Within a worldwide network, the partners support each other with their local knowledge and industry skills. The focus on partners is a decisive selection criterion for many SMEs, as they work with a supplier at eye level.

Participation in global innovation

For a long time, the majority of medium-sized companies claimed to be unique in their processes. Accordingly, until not so long ago, the prevailing opinion in Switzerland was that an ERP had to reflect all of the company's peculiarities and habits that had been ingrained over many years. Inquiries from the market, on the other hand, now show a clear change of opinion: while only around 20 percent asked for a cloud ERP two or three years ago, according to our own observations, this figure has now risen to 70 to 80 percent. These companies have recognized the advantages of standard processes for their products, processes and IT. Today, Swiss SMEs also want to benefit from the innovative power of cloud providers who are constantly developing their solutions. And they appreciate the value of industry standards that have become established worldwide. Many have realized that they should no longer let individuality drive business decisions when procuring software. SaaS vendors deliver complete processes that can be adopted and activated as desired. Users of true cloud ERP free up resources in IT for new applications such as machine integration, artificial intelligence and more. In this way, SMEs remain innovative in their own business field and benefit from the innovative power of the provider and manufacturer when it comes to ERP.

Author:
Wolfgang Kröner is CEO and member of the board of all4cloud Switzerland. He has been accompanying SMEs on their way to cloud ERP for more than 20 years. www.all4cloudgroup.com/

Business transformations are processes in which the way a business unit or an entire company conducts its business is significantly changed. These changes usually include several elements and concern, for example, a company's offering, their processes, necessary competencies or qualifications of employees. These changes are critical to the future success of the business. Primary triggers for such business transformations are technological change, changes in customer needs and intensification of competition, as shown by the Business Transformation Survey 2022 of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. As part of the study, 338 questionnaires were analyzed. The study covers a comparable cross-section of industries in Switzerland and different company sizes. 38 percent of the participants come from companies with more than 1,000 employees, 36 percent from companies with 10 to 249 employees.

Changes happen slowly

The summary of the results shows that Swiss companies consider business transformations to be an important field of activity. The companies surveyed gave the relevance of business transformations for future success an average rating of 5.5 (1=not at all important, 6=very important). However, respondents are not yet satisfied with progress (average satisfaction score of 3.9). "The potential for improvement is particularly clear in the speed of business transformations," says Jan Schlüchter, study author and co-program director of CAS Business Transformation Management at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Almost 64 percent of all respondents feel that the transformation project is too slow, and for unsuccessful transformations, the figure is even over 88 percent. Decisive differences between successful and unsuccessful business transformations are also made up by the work of management and executives as well as a high level of fault tolerance (see Figure 1).

Three success factors for business transformations

The research team derived ten recommendations for action from the results, three of which are essential. "Leaders have a special role to play in successful business transformations. All leaders, above all the business and divisional management, should be personally and authentically committed to the transformation project," says Jan Schlüchter. The second thing to do before starting a business transformation is to ensure that a positive culture of making mistakes and learning exists in the company or division. Third, speed is the best strategy throughout the transformation, be it in developing, deciding or implementing new business models or strategies. "If in doubt, it is better to set a tighter pace; readjustment is still possible," specifies Schlüchter. As part of the study, the study authors developed detailed recommendations for holistic design and orchestration of transformation processes. "These results strengthen us in our work," says André Riedel, Head of Community of Practice Business Transformation at the Swiss Society for Organization and Development SGO, which supported the study.

Business Transformation Champions: Only one in ten companies is one of them

In the study, participants from the companies assessed various aspects of their own business transformation in addition to a general assessment. From this assessment, the research team determined a Business Transformation Maturity Score (BTMS). This covers the degree of preparation, the actual transformation process and the skills required for this. The results of the study show that only nine percent of the participating companies fall into the group of champions (with a BTMS of 4.8 out of 6 on average and satisfaction with transformation progress of 4.7 out of 6 on average). Forty-seven percent fall into the novice group (with a BTMS of 2.9 on average and a satisfaction average of 3.2). "These results illustrate the potential of such transformations that still needs to be realized, even among the champion group," Schlüchter said (see Figure 2). To be sure, he said, some industries are slightly more advanced (e.g., financial and insurance service providers with a BTMS of about 3.8 versus public administration with a score of about 3.2). "Overall, however, there is still a great need for action in the management of business transformations, and this applies to all sectors of the economy, as the distance between the current maturity scores and the maximum value shows," adds the HSLU expert. This is underscored by the fact that so far only 33 percent of respondents perceive an improvement in their company's market position as a result of the transformation.

Source and further information: Lucerne University