Switzerland has one of the most developed healthcare systems in the world. However, as recent studies show, it is lagging behind in the area of digitalization. The aging population and the associated increase in chronic diseases, as well as the shortage of personnel, are increasingly putting a strain on the healthcare system and thus also on the quality of patient care.

Wearables for patient care

Digital solutions can remedy the situation by improving the efficiency of hospitals. The use of mobile sensors - so-called wearables - will play an important role here. With the help of these sensors, patients' vital signs can be permanently measured and wirelessly transmitted, enabling automated and continuous monitoring of their state of health. This technology can make an important contribution to maintaining excellent healthcare in the future.

"Innovation projects such as vital sign monitoring with wearables are only possible with a highly available, high-performance network," says Marc Strasser, CIO at Basel University Hospital. "We use a WiFi and Bluetooth-enabled network infrastructure from Cisco. Since common wearables communicate with Bluetooth, we can use our existing infrastructure for data transmission. Technology should never be an end in itself, but should always improve the situation for our patients and staff."

Automatic transmission of measurement data

With the help of Cisco DNA Center, a comprehensive control center for the network, third-party applications can be installed on the Cisco access points. In close cooperation with Cisco and the University Hospital Basel, Leitwert has developed software that turns the Cisco Access Points into Bluetooth gateways for data transmission from wearables. As soon as a registered wearable is in the vicinity of a Cisco Access Point, the recorded measurement data is automatically read out and securely transmitted within the hospital network. This is intended to give the treatment team an overview of the patient's state of health at all times, so that they no longer have to disturb stable patients by carrying out night-time checks, for example, and at the same time can identify even earlier whether someone needs additional help.

Large area rollout possible

Leitwert's vendor-independent system makes it possible to directly integrate medical wearables from different manufacturers so that the collected health data does not have to be sent to external systems of the device manufacturers. Instead, the data can be stored directly in the hospital without leaving the secure network. Thus, the hospital retains full transparency and control over patient data. This technology was developed in a multi-year development partnership between the Universitässpital Basel and Leitwert. The integration with Cisco infrastructure opens the possibility to roll out this application on a large scale in hospitals with Cisco infrastructure. "As part of our Country Digital Acceleration initiative, we are also supporting the Swiss healthcare sector with specific investments in digitization and the development of innovative solutions," says Dr. Garif Yalak, Head of Digital Transformation, Cisco Switzerland. "In doing so, we draw on our experience with over 17,000 healthcare organizations worldwide. We are also making a decisive contribution at the University Hospital Basel: as an overall solution, the Cisco network infrastructure and Cisco DNA Center are laying the foundation for the use of wearables."

The three project partners have already successfully implemented a prototype of the new solution. This is now being extensively tested in studies to ensure that the technology meets the high requirements of the healthcare sector. As soon as the products have the prescribed certifications, the system will be used in the treatment of patients at Basel University Hospital.

Source: Cisco

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/digitale-loesungen-fuer-die-patientenbetreuung-am-unispital-basel/

Cautiously optimistic

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/chemikalien-gefaehrden-wirksamkeit-des-abkommens-gegen-plastikverschmutzung/

The new image film for Accelleron was to go beyond the usual B2B language and express the importance of the company. The audience was to develop an awareness of Accelleron and of the motivation of its employees. According to Serviceplan Suisse, "Move Further" therefore feels more like a dedicated commitment to the company's mission than an image film. In its full length of just over two minutes, the film takes viewers on a journey through the company's world, focusing on those people who make up Accelleron.

The film was shot in Hamburg and Baden and will initially be released on Accelleron's own channels. Further broadcasts are planned in the coming months.

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Responsible at Accelleron: Magdalena Okopska (Vice President Communications), Antonietta Allocca (Head of Brand Management and Partnership). Responsible at ABB: Nicolas Ziegler (Head of Brand Management), Lena Poëll (Head of Brand Design and Governance). Responsible at Serviceplan Suisse and Plan.Net Suisse: Peter Schäfer (Chief Strategy Officer), Micha Seger (Executive Creative Director), Philipp Intlekofer (Art Direction), Henry Clarke, Joss Arnott (Copywriter), Muriel Laporta-Asté, Tom Hubli, Sylvia Kohler and Caroline Ronzani (Consulting), Pam Hügli and Raul Serrat (Overall Responsibility). Film production: Stefan Girtanner (Shining Film). Directed by: Marco Lutz.

On Black Friday, Freitag promotes the exchange instead of the buying frenzy: The online store remains closed on this day, and users are redirected to the exchange platform S.W.A.P.. And instead of offering discounts, this year for the first time Friday is enticing people into local stores with bag-swapping events.

There is probably little that is less compatible with the circular economy than Black Friday. That's why, on days like these, Freitag prefers to focus on long-lasting products and sensible services and refuses to engage in wasteful discount battles. For several years now, the circular-thinking bag makers from Zurich have been using Black Friday to say "yes" to sensible consumption and "no" to the shopping frenzy with positive initiatives.

Freitag is inviting everyone who already has one but would like a new one to swap bags on Black Friday: under the motto "Don't store, just swap", the online store will remain closed and users will be forwarded directly to the self-developed global bag exchange platform S.W.A.P. (Shopping Without Any Payment). For the first time this year, the Freitag offline stores from Zurich to Tokyo are also taking part and inviting people to swap bags face to face in real life.

Other brands are also taking a stand against overconsumption on Black Friday:

- The denim brand Mud Jeans closes its online store and sells vintage jeans via livestream.
- Fashion brand Raeburn shuts down its online store and offers an in-store repair service.
- The slow fashion label Asket is closing its online store and encouraging people to care for, repair and reuse.
- Flamingos life (vegan sneakers) is closing its online store.
- Soeder Seife calls on customers to refill without waste.
- Secrid offers customers a free repair service.
- Oy is also closing its online store and is calling for donations instead.
- Folding bike provider Brompton offers its customers in the UK free bike rental.

Sven O. Rimmelspacher, Managing Director of the South German CAQ software manufacturer Quality Miners GmbH, opened the Quality Mining Day on October 20, 2022. In his speech, he referred to the ability to change again and again. He experienced firsthand that this doesn't always mean a steep uphill climb: "In 2003, customers put us through the wringer and told us as hard as nails: you have to do something about your quality!" For Rimmelspacher, that was a decisive turning point. "We reinvented ourselves, completely turned around our understanding of quality and integrated this as a driving force in our solutions and partnership with our customers."

Fall down and get up quickly

Extreme sportsman Norman Bücher, saw the history of the Quality Miners confirm his own thesis: "When kids start running, they fall down again and again, but they get right back up and keep going. Falling down is part of life - even in our professional lives - it's only through this that we learn to rise above ourselves." Dr. Ing. Benedikt Sommerhoff, Head of Innovation & Transformation at DGQ also thinks it's "great to revise yourself. Failure is an opportunity." During the panel discussion, he spoke enthusiastically of how "experimentation has become more hopeful in Germany."

The fact that this outgrowing of oneself can also take on many a stylistic blossom was vividly demonstrated by bestselling author Prof. Dr. Ing. Lars Vollmer in his lecture to the eagerly listening audience as a "business theater". "Start-ups act intuitively on the market, that's what makes them successful. As they get older, they take the mistakes of the big companies as a model." Written and unwritten rules develop for processes and the way they work together. People sense these and behave in a system-intelligent way accordingly. "In meetings, therefore, they follow these rules - no matter how nonsensical or purposeful they actually are. Meetings become an end in themselves," says the speaker.

Identify the nature of the problem

All you really have to do is learn to distinguish between a complicated, predictable problem and a complex, surprising one. While the former can be solved in a causal, knowledge-based manner with a clean process and quality management system, the latter requires inventiveness and creativity outside of the regulations. "Whoever drives on two tracks in this sense creates room for success," Vollmer explains.

Thomas Metten, Team Leader Quality Service of Oventrop GmbH & Co. KG, could confirm this through his many years of experience. When Oventrop installed the first CAQ system of Quality Miners, which at that time still operated under the name of Pickert GmbH, in 2003, they believed that from now on they would have the quality of their production perfectly under control. "But that was just the beginning of the journey," says Metten. More than 60,000 inspection plans later, the company has undergone a far-reaching cultural change. In the meantime, not only production but also peripheral areas such as energy management have been firmly integrated into quality management.

Quality arises in the process

"We realized that even the energy manager really just wants to monitor the process," says the quality manager. "And linking energy management to the manufacturing processes is ultimately, as the current energy crisis confirms, enormously important." The goal is to have all processes standardized by 2023. "We have established key performance indicators for everything, identify weak points already in the process and can intervene immediately. This means we know exactly where we stand. We can completely dispense with subsequent controls. If the process runs flawlessly, the end product is also flawless." Metten is firmly convinced that "quality is created in the process."

Dr.-Ing. Alexander Schloske, Senior Expert Quality at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, was able to back this up with many practical examples from industry: "Focusing on the value-adding processes within the FMEA reduces trivialities and increases the significance." He sees a decisive success factor in making FMEA company- and goal-oriented.

Accordingly, what is true for Oventrop does not have to be equally true for all companies. In the panel discussion, Lars Vollmer stated, "Organic change is always an individual one, depending on the prerequisites of the company and its market conditions." Dr. Benedikt Sommerhoff added: "The situation in a software company is completely different from that of a cleaning service provider."

Meaningfulness creates value

For Sommerhoff, appreciation is the key to a working world that is focused on quality. "Only through appreciation do people find meaning in their work." According to Vollmer, however, this meaning does not have to be artificially imposed from the outside. It is lost when people are kept from working - and is simply there when they are allowed to solve tasks successfully and purposefully. Norman Bücher confirmed these statements in his presentation by explaining: "Only the question of "why" and thus the motives give goals a meaning. If you don't know why you're running, you won't master the big challenges." Harry Keller and Jonas Voss of the Quality Miners team continued this as a central point in their own presentation: "Quality management will only work if we have interdisciplinary units that know why they do something." According to the experts, a holistic approach with clear goals, clear communication, transparency and a project cockpit that can be used to steer things makes even complex projects successful.

The active exchange between practitioners of all stripes was the main focus of this technical congress. "We received enormously good feedback on the Quality Mining Day," said Tobias Brehm, Business Development Manager at Quality Miners. "After this success, we want to make this congress a permanent institution that will continue to dig deep for quality in the years to come."

Source: Quality Miners Ltd.

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/rueckblick-quality-mining-day-qualitaet-als-motor-des-wandels/

What does "sustainability" mean in an ecosystem such as that represented by the Graubünden regional brand with its numerous licensees and partners? And what role can and must the Graubünden brand play in this system? The office Brand Graubünden has been dealing intensively with these questions for several months. On Thursday, the Graubünden Brand Office gave an insight into the current status of the project to around 180 participants at the Graubünden Brand Day at the Theater Chur.

Participatory process

One of the great strengths of the regional brand is its partner network, which includes a large number of companies, organizations and institutions from a wide range of industries. This network, with its diverse competencies and qualities, therefore also plays a decisive role in the brand's sustainability process.

For example, at the invitation of the Graubünden brand, around 25 sustainability officers and personalities from across the canton took part in a full-day workshop, broadly representing the three dimensions of sustainability - economic, ecological and social.

Four fields of action defined

As a result of the workshop and the conceptual deepening of the contents, the Brand Graubünden office has derived four fields of action. These are "Network & Competence", "Agenda", "Monitoring" and "Communication". Project manager Andrea Beerli from the Brand Graubünden office explained the content and direction of the fields of action at the Brand Day.

With the activation of the Graubünden network, a regional collaboration platform is to be established, knowledge shared and professional support made possible. With the development of a sustainability agenda, commitment is to be established and communicative value is to be created for the sustainable commitment of the partners. The establishment of a monitoring system ensures the credibility of the joint efforts. And finally, the sustainable brand orientation is to be strengthened by means of communication and the added value of the Graubünden brand is to be made transparent.

Step by step procedure

At the moment, the implementation of the presented fields of action is being detailed and planned by means of individual measures, said Andrea Beerli at the Brand Day. The activation of the network and the joint creation of an agenda are high on the list of measures. In an auditorium vote at Brand Day, 73 percent said they wanted to participate actively in the further process.

Keynotes, inputs and Rap Rumantsch

Two keynotes provided further insights at the Brand Day. In his presentation, Zurich brand and media expert Dominique von Matt explained why a "new era of brand communication" is taking place and what impact this has on brand management.

Antje von Dewitz, CEO of the German outdoor equipment manufacturer Vaude, addressed the audience via live video link. In her keynote, she showed how she has thoroughly transformed the brand into a sustainable company and increased the company's success at the same time.

In the course of four short pitch presentations, Eliane Bernasocchi-Volken (Weisse Arena Group), Thomas Grond (Repower), Martina Müller-Kamp (GKB) and David Spinnler (Biosfera Val Müstair) gave an insight into how sustainability is practiced at the operational level in Graubünden. Finally, the Graubünden Brand Day was rounded off musically by the Engadin Rumantsch rapper Snook and his accompanist Rezia.

The Odlo brand announced on Friday that it will continue to sponsor the Engadin Skimarathon, whose 53rd edition will take place on March 12, 2023. In the meantime, the major cross-country skiing event, which was launched in 1969, attracts more than 14,000 cross-country skiing fans from over 60 nations year after year.

"The Engadin Skimarathon has been the second largest cross-country race in the world for over 50 years," explains Menduri Kasper, CEO of the Engadin Skimarathon. "In order to continue organizing this event at a high level, we need partners by our side who are as passionate about this sport as we are."

Having already sponsored the last seven Engadin Marathons, Odlo is now extending its partnership with the event for another four years. "Cross-country skiing is an important part of Odlo's DNA, which goes back to the 1940s," says Knut Are Høgberg, CEO of Odlo.

As part of the partnership, Odlo is outfitting the organizing committee and the more than 1,200 dedicated volunteers and is also represented with a pop-up store in the Marathon Village. In addition, Odlo offers special event activities throughout the marathon week.

Odlo @ The Engadiner

This year, the brand is also launching "Odlo @ the Engadiner" - a new community of everyday athletes who want to share their stories, celebrate the beauty of cross-country skiing and motivate others to join in on the journey to the Engadin Skimarathon. The people reveal where they train, what tips and tricks there are, and what it takes to prepare for 42 kilometers of exceptional cross-country skiing.

The application phase for the "Odlo @ the Engadiner"-Community has just started. The selected community members can win performance clothing worth 700 euros.

USP was entrusted with the overall responsibility for the live marketing activation at the POS and was responsible for the project management from the concept, development of the booth and brand appearance to ensuring the logistics and the promotion staff to the professional overall appearance on the floor.

The aim was to give new impetus to the brand and offer consumers an attractive brand experience. With a stand appearance in container look with "barista feeling" and a tossing game - a so-called "corn hole game - According to the agency, numerous personal contacts were achieved. Extensive product sampling also generated valuable trials for the brand.

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Responsible at Emmi Switzerland: Nina Girardot (Senior Brand Manager Emmi Caffè Latte), Andrea Jenni (Customer Marketing Manager), Valérie Bieri (Team Leader Promotions). Concept & overall project responsibility: USP Partner. Stand construction and logistics: Eurexpo.

The Swiss Management Society (SMG) invited to its traditional forum for the 58th time on November 16, 2022. Of course, there was no lack of current topics at this event: The current geopolitical upheavals have ruthlessly shown how dependent our society has become on a steady influx of energy and goods, it was said. For Lukas Braunschweiler, President of SMG and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tecan Group, the insights gained at the conference are clear: "The forum impressively demonstrated to us that we can only overcome the difficulties and challenges of our time by working together.

Dr. Detlef Trefzger: "Future scenarios of global trade".

The Corona crisis and the dislocations triggered by the war in Ukraine have thrown global supply chains out of sync. For Detlef Trefzger, this phenomenon, known as the "bullwhip" or whip effect, is just one aspect of why transportation costs will rise in the future. "In addition to a large pent-up demand for infrastructure renewal, it is above all the increasing demand for goods produced and transported in a climate-neutral manner that will have a significant impact on transport costs."

Jonas Dennler: "Mission Based Ecosystems - New Forms of Collaboration to Fulfill a Shared Vision."

Is it already five past twelve or five to twelve? Jonas Dennler, Global Head Sustainability GTM at SAP, fears that the 1.5 degree target of the Paris climate agreement cannot be achieved under the current premises. The example of Norway, where three-quarters of newly registered vehicles are already electric, proves how ambitious targets can be achieved. "Norway shows that it is time for a paradigm shift, away from the shareholder approach to the partnership approach of all interested parties. Because only together can ambitious goals be realized."

Kristine Svinicki: "Creating a global energy future".

In contrast to Europe, nuclear energy seems to be on the verge of something of a renaissance in the USA. For Kristine Svinicki, a TerraPower board member and former chairwoman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the key issue, in addition to improving the use of nuclear fuel, is to better align the electricity mix. "Storing heat generated by nuclear power in sodium containers enables downstream distributed production of electric power. This allows fluctuations in wind and solar energy to be efficiently absorbed," said the American nuclear engineer, explaining the approach.

Focus topic Energy: Renaissance of nuclear power?

1 cm3 of uranium contains the same energy as 1 ton of coal. For Prof. Dr. Annalisa Manera, nuclear energy is therefore a central element for a secure and clean supply. "Thanks to nuclear energy and hydropower, Switzerland's electricity production is now almost CO2-neutral," noted the professor of nuclear energy at ETH Zurich. Hans Hess, long-time president of Swissmem and now chairman of the board of Synhelion AG, sees the recent geopolitical upheavals as a salutary wake-up call that will lead to more innovation. According to Benedikt Loepfe, Director-EWZ Stadt Zürich, suppliers will have to focus more on consumer needs in the future. However, according to Maurice Dierick, member of Swissgrid's GL, this requires a "fractal-autonomous" system instead of the current top-down supply. Together with Monika Rühl, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of economiesuisse, the panelists agreed that a reliable electricity agreement with the EU was indispensable due to the uncertain situation. Monika Rühl also pointed out that the energy crisis was a rather European problem that could quickly develop into a competitive disadvantage.

Focus topic Cyber Security: Good faith as a risk

Around 25,000 cases of cyber attacks on Swiss companies are reported every year. Florian Schütz, Federal Cybersecurity Delegate, estimates that the number is much higher. "Internet attacks, as the example of Ukraine shows, have become a geopolitical issue. Companies must therefore take the protection of their systems seriously." For Steven Neubauer, former CEO of Comparis, which was severely affected by a cyber attack last year, it is imperative that an experienced expert sits on the Board of Directors. Sandra Tobler, co-founder of Futurae Technologies, a company specializing in authentication solutions, commented on the problem that the good faith that still prevails in Switzerland plays into the hands of fraudsters. A trusting error culture that promotes mutual learning could provide a remedy here. For Prof. Dr. Peter Müller, Head of the Programming Methodology Group at ETH Zurich, the increase in working from home leads to a greater need for action with regard to the security of data transmission between employees and the company's systems. This is where the SCION solution developed by his institute could make a contribution to network security.

Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Monika Bütler: "(When) Will Things Pick Up Again?"

After comparing her statements made a year ago on the occasion of the forum, the economist concluded that the rise in inflation feared due to the expansive monetary policy of the central banks has now arrived. However, the professor expressed confidence that the curve will soon flatten out. However, care must be taken to ensure that inflation does not hit the economically weakest too hard: "Inflation is always regressive and has a negative impact on disposable income," she warned.

Ron Pal: "Smallholder farmers and tech, the solution to solving the global food challenge"

470 million smallholder families worldwide produce about 40% of the food needed in developing countries. However, their production is often inefficient and small-scale. With the help of technology, the Swiss-Indian dual citizen wants to better connect producers with buyers. "By digitally connecting producers with buyers, we are creating a cooperative that benefits everyone," Ron Pal said, explaining his approach.

The Swiss Management Association

The Swiss Institute of Business Administration (BWI), which emerged in 1961 from the ETH
Management Gesellschaft (SMG) is the most important association of over 1000 leading
decision-makers in the Swiss economy. Through its network and platform function, the
SMG within the framework of its event as an impulse generator for entrepreneurs, executives from the CLevel-.
Management and board members who deal with strategic and operational management issues.
deal with.

www.smg.ch

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/schweizerische-management-gesellschaft-smg-alleingang-kann-nicht-die-loesung-sein/

What IT security managers expect from managed detection and response is shown by the results of interviews with responsible persons in the USA and Canada conducted by Bitdefender and the Enterprise Strategy Group in August 2022. Jörg von der Heydt, Regional Director DACH at Bitdefender comments on the study from a German perspective: "A very similar picture emerges from the interviews with German customers. The spectrum of requirements for MDR service providers is similarly broad, as is the motivation for considering an MDR service. What they all have in common, however, is the fact that skilled employees - i.e., IT security analysts and specialists - are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and retain, while the number and complexity of attacks are continuously increasing. At the same time, the dependence on digital, i.e. IT-supported processes, is increasing. A dilemma that can probably only be solved by the increased use of managed security services." The following sections summarize the findings.

1. many IT teams start out planned in managed detection and response

MDR is not an emergency measure in many cases. Most of the respondents-57 percent-said that upcoming security audits prompted them to work with MDR vendors. Forty-seven % wanted to review and manage vulnerabilities. Only 39 % each acted specifically to defend against or mitigate an event, detect security-related incidents, or recover IT systems and digital processes after an attack. Thirty-seven %s were concerned with defending against a network intrusion or responding more extensively to a security event. About one in three (33 %) hoped for help in pre-sorting and prioritizing daily alerts.

When asked about their motivation, it is clear how urgently the security executives surveyed need help to address both the scaling of IT security and the increasing attack surface and complexity of attacks. 41 % of study participants assumed that external security professionals could do a better job of cyber defense than their in-house teams. This is a remarkable finding, given that, after all, many companies participated that, given their size, should have their own qualified security team. Equally high was the proportion of respondents seeking a more scalable operational model for their IT security. 37 % implicitly admitted that they did not have the security tools and systems they needed to execute their cyber defense processes. However, the following motivations are also interesting:

• 29 % purchased MDR to purchase cyber insurance.
• 27 % were unable to commit the security and expertise needed for IT defense internally.
• 27 % did not see cybersecurity as their core competency and therefore outsourced it.
• 18 % demanded the protection even after hours.

2. cloud workload protection is a high priority, but all attack vectors require attention

On the one hand, the study participants are looking for help in protecting complex IT landscapes. But even for basic defense technologies, those responsible are not much less likely to hope for external help.

Customers expect an MDR provider to protect cloud applications (53 %), followed by public cloud infrastructure (50 %). Competence in assessing cloud workloads for vulnerability (46 %) and private cloud also play a role (43 %).

But traditional endpoint protection also remains important. Vulnerability analysis at the endpoint is what 43 % of respondents expect from an MDR service provider. Almost equally important are the protection of identity and access rights (41 %), endpoints (40 % ) and server workloads (39 %).

3. customer knowledge and customer proximity required

When selecting an MDR provider, customers demand an MDR provider that offers enterprise-specific services. Therefore, for 49 %, the ability to support existing security tools and technologies played a role. 39 % of study participants required industry-specific knowledge of the threat landscape in their industry. After all, more than one in five (21 %) also required a regional focus.

Accordingly, the companies want a close customer relationship in addition to the classic competence factors. 38 % consider better involvement in the defense (better engagement model) as a motive for considering other service providers. 29 % of the respondents indicated that for them the desire for a decided contact person could be a reason for switching MDR providers.

In general, companies prefer to work with an MDR provider for the long term. 61 % worked with their current partner for three or four years, 21 % even for five years or longer. However, many companies also employ multiple MDR providers: 46 % two, 34 % three or even more partners.

4. comprehensive competencies desired

Only a minority of security professionals surveyed expect full coverage of the attack surface by MDR service providers. Only 31 % require external service providers to monitor 76 to 100 % of the attack surface. However, 42 % require protection of 51 to 75 %. Key areas to be monitored include cloud workloads (67 %), the network (66 %) or DevOps including application security (56 %), and the Internet of Things (51 %).

5. MDR is a multifaceted task

If you ask IT managers about the results of an MDR commitment, one result initially seems less than spectacular: only 42 % were able to significantly reduce the rate of successful attacks on their company. Ultimately, however, even that is a remarkable result. After all, attacks to which the cybersecurity analysts of an MDR provider respond in a Security Operation Center (SOC) are usually of a more serious nature. Moreover, this may also be an indication that classic defense technologies such as anti-virus and endpoint protection offer a pedestal contribution against the opportunistic, automated and apparently numerous attacks that are still important. Another 42 % attested to a significantly improved security program. 77 %s nevertheless see MDR as a strategic operational partner. One in two benefited from the security experts' know-how.

But tangible effects also play a role: 38 % met compliance requirements with MDR, 38 % reduced IT security operational costs, and 32 % reduced their cyber insurance policy amounts. And last but not least, 35 % reduced the stress level of their internal security team.

 

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/pflichtenheft-fuer-it-sicherheitsdienstleister/

There is a shortage of qualified specialists. This is also confirmed by 73 percent of 250 companies surveyed across a wide range of industries in the DACH region: the shortage will continue to worsen, according to the figures in the "Industry Report on Skilled Workers Shortage 2022" collected by Skilltree, a European manufacturer of HR software. Seventy-two percent of companies are only managing a limited number of projects because of it - and having to turn down anything beyond that. "Many employers have been misled into overlooking internal employee resources over the hunt for external talent. Instead of knowing the individual skills and also targeting them for in-house training, HR departments only focus externally," explains study editor Markus Skergeth and managing director of Skilltree. His company addresses this problem by helping employers and employees learn about skills and match them with tasks and projects. In this way, the shortage of skilled workers can be quickly alleviated - because up to 30 percent of the missing skills are already available in the company without the decision-makers being aware of it.

Previous Jobs: Unknown

For example, among current employers, only 18 percent know the full career background of their employees - while nearly 50 percent don't, or don't know it for every employee. "While work experience is still important in the application phase, it begins to blur from the start - new employees tend to be 'sorted in' during onboarding, instead of making good use of the skills they learned in previous jobs," Markus Skergeth further analyzes. A software-supported skills analysis, on the other hand, allows optimal management of resources - and often unlocks potential in employees that previously remained hidden from team leaders and managers. "Our solution closes an essential gap that we have seen in numerous projects in companies. Human resources don't just exist on the labor market - they exist primarily within their own company," explains the Skilltree CEO. Yet more than 50 percent of the 250 study participants surveyed do not use a database to record employee skills - 30 percent at least sporadically, and less than ten percent use a fully comprehensive skills management solution.

Special talents remain unused

The ignorance of some employers is even more striking when it comes to special knowledge and skills such as foreign languages: Less than 20 percent of companies motivate their employees to contribute such achievements and talents - 45 percent, on the other hand, hardly at all. "Our skill matching motivates employees and ensures greater satisfaction through greater visibility. This is already resolving part of the skills shortage," adds Markus Skergeth. The 250 company representatives from the executive floors surveyed therefore emphatically agree with the need for a skills management solution: 69 percent see the creation of a skills and competency database as an opportunity to be able to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers through internal forces. According to the "Industry Report on the Shortage of Skilled Workers 2022," this is associated with drastic savings in personnel recruitment: 30 percent of those surveyed believe that savings of up to 25 percent are possible, and another 27 percent even see savings of between 25 and 50 percent.

Source: Skilltree

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/studie-warnt-fachkraeftemangel-wird-sich-weiter-verschaerfen/

Price increases in all areas, rapidly rising energy costs, inflation: German and Swiss consumers are finding their wallets tighter. This is also evident when it comes to Christmas - both when it comes to buying presents and planning Christmas dinner. The motto here this year is: not less, but more price-conscious. This is the result of a survey among users of the apps Bring! and Profital, in which more than 7,500 users took part.

As a result, gift-givers in both countries pay attention to value for money: 60 percent of those surveyed said that promotions and offers play a significant role when buying their Christmas gifts - possibly a consequence of the rising cost of living. Gifts are still given: only 7 percent do not buy any Christmas presents at all. The most popular Christmas gifts this year are once again dominated by the classics: number one is books and games (65 percent), followed by clothing (45 percent), electronics (41 percent) and cosmetics (37 percent).

In November is bought

61 percent of respondents start buying their Christmas gifts in November at the latest. When it comes to gift-giving, there are differences between Germans and Swiss: Germans give more people presents - 8.6 on average compared with 8.0 - while the Swiss give more expensive gifts: while consumers in the Alpine country spend an average of 143 Swiss francs (144 euros) per Christmas present, the figure in Germany is significantly less than half that: 55 euros (54 Swiss francs).

Early planning is also important to many when it comes to Christmas dinner: A quarter of consumers (25 percent) have already planned their festive meal at the beginning of December, and more than half (53 percent) are ready by the middle of the Christmas month. However, the food is of course fresh: two thirds (66 percent) buy the ingredients a few days before the festivities at the earliest. Recipes are the number one source of inspiration (59 percent), but recommendations from friends and family are also trusted (34 percent).