Thomas Kade will retire at the end of September 2017 after more than 15 years as CEO. For this reason, the OBT partner meeting on May 31, 2016, elected Thomas Züger as his successor as of October 1, 2017.

Thomas Züger (born 1968) is a certified fiduciary expert and business economist. On June 1, 1996, he joined the then OBT Treuhand AG as a young management consultant. In the following years he built up a loyal client base through competence and professionalism. In 2000, Thomas Züger was promoted to member of the management team and in 2003 to head of Treuhand Schwyz. In 2008, he was appointed member of the executive board. Over the past years, he has been able to apply his strengths in fiduciary and tax consulting for SMEs. Thanks to his many years of banking experience, he also supports clients in financing issues and succession planning. Thomas Züger's background gives him the ideal qualifications to lead a consulting and IT company like OBT, according to a company statement.

Source: OBT AG

Many companies are moving in a pressure spiral. Prices are falling, and cost and budget pressures are the consequences of transparent competition. These developments are putting more and more pressure on employees to perform. A turnaround is not in sight.

Current economic situation leads to power environments

In difficult economic times, there is little overall praise, recognition and encouragement.

Both supervisors and employees feel the consequences as uncertainty and fear, even if they try to hide it. Fear of job loss, loss of pay, and worries about whether their own health can keep up with the demands. Questions of meaning and longing for satisfaction accumulate.

Many companies record absenteeism and sick leave due to dissatisfied employees. If an employee is absent for a longer period of time, the pressure to perform increases for the other colleagues, who have to do the work of the sick colleague "on top". It is no wonder that prolonged pressure and stress due to an inner struggle with external conditions lead to depression and breakdowns in the long run.

Employees are not machines! The machines enjoy regular maintenance so that they can work smoothly and reliably shift after shift. Equal care should be taken with employees as a resource.

If this is not the case, unsubtle tactics gain momentum. The employee takes back what he thinks he has earned. Substitute satisfactions to praise and recognition are sought.

For example, he copies private documents, accounts for private car kilometers or takes a dive after an extraordinary assignment. In exceptional cases, the boundaries gradually widen and forgery, evasion and corruption occur. These drastic measures are carried out to withstand the pressure as a substitute satisfaction to the lack of recognition.

Companies react with even more regulations, even more control, even more monitoring and bureaucracy. Mostly without success.

That's not the solution, because that's how companies and employees create a power environment.

What does power environment mean?

In power environments, self-interest is pursued at the expense of others. Creative use of organizational leeway is tapped.

The common definition of Max Weber (born April 21, 1864 in Erfurt, died June 14, 1920 in Munich) is: "My will be done, even in the face of resistance, without making enemies."

Every power environment requires people who have resources that are in turn coveted by others. Particularly in difficult economic situations, many coveted resources are in short supply, such as money, praise, recognition, further training support, life balance (balance between working hours and free time) and separation from private life.

Power is the availability of resources that others desire

• Power of punishment: With a weapon, the robber has the resource with which he can decide about life and death of the threatened.
• Status power: With a Ferrari, Porsche and Maybach in the garage, the millionaire possesses the resource of money that many people covet.
• Charismatic power: With good rhetoric, President Obama has the resource of charisma with which he can move billions of people.
• Power of Origin: The blue-blood has the resource of noble lineage and in many cases has an easier time achieving something specific if those around him are greedy for the company of a noble.
• Power of function: Politicians and CEOs are prime examples of the power of function. They take liberties that a "normal mortal" may not.
• Power of the majority: Good to observe: In Africa in 2011, people forced down various rulers with large and regular protests.
• Power of knowledge, power of technology, power of persuasion, power of reward, power of experts, etc.

Paradoxically, the focus must currently be on meaningful and fulfilling work and constructive interaction in power environments in order to get out of the frenzied standstill, which costs a lot of money, is increasingly regulated and bureaucratized, but brings no profit. In addition a small excursion into our evolution history:

"Already in the nine months of pregnancy we have learned two important things: to grow and to bond," says brain researcher Prof. Hüther from Göttingen.

As soon as we are in the world, we grow and develop and form bonds with other people. Depending on our biography, we have better experiences in one area or another. We naturally build trust and confidence. For example, if a child is encouraged in music or sports and is allowed to celebrate his or her first successes, he or she will gain confidence in his or her development and will face any challenge in later life. Adults know that they can rely on their abilities and successfully tackle challenges. If children grow up overprotected and are not allowed to make their experiences in the big wide and dangerous world, the corresponding skills and self-confidence will not be developed. It is similar with relationship skills. If children are allowed to have good experiences in their relationship with their parents and their environment, they will enter into relationships, including professional partnerships, with confidence and trust as a matter of course. So if people enter into conversations with their business partners without mistrust but full of confidence, the result is open, credible and active communication.

This explains why power environments arise in difficult economic situations: The basic human needs to grow and bond can no longer be satisfied, and so substitute satisfactions are sought. Employees then take back what they think they have earned.

Four action competencies lead to success!

If the following four action competencies are strengthened, you will acquire stability, self-assurance, orientation and resilience in difficult and complex situations and act effectively and successfully in the market. In doing so, you will meet the basic human needs to grow and to bond. Power environments are no longer ignited and the struggle for replacement resources is no longer necessary. Rules and bureaucratic work can be reduced and the success of the company can be increased.

1. strengthen self-efficacy

Here, it is important to move away from focusing on problems and toward solution orientation.

Example: Self-efficacy can be explained very nicely using the example of a soccer game.

As a fan and spectator (blue) can insult performances of referees and players, but they can not do anything with it.

The coach on the sidelines can have a little more influence on the game with the right lineup and smart game tactics.

Once I'm a player on the field myself, I can actively and effectively influence and shape the game by, for example, playing a brilliant pass that leads to a goal.

Transferring the task of the spectator, coach and player of a football game into the business world, it is game-changing to know,

1. which unchangeable framework conditions have to be accepted and
2. which areas can be influenced and
3. which areas I can actively shape.

In the first case you save energy and in the second and third case you can really make a difference and shape things.

Example: The "Change - Leave - Love" model

The model "Change - Leave - Love" means something like: If you don't like something in life, you have three options:

To change something about the situation (Change).

To leave the situation and do something else (Leave).

To continue as before, and accept the situation (Love).

2. strengthen relationship competence

Step 1: Build an "I'm OK - You're OK" Attitude

This involves analyzing in which situations and with which people an "OK-OK" attitude is already cultivated and with whom a submissiveness sets in because, for example, one doubts one's own abilities or considers the other person to be more competent. It should also be checked when an arrogant attitude is adopted because one does not think that much of one's counterpart.

So try to steer a development into a respectful "OK-OK" attitude to be able to shape valuable and purposeful relationships.

Step 2: Build trust

Rational trust is trust in abilities and competencies, for example trust in your colleague as an accomplished professional. Emotional trust is given to a person you are convinced is honest and will only do what is best for a good relationship.

 

Strengthen rational and emotional trust to build relationships of integrity. Relationships with transparent communication, where words are followed by actions and decisions are honored.

3. strengthen navigation competence

Step 1: Build and maintain networks

In addition to internal and external networks, informal networks with important opinion leaders and leaders should also be defined. If the decision-makers are defined, regardless of function and organizational structure, it will be easier to successfully launch concerns. Thus, it is not unusual that the assistant enjoys and also perceives the competence of the decision.

Fiorina Carly, former and successful boss of Hewlett Packard, has formulated horizontal cooperation, with people in the same functions from different industries, as the best fundus for the promotion of one's own valuable employees, and as a guarantor for motivated specialists and creative progress. With the possibility to deal with other people's recipes for success, one can look beyond one's own nose and new creative and necessary approaches can emerge.

Once the stakeholders and their needs have been taken into account, greater emphasis must be placed on emotional barriers in addition to factual arguments. Resistance is often not based on factual arguments that are loudly and energetically proclaimed, but on fears, small setbacks and everyday injuries. No burnout patient burns out because of a big "disturbance", but the many small injuries bring the barrel to overflow. Day after day we reap injuries, but always think that we have to be above it and strong. Therefore, it is not a weakness to name fears and mental images in one-on-one conversations with superiors, customers or other business partners, but ultimately the only chance to maneuver healthily and with a clear view effectively through the professional challenges and to find a way out of the negative spiral. Those affected describe with conviction how much energy, motivation and progress is possible again once emotional barriers have been removed.

Step 2: The right timing

Acceleration and deceleration are the magic words here. What do experienced alpinists say? "Go slowly if you want to climb to the top". That's another paradox you should cultivate just as boldly in business. Many coaching clients buy time with a coaching appointment to "stand still" for once. Check if your own agenda really still reflects importance and urgency or if only urgency and dependency dominate. By the way, Einstein said, "A problem can't be solved with the same mindset that created it." So think about bringing in a coach to incorporate valuable input from another professional mindset for your personal advancement.

4. strengthen innovation competence

In executive committees, people regularly talk about innovation and its importance for the continued existence of the company. But let's be honest: When and where was the last time you were allowed to innovate? When and where was time and money granted for experimentation? If you don't work in a research or development department, you can wait a long time. Leaders are often only administrators in standardized paths, administrators of knowledge and concepts. They are expected to be able to conjure up the right knowledge and concept at the necessary moment. This has nothing to do with innovation.

Step 1: Establish "not knowing

In relation to many open questions, researchers can only answer a small fraction. Nevertheless, they regularly participate in congresses with like-minded people (horizontal cooperation) to give talks without shame about questions that have not yet been answered. It is a matter of course not to know a lot of things, but nevertheless to get money for their "not-knowing" in order to tackle questions in a systematic and committed way. In business, the experience is completely different. Leaders bring a lot of knowledge to the table, but an answer is expected from well-paid professionals and not knowing is not tolerated.

In the current business world, new approaches, innovations and creative ideas are needed to get out of the mess. For this, the handling of non-knowledge must be established in the decision-making bodies. Recent years have shown that the tried and tested concepts of finance, marketing, sales, logistics and communication have only provided limited answers to today's challenges. Global and transparent trade poses new questions and needs new answers. They arise from the clever handling of non-knowledge.

Step 2: Cultivate "Teachable Moment

Everyone knows the big eyes of small children. Day after day, they discover the world and marvel when, for example, the sun sets and turns red. Amazement when it snows and the flakes melt in their hands. Amazement at thunder and lightning. Amazement at mushrooms in the forest that weren't there yesterday. How often do leaders marvel? How often are captains of industry surprised? Maybe once a year, when they climb a mountain together and enjoy the view in amazement at the summit. Don't you think that such a moment is absolutely necessary for our progress?

This moment is called the "teachable moment". And we need to cultivate this moment again in our economy in order to remain flexible and open. It is therefore a must for every employee, right up to the CEO, to remain teachable and open. The openness to learn should not only take place after failures and after promotions, but day by day.

Step 3: Risking mistakes and asking the right questions

Risking mistakes and learning from every mistake is important. Just like James Dyson, who built 5127 prototypes until the first vacuum cleaner.

It is also important to ask the right question. Because searching for an answer to the wrong question can be very expensive. As the following example of space travel shows. "How can astronauts write in ink in space?" After years of work and millions of dollars of investment, the Americans had their answer: a recorder (fisher spacepen) that works in any position, in a vacuum, and at temperatures ranging from -62°C to 148°C. Only every diver already realizes that a pencil would have been the cheaper option and that "thinking out of the box" would have sufficed.

Benefits for companies and employees

Employee satisfaction or effectiveness, adherence to rules, the image and thus the profitability of the company improve. Because power is neither good nor bad, but anytime and anywhere. And nothing is more powerful than being silent about something.

Author: Claudia Wehrli. Ms. Wehrli supports you with a power planning game to make the dynamics of power and its effects visible and perceptible, in order to then develop from this the responsible and constructive handling in power environments.

More information can be found at: www.c2g.ch/macht

 

The award ceremony at the Schauspielhaus Basel was attended by over 400 people from the Swiss sustainability scene, including celebrities from politics, society and culture. The event was lively moderated by Susanne Kunz and creatively choreographed by Theater Basel.

Main prize 2016 to "myclimate
This year, the independent jury has awarded the "main prize" for life's work or projects, endowed with 15,000 Swiss francs, to the climate protection foundation "myclimate". myclimate was created in 2002 from a project by students and professors at ETH Zurich and has been fighting climate change ever since: CO2 emissions are to be avoided, reduced and offset. To date, carbon offset measures have prevented the emission of over 3 million tons of CO2 worldwide. People all over the world benefit from the climate protection projects. The "YES Community" (Youth Encounter on Sustainability) networks students, apprentices and young professionals worldwide. The award was presented to the founding representative of myclimate, Sabine Perch-Nielsen, by Guy Morin, President of the Basel government.

Biomilk AG came in second place. Founded in 1988, the self-help organization of organic traders and farmers in the Bern area offers its customers natural dairy products through the application of Demeter biodynamic guidelines.

prix eco.ch "Generation Future" with two first prizes for the first time
The planned internet-based voting in the hall for the election of this year's winner in the category "Generation Future" did not really work for technical reasons. All attempts by moderator Susanne Kunz to arrive at a clear choice of the first prize by other means (applause meter, voting by cell phone) failed due to the balance of the results. As a result, the management and board of eco.ch decided live on stage to award this year's prize twice. However, this has the consequence that the prize money has to be halved.

The Swiss startup "SwissShrimp" and the project "HORIZON" each won 7,500 Swiss francs.

SwissShrimp offers shrimp from local Swiss production. SwissShrimp operates with a clearly defined basic attitude with regard to energy efficiency, animal welfare and the renunciation of any form of additives, especially antibiotics. By the way, more on the subject of sustainable shrimp production can be found in the April issue of Environmental Perspectives.

Second first place went to the HORIZON project, a folding photovoltaic roof system that turns parking and logistics areas into power plants. HORIZON enables dual use of land, resolves conflicting goals in the use of living space and also brings charging stations for electric vehicles.

Switzerland produces 24 million tons of waste every year - a challenge for people and nature.

The report "Unworry of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) takes on the topic of waste and sheds light on what is disposed of in Switzerland and in what quantities, why the quantities are constantly increasing, what the effects of this waste are, and how waste can be avoided.

Not all waste is created equal: 65% or around 15.5 million tons is construction waste: concrete, bricks, plaster, wood, metals and plastics. A large part of this, around 80%, can be recycled and reused as building material.

Of the municipal waste, i.e. household waste and those of similar composition from commerce, about 50% can be recycled. The rest is incinerated. Municipal waste accounts for a quarter of all waste produced in Switzerland. Per capita and year, this amounts to 700 kilograms. A large proportion of recyclable materials is still incinerated instead of being recycled - especially biogenic waste. Instead of being used in composting and fermentation plants for energy and as raw materials, around half ends up in incineration plants.

The remaining 11% of the total waste produced is divided into hazardous waste (10%) and sewage sludge (1%).

Avoid - Reduce - Recycle

Although Switzerland is exemplary in terms of waste disposal, these quantities of waste have a negative impact on people and the environment- both locally and globally. In the future, the principle of "avoid - reduce - recycle" should lead to a material cycle in Switzerland in which only 25% of raw materials are primary. The necessary measures include more conscious consumption, reuse of products and improved material and thermal recycling of waste materials.

CSEM opens the latest facilities of its Photovoltaic Center (PV-center). More than 1000 square meters of clean rooms and laboratories for the production and testing of solar modules complete the existing infrastructure and allow researchers to advance their work, initiated three years ago, on the valorization of solar energy for the economy and society.

With 500 square meters of clean room and 600 square meters of laboratories for the production and testing of photovoltaic modules, the PV Center is now fully operational. The center offers its 50 employees a unique as well as optimal working environment to improve and test various photovoltaic technologies and thus expand their range of applications.

Aimed at the industry

"With this new infrastructure, which is unique in Switzerland, we are able to expand the competitiveness of Swiss companies," enthuses Prof. Christophe Ballif, director of the PV Center. "Although solar energy is developing rapidly, its potential is still incompletely exploited." Three years after its opening, the PV-center enjoys a reputation that extends far beyond Switzerland's borders. Successful contributions have been made by more efficient heterojunction silicon cells (HJT) or the world's first white and colored solar panels, which have been welcomed by architects.

Achieve energy targets

"Photovoltaics occupy a special place in the range of technologies developed by CSEM," notes Mario El-Khoury, Director General of CSEM. "The democratization process of this energy opens the opportunity for the world to dream of a clean future without sacrificing the quality of life. This desire is at the heart of our company." The work of Professor Christophe Ballif and his team aims to increase the traction of solar energy so that the Confederation can achieve its energy goals. The Federal Council is aware of this role. It provides financial support to the center, which collaborates with numerous Swiss industrial partners and research institutions, most notably the Photovoltaic Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in Neuchâtel.

"For Deloitte to be recognized as the leading Swiss tax consultancy for the fourth year in a row by the prestigious International Tax Review is a great achievement," said Jackie Hess, head of Deloitte's Tax & Legal business in Switzerland. "This is a clear testament to our track record in the Swiss market. Over the last four years, Deloitte has been the fastest growing tax consultancy in Switzerland. We have been able to significantly increase our market share, reputation and expertise in all tax areas."

The Swiss team covers a wide range of fully integrated tax and legal services for its clients. Through its insights, innovation and industry knowledge, it helps companies solve their complex tax problems. The Swiss Tax & Legal team has nearly 300 employees and works very closely with other Deloitte member firms worldwide. Deloitte helps companies streamline their tax management by pairing local with global expertise. This is particularly important for multinational companies based in Switzerland, which face numerous challenges as a result of doing business in different tax jurisdictions.

Jackie Hess added: "Deloitte is expertly guiding clients through the tax changes currently taking place in Switzerland and around the world. These awards are our inspiration and affirmation to continue adding value to our clients through our holistic, interdisciplinary approach and our extensive local and international expertise in legal, tax and other areas."

ITR has recognized Deloitte in Switzerland as "Tax Firm of the Year" for the past four years and as "Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year" in 2012, 2014, 2015 and again in 2016. The award ceremony took place on May 26 in London.

www.deloitte.ch

Since 2013, electricity produced in Switzerland must be registered in a proof of origin system. Up to now, this declaration obligation has not applied to electricity from abroad. And this has had an impact: While in 2013 only 13 % of the electricity consumed in Switzerland came from "non-verifiable sources", in 2014 it was already 18%. This is shown by the latest data on the Swiss electricity supply mix from the SFOE.

The Swiss Federal Office of Energy attributes the significant increase to the fact that more electricity from fossil and nuclear sources is being procured on the European market - without purchasing the corresponding guarantees of origin.

The Federal Council wants to further increase transparency for electricity customers in the future and completely eliminate gray electricity, i.e. electricity from unknown sources. A full declaration obligation would be, according to the report "Electricity labeling: Full declaration obligation with guarantees of origin", which appeared in January.

The ball is now in Parliament's court: it could instruct the Federal Council to draw up a bill to implement a full declaration obligation with guarantees of origin for electricity.

A March survey conducted by Adzuna, the operator of a free Resume Analysis Platformwhich examined a sample of 2,000 resumes, found that 47 percent of the resumes had a gap in the CV of more than six months. Further examination of the affected resumes revealed that in numerous cases, the type of formatting interfered with the process of CV parsing, i.e., reading in the information provided. CV parsing involves screening the experience, knowledge, and skills contained in the resume and converting them into a structured format that can be read by a software system. Formatting and coloring of the file are removed during this process. Adzuna's research found that resumes with an elaborate design in particular can lead to problems with CV parsing.

Top 5 mistakes applicants should avoid in computerized application processes:

1. Resume contains tables: Many document conversion software methods cannot handle tables correctly, whereby the text they contain may not be extracted correctly, or additional blank lines may be inserted, messing up the outline.
2. Use of graphics to represent textual content: The use of graphic formats such as .gif, .jpg or .png to represent the career within the CV is discouraged, as these are ignored during the CV parsing process and therefore the information contained cannot be extracted.
3. Start or end date of the professional stations are not included: Periods of different stations in the career should always be listed with start as well as end dates, otherwise they will be shown as gaps. The correct listing is the month written out and a four-digit year, for example: January 2015 - May 2016
4. Resume is in PDF format: The challenges of processing PDF files lies in text extraction, which may cause problems with some CV parsing systems. Using Word files, on the other hand, can make it easier to read the information.
5. Sections in the resume are not clearly named: When naming individual sections, common headings such as "Education" or "Work Experience" should be used, and they should also be clearly listed separately.

"From an applicant's point of view, it is understandable to design your own resume as creatively as possible in order to stand out from the crowd as much as possible. However, many applicants are unaware that in numerous application processes, your resume is primarily read by a computer system that takes no notice of an elaborate design of form and color," comments Inja Schneider, Country Manager Germany at Adzuna. James Neave, developer of the ValueMyCV resume analysis platform and Head of Data Science at Adzuna adds: "Applicants can test for themselves whether their resume is optimized for computerized application systems by copying the content into a word processing system such as Word. If the layout gets distorted in the process, it's likely that their resume won't parse correctly."

CV parsing is a common HR software method. It involves first converting the CV into a structured format that can be read by a software system and thus does not require manual data entry. Once parsed, the imported information forms a candidate profile that recruiters can call upon when looking for individuals with specific skills or expertise, thus building a talent pool, i.e. a database of suitable candidates. Adzuna's resume analysis platform is based on this principle and can thus serve as a free check for candidates by allowing them to see how their resume would be received by professional HR software. Resumes can be edited and uploaded as many times as needed to ensure a flawless reading of the given information and to increase the chances of success in application processes.

Source: www.adzuna.de

The speakers Hermann Scherer, Anitra Eggler and Søren Vammen with moderator Mascha Santschi (2nd from right) and Rudolf Strahm (also with Mascha Santschi).

In his welcome address, former National Councilor Rudolf Strahm congratulated the procure.ch professional association on 55 years of successful maneuvering in a constantly changing educational landscape. The long-standing price supervisor pointed out the importance of procurement in the process efficiency of companies and described higher vocational education as a key point for the diffusion of new technologies.

Stimulating presentations

Hermann Scherer captivated the audience with his plea to seize all opportunities that present themselves. For the German management coach, so-called opportunity intelligence forms the basis for conquering people and markets with courage, motivation and passion through targeted networking. Søren Vammen, CEO of the Danish Purchasing Association, attaches great importance to the relationship of trust between client and supplier. Provided that one wants to enter into a long-term, mutually satisfying business relationship. Value-based procurement is only possible with the right, balanced partners, he says. "Goldfish have a longer attention span than many digital workers" threw Anitra Eggler into the room. The addiction to the constant release of dopamine degrades people into constantly accessible slaves who lose themselves in the abysses of the worldwide web instead of realizing their own potential. The "digital therapist" held up a mirror to the audience and quantified how much of our lives we waste as a result.

Annual General Meeting with replacement of the Board of Directors

At the subsequent General Meeting, the Board of Directors was partially replaced. Adrian Jungo, Swisscom's top procurement manager, was elected as the new president. Not only the previous president, Andreas Kilchenmann, made his office available due to term limits. Board members Jörg Bortoluzzi and Peter Emch also did likewise. All three were duly bade farewell. They were succeeded by Martin Aschwanden, CPO of HG Commerciale and new Chairman of the Regional Managers' Conference, and Gian-Marco Caggia, who heads Procurement at SBB.

Adrian Jungo has been Head of Supply Chain Management and Real Estate at Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd. since 2012 and is responsible for the personnel and technical management of the Purchasing, Logistics and Real Estate divisions of Swisscom AG. Prior to this, he held various management positions at Swisscom. After training as a business economist HF, he continued his education at the University of St. Gallen (purchasing manager and executive MBA). He already knows the procure.ch trade association very well through his work on the advisory board and his one year as a member of the board.

Martin Aschwanden has been responsible for materials management, logistics, real estate maintenance, construction projects, security and production of own exhibitions at HG Commerciale since 2011 as Head of Materials Management/Logistics and Deputy Head of Profit Center. Procurement and logistics characterized his career as core tasks, in which he held various management positions. He is a federally certified purchaser and holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Business Process and International Supply Management from the FHNW. Martin Aschwanden has been associated with the procure.ch association for many years as head of the Zurich region.

Gian-Marco Caggia has been Head of Infrastructure Purchasing at Swiss Federal Railways SBB since April 2012. He started his career at UPS United Parcel Service and held various positions at Swiss Post, SBB and BLS, where he was responsible for purchasing and logistics. At the University of Bern, Caggia most recently earned a DAS in Business Law, he also completed the SKU course in Strategy & General Management and holds a Federal Diploma as Logistics Manager.

www.procure.ch

 

The trend of positive growth since January 2016 remains unbroken. The average monthly increase was +5.0% between January and May 2016, compared with +0.4% in the same period of 2015. According to Michael Page's Swiss Job Index, from which these figures are taken, the increase was particularly pronounced in Eastern Switzerland (+18.2%), Central Switzerland (+16.7%) and the Lake Geneva region (+11.2%). Growth drivers are export-oriented industries with demand for experts in engineering, technology, healthcare and lifesciences, as well as banking specialists in legal, compliance and technology. For the first time since September 2013, all cantons - with the exception of the canton of Bern (-0.3%) - showed growth.

"Companies are recruiting again for permanent and for temporary positions," notes Nicolai Mikkelsen, director at Michael Page. "In many cases, they are responding to last year's relatively weak demand. The need for highly qualified candidates in nursing, life sciences, biotech and medtech is particularly high. Because of the shortage of candidates, there is a battle for the best talent in these sectors. There is also an increasing demand in all sectors (+3% since April) for sales specialists. We take this as a good signal that companies are optimistic about the future."

Source: www.michaelpage.ch

"It has long since ceased to be a question of whether the Internet of Things (IoT) creates value. Companies need to set the course today to take full advantage of IoT opportunities," says Prith Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer at Schneider Electric. The Schneider Electric IoT 2020 Business Report therefore serves as a guide for innovation and implementation of IoT technologies.

Immediate added value of IoT is considered assured

The report is based on a recent global survey of 2,600 decision makers in twelve countries on IoT. "The hype around the Internet of Things is not new. But our survey proves that IoT technologies are creating real value for businesses in all industries and regions now and will continue to do so in the future," Banerjee said.

The five most important findings

1. A new wave of digital transformation: OT and IT are growing together. The IoT will trigger a new wave of digital business transformation: The worlds of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) are converging. Employees will be better and better served with mobile and digital solutions: As digitization expands and intensifies throughout the enterprise environment, the IoT, especially the industrial IoT, will become more prominent. This new wave of transformation is enabled by more affordable networked sensors, integrated information flows and control capabilities, faster and nearly ubiquitous communication networks, increased speed in cloud and edge computing, and expanded data analytics capabilities.
2. Previously untapped data offers opportunities for customer service. The IoT will transform previously unused data into insights that will make it possible to take the customer experience to a new level. When companies are asked about the value proposition and key benefits of the IoT, they think primarily of efficiency gains and cost savings. However, the IoT offers much more: access to previously untapped data, coupled with the ability to draw valuable insights from that data - a key feature of the IoT - will revolutionize customer service and open up new opportunities for companies to improve brand and service loyalty and customer satisfaction.
3. Multi-layered security requirements necessitate hybrid computing environments. The IoT promotes an open, interoperable and hybrid computing approach. This favors collaboration between industry and governments in developing global architectural standards for cybersecurity. While cloud-based IoT solutions are becoming more popular, there will be no monopoly of any particular computing architecture. Instead, IoT will proliferate across edge computing and on-premise computing as part of private and public cloud offerings across a variety of systems. Heterogeneous computing environments for IoT will allow users to choose the IoT solution that best meets their mission-critical security needs. At the same time, companies with older technology infrastructure have the opportunity to evolve in a way that is appropriate and feasible for them, and make the transformation incrementally.
4. Innovations make existing infrastructure obsolete. IoT will be the starting point for innovation, new business models, and economic growth for enterprises, the public sector, and emerging economies. IoT is a milestone on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, the invention of the Internet and the Mobile Revolution. Like these, IoT will lead to greater progress, innovation and prosperity. Companies, cities and communities will deliver new IoT-enabled services and develop new business models. Emerging markets will be able to reap the benefits of the IoT immediately, without having to get rid of outdated infrastructure first. Methods that are no longer up to date will simply be leapfrogged. McKinsey projects that 40% of the global market volume in IoT solutions will be generated in emerging markets.
5. Essential role in solving major societal and environmental problems. IoT will help countries and economies address humanity's biggest challenges, including global warming, water scarcity and pollution. Significantly, survey respondents cited improved resource utilization as the biggest overall benefit of IoT to society. Local and national governments will use IoT to work with the private sector to accelerate and optimize current initiatives, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the landmark COP21 climate change agreement, which commits 195 countries and the EU to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Optimistic forecasts

From the key findings of the global survey that informed the forecasts, 75% of companies have a positive view of IoT opportunities this year. These include the following:

• Improved customer experience: 63% of companies plan to analyze customer behavior using the IoT in 2016. Top five potential business benefits include faster problem resolution, better customer service, and higher customer satisfaction.
• Cost savings through automation: Building and industrial automation hold the greatest annual savings potential (63% and 62%, respectively). According to the survey results, the future of IoT lies in automation technologies: Nearly half (42%) of respondents plan to implement an IoT-enabled building automation solution in the next two years.
• Realizing IoT benefits through mobile apps: Two-thirds of companies (67%) plan to introduce the Internet of Things via mobile applications in 2016. One-third of respondents (32%) even intend to implement IoT in mobile applications as early as the next six months. The main reason cited is potential cost savings of up to 59%.

81% of respondents believe that insights gained from IoT-based data and information will be shared effectively across the organization. 41% of respondents believe that cybersecurity in the IoT environment is a challenging task for their organization.

Source: www.schneider-electric.ch

Focusing on the core business is becoming increasingly important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Financial accounting is usually not one of them. With BusinessNet from Valiant, SMEs can significantly reduce their accounting workload.

Online accounting and eBanking from a single source

BusinessNet supports companies far beyond simple accounts receivable management. It offers comprehensive online accounting that is directly linked to Valiant's eBanking. Incoming and outgoing payments from eBanking are transferred and posted in the SME's financial accounting - no more time-consuming back and forth between the different systems. Thanks to this permeability, online accounting is always up to date on a daily basis, which simplifies the financial management of the company.

For SMEs and fiduciaries

Valiant has always been a typical retail and SME bank. 40,000 companies have a business relationship with the national bank, which is about 8 percent of Swiss SMEs. With BusinessNet, Valiant offers them a service thanks to which they can save time and concentrate on their core business, according to the statement. And it should also make it easier for entrepreneurs to work with their fiduciary: the financial portal can also be used by fiduciaries, who can thus discuss current financial topics with the SME at any time and complete the periodic financial statements without physical receipts.

Modular design with scan service

BusinessNet has a modular structure. SMEs choose which services they want to use and to what extent. For example, it offers a scanning service in which invoices are scanned at a processing center and inserted into online accounting. Business owners can view the invoices and approve postings and payments - all in the same tool. BusinessNet is constantly being expanded and supplemented with other services such as payroll accounting and personnel administration.

Further steps in digitization

The needs of customers are changing, and digitalization is transforming the financial industry. Valiant says it is committed to offering its customers the widest possible range of digital services that make financial life easier and more convenient. BusinessNet was developed together with technology partner Swisscom. As a result of this cooperation, Valiant also launched online account opening in April 2016. This allows new customers to open an account online within a few minutes - without going to the branch and without paperwork.

For more information, please visit: www.valiant.ch/businessnet