The ICT and online industries are moving ever closer together, and value chains and business models are overlapping. This convergence should also be reflected in the representation of interests in politics and business as well as in the services for companies in the industry. Against this background, the management bodies of the two relevant ICT and digital industry associations have decided to merge their activities: The boards of Simsa and Swico have signed a merger agreement, which is to be ratified by the members at extraordinary general meetings on June 18, 2018.

Synergies used for a long time

Simsa and Swico have been in close contact for several years, coordinate their political positions and exploit synergies in their range of services. In an assessment of the situation, the two boards came to the conclusion that a unified and powerful presence for the Internet and digital economy is becoming increasingly important. For this reason, the forces are to be bundled under one roof. The goal is to achieve greater member benefit as well as stronger influence in politics and business. Both organizations are financially well positioned, so synergies on the cost side are not a priority.

The name Simsa disappears

The new organization, legally still constituted as an association, will operate under the name Swico. It will take over and continue all activities of Simsa and Swico. On the Simsa side, the Code of Conduct Hosting and the Collaboration Framework in particular will be integrated, as well as the training courses such as the federally certified Web Project Manager. Swico will contribute, among other things, its comprehensive issue management, its start-up program and the industry solution for occupational health and safety.

A new specialist committee is to be created for the hosting sector under the leadership of Hostpoint CEO Claudius Röllin and one for the web agencies under the leadership of Imre Sinka, CEO of Dotpulse. Both expert committees will work on projects and issues of these two member segments independently and with their own budgets within the framework of Swico, as well as develop their own activities, as other Swico expert committees are already doing, according to the statement. The new Swico board will include the current president of Simsa, Andrej Vckovski, CEO of Netcetera, and another person from the web agency sector.

A strong voice for the ICT and online industry

With this step, Swico is becoming even more of a business association for the Swiss ICT and online industry. The boundaries between providers and users, as well as those between the ICT and creative industries, will continue to merge - bringing the various parties even closer together. For Andrej Vckovski, President of Simsa, it is clear: "With the planned merger, we are strengthening the industry quite decisively and ensuring that the online industry can participate more intensively in the political opinion-forming process and gain even more political weight." Says Swico President Andreas Knöpfli: "Today, the two associations have high-quality and complementary offerings. With the planned merger, all members will benefit from a broader range of cost-effective services."

Provided the approximately 100 Simsa and the 500 Swico members ratify the merger on June 18, the merger will be formally completed on June 30, 2018. Growing together on a day-to-day basis is expected to take until the end of 2018. The boards of Simsa and Swico are convinced that this merger will be an important step towards a more compact association landscape in the ICT and online sector and will thus equip the industry well for the future.

More information: www.swico.ch

How can you recognize really good leaders today in everyday working life and what does that have to do with security? Challenging leadership needs presence & essence at all levels of management (Presence Leadership!®). Only non-ordinary challenges and difficulties allow us to really grow in leadership.

Examples from more than 20 years of professional experience of the author Anton Dörig - he has been active for more than 20 years in a wide variety of industries and areas of private and public security at regional, national and international level in leading positions - in the environment of security, emergency and crisis management are combined with unconventional suggestions from everyday life. This stimulates to question one's own behavior. Focused, sometimes provocative and to the point, this results in a change of perspective for all those who really want to be good leaders and are looking for new inspiration.

The book is published in Springer Gabler Publishing House and is already available online as an eBook. The hardbook will be available in a few days.

Chief matter Presence Leadership. From Anton Dörig.
1st ed. 2018, XVIII, 197 p., Springer Gabler Verlag, eBook: ISBN 978-3-658-20465-5; Hardcover + eBook: ISBN 978-3-658-20464-8.

After the summer vacations, thousands of school leavers will once again start their basic vocational training. Not all training companies have yet been able to successfully fill their apprenticeship positions. Apprenticeships are having a particularly hard time in sectors where there is still a lot of demand for skilled trades. In the current print edition of ORGANISATOR, we report on "popular" and "less popular" apprenticeships and on measures that industry associations use to promote careers in the skilled trades and crafts.

Campaign for apprenticeships in the dairy industry

The Swiss dairy industry is also struggling to recruit young professionals. Over the past two years, it has therefore significantly stepped up its efforts to recruit young people for the professions of dairy technologist and dairy trainee. Not only is the entire image with logo, website, social media and career fairs new. Increasingly, the products are also being used as advertising media for the profession. After Schwyzer Milchhuus and Migros had already equipped 100,000 milk bottles with junior advertising in November 2016, Switzerland's largest milk processor Emmi equipped its milk packaging with advertising space for the profession of milk technologist in the fall of 2017. 1.8 million packages thus went on sale, motivating people to "Mix nature with technology and a little magic." The advertising referred to an online competition: anyone who answered a few questions here could, with a bit of luck, win a Swiss cheese knife from Victorinox.

Picking up" young people in their everyday lives

The idea behind the campaign is that "the most important career decisions are made by young people in their personal environment, as a career choice study of 1,000 people has shown," explains Hans Aschwanden, president of the Swiss Dairy Association, which manages the promotion of young talent in the dairy industry for 500 cheese dairies and 20 industrial companies. "When parents and young people learn about the profession of dairy technologist through the products, they make the connection to the pleasure they often experience every day - whether they consume milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, milkshake or caffè latte."

The campaign seemed to have an effect: According to the association, eight percent more new apprentices were registered after a short time. But President Hans Aschwanden is aware that it will take a long time to have a lasting effect. "We have set the ambitious target of 500 apprentices. However, we are aware that demographic developments run counter to this. More and more industries are having to accept a loss of 20% to 40% fewer learners, even though more and more money is being invested in recruiting young talent. We are therefore all the more pleased that in the dairy industry the combined efforts of the cheese dairies and the industry are beginning to bear fruit and we are seeing an upward trend."

Digitization also affects dairy apprenticeships

And you can certainly go far as a trained dairy technologist. Isidor Lauber, for example. The site manager at Emmi Ostermundigen started at Emmi 30 years ago as a dairy foreman and has managed the Ostermundigen site with 600 employees and 35 apprentices since 2003. And just recently, 24 young talents from the cantons of St. Gallen, Zurich, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Appenzell-Ausserrhoden and Graubünden proved at the third Eastern Switzerland Professional Championship for Dairy Technologists at the BZWU in Flawil that they can produce enjoyment from milk. For the first time, two female apprentices made it to the winning positions. They show that in cheese dairies and dairy industry companies, women perform just as well as their male colleagues. Thanks to increasing digitalization, physical strength is becoming less important than motivation, precise work and knowledge of microbiology and chemistry.

More information: www.milchtechnologe.ch

The requirements of large companies and SMEs regarding a modern and mobile workplace are increasing: More and more employees are working on the road or remotely in their home offices. Applications and data must be secure and easily accessible worldwide. That is why the Cloud-Specialist GIA Informatik AG from Oftringen has set up its own Citrix Cloud in its data centers in Switzerland. With Citrix Netscaler as a load balancer, it ensures the high availability of the infrastructure.

Graphics-supported desktop for CAD applications

Companies can use standardized desktops. Or they strive for a virtual desktop solution (VDI), in which each user receives a dedicated, virtual workstation. Graphics-supported desktops for CAD applications are special here, with data enabled by graphics cards with Nvidia Grid technology: In the conventional form, the graphics power is located directly in the client - but this requires relatively expensive workstations. Citrix now also offers this power in a shared environment, where the graphics-intensive applications run.

Interesting billing model

SMEs interested in Citrix should first consider whether expanding their IT infrastructure is their core competence. If this is not the case, it is advisable to look for a partner who offers flexible IT services and modular billing models with a price per month and user. The services can be scaled up or down at any time.

• Another advantage is GIA's membership in the "Qualified Multitenant Hoster Program": Those who already have laptops and pay for Office and Windows licenses for them do not have to pay for them a second time - for the VDI machines.
• Citrix also extends the usage time of the existing hardware. A three- to four-year-old, slow laptop no longer has an impact on performance, since the server is responsible for this.
• In addition, there are two USB sticks, the "Hedgehog Thin Stick" and the "UD Pocket Stick", which companies can plug into any device, start the Citrix applications, and they are already on their company desktop. Since the performance comes from the stick or the Citrix environment, it is independent of the available hardware.

Easy switch to the Citrix Cloud

What is the process for an SMB to move to the Citrix Cloud? There are usually two approaches to the requirements:

1. Employees should be able to work on a mobile basis.
2. There are special applications that the company wants to install on the devices only for certain employees.

To satisfy the need, GIA's four-person Citrix team establishes a VPN connection to the customer and requires access to its identity management - usually AD services (Windows). The remaining tasks run in a standardized manner:

• Terminal servers (virtual machines) are installed in the customer environment.
• Access to the infrastructure, login and ensuring availability are already in place.
• After that, GIA's cloud specialists define the groups of users.
• Two-factor authentication is recommended for these.
• Finally, they log in to the cloud and work with their desktop as usual.

Author: Andreas Siegrist is Lead ICT Architect and Leader of the Solution Architecture Team at GIA Informatik AG. His activities range from strategic IT planning to innovation management, project management and presales. www.gia.ch

Technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning (ML) are currently spreading rapidly and are also finding their way into IT security products. In particular, new players, so-called NextGen vendors (NGs), which rely exclusively on AI and ML for detection, are directing their marketing strategies against established manufacturers. This leads to uncertainty among security managers and users who have already been very satisfied with the level of protection provided by solutions from experienced vendors for many years.

Criticism of "NextGen Security

It therefore seems necessary to provide factual information about the differences between NextGen and "traditional" security products - and to clear up the half-truths of marketing strategists. "With the self-chosen designation NextGen, new manufacturers primarily want to distinguish themselves from established providers," explains Thomas Uhlemann, security expert at ESET. This European company, headquartered in Bratislava, is one such "established" security software manufacturer. Uhlemann is correspondingly aggressive in defending himself against NextGen providers. "The focus here is on criticism of a supposedly purely reactive approach, for example via signature databases," the expert continues. "While the new market entrants supposedly use many new technologies, they actually make use of many mechanisms and technologies that have been developed, refined and deployed by the established manufacturers over many years. "

The (allegedly) latest technologies

Some of the technologies cited by NGs, such as whitelisting and machine learning, have been integrated for years into security solutions from providers with many years of experience. For example, findings from research into neural networks have been incorporated into the protection products and technologies of providers such as ESET since as early as 1997, and behavior recognition has been integrated since 2002.

False claim: Established manufacturers rely only on signatures

No single vendor in the security market relies solely on signatures. ESET, for example, has not relied solely on signatures since the late 1990s, but pursues a multi-layered security approach that combines various mechanisms.

False alarms are unavoidable, but also not bad - but!

A 100 percent detection rate must be the goal of every IT security solution. Every false alarm, in turn, causes high additional efforts for the IT admin. By using a solution that relies on several interlocking technologies, the false positive rate can be reduced to zero, which ESET, for example, has repeatedly proven in various independent tests (such as those conducted by AV-Comparatives).

Machine learning replaces updates - but not

NGs argue that updates to incumbent signature databases are untimely and biannual vulnerability fixes of self-learning software are sufficient. However, a database that learns only from its users and its own network without receiving external matching data will inevitably make mistakes sooner or later. Regular updates are imperative to continuously integrate threat intelligence to avoid non-detections and false positives.

Sandboxing: Smarter than algorithms

NGs claim that sandboxing is an outdated technology made obsolete by algorithms. However, it is true that the insights gained from sandboxing are important to learn more about threats and to keep optimizing detection. Because AI is still far from being superior to human intelligence. Malicious code is being encrypted and obfuscated in increasingly sophisticated ways. If you can't see behind the facade, you won't understand it and won't be able to build defenses against it.

Source and further information: ESET

Open innovation instead of closed software development - that will be the motto in the future. An EU-initiated Study confirmed that open source software is an innovation driver and promises economic success. Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Amazon have also recognized the trend and released parts of their source code. Success stories such as Firefox or OpenOffice.org have already shown in the past that open source projects can prevail.

Nine reasons for open source

Decision-makers should be aware of the following nine reasons for free source code:

1. Motivation and productivityWith open source, direct contact with the community is particularly motivating. Developers receive direct feedback from other developers. This in turn increases the motivation to design and develop an optimal product in the end.
2. QualitySince the lines of code are visible to everyone, open source developers must meet high quality standards. Before the community gets to see the code, it must go through extensive review processes, especially for updates or bug fixes. In this way, the code is cleaner and easier to understand. In addition, the documentation of open source projects is a great advantage. For the further development of a software, this retrievable change hierarchy helps to maintain the quality standard.
3. Safety: Once the source code is released, external developers are given the opportunity to commit to the code. Often, IT professionals focus on the issue of data protection and security. For example, if source code backdoors and other potential security vulnerabilities are identified, they can be noted and fixed. In addition, the software can be quickly and easily made available for independent audits, which in turn increases trust in the software.
4. Transparency: One point that the community should be aware of at all times is data processing. In open source projects, they are informed about what happens to their own transmitted data - whether interfaces for third parties were deliberately implemented, for example. On the other hand, users can see whether their own, sensitive data is protected by means of encryption mechanisms. This, too, significantly increases trust in the software.
5. Flexibility: The areas of Big Data, Internet of Things and Co. are characterized by ongoing changes and provide new impetus in IT. Based on current developments in the technology scene and feedback from the community, software manufacturers can react accordingly and make changes to the code. The advantage of this is that continuous updates improve the software and take user interests into account.
6. Democratization: Open source code is deliberately intended to provide a basis for discussion, so that existing functionalities are questioned or product updates are encouraged. This is because the software can be optimized on the basis of requested additional functions or comments on programming languages used. IT professionals are free to comment on, share and edit the source code. The democratization of source code means passing on knowledge on the one hand and debating technologies on the other. In this respect, experience and feedback have far more influence on the digital scene than just for a single software project.
7. Cost Efficiency: Open source software is more powerful and scalable than its proprietary counterpart. Another advantage is that there are no licensing fees when implementing additional open source software, such as the Apache HTTP Server. In addition, external developers from the community can easily contribute code to a project, often free of charge. By the way: Some IT professionals use their involvement in open source projects in their CVs and in this way underline their attractiveness for employers.
8. Durability: Since the code is available online on platforms such as GitHub, GitLab or Launchpad is available, it can be viewed over a long period of time. In this way, even deleted lines of code are preserved and fully documented.
9. IndependenceA major advantage is that companies employ their own team of developers and are not dependent on software providers. The company's own specialist know-how is also expanded to include that of the expert network. Online services that publish their source code consequently benefit from a symbiosis of internal and external knowledge and are thus independent.

Conclusion: Free source code for competitive advantage

Before the software project is made available to the public, many internal reviews are necessary and the code should be checked for security. In addition, the community should be given the opportunity to provide feedback - whether positive or negative. But besides transparency, there are of course other reasons to rely on open source. Many companies share the success of other software developers in this way, because other companies face the same challenges. Collaboration always enables source code optimization, adaptation based on user interests, bug reporting, or even completely new product features. Community interaction and technical exchange are therefore the biggest advantages of open source projects. In a world in which services with similar feature portfolios compete for user favor, transparency, trust, and the ability to innovate are crucial above all in order to survive the competition.

About the Author: Alan Duric is CTO/COO and board member of the Messenger Wire, and is responsible for the fortunes of an ambitious, international team in Berlin. In addition, he acts as a consultant for a number of technology startups, contributing his years of experience in the areas of open source, VoIP, IT security and software architecture.

Regular feedback meetings between supervisors and their employees have a positive effect on employee performance. Studies have shown this. When conducted correctly, they also increase employee satisfaction and motivation. Nevertheless, in many companies, feedback meetings tend to take place sporadically.

A practical example: A department head notices that some of his employees have again failed to achieve the agreed targets. However, he does not express his displeasure about this. So the employees continue to muddle along as before. Because their manager does not address them about the unachieved goals, they are convinced: Our manager is satisfied with our performance. And the unachieved goals are not that important to him. So, over time, the manager's annoyance increases to such an extent that at some point she "explodes". And as a result of her pent-up anger, she takes the wrong tone. This in turn hurts the employees emotionally, creating a conflict that is almost impossible to resolve.

Such escalation can be avoided through regular feedback and employee discussions - among other things, because in them the parties involved articulate their mutual expectations of (their) work together. This is why regular feedback discussions are part of the standard management repertoire in most larger companies - even if it is only as part of the annual target agreement discussions. The situation is different in small and medium-sized companies. There, regular feedback discussions tend to be the exception.

Communicate about goals and expectations

Generally speaking, most managers talk too little with their employees about their work and the expectations and goals associated with it. This is why employees often lack the necessary orientation in their day-to-day work. This is what the employee and feedback meetings are supposed to give them. The following topics can be discussed in them:

• Quality of the (collaborative) work,
• Satisfaction with the work situation,
• Corporate and divisional goals, strategies and plans,
• Duties and responsibilities of the employee,
• Strengths and weaknesses of the employee,
• possible qualification, support measures,
• possible improvements,
• Health Promotion,
• Target and bonus agreement.

Feedback and target-setting meetings are not primarily intended to discuss current problems. Rather, the behavior of the employee (and his or her manager) over a period of time is to be considered in summary in order to clarify how the (joint) work can be improved. Therefore, feedback meetings without preparation make little sense.

Conduct the conversations with conviction

In many larger companies, it is mandatory to conduct regular employee appraisals. That is good in itself! Sometimes, however, this leads to managers only conducting these discussions so that they can report "completion" to the HR department, for example. The quality of the discussions is correspondingly poor.

In order to ensure a minimum level of discussion, it is useful for the manager and employee to independently complete a questionnaire after each appraisal interview and send it to the HR department, for example. The questionnaire may contain questions such as:

• How satisfied are you with the interview process?
• How satisfied were you with the atmosphere?
• How long did the conversation last?
• Were development issues and goals also addressed/agreed upon?
• What could/should change so that you and your conversation partner benefit even more from the next conversation?

Take enough time

One indicator of the quality of an employee or feedback meeting is its duration. Managers should plan at least one hour per employee for this. This is because a relaxed atmosphere is necessary so that sensitive issues can be addressed. The first step is to create this atmosphere.

Feedback meetings are all the more important the more independently and responsibly employees are expected to work. This is because independent work requires adjustment from time to time. This means that managers and employees must agree on tasks and procedures, quality requirements and mutual expectations, among other things.

A well-structured feedback and appraisal interview consists of the following phases:

• Reflection of the past time unit (for example, the past quarter),
• Assessment of the current situation and
• Looking ahead.
• It is particularly important that the employee receives feedback on his "strengths" and "weaknesses". What does he do/can he do well or less well? Because without feedback on this, there is no learning.

The time invested pays off

Research shows that regular employee and feedback discussions positively influence the following factors, among others:

• the relationship between the employees and the supervisor,
• the cooperation and performance,
• the quality thinking
• the independence and responsibility of employees,
• identification with the work and the given goals.

That's why managers should conduct feedback and target-setting meetings with their employees out of inner conviction. Because this is worthwhile - for them, their employees and the company.

To the author: Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön is the owner of Müllerschön Managementberatung, Starzeln in Baden-Württemberg. The business psychologist is the author of several personnel books and was a teaching coach at the University of Tübingen (www.muellerschoen-beratung.de).

It is not unusual that in the final editing of extensive works of law there are still one or two things that need to be clarified. That is why the publication of a 386-page Supplement and clarification on the General Data Protection Regulation no surprise. In addition to various "normal" corrections, such as corrected page references, clarification of ambiguous formulations and the like, there is also a passage in the new version that - from a legal point of view - changes the situation. Article 25, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1 originally stated: "The responsible party shall take appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that, through default settings basically only personal data whose processing is necessary for the specific processing purpose in question are processed". In the revised version, the word "in principle" is now missing. The key point: "In principle" in case law means that there are also exceptions that may deviate from a principle.

Specifically, the new wording without "in principle" means the following: Anyone who sends customer e-mails or newsletters only needs an e-mail address for this purpose. For an individual salutation such as "Dear Mr. ..." or "Dear Ms. ...", personal data such as surname and first name is required. This would have just been permissible in the original wording. However, the new wording now goes so far that in future only the e-mail address itself may be requested. In the original version, other data could have been requested on a voluntary basis. The omitted "in principle" now also causes operators of e-commerce platforms in Switzerland, but also other companies that want to regularly contact customers in the EU by email, additional work in the adaptation of contact forms, etc. The short-term change of the GDPR is grist to the mill of all those who criticize the increasing regulatory pressure - not only from the EU - not to mention additional legal fodder...

More information including a link to an EU GDPR guide is available in this article.

In the report "The Rise of the Social Enterprise" of 2018, consulting firm Deloitte examines the rising expectations of everyone, how leaders themselves must now act as a team, and how new technologies are rapidly reshaping the HR priorities of organizations. Top trends among executives and chief human resource officers (CHROs) in Switzerland are the connected workplace (86 percent), automation and the use of HR-relevant employee data (85 percent each).

Almost 100 respondents in Switzerland point to the need for a team-oriented, interdisciplinary approach to tackling complex issues. Eighty-three percent identify this as important or very important among the top trends. Other survey results show that executives need to get out of their silos and work more with each other. Companies where executives collaborate regularly can expect growth rates that are one-fifth higher than those whose leadership collaborates only occasionally on ad hoc initiatives or projects. Although this collaboration is necessary to move the company forward, 70 percent say their leaders do not collaborate regularly.

Economy should close the social gap

Increased transparency and heightened political awareness have focused attention on the role of business as a driver of change in society. Companies are increasingly expected to exercise their ability to do social good both externally for customers, communities and society, and internally for their employees. Companies must take a comprehensive stakeholder approach to pressing public issues to maintain their reputation and relevance beyond the organization. With increasing pressure on companies to develop solutions to critical social challenges, citizenship must be a central part of an organization's identity and mission.

The new challenges of an aging and hybrid workforce

Extended life expectancy raises questions about how long careers will last and how aging workers will impact the economy and public policy. Eighty percent of respondents in Switzerland say that a multi-generational workforce is part of their company's diversity and inclusion strategy. Despite the aging global workforce and the competitive advantages older talent offers, less than 10 percent of respondents say their companies have created targeted roles for older employees to leverage their expertise. However, the aging workforce remains an untapped resource of experience and knowledge that Swiss companies can use to their advantage.

As alternative work arrangements become more common in business, HR and business leaders are keen to better plan and optimize their own workplace ecosystems as quickly as possible. They are responding to the need to improve service, adapt more quickly and develop new capabilities. By 2020, 38 percent of Swiss companies expect to see growth in contractors, 57 percent in freelancers and 44 percent in gig workers, workers who are paid per gig.

Top trends AI, robotics and automation: employees need constant development and retraining

With the use of AI (artificial intelligence), robotics, automation or HR analytics, technologies that show no signs of slowing down, companies need to focus on creativity, social intelligence and ICT know-how as future competencies, as another Deloitte Switzerland report on key employee competencies in the digital age shows. 91 percent of Swiss respondents expect AI and cognitive technologies to have a partial or significant impact on the workforce by 2020, and already 38 percent are actively shaping jobs such as an employee engagement specialist, HR analytics director or robot recruiter around AI and robotics. While 85 percent of respondents believe this area is important, only 31 percent feel ready to tackle it.

Holistic view of job and career

Companies and employees alike are aware that the traditional career model is in a state of flux: 55 percent of Swiss respondents therefore consider building new career models and skills to be very important. But more than 57 percent have no programs in place to build the skills of the future, and only 25 percent give employees the opportunity to actively develop and explore new paths. Organizations that embrace their role as drivers of change in the social enterprise must work to develop and implement robust solutions to close the growing skills gaps.

"Automation will continue to keep us busy in the coming years. Most importantly, it will improve the size, speed and quality of work," said Myriam Denk, Head of Human Capital Consulting, Deloitte Switzerland. "But it's important to remember that as routine work is automated, new jobs will be created - jobs that are more service-oriented, analytical and social in design, and that match our essential human skills. Companies whose leadership recognizes this shift and reshapes the way these skills are used can be a step ahead in the marketplace."

The rise of the hyper-connected workplace

With a flood of new workplace communication tools complementing team-based work, more than 86 percent of companies see the productivity of employees who are more connected than average as very important. Seventy-nine percent of respondents expect employees to spend more time within collaboration platforms in the future, and 66 percent expect work-based social media tools to grow. As digital tools move from the home to the workplace, companies will need to leverage their expertise in team management, goal setting and employee development. Only then will they be able to improve their organizational, team and individual performance and foster the collaboration necessary to become a more socially focused company.

More information: www.deloitte.ch

On March 5, Orange announced its intention to build a more diversified and international board. Accordingly, in his new role, Helmut Reisinger will report to Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange, and will be a member of the Group's Executive Board. Most recently, Helmut Reisinger was Executive Vice President International at Orange Business Services, responsible for all international business activities except France. As CEO, he will set the corporate strategy to support the digital transformation of enterprise customers in France and around the world.

"I am honored and excited to lead Orange Business Services in its quest to be at the forefront of the data-driven economy. I believe that our global network, expertise and assets enable us to deliver an unparalleled experience to our enterprise customers worldwide. With a relentless customer focus - combined with employee engagement and a commitment to innovation - I am confident that we will continue to deliver success and growth for both our customers and Orange," said Helmut Reisinger, Chief Executive Officer, Orange Business Services.

With more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise market and solutions, Helmut Reisinger has an extensive international and customer-facing background with numerous leadership positions. Prior to joining Orange Business Services in 2007, he held leadership positions across Europe at Avaya Inc, NextiraOne Germany and Alcatel Austria.

More information

Anyone who owns a smartphone knows that we receive chat messages, push messages from the newspaper app or phone calls dozens of times a day. Often, the messages or calls interfere with our concentration in our current activity, be it in a professional context or while driving a car, for example. What motivates people to react immediately to a signal and pull out their smartphone? Researchers at the University of Bern wanted to find out.

Low self-control influences smartphone use

In a new study, an interdisciplinary team from the University of Bern, consisting of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Berger and Annika Wyss from the Institute of Organization and Human Resources and Prof. Dr. Daria Knoch from the Department of Social Psychology and Social Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychology, shows that people with a low capacity for self-control tend to react more immediately to signal tones from the smartphone. For their study, the researchers relied on an established method from psychology: they invited 108 subjects to participate in "experience sampling." This is a method in which the test subjects receive a message on their smartphone several times a day to answer a few questions about their current state of mind. In this specific case, the questions were about consumption experiences. However, the actual goal of the research team was to measure how long it takes a person to respond to the message. Of a total of 1,620 signals in the study (15 per test person, distributed over 3 days), 1,493 were answered. Of these, 335 were answered within the first minute. The core aspect of the study was to link the response times to the subjects' ability to self-monitor, which had been measured by standardized tests seven weeks earlier.

Degree of impulse control influences reaction time

The analysis shows the following: Individuals with lower self-control found it significantly more difficult not to react immediately to the smartphone signal. This effect remained stable even when a number of other personality traits were also included in the statistical model. "Self-control measures the ability to maintain control over an impulse," explains Daria Knoch. "This is necessary to postpone the need to act on the message until, say, when the work is done or the car has been safely driven to its destination," the neuroscientist says. Interestingly, the degree of self-control ability is not likely to explain differences in response times. "The degree of self-control cannot explain why a person responds after 11 or 12 minutes," explains Annika Wyss, "but a low degree is suitable as a diagnostic tool to explain immediate responses."

Analysis of psychological processes important for the design of working conditions

"When researching the side effects of smartphone use, it is first important to understand which psychological factors lead to the smart companions being used so often in risky situations. With self-control ability, we have now identified one of these processes," says study leader Sebastian Berger, summarizing the results. "Once again, this study demonstrates the benefits of interdisciplinary research," Berger adds. Business administrators interested in designing the best possible working conditions, for example, depend on basic research from neuroscience. The study results could be used, for example, to discuss whether it makes sense for a company to hand out smartphones to all its employees or whether, for example, emails should no longer be pushed onto employees' cell phones after work.

Source: Institute for Organization and Personnel, University of Bern

Zurich-based iWay AG is one of Switzerland's leading Internet Service Providers (ISP) for private individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises. Founded in 1995, the company offers customized solutions in the areas of Internet access, VoIP telephony, e-mail, hosting and data centers. For the past year, iWay has been a wholly owned subsidiary of St.Gallisch-Appenzellische Kraftwerke SAK. Recently, the company provided information about its current economic figures and about new services.

Internet telephony as a growth area

Megatrends such as mobility and cloud computing mean that the need for reliable business communication is also growing among smaller companies, iWay announced at a media conference in mid-April. "The acceptance of unified communication and modern forms of collaboration has already become noticeably stronger and will continue to increase, especially in the area of smaller companies," says CEO Matthias Oswald. iWay will therefore also increasingly benefit from the combination of telephony, meeting solutions, messaging and mobile availability management at K-companies. In addition, Oswald expects strong growth in Internet telephony VoIP well beyond the current year as a result of the switch to "All IP" at Swisscom. "Internet telephony will remain an above-average growth area for us in the medium term. On the one hand, because the wave of cancellations at Swisscom is far from over. On the other hand, because many companies are not even concerned about the topic at the moment," says Oswald. Experience shows, however, that after the "forced" switch to Voice Over IP, many companies only become aware over time that there are attractive alternatives in Internet telephony. Specifically for SMEs, iWay offers what it claims is a unique product: a VoIP gateway that is connected downstream from an existing telephone exchange. This means that a company does not have to replace its existing switchboard at great expense, but still becomes VoIP-capable.

Unique service for IT companies

iWay also expects strong growth from "Virtual ISP," an innovative service for IT companies that is unique in Switzerland. As a Virtual ISP, any IT company can set up and manage automated fiber and DSL orders for its customers on a special partner portal on all city networks and the Swisscom network. iWay wholesale partners are thus in a position to act as ISPs for their customers under their own name, without having to set up complex network connections and conclude expensive contracts with Swisscom or other city networks. iWay can take over the entire business process with Virtual ISP on request, from configuring the customer routers to shipping them and invoicing them on behalf of the partner. "With Virtual ISP, any IT company can now become an Internet provider without having to worry about network-related matters," says Oswald. Finally, by the middle of the year, all IP telephony products will also be made available for Virtual ISP.

Information: www.iway.ch