Successful SME Swiss Symposium 2021

It was postponed several times, but has finally been held: On September 2, around 200 guests gathered in the campus hall of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Brugg/Windisch. There was almost a familiar networking atmosphere again, as one knew it from "pre-Corona times".

No ideological decisions

"Upheaval in business and society" was the motto of the event. According to KMU-Swiss CEO Armin Baumann, this theme was already set for 2019. Probably no one could have expected that it had lost none of its topicality to date - on the contrary. In his opening address, Armin Baumann regretted that egoism and narcissism had increased. But - and this is the positive side of the pandemic - there was also a lot of help for self-help.

The conference topic as the first speaker was classified by Werner van Gent, known as a long-time Southeastern Europe correspondent for Swiss television. He has experienced many upheavals, personally or in his work as a journalist. Again and again, he observes that problems are either simply denied at first or then approached with solution strategies from the past - even if these were even at the beginning of a problem. And too often, he says, ideologies or beliefs are at play. "Decisions must be made on the basis of knowledge, not ideologies," says Werner van Gent, pleading for pragmatic solutions: "Do what you need to do." This applies to companies as well as to global problems such as climate change.

Digitization and communication

After these remarks, it was Daniel Fiechter, CIO of Stobag and lecturer at the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz, who addressed another topic that is currently causing a lot of upheaval - especially in business: the digital transformation. Specifically, he explored the question of whether this would eventually lead to IT departments in companies becoming larger than production departments. In his company, this has not yet been the case. But he did not deny that every project is now an IT project. His recommendation to companies: Not to create a separate digital strategy, but to consider digitization as an elementary part of the overall corporate strategy. "IT is becoming a key competence for strategy implementation," Fiechter said.

Atilla Vuran's presentation dealt with communication and leadership. He showed that communication often fails because, depending on the situation, there is a lack of receptiveness on the part of the other person or because the person communicating lacks authorization. This leads to the following four quadrants: "Interest" (authorization low, receptiveness high), "Ignorance" (authorization low, receptiveness low), "Dominance" (authorization high, receptiveness low) or "Development" (authorization high, receptiveness high). This model makes it relatively easy for managers to assess when and why communication works - or doesn't work.

Britta Pukall, founder, CEO and member of the board of directors of milani design, then took the audience on a quest for freedom of thought. This is an important prerequisite for creativity. But too much knowledge prevents people from being creative. It is much more important to strive for wisdom instead of knowledge. Together with relaxation and awareness, this is the source of creativity.

The presentation by Rolf Härdi, CTIO at Deutsche Bahn, once again focused on digitization. He explained the dimensions that the digital transformation of a large company like DB is taking on and the factors that need to be taken into account. On the one hand, there is the desire for smart mobility with ever faster information times, and on the other, an infrastructure with long life cycles. One part of Deutsche Bahn's digitization efforts is the development of digital twins, i.e., digital images of infrastructure and rolling stock, which allows the simulation of processes and predictive maintenance. This is also a means of ensuring fewer delays, which have contributed to the rather battered reputation of the railroads in Germany.

Sustainability at the SME Swiss Symposium 2021

The last block of presentations was given by Beni Huggel, former FC Basel footballer and currently a football expert on Swiss television, and Rafael Waber, Managing Director of SwissShrimp. Beni Huggel traced his career and, with the help of many anecdotes, provided examples of how even major upheavals can be overcome with the right personal attitudes. Rafael Waber, on the other hand, focused his presentation on the topic of "Awareness influences the business model". After all, SwissShrimp's business model is to combine enjoyment, Swiss quality and sustainability. And KMU Swiss demonstrated that sustainable business does not only have to take place in Switzerland by presenting a check for 3,000 Swiss francs to the Business Professionals Network, which has been promoting small businesses in developing and emerging countries since 1999.

If there is one conclusion to be drawn from the KMU Swiss Symposium 2021, it is this: Upheavals affect us all, both on a large and small scale. This makes networking and cooperation among companies all the more important - and fortunately, after a long break, such events offer good opportunities for this again.

More information on upcoming events: www.kmuswiss.ch