The survey shows that all entrepreneurs - regardless of their age - are aware of the impact of a well-designed website on their business. In fact, 79% of respondents agree that their website has a positive impact on sales. Similarly, 38% agree with the statement that the company website serves as a catalyst for sales on other channels. In addition, 43% of respondents emphasize that their website gives them access to new target groups.

When it comes to the use of marketing tools, Gen Z in particular shows a clear affinity for technology and automation: 79% of respondents from this age group use automation tools for their marketing, compared with 63% of Millennials and just 40% of Gen X.

Investing in social media marketing

In terms of marketing activities, more than half (54%) of the survey participants would like to invest in social media advertising, while 49% of the respondents prioritize switching to responsive web design. Another 47% are planning SEO optimization to increase their online visibility.

"The survey shows that young entrepreneurs in Germany have a great desire to take a hand in building and growing their own business," sums up Alexandra Anderson, Marketing Director at GoDaddy Germany.

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The survey "GoDaddy Data Observatory. of website and domain provider GoDaddy was conducted in March 2023 by Advanis in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and the USA. The respondents were owners of small businesses with a maximum of 50 employees. A total of 4,682 entrepreneurs were surveyed for the study, including 480 in Germany.

Mother-tongue childbirth preparation course, app-based early detection of cancer symptoms, electronic monitoring of adverse drug reactions, etc. - just a few examples previous winning projects of Innovation Qualité show: Pioneering works that improve patient care exist in all specialties of the healthcare system. To publicize such quality projects and encourage their imitation and further development, the Swiss Academy for Quality in Medicine SAQM of the FMH awards its Quality Prize every two years. Tried and tested quality projects can be submitted for evaluation by independent experts until December 4.

Digital innovation, patient safety and physician quality initiatives.

In order to always reflect and promote current quality efforts, a new thematic focus is chosen for each edition of Innovation Qualité. In 2024, this will be dedicated to digital innovation and thus quality projects that contribute to the well-being of patients with the help of new digital technologies. This first prize category is endowed with CHF 15,000. The same amount is also awarded in the second prize category on the topic of "Patient safety and prevention of avoidable adverse events". And if a quality project worthy of an award does not fit into either the first or second prize category, those responsible should apply for the special jury prize of CHF 10,000. This third prize category is reserved for doctors, while the other two categories are open to professionals from all healthcare professions and disciplines.

Broad support and awareness

31 organizations from across the healthcare sector support Innovation Qualité 2024. The winning projects will be presented to the media as well as in the Swiss Medical Journal and on the award website. In addition, the winners will be able to present their quality projects to an interested professional audience at the award ceremony. The Innovation Qualité will be awarded at the SAQM Symposium on May 24, 2024 in Bern.

More information: www.innovationqualite.ch

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/innovation-qualite-pionierprojekte-gesucht/

The digital information platform was realized with a novel headless CMS approach and launched in spring 2023. It serves as a central point of contact and is intended to reflect the motto "We build bridges between town and country".

A website to achieve the company's goals

To achieve LID's ambitious strategic goals, the project team set itself the task of significantly improving findability, usability and user experience with the new website.

In a first phase, the needs and interests of all relevant target groups were identified. With the insights gained, a user-centered access concept was created.

In close cooperation between LID and Campfire, solutions are developed to display the extensive content and helpful offers in a findable and accessible way. As a basis, all content and offers were tagged with an extensive tagging concept. Thus, content can be used and output dynamically, systematically and flexibly.

Brand values visually revived

The existing corporate design underwent a digital rebranding based on the company's values. With a new, flexible design system, future adjustments are to be made efficiently and consistently.

Modern technologies, short loading times

The platform was implemented using the headless CMS approach in Umbraco with modern technologies and frameworks, which enables short loading times. This performance is a key factor in further expanding the perception and use of LID's content. The headless approach also enables the LID to provide personalized content on other channels in the future.

A technical separation of the content - in the CMS with the headless CMS Umbraco - and the presentation form in the frontend enables flexibility and independence in content entry and simplifies the further development of the information platform.

Seamless integrations of other systems

The platform is connected to the Swiss newsletter tool MailXpert and offers seamless integration of various third-party systems, such as Infogram. Media professionals also have the option to copy and reuse editorial articles with one click. Dynamic topic pages and a user-friendly search and filter function round off LID's digital offering.

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Responsible at LID: Markus Rediger (Managing Director), Jonas Ingold (Editorial Manager and Project Manager online), Daniela Carrera, Andreas Reichmuth (Project Managers Schools), Stefanie Mancini (Project Manager Communication). Responsible at Campfire: Nico Erb (Research), Dirk Unger (Design), Daniel Vasile, Patric Martin, Pius Caduff (Development), Damian Kunz (Strategy).

In 2015, with the product launch of SAP S/4HANA, the successor product to Business Suite, SAP announced a solution with which customers can drive digital transformation with the simplicity of the cloud. Here, the "S" in the name stands for "Simple" and the "4" for the fourth product generation. "HANA" indicates that the solution runs entirely on the SAP HANA in-memory database. According to SAP, just 8 months after the official product launch, more than 30 customers were live with SAP S/4HANA and more than 417 active projects were communicated (Source: https://it-onlinemagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/S4HANA_SAP_HANA_S4_Grundlagen_2016.pdfpage 3). Many customers who were using the Business Suite productively at the time did not really take the announcement seriously at the time, since according to the roadmap they still had a commitment from SAP to maintain and further develop their solution until the end of 2025.

Although SAP launched a series of campaigns in the years that followed, promoting a timely migration to SAP S/4HANA, those responsible in many user companies did not initially decide to make the switch, or rather saw it in the distant future. We can only speculate about the reasons for these decisions. The cost/benefit aspect certainly played a significant role in the considerations.

Sluggish readiness to migrate

ERP implementation projects usually cost more than planned, take longer and do not achieve the expected results in the end. The strategy of initially deciding against a migration "of the first hour" is also perfectly understandable for factual reasons. Software products are never error-free, and this is especially true for complex applications such as ERP solutions. Companies that decide to use a standard application with a small number of productive users should therefore factor in a higher cost for support, both external and internal.

Another relevant aspect of deciding against an early SAP S/4HANA migration was certainly the lack of availability of implementation consultants with relevant practical experience. The established system houses and implementation partners had only a few SAP S/4HANA projects of their own at the time. The opportunity to deploy their consultants in corresponding projects was therefore limited. In addition, training implementation consultants in new software versions is usually difficult anyway, as their availability is usually limited due to their high workload.

What is the current market situation today, almost 8 years after the product announcement by SAP with regard to S/4HANA? This was one of the topics addressed by the DSAG (German-speaking SAP^® Anwendergruppe e.V.), which is why it surveyed its member companies for its annual investment report. For the 2022 report, the question "How far along is your company or organization in terms of implementing S/4HANA?" was answered as follows (see Figure 1). 12 % of respondents had not yet decided and 6 % did not want to switch to S/4HANA. Those who did not want to switch cited "uncertainty about functionality" and "lack of business case" as reasons, among others. 47 % of respondents said they were planning to migrate but had not yet started. 23 % of the companies were in the process of implementing the solution and only 12 % already had S/4HANA in use.

In the 2019 investment report, four years after product announcement, only 3 % of DSAG members had already migrated to S/4HANA and 30 % were planning to migrate in three years at the earliest. Because of this sluggish migration readiness, DSAG lobbied SAP for resilient release and maintenance planning beyond 2025 for its members. In response, SAP extended Business Suite maintenance and enhancements by two years in February 2020. The so-called "mainstream maintenance" will now run until the end of 2027 without additional fees. Those who need even more time for the changeover to S/4HANA can take advantage of the additional chargeable maintenance offer "Extended Maintenance" for the Business Suite until the end of 2030. This is associated with a surcharge of two percentage points on the existing maintenance base, i.e. an increase from 22 to 24 %. In a statement on the maintenance extension by SAP, DSAG board member Andreas Oczko recommended in February 2020 that the time gained be used immediately: "The maintenance commitments for Business Suite 7 until the end of 2030 are not a carte blanche to continue waiting. On the contrary, it must be the starting signal for companies to put aside their last restraint and begin the digital transformation."

Ways for a successful transformation

SAP customers who have not yet started the transformation project (approx. 60 %) have various technical and conceptual options for migration at their disposal. With regard to the migration approach, a distinction is made between brownfield, greenfield and a middle way, so-called selective migration.

The brownfield approach follows the concept of a step-by-step conversion and changeover of the existing system in the direction of S/4HANA. The implemented solution remains almost unchanged, but receives a kind of upgrade. Individual customizations are largely retained and existing data is essentially continued to be used. For technical support of the migration, SAP provides solutions such as the Software Update Manager (SUM) or the Database Migration Option (DMO), among others. The advantages of the brownfield approach are the possible retention of individual processes and integration into the existing system landscape with simultaneous modernization, standardization and consolidation of the overall system.

In the style of "building something on a greenfield site" without taking existing or evolved constraints into account, the greenfield approach corresponds to a fundamental new implementation of the SAP S/4HANA solution. The greenfield approach is similar to switching from another ERP product to SAP S/4HANA. In both cases, a completely new instance of SAP S/4HANA is set up by analyzing and redesigning current business processes to map them as closely as possible to the standard within the new software. The existing master data of the existing SAP or non-SAP solutions is migrated step-by-step into the new system by means of appropriate adjustments and conversions. As a rule, transactional or historical data is not migrated in its entirety, as the effort required for the transformation may be considerable. The greenfield approach offers companies the advantage that ERP systems that have been individualized over the years are replaced by a new standard version of SAP S/4HANA and that business processes are optimized in parallel with the SAP implementation. However, a prerequisite for this is the willingness to implement comprehensive process and, if necessary, structural organizational changes as part of the implementation. Methodologically, the implementation of the necessary organizational measures should be underpinned by appropriate change management.

Selective migration or landscape transformation represents a middle ground between greenfield and brownfield. Experts also refer to this as the color field approach or a hybrid strategy. Selective migration is an approach based on brownfield. If companies take such a path, the current productive system is first copied, then all existing transaction-based data is deleted. The system is then migrated to SAP S/4HANA. If necessary, required adjustments and configurations are made. Subsequently, data is selectively mi-grated from the current productive system. As part of this approach, it is necessary to control the data transfer individually, for example, by transferring or recoding only a defined section of data. This increases the complexity of the already complicated data migration. A version of this approach was developed by SNP Schneider-Neureither and IBM Services and is marketed under the name Bluefield. With the CrystalBridge platform, SNP provides a corresponding tool for data transfer as part of an SAP S/4HANA migration. Various SAP system houses are qualified as partners with SNP and use SNP's platform as part of their projects.

Which type of migration, brownfield, greenfield or bluefield, makes the most sense for a company depends on various criteria. In addition to the strategic objective of the project, the objective of the migration project (e.g., process optimization, process harmonization, "back to standard," improvement of data/information quality), the following aspects play a role, among others:

• Readiness of the company for organizational change
• Degree of automation of business processes
• Available project budget
• Restriction regarding the project duration
• Configuration of the current productive system
• Number and scope of individual adjustments
• Requirements regarding the availability of historical data
• Operating model (public cloud, private cloud or on-premise)
• Number and scope of interfaces to other applications
• Know-how of the project managers in the company
• Methodological competence of the implementation service provider

Operating models: Examine various options

Companies also have several options in terms of operating model, licensing and deployment (see Figure 2). In general, there is the option of licensing the solution on-premise (classic purchase model) or as SaaS (subscription or rental model). SAP bundles the latter in RISE. "RISE with SAP" is an offering package designed to help companies switch to SAP S/4HANA in order to develop and optimize business processes in the cloud. As a contractual partner, SAP takes care of all the necessary steps, such as analysis, operation, support, and the selection of and negotiations with suitable hyperscalers. In order to advise customers on the selection of the operating model, the required scope of services and the associated costs, SAP offers corresponding analyses in the form of questionnaire-based workshops (e.g. the so-called "Readiness Check" or "Process Discovery"). As a rule, these are free of charge and a prerequisite for the provision of a corresponding offer for SAP S/4HANA use.

As already mentioned, there are many examples that prove that ERP projects always turn out to be more expensive than calculated and take longer than planned. However, it is worth taking a closer look. There is a well-known quote that every project manager should know: "Tell me how your project starts and I'll tell you how it ends". In many cases, one main cost driver for inadequate project implementation is ignored at the very beginning: Choosing the right sourcing strategy! Especially in the case of SAP S4/HANA migrations, people often reflexively consider only the current SAP system house and negligently omit a systematic selection of the optimal SAP service provider. Yet the market for potential implementation partners is large and heterogeneous. A sufficient number of system houses have a great deal of experience, often decades of cooperation with SAP, various partner roles and different partner statuses or certification levels according to the SAP PartnerEdge program.

The PartnerEdge program distinguishes between four levels. With the SAP PartnerEdge Open Ecosystem partner level, SAP aims to reduce the barrier to entry into the organized partner landscape. No fees are charged for the program and, apart from a few product-specific training courses, no proof is required. The next two levels, Silver and Gold Partners, are designated as "Committed Partners". Here, both program fees are due and the verification requirements are significantly increased. The partners must have comprehensively trained personnel, coordinate a business plan with SAP and, if necessary, have their solutions certified. Advancement from silver to gold partner is governed by a points system. The partner receives the so-called value points for certain activities (e.g. sale of a solution, additional training of personnel, new references, certification of a solution or services, etc.). In addition, partners at these levels can participate in the "SAP Recognized Expertise Program". The program is used to mark a partner's special expertise in one of 21 industries or one of 30 solutions. For certification, partners must prove their competencies through appropriate references, projects, and specific training of their employees. In addition, SAP requires partners to submit a specific business plan for the industry or solution, the implementation of which is reviewed by SAP. The highest level, Platinum Partner, is reserved for long-term strategic partnerships. These partners currently include large technology groups such as IBM and Deutsche Telekom, as well as internationally positioned sales partners such as NTT DATA and large system integrators such as ATOS and Capgemini.

An initial orientation of the SAP partner market is provided by the "Partner Finder" on the SAP homepage (https://www.sap.com/germany/partners/find.html). Filter options can be used to select the companies listed in the SAP Partner Program. A search for partners offering "Project Services" for the solutions "ERP and SAP S/4HANA" yields a hit list of more than 1,550 companies worldwide. For the German market, there are still just over 230 system integrators. An additional filter can be used to further narrow down the list of partners to a so-called "focus industry". For example, for "industrial manufacturing" the list of providers can be reduced to around 160, for the "retail" sector there are just over 130 and for "life sciences" around 100.

As part of a well-founded and competitive sourcing strategy for an SAP S/4HANA migration, the client should evaluate the potentially best service provider before the actual start of the project, develop a secure contractual agreement and, last but not least, build a good starting point for the upcoming commercial negotiations. In Trovarit's view, a professional SAP system house selection and project award should successively reduce the bidder environment and provide well-founded, easily comparable information from the potential SAP partners. In this context, questions such as:

• Which SAP S/4HANA certifications does the partner have? How many comparable migrations has the service provider already performed in the S/4HANA environment?
• Which project approach (greenfield, brownfield, or color field) does the migration partner recommend?
• How is the project-specific implementation methodology characterized and with which tools and templates (so-called tool chain) does the service provider usually work?
• Which operating model (public cloud, private cloud or on-premise) is recommended by the service provider?

Cooperation with partners: What it can look like in practice

Figure 3 shows Trovarit's standard procedure. In the first module "Start-up", the project is first defined together with the client. For example, the objectives, the project schedule, the project documentation and the project controlling are agreed upon. In the subsequent "Project Request" module, a so-called project profile is compiled with all the relevant information for an RFI (Request for Information) and the distribution list and contents of the request are defined. The project request is sent online to the potential system houses via IT-Matchmaker. By means of the so-called project chat, the participants in the inquiry have the opportunity to ask the client further qualifying questions. This digital, context-related dialog can be used to efficiently clarify ambiguities in the documents sent. If necessary, the corresponding contents of the chat history can be made available to all requested providers at the push of a button. Based on the responses of the requested system houses, the favored companies (TOP 3) are determined for the subsequent tender.

Parallel to the project inquiry, the project scope is roughly agreed or defined within the scope of a "fit gap" analysis. For sourcing in the SAP environment, it has proven useful to use the list of scope items provided by SAP. The specification of whether or not these approximately 700 items are required in the scope of services for the S/4HANA migration provides a good initial indicator of the project complexity. When evaluating the scope items, it is also advisable to include so-called focus topics in parallel to selected processes/tasks and to specify them in bullet points. In preparation for the subsequent pre-selection, it is necessary to create a tender and award document. Among other things, this document outlines the entire award process, describes what is expected of the service provider, sets out the requirements for the project methodology, and specifies the form of contract desired by the client. As part of the RFQ (Request for Quotation), the favored implementation partners are also provided with the previously recorded project scope (evaluated scope items) as well as the task definitions with regard to the recorded focus topics.

In parallel with the RFP, vendors will be invited to participate in two to three day workshops. In preparation for the workshop, they will receive a script that includes the agenda, expectations for the process, and task/question statements for that date. Based on the previous preparatory work, solutions to the focus topics are expected, the presentation of the project methodology is covered, a recommendation for the project approach (Bownfield, Greenfield and Bluefield) and the operating model are requested. Interviews with the designated project manager and solution architect are conducted to get to know the key people involved in the project, and selected reference customers are interviewed by phone, if applicable. The result of the tender and final selection is a final overall evaluation. Thanks to the structured approach, all the available information can be compared very well and condensed into an overall value for each provider and system. As part of the overall evaluation, all relevant evaluation aspects should be taken into account and compared with the cost information provided by the suppliers.

The final step is to negotiate/draw up a contract with the "TOP provider". In addition to the legal and commercial aspects, it is essential for the contractual agreement to define the responsibilities for all relevant project tasks in a so-called RACI matrix. For this, Trovarit uses its own template stored in IT-Matchmaker with approx. 400 project activities. A module contract has proven to be the best form of contract for SAP S/4HANA migrations. All cross-phase topics are defined via a framework contract. With the completion of a project phase, the scope of services and the results to be delivered for the next project phases are defined and bindingly agreed in a corresponding individual contract.

Author:
Peter Treutlein is a member of the Executive Board of the consulting firm Trovarit AG in Aachen. www.trovarit.com

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/umstieg-auf-sap-s-4hana-es-braucht-den-passenden-partner/

The trend toward silo decision-making has been exacerbated recently by major shifts in the labor market, as job changes and layoffs lead to longer sales cycles and lower win rates, according to the study. "The study results show that marketing decision makers are under increasing pressure to perform. Lack of resources and time make it difficult to develop a full-funnel marketing strategy - but that's exactly what brands need to do to stay top of mind," explains Henrik Ihlo, Director Enterprise Solutions Group DACH at LinkedIn.

Software selection is not a team decision

The proportion of sole decision-making responsibility when purchasing software for customer communications and customer data management is also relatively high: 57 percent of respondents from the EMEA region make decisions primarily on their own. Just one fifth involve other departments such as sales, advertising or finance in the decision-making process.

Price is the deciding factor when buying software

For almost six out of ten marketing managers in EMEA (59 percent), the price of software is the most important factor in their purchase. In Germany, the figure is 48 percent. There, the data protection factor (41 percent) plays a significantly more important role than in the EMEA region surveyed (34 percent). The same applies to customer testimonials as a decision criterion: in Germany, they are relevant for 35 percent of marketing decision-makers when purchasing software.

Understanding customers better: Only four out of ten respondents use analytics tools 

Marketers in the EMEA region face major challenges: They need to retain existing customers (39 percent) and create engaging and relevant content for potential customers (37 percent).

To meet these challenges, it is important to analyze the customer base. However, the study shows that only four out of ten respondents (38 percent) use analytics tools and dashboards for this purpose. This is especially true for larger companies with 100 or more employees. Marketing automation software is used by a third (31 percent). Another 29 percent say they use CRM software to better understand customer behavior. Striking: In markets such as Ireland (34 percent), the UK (33 percent) and France (30 percent), the proportion of marketers using CRM software for customer analysis is higher than in the DACH region (25 percent).

Josephine Wick Frona, Head of Marketing DACH at HubSpot, says on the occasion of these figures: "Marketers should be aware of the importance of valid data. Every aspect of a company's technical marketing infrastructure depends on accurate customer data. It's time to prioritize data and data analytics. On top of that, there's the big challenge of harnessing artificial intelligence to gain further insights into customer behavior and needs."

In EMEA, 27 percent of respondents are already using AI-powered tools to gain insights about their target audience or clientele. However, respondents see implementing an AI model by purchasing tools as challenging. This assessment is significantly lower in DACH (15 percent) than in Ireland (25 percent) and the UK (21 percent).

Extent of use of data sources varies widely

To make marketing decisions, managers access different data sources. Sales data from the sales department (47 percent), data from the company website (38 percent) and internally collected data from surveys and market research (36 percent) are the three most frequently used data sources in the EMEA region. The DACH region often brings up the rear when it comes to the use of data sources. For example, only 22 percent of marketers use their company's social media accounts as data sources to make informed decisions. In the UK, Ireland and France, on the other hand, the figure is more than 40 percent in each case.

To make marketing decisions, 36 percent of marketers in the EMEA region use their own data (DACH: 34 percent). 54 percent (DACH: 59 percent) rely on a mix of their own and third-party data.

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The study "The Future of Marketing in EMEA." was conducted in March 2023 by Nielsen on behalf of HubSpot and LinkedIn. For this, 2,016 decision-makers in marketing, CEOs and other decision-makers from B2C (44 %), B2B (27 %) and B2B2C companies (30 %) were surveyed. In the DACH region, 640 people were surveyed, 500 from Germany, 80 from Austria and 60 from Switzerland.

The study included the following topics: 

• Marketing channels used
• Challenges, priorities and growth areas
• Involvement of various stakeholders in the budgeting process
• Software usage
• Data sources for marketing decisions
• Factors for the purchase of software/tools

Interested parties can download the study download here.

Thermal imaging cameras can be used to reconstruct and read traces of fingerprints on surfaces such as smartphone screens, computer keyboards or ATM touchscreens - in other words, wherever users are asked to enter a PIN code or other personal data. Hackers can therefore use the relative intensity of heat traces on recently touched surfaces to reconstruct passwords, for example. A team of computer security experts from the University of Glasgow has now developed a series of recommendations to defend against such "heat attacks", which can be used to steal personal data.

Cracking passwords with handy thermal imaging cameras and AI

This was preceded by research by Dr. Mohamed Khamis, Professor at the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, and his colleagues. They showed how easily thermal images can be used to crack passwords. The team developed ThermoSecure, a system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan thermal images and correctly guess passwords in seconds, alerting many to the threat of thermal attacks. Based on this, Dr. Khamis' research team conducted a comprehensive survey of existing computer security strategies and asked users for their preferences on how to prevent thermal attacks on public payment devices such as ATMs and ticket machines.

Measures against thermal attacks

The authors presented their research findings on August 11, 2023, at the USENIX Security Symposium conference in Anaheim, California. The work presented also included advice for manufacturers on how to make their devices more secure. The team identified 15 different approaches described in previous computer security research that could reduce the risk of thermal attacks. These included ways to reduce heat transfer from users' hands by wearing gloves or rubber finger hats, or changing the temperature of the hands by touching something cold before typing. The literature also suggested pressing the hands against surfaces or breathing on them to hide the heat from fingerprints after typing.

Other suggestions for more security involved hardware and software. A heating element behind surfaces could erase traces of finger heat, or surfaces could be made of materials that dissipate heat more quickly. Security on publicly accessible surfaces could be enhanced by introducing a physical shield that covers the keys until the heat is dissipated. Alternatively, eye-tracking inputs or biometric security could reduce the risk of successful thermal attacks.

Users want two-factor authentication

After examining the existing security measures, the team conducted an online survey with 306 participants. The aim of the survey was to identify users' preferences among the strategies identified by the team and to ask them for their own thoughts on security measures they might apply when using public devices such as ATMs or ticket machines. Dr. Mohamed Khamis, who led this study, is quoted as saying: "This is the first comprehensive literature review on security measures against thermal attacks, and our survey revealed some interesting results. Intuitively, users suggested some strategies that were not found in the literature, such as waiting to use an ATM until the environment seems safest. They also advocated already known strategies such as two-factor authentication because they were aware of its effectiveness. We also saw that they considered issues around hygiene, which made the strategy of breathing on devices to mask heat traces very unpopular, and privacy, which some users considered when thinking about additional security measures such as facial or fingerprint recognition."

The paper concludes with recommendations for users on how they can protect themselves against heat attacks in public and for device manufacturers on how security measures could be built into future generations of hardware and software. Co-author Prof. Karola Marky, now working as a professor at Ruhr University in Bochum, but still a postdoctoral researcher in Mohamed Khamis' team at the time of the study, advises users to pay close attention to their surroundings when entering sensitive data in public to ensure that no one is watching, or to use a secure facility such as a bank. "Where this is not possible, we recommend placing the palms of your hands on the devices to cover heat marks, or wearing gloves or finger protection where possible," said Prof. Marky. "We also advise using multi-factor authentication whenever possible, as this protects against a range of different attacks, including thermal attacks, and to protect all authentication factors as much as possible."

Manufacturers of vending machines and thermal imaging cameras also under obligation

Manufacturers of ATMs or ticket machines are advised to consider the possibilities of attacks via handheld thermal imaging cameras at the design stage. Devices should be equipped with physical screens to block the surfaces for a short period of time, or with keyboards that improve privacy by rearranging the layout of the keys after use. For devices already in circulation, software updates could help remind users to be aware of their surroundings and take measures to prevent observation by thermal cameras. "Our final recommendation is aimed at thermal camera manufacturers, who could prevent attacks by integrating new software locks that prevent thermal cameras from taking images of surfaces such as PIN pads on ATMs," adds Mohamed Khamis. "We continue to investigate possible approaches to mitigate the risk of thermal imaging attacks. Although we don't yet know how widespread these attacks on personal data currently are, it's important that computer security researchers keep abreast of the risks that thermal imaging cameras could pose to users' personal data, especially as they are now so cheap and widely available."

Source: Techexplore.com / University of Glasgow

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/wie-hacker-waermebildkameras-nutzen-um-persoenliche-daten-zu-stehlen/

Street festivals, open-air cinemas, festivals: partying outdoors is part of a successful summer for many people. But if your smartphone is suddenly missing when you reach into your pants pocket or handbag, it can quickly dampen your spirits. Summer is the peak season for pickpockets, as AXA's loss statistics over the last ten years show. Almost a quarter of all cell phone thefts reported to the insurance company occur in July and August. The fewest occur in April, with only one in 15 cell phone thefts happening then. "In the summer, people are outside more often. That gives thieves more opportunities to strike - especially in large gatherings of people," explains Stefan Müller, head of property insurance at AXA. So it's hardly surprising that most thefts occur at the weekend, when numerous festivities are taking place. Over 40 percent of all cell phone thefts occur on Saturdays and Sundays. The risk is lowest on Wednesdays, when only one in ten cell phone thefts occurs.

Increase in thefts by 40 percent

The fact that people are more mobile again and more events are taking place is one reason why the number of stolen cell phones has increased since the end of the pandemic. In 2022, 40 percent more cell phones were stolen than in 2021 and as much as 50 percent more than in 2020. "Cross-border crime, which is now more feasible again, is probably also playing its part in the fact that the theft rate has increased," says Stefan Müller. In the first half of 2023, Axa's figures show a further increase of around 20 percent compared with the same period last year, so that the pre-pandemic level is likely to be reached again.

Caution in Geneva, Basel and Bern

AXA's evaluations show large differences not only between years, months and days of the week, but also between the cantons in which the insured persons reside. People from the canton of Geneva reported stolen cell phones to AXA around 5 times more frequently than the Swiss average and as much as 11 times more frequently than people from Ticino, who seem to be exposed to the lowest risk. Insured persons from the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Bern are also affected more often than average - but rarely from the cantons of Graubünden and Uri. These two cantons and Ticino record less than half as many stolen cell phones per insured person as the Swiss average.

Smartphone gone - what to do?

If the cell phone has been stolen, this must be reported to the local police station and the insurance company. Cell phone theft away from home is covered by the household insurance, provided that coverage for simple theft away from home or all-round coverage for smartphones, tablets and consumer electronics has been taken out.

Source and further information: AXA

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/diebstaehle-von-mobiltelefonen-im-sommer-am-haeufigsten/

The study was conducted this spring in 91 countries with around 13,000 people - 224 of them from Switzerland. Overall, more women (63% worldwide, 57% in Switzerland) than men (37% worldwide, 43% in Switzerland) took part. This indicates that the topic of DEI - short for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion - could be more relevant for women.

DEI is a reason to quit for nearly one in seven people

The results of the study show that around 14 percent of the marketing professionals surveyed worldwide would like to leave the industry due to a lack of diversity, equality and inclusion. In Switzerland, around 8 percent of respondents would like to turn their backs on the industry. This figure rises to 11 percent for people with disabilities - and even 17 percent for LGBQ+ people.

Swiss companies make progress in terms of DEI

Based on the answers to the questions relating to well-being, positive behaviors and the absence of discrimination, the global DEI inclusion index is 63 percent worldwide. Switzerland scores above average, with an index of 70 percent above the global average. The Inclusion Index is made up of three sub-indices, "sense of belonging," "absence of discrimination," and "presence of demeaning behavior," based on employees' perceptions of their work environment and the company.

In this context, 57 percent of the Swiss marketers surveyed agree with the statement that their company is taking active steps toward more diversity and equality. 49 percent believe that the situation has improved with regard to DEI compared to the last two years.

According to the study, all minority groups are relatively well represented in the Swiss advertising industry - compared to global data. Only persons with disabilities are underrepresented at 6 percent, compared to an international average of 22 percent.

The most common grounds of discrimination: Age, gender and marital status

Globally, the study cites age, gender and marital status as the most common forms of discrimination. Forty-one percent of women, 42 percent of parents and 39 percent of dependents believe family responsibilities hinder careers.

It is particularly interesting to note that both 12 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 15 percent of 55- 64-year-olds say they have experienced discrimination because of their age. Some because they are too inexperienced, others because they are too old.

The situation is very similar in Switzerland: 22 percent of respondents think that age is an obstacle. This figure rises to 28 percent among respondents aged 44 to 54. Furthermore, 44 percent of those who have dependent children believe that marital status hinders their career in their company.

Significant wage differentials in Switzerland

The study shows a considerable pay gap for women at all positions in Switzerland: -22% at executive management level, -9% at senior level, a considerable -32% at specialist level and -2% at junior level.

For ethnic minorities, this wage gap exists only at the lower levels with -25% at the junior level. One possible reason for this could be that the new employees are not sufficiently familiar with the wage structure. No corresponding differences could be identified at the other function levels.

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Interested parties can download the entire study from the SWA website. The international results on "The Global DEI Census 2023." there are here. The "Deep Dive" Switzerland is available here.

Currently, 66 percent of the companies surveyed rely on content marketing, as the study shows (Werbewoche.ch reported). And the majority of those who are not yet using content marketing are at least planning to do so. By way of comparison: two years ago, around half of all participating companies stated that they were using content marketing - so a clear trend is emerging.

The content marketing study was conducted by the ZHAW School of Management and Law on behalf of Watson and AZ Konzept for the third time. In December 2022, around 680 Swiss companies of various sizes were surveyed by online questionnaire.

For those interested there is a 25-minute orientation to the current study. The study itself is available in full length as PDF download.

Michael Widmer is the new Head of the Legal & Data Privacy Consulting Competence Center at Swiss Infosec AG and also a new member of the Executive Board. After studying law in Zurich, Michael Widmer gained a great deal of experience in various functions, particularly in the telecommunications industry. Most recently, he was a member of the Executive Board at SwissSign, where his responsibilities included legal, compliance, finance and HR. "Reto Zbinden, CEO of the company, is convinced that "Michael Widmer brings with him all the prerequisites to further develop the Data Privacy and Legal Competence Center in a high-quality and successful manner. 

Michael Widmer will lead a team that has grown steadily in recent years and enjoys an excellent reputation. Swiss Infosec AG's data protection competence center now employs more than 10 lawyers, several of whom are admitted to the bar. This makes it probably the largest data protection team in Switzerland in terms of the number of people working outside of law firm structures.

At Swiss Infosec AG, Michael Widmer joins the management team as head of the Legal & Data Privacy Consulting team. In addition to his management duties, he will advise companies, public institutions and non-profit organizations in the areas of data protection and ICT law and act as an external data protection consultant for companies and organizations. Michael Widmer will also pass on his extensive best practice knowledge in training courses as part of the company's training and development offering.

Source and further information

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/swiss-infosec-neuer-leiter-des-kompetenzzentrums-legal-data-privacy-consulting/

For the eighth time, the 3DMC is organized by the WZL of RWTH Aachen University in cooperation with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the University College London (UCL), the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and this year for the first time by the two Spanish partners Tekniker and IDEKO. After successful editions in Aachen, Hamburg and London, the conference now travels to the high-tech region of the Basque Country.

Metrology as a driver of innovation

At 3DMC, up to 200 industrial users and academically renowned experts exchange ideas and shape the innovative and open character of the event. This is also reflected in the program design: a top-class lecture program paired with an open industry exhibition, special interest sessions and dedicated networking formats. Prof. Ben Hughes and Prof. Robert Schmitt will moderate and shape the event as Chairman and Host.

The conference will focus on measurement technology as an innovation driver in automation and quality assurance. Industrial end users will provide insights into successful use cases from various sectors, such as automotive, aerospace and energy. In addition, leading international scientists will present advances and associated new application possibilities in measurement technology itself. 3D data and machine vision form the DNA of the conference and are complemented by other technologies, e.g. from the fields of digitalization and artificial intelligence.

Accompanying industrial exhibition

With two strong partners on site, 3DMC offers the unique opportunity to get to know leading technology drivers and their pioneering research facilities up close: For the first time, the industry exhibition will be spread over two presentation venues during the two conference days, giving participants and exhibitors the opportunity to enter into a creative dialog with each other in various unusual settings, present innovative use cases live and cultivate their own network within the community. The 3DMC thus combines the advantages of a trade fair, a production technology laboratory and an expert forum in a single event.

Selected papers can additionally be published as an associated peer-reviewed article in the Open Access Journal Metrology will be published, further reinforcing the sustained scientific excellence of the conference. The conference language is English.

Participation is still possible as a visitor (Delegate), speaker (Presenter) or exhibiting company (Exhibitor). Further information: https://www.3dmc.events

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/3d-metrology-conference-2023/

For a long time, a beer brewed in Switzerland was not allowed to be called "Pils". The background: Since 1927, Switzerland and the Czech Republic (previously with Czechoslovakia) had an international treaty that allowed the designation only for beer of Czech origin. This agreement was abrogated at the end of 2022. For Feldschlösschen, this was an occasion to develop a Swiss Pilsner and thus expand the product range.

With Feldschlösschen Pils, the brewery is offering a new spicy-tart beer made from Pilsner and Munich malts and a blend of hop varieties. Feldschlösschen Pils is available now in the 50-cl can as a 6-pack in selected Coop supermarkets and in the online store JustDrink.ch. From October, the Pils will also be on the beer shelves of Coop Pronto.

Due to the state treaty on the designation "Pils", which had been in force for almost 100 years, a separate category of beer had been created in Switzerland: The Spezialbier or Spezli. While originally including beers brewed in the Pilsner style, the category evolved over the years and adapted to the tastes of Swiss consumers.