10 years of SuisseEMEX, 20 years of topsoft - Success models in transition
SuisseEMEX celebrated its 10th anniversary at the end of August. The largest Swiss meeting platform is both a pulse generator for the marketing, event and communications industry and an interdisciplinary driver of the future. Twice as old, namely 20 years, is topsoft, the established Swiss trade fair for business software. In a "double pack", the two events showed how digitization is omnipresent for every company today.
The pressure on the Swiss economy and especially on SMEs is increasing. The digital transformation with its effects on market cultivation and communication were the focus of this year's SuisseEMEX. Under the motto "Meet the future", SuisseEMEX presented an eventful 360° spectrum - peppered with red-hot solutions and trends for the marketing and event business of tomorrow.
Top-class speakers
High-profile speakers and personalities shared valuable knowledge on current topics. Prominent speakers included Ruedi Noser, Member of the Council of States and entrepreneur, owner of the Noser Group, Sunnie J. Groeneveld, Managing Director DigitalZurich2025, Jean-Marc Hensch, Managing Director Swico and Marcel Kohler, Member of the Tamedia Executive Board and Head of 20 Minuten, who shared their very personal views on the topic of "Digital Transformation in Marketing & Communication" in the exciting opening round.
Contemporary knowledge transfer
A multifaceted program: Practice-oriented specialist presentations, exciting industry talks, expert consultations, guided tours, special areas such as the EventLab or the special show "Promotional Products Trends" inspired a wide-ranging audience. In 2016, innovative digital tools and gadgets could once again be tried out for themselves in the FutureLab. Networking and knowledge transfer were guaranteed.
For many visitors to this year's topsoft IT trade show, one question was clearly at the forefront: What impact will the digital transformation have on my company? The numerous visitors to the trade fair were correspondingly interested in the possibilities offered by modern IT systems. "At this year's topsoft in particular, it was easy to see that visitors are primarily interested in business value. Technology is increasingly taking a back seat. For the implementation of projects, however, it remains indispensable together with the know-how of the providers," noted exhibition manager Cyrill Schmid in various discussions with exhibitors and visitors.
Business Intelligence and "Paperless World
The fact that Business Intelligence is becoming increasingly important for SMEs was demonstrated by the lively interest of visitors in the presentations and solutions in the "BI Park". The supporting program organized by the consulting firm BARC provided practical application examples and high-level expertise. A special experience was provided by the new "Paperless World" congress, which presented various areas of document management in an informative and entertaining way.
Office technology through the ages
In keeping with the 20th anniversary of topsoft, the special exhibition "Business IT: History meets Future" by Röbi Weiss brought back old memories with numerous exhibits from the past. At the anniversary aperitif, however, the two trade fair managers Marcel Siegenthaler and Cyrill Schmid emphasized that topsoft is clearly looking to the future. As a first step, a new trade fair concept will offer exhibitors and visitors even more opportunities from 2017.
Who's Who in the industry
Once again, the two parallel trade fairs topsoft and SuisseEMEX were able to benefit from synergies and provide visitors with a comprehensive experience of digital opportunities. The fusion of IT technologies with the tasks in marketing are becoming increasingly important. Today, sustainable customer relationships can hardly be separated from topics such as CRM, e-commerce, business intelligence, marketing automation or customer service.
And the pleasures were not neglected either: After the successful premiere in 2015, the EMEX Night on the evening of the first day of the event invited to the industry event of the year. Together with celebrities from the industry, around 1,200 guests experienced a sparkling mix of party and networking after the first day of the trade fair.
Advance notice: Digital Marketing Summit Switzerland for SMEs and SuisseEMEX'17
The next topsoft/SuisseEmex will take place on August 29/30, 2017 at Messe Zürich under the motto "Inspiring Digital Business". Various exhibitors have already decided to participate again and have registered for next year.
In 2017, a Digital Marketing Summit Switzerland for SMEs will be held parallel to SuisseEMEX and topsoft in and around the Zurich Exhibition Center as a knowledge, learning and meeting platform on the focus topics of digitization, leadership and marketing. International and Swiss experts from companies and universities share their knowledge here. The focus is on the participant benefit for a practical knowledge transfer for the digitization of his company. (tb/mm)
