The office building becomes a solar power plant, recycled concrete becomes a CO₂-storage, waste turned into fuel and perfume: The creativity of Swiss and Liechtenstein SMEs to protect the climate has not diminished in the challenging 2020. The Swiss Climate Foundation has once again received numerous applications for funding. The Foundation and Advisory Board awarded around CHF 5 million in funding for climate protection projects in 2020. This is 16 percent more than in the previous year.

Innovative technologies at the center of funding 

In 2020, the majority of the funding once again went to innovation: a total of 23 projects can now count on the foundation's support, amounting to a total of 2.7 million Swiss francs. The innovations supported include a technology for storing CO₂ in recycled concrete (neustark), novel processes for the production of sustainable insulation material from ash (FenX) or for the conversion of plant waste into high-value chemicals as an alternative to petroleum (Bloom Biorenewables) and a CO₂-neutral heating of greenhouses with organic fat waste (Oekokraft).

"If we want to achieve the national climate targets, we are urgently dependent on such forward-looking technologies, especially in the building and agricultural sectors as well as in the circular economy," says Thomas Hügli, President of the Foundation Board of the Swiss Climate Foundation. "It will not be enough for the economy to reduce or compensate for its CO2 emissions. We are therefore combining the strengths of the individual partner companies in the joint foundation in order to further expand the promotion of climate innovations in an efficient and focused manner."

More than twice as many climate protection projects funded than in the previous year 

More than 350 energy efficiency projects will also receive support from the Swiss Climate Foundation in the future. In addition to numerous standard measures for improved energy efficiency in operations (projects such as the switch to electromobility, the use of waste heat or the replacement of appliances), these also include twelve large-scale projects for the promotion and processing of biogas. In addition, there are around 30 projects from the forest maintenance program, in which the foundation supports the regeneration of overaged forests in order to reduce their CO₂-receiving capacity. In total, the number of individual projects funded in 2020 amounts to more than 400, more than double the previous year's figure.

Redistribution from CO₂-Levy unfolds greatest possible effect 

The support is made possible by more than 20 Swiss and Liechtenstein companies that donate to the foundation the redistribution from the CO2 steering levy to which they are entitled. The Swiss Climate Foundation is open to further companies that would like to support this joint commitment of the economy to achieve the national climate goals as future partners.

Source Climate Foundation Switzerland

The tide of cyber threats remains high. Large companies and SMEs are still targeted by hackers. The pandemic-related move of many employees to home offices provided cybercriminals with a welcome larger attack surface. Accordingly, they adapted their attack methods to the new circumstances.

Cybercrime: High number of attacks

The latest Cyber Security Threat Radar shows: The number of attacks remains at a constantly high level. While individual ─ rather classic ─ attack methods are on the decline, intelligent and often AI-driven approaches are increasingly being used. This places additional demands on companies and organizations to maintain an overview - the attackers' methods are constantly evolving.

New requirements, new attack methods

Workplace heterogeneity, for example, is now one of the biggest challenges in IT security. The immediate deployment to the home office has been one of the biggest challenges that IT and security departments have had to overcome in the recent past. Home office as well as mobile and agile working models, such as "bring your own device", offer great opportunities ─ but they also open up new attack surfaces. And attackers are skillfully exploiting this development to their advantage.

AI-based attacks on the rise

Attacks using artificial intelligence, so-called AI-based attacks, are also increasingly coming to the fore and are classified as a growing threat in the Cyber Security Threat Radar. They are used, for example, for targeted disinformation, as is known from deepfakes. The Tiktok channel "Deeptomcruise" recently caused a sensation. On videos, Tom Cruise showed magic tricks and played golf. But the real magic trick was the video itself: Because for once the Hollywood star didn't stand in front of the camera for it, he didn't even know about it. It is an almost perfect fake created thanks to artificial intelligence. It enables cybercriminals to automatically create an artificial profile from a wide variety of information that is very difficult to recognize as a fake. The report explains what countermeasures companies can take against these and other challenges.

Compass in the cyber world

Swisscom's specialists have used the Cyber Security Threat Radar to determine the current threat situation in Switzerland. The report explains the motivation of cyber criminals and reveals their modus operandi. It looks at and observes trends and challenges, evaluates them and provides an overview of the threat situation and its development in Switzerland by pooling expert knowledge.It also shows which countermeasures are particularly effective in detecting attacks in the best possible way and at an early stage.

Source: Cyber Security Threat Radad 2020/21 by Swisscom

The eighth Randstad Award ceremony took place on April 20, 2021, this year for the first time as an online event. The award is presented annually in over 34 countries to the most attractive employer. The results are based on the representative and probably most comprehensive employer branding study worldwide. The study is independent; companies cannot apply to participate, they are selected for the study based on their number of employees.

Why employer branding is important

The currently justified question around which the event was set up was "Why is employer branding important in times of crisis?". Various experts from the HR industry provided input to answer this question, and the current Employer Brand Study also shed light on insights in this regard. Pim de Morree from Corporate Rebels explained to the event participants what attractive companies have in common and how they can develop further.

Proud winner of the Randstad Award 2021

Over the past seven years, Flughafen Zürich AG has always been ranked among the top 5 most attractive employers. Now, for the first time, it has made it to first place and won the Randstad Award as the most attractive employer in Switzerland. Bruno Zanella, Head of HR at Flughafen Zürich AG: "We are very pleased to receive this award. Employer branding is always important - even in times of crisis. As a company that has been severely affected by the Covid-19 crisis, we are all the more proud to continue to be perceived as an attractive and stable employer."

The top 10 most attractive employers in Switzerland 2021

This year, Banque Pictet & Cie and Swiss Re made it into the top 10 most attractive employers for the first time. ABB made the biggest leap forward: The company gained a whole 41 places and is now ranked 36th.

Source: Randstad (Switzerland) AG

According to media reports, another cyber attack was recently launched against a well-known Swiss SME: The blinds company Griesser was attacked with ransomware and has accordingly pulled out all the stops to limit the damage. According to the company, an IT task force and a crisis team are working to restore the systems so that they can gradually return to normal operations.

Cyber incidents can now happen anywhere

Cyber incidents can affect any company. The dangers are now lurking everywhere, and cyber criminals are becoming ever more perfidious in their methods. And then, all of a sudden, one click too many and disaster takes its course. What do you do then? Incident response experts from IT security service provider Sophos have developed a guide to help companies cope with this difficult task. The following four tips are based on the practical experience of the Managed Threat Response and Rapid Response teams, who together have responded to thousands of cyber security incidents.

Tip 1: React as quickly as possible

When companies are under attack, every second counts. However, in-house security teams often take too long to respond appropriately quickly. The most common reason for this is that they do not recognize the seriousness of the situation and the urgency in time. In addition, many cyber incidents happen on holidays, weekends and at night. Since most IT and security teams are significantly understaffed, the response to an attack at these times is often too late to contain the impact of the attack in time.

In addition, a certain alarm fatigue lowers a quick response. And even when responding correctly and in a timely manner, security teams often do not have the necessary experience to take the right steps. Therefore, potential incidents and the response to them should be planned in detail in advance. Sophos has outlined the ten most important steps of such a cybercrisis plan in the Incident Response Guide at https://secure2.sophos.com/en-us/security-news-trends/whitepapers/gated-wp/incident-response-guide.aspx listed.

Tip 2: Do not declare actions "mission accomplished" prematurely

In the case of a cyber incident, it is not enough to simply treat the symptoms. It is also necessary to get to the bottom of the causes. For example, successfully removing a piece of malware and clearing an alert does not mean that the attacker has been driven out of the environment. This is because it could simply be a test run by the attacker to determine what defenses they are facing. If the attacker still has access to the infrastructure, it will likely strike again, but with greater destructive power. Does the attacker still have a foot in the perimeter? Is he planning to launch a second wave? Experienced incident responders know when and where to dig deeper. They look for anything the attackers are doing, have done, or may be planning to do on the network and neutralize those activities as well.

Tip 3: Complete visibility is crucial

In the event of an attack, it is important to have access to correct, high-quality data. Only this information makes it possible to accurately identify potential indicators of an attack and determine the root cause. Specialized teams collect relevant data to detect the signals and they know how to prioritize them. In doing so, they consider the following points:

• Collect signals: Limited visibility of an environment is a sure way to miss attacks. Big data tools offer a remedy. These collect enough data to provide meaningful insights for investigating and responding to attacks. Gathering the right, high-quality data from a variety of sources ensures complete insight into an attacker's tools, tactics and procedures.
• Reduce background noise: For fear of not having the data to provide a complete picture of an attack, some companies and security tools generally collect all available information. However, this approach makes it more difficult to find the attacks and generates more data than is necessary. Not only does this increase the cost of data collection and storage, but it also creates a high background noise of potential incidents that leads to alert fatigue and wasted time chasing true false positives.
• Apply context: To run an effective incident response program, context is needed in addition to content (data). By applying meaningful metadata associated with signals, security analysts can determine whether those signals are malicious or benign. One of the most important components of effective threat detection and response is prioritizing signals. The best way to identify the most important alerts is through a combination of context provided by security tools (i.e., endpoint detection and response solutions), artificial intelligence, threat intelligence and the human operator's knowledge base. Context helps identify the origin of a signal, the current stage of the attack, related events, and the potential impact on the organization.

Tip 4: It's OK to ask for help

The lack of skilled resources to investigate and respond to incidents is one of the biggest issues facing the cybersecurity industry today. Many high-pressure cyberattack IT and security teams find themselves in situations for which they lack the experience and skills. This dilemma has given way to an alternative: managed security services. More specifically, managed detection and response (MDR) services. MDR services are outsourced security operations delivered by a team of specialists and are an extension of the organization's in-house security team. These services combine human-led investigations, real-time monitoring and incident response with intelligence gathering and analysis technologies.

For organizations that have not yet used an MDR service and need to respond to an active attack, specialized incident response services are a good option. Incident responders are called in when the security team is overwhelmed and outside experts are needed to assess the attack and ensure the attacker is neutralized. Companies that have a team of skilled security analysts can also benefit from working with an incident response service. For example, gaps in coverage (e.g., nights, weekends and holidays) can be closed or specialized tasks needed in cyber incident response can be assigned.

Source: Sophos

It is no longer possible to imagine communication strategies without social media. Used correctly, social networks can offer real added value, such as attracting new target groups and increasing sales. The experts from Germany's leading online marketing agency SEO Kitchen present the do's and don'ts for successful social media marketing.

Create unique and snackable content

Unique content tailored to the target group is the basis of successful social media marketing. Successful content communicates at eye level and reflects the company's values. This includes stories told on a personal level as well as insights "behind the scenes". "Snackable" means quick and easy to communicate - content should be designed so followers can consume it on the way to work on the train or during their lunch break. Short videos, engaging infographics, and emotional or humorous images and quotes are best for this. Entertainment often takes precedence over knowledge transfer. Nevertheless, informative content should also be generated. A good mix forms the basis of a loyal following. The creation of unique content also includes the use of branding elements such as colors, fonts and logos, as well as a distinctive visual language with recognition value.

Social media marketing means: differentiated processing of various channels

Playing on all social media channels with identical content saves time, but quickly gives followers the impression of spam. This can lead to users unfollowing the account. To give users an incentive to follow the company on multiple channels, individual content should be shared that matches the medium. Differentiation begins, for example, with the approach. While Facebook and Instagram often have a "you" culture, a "you" approach may be more appropriate on LinkedIn.

Establish sustainable posting frequency

Finding and maintaining a sustainable posting frequency is one of the most important aspects of successful social media marketing. While the standard golden rule is that at least one post per day is necessary for long-term success, it is much more important to set a frequency that can be reliably maintained over the long term. This can be as little as two posts per week. The prerequisite, however, is to adhere to this schedule on a weekly basis. Facebook itself offers its own tools with extensive functions with Facebook Analytics and the Facebook Business Manager. Third-party social media tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer also help take a lot of the work away. Thanks to these tools, posts can be pre-scheduled and automatically published at the desired time. In addition, the tools provide important insights to see at what times posts should be published to reach particularly many users.

Actively involve the community

For users to interact with a profile's content, they need to be actively prompted. The easiest way to find out what followers want to see is to ask them. For feed posts, the image description provides a way to ask questions that users can respond to in the comments. Stories also offer various ways to interact with users. These range from individual question stickers to polls and quizzes.

Fast response and interaction

Social media thrive on speed. Prompt reactions - to both positive and negative comments and messages - create a competent impression. Those who take the time to interact with followers are rewarded with likability points. A study by Hootsuite confirms: half of all customers expect a response within an hour or less - even on weekends. In the case of complaints, it's as much as 83 % of respondents. In the event of harsh criticism or shitstorms, the key is to stay calm. Many companies and individuals have proven that real added value can be generated even from massive criticism. A quick response and communication at eye level play an important role here.

Source: SEO Kitchen

For more than fourteen years, the Swiss Commercial Association has surveyed KV graduates in Switzerland about working conditions during apprenticeships, the transition to professional life and their plans for the future. The 2020 survey focused on the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on learning and working, as well as on finding a job.

Difficulty in starting a career

The Covid 19 pandemic has hit young professionals hard and made their entry into the labor market more difficult. Thus, in November 2020, around 9.1% of the KV apprenticeship graduates surveyed were looking for a job. Only 64.8% stated that they were still employed. Compared to the previous year, this represents a decrease of 5%, abruptly ending the positive trend of recent years (see chart 1). "The decrease in labor force participation rates can be attributed to the difficult labor market situation in the first year of the pandemic." Nina Meier, Basic Education & Youth Counseling project worker at the Commercial Association, summarizes the results. Also worrying is the increase in apprenticeship graduates in insecure employment. In 2020, the proportion of graduates who were employed on a temporary basis increased by 5%. This must be viewed critically, as a quarter of those in such employment state that they would prefer an open-ended contract, but were not offered one. The situation is similar with graduates who are in a part-time position: 27.7% state that they would prefer a full-time position. Nina Meier warns against this development: "The significant increase in fixed-term employment contracts, reduced stints and part-time positions are indicators that the difficult economic situation is making it more difficult to start a career. In the long term, this can have negative consequences, such as lower wages, but also an impairment of career opportunities."

Building up know-how through further training

With the KV, young people have a solid and generalist basic education for starting a career. With subsequent further training, they can quickly specialize in new professions and develop into sought-after experts. Thus, 85.9% of the apprenticeship graduates are also convinced that the basic commercial training is a good starting point for their professional career. Many young business people are able to apply the skills they acquired during their apprenticeship to their current job (see chart 2). "The well-founded training and the agility for their career that they have acquired as a result are of particular benefit to them in a year of crisis. Commercial apprentices willingly complete further training courses, which are essential if they are to succeed on the labor market in the long term. Thus, interim solutions are now being proactively sought and used during the crisis in order to bridge unemployment and at the same time build up know-how in a targeted manner". In keeping with the motto "lifelong learning," 9 out of 10 graduates want to continue their education in the near future. This confirms the trend towards further training, which the LAU dealt with intensively in 2019. After the initial training, the will to acquire more knowledge is clearly evident. Already in November 2020, 32.3% of the respondents have started further training. A further 27.7% intend to tackle the project in the next 12 months. The BM2 remains one of the most popular courses of further education directly after an apprenticeship, followed by a course of study at a university of applied sciences.

Home office and the apprenticeship

Despite numerous changes on the labor market, young business people were not put off by the tense situation and showed a high level of commitment during the application process. This observation was also made by Nina Meier. She notes that "the graduates as well as their training supervisors have shown a high degree of adaptability and have adapted the final phase of the training to the new work norm and the more difficult conditions through additional effort. And this without sacrificing quality". Satisfaction with the nature of the work assignments remained high even in the home office, which became the new work environment for more than 50% of the apprenticeship graduates starting in the spring. Some 74% indicated that the assignments they received in the home office were educational and meaningful (see Chart 3). Likewise, learners were able to develop their digital skills and work independently. More than half are convinced that they have learned new things in the home office. The commercial apprenticeship completed in 2020 is thus in no way inferior to the qualifications of previous years.

Source: Swiss Commercial Association

With the Corona-induced rapid rise in home offices, the use of new collaboration and communication tools has also increased. But these are not always secure and trustworthy. Many employees don't think twice about the sensitive data they send via such applications. Often, this is because companies have not communicated specific guidelines on how to use the new tools, or have introduced unfit solutions under time pressure. According to VNC, the leading developer of open source-based enterprise applications, the most important recommendations for companies that want to enable their employees to exchange data in a privacy-compliant and secure manner are:

1. Clear tool specifications: Companies need to provide their employees not only with secure communication tools, but also with ones that meet their needs. Otherwise, they cannot work together efficiently and look for their own solutions - and these are usually the ones they also use privately. These are usually unsuitable for exchanging sensitive company data. For this reason, companies should clearly specify the tools to be used, but also explicitly point out that other applications may not be used - and block their use as far as technically possible.
2. Selection of safe products: Companies should not simply go for the best-known names, but should take a close look at the available solutions. Cloud services, for example, can be introduced quickly, but are often questionable from a data protection perspective. In particular, services from providers in the USA are generally ruled out under the GDPR because the "Cloud Act" allows US authorities to access data - regardless of where the service is hosted and where the company using the service is based. However, even running an application on your own infrastructure is no guarantee of maximum security and data protection, because companies often lack the expertise or use closed-source solutions. With these, no one except the developers knows what happens to data and whether there are vulnerabilities in the software. Open source is a secure alternative that also usually supports different modes of operation: on the company's own infrastructure or a reliable service provider, or in a secure environment at a trustworthy service provider.
3. Arrangement of means and channels of communication: One of the biggest challenges when collaborating in distributed teams is to communicate efficiently. Not every tool is suitable for every arrangement and every data exchange. Companies should therefore work with their employees to determine which solutions make the most sense in which situations. In doing so, they can also define alternative channels, specify contact persons, and agree on ways of checking back so that processes are clearly regulated and employees do not fall for scam attempts such as scam calls or fake e-mails.
4. Secure endpoints and infrastructure: Secure communication and collaboration solutions alone are not enough, because if cybercriminals use other gateways, company data is still at risk. Therefore, companies must consistently protect all end devices and their entire infrastructure. This means not only using reliable security solutions, but also applying all software updates and patches quickly to reduce the attack surface.
5. Training and guidelines for employees: Employees need training so that they use the tools on offer correctly and don't leave them behind because they can't cope with them. In these training sessions, they also learn how to use the new tools in a security-conscious manner and learn more about the company's security guidelines for remote work, such as that they should avoid making professional phone calls in public, should not leave their notebook unattended there, and should also lock it in the shared room when they are not sitting at it.

"Companies need to provide their employees with secure and privacy-compliant, but also easy-to-use tools for sharing with colleagues so that they can collaborate efficiently in the home office and on the road. If companies do not do this, they risk a shadow IT, because employees look for their own applications to exchange information," explains Andrea Wörrlein, Managing Director of VNC in Berlin and Member of the Board of Directors of VNC AG in Zug. "To ensure that the collaboration and communication tools they use fit their employees' needs, companies should involve them in the selection process from the start and keep them closely involved during implementation."

About the author:
Andrea Wörrlein is managing director of VNC in Berlin and member of the board of directors of VNC AG in Zug.

In the current crisis, many companies are probably anxious to retain existing customers. According to a study commissioned by Genesys, a provider of cloud-based customer experience solutions, the conditions are not sufficiently in place in many places - there are many weaknesses in customer service. For example, consumers complain of long wait times (72 percent), the need to repeat the request (49 percent) and poor accessibility of companies (45 percent).

Different views of the companies and the customers

The perception of customer service differs greatly between consumers and companies. The majority of company representatives (81 percent) rated their own customer service as good or very good. On the consumer side, only 44 percent said they were rather or very satisfied with the professional competence of customer service staff. The speed of response impressed 42 percent of respondents. In terms of empathy, the demands of 41 percent of consumers were met.

Companies are often not aware of which aspects are important to customers. While almost half of consumers (49 percent) complain about having to repeat their concerns to different customer service representatives, only 26 percent of companies believe that this aspect is relevant to the customer. At the same time, companies overestimate the importance of response speed. After all, 62 percent count this as a crucial aspect from the customer's point of view, while only 47 percent of customers actually attach importance to it.

The greatest discrepancy between the two groups is with regard to addressing customers individually. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents from the companies consider this aspect to be crucial to the success of customer service. On the customer side, however, only a good sixth (16 percent) share this assessment.

Weaknesses in customer service lead to change of provider

If companies do not want to lose their customers, they should act quickly. Because for almost half of the consumers surveyed (49 percent), a negative experience with customer service is a reason to switch providers. This contrasts with just 16 percent for whom a bad experience would not be a reason to turn their back on a company.

A first step toward avoiding a loss of customers is to make companies aware of the need for optimization. Company representatives see the greatest challenges in the quality of information (34 percent) and in the speed of response (30 percent). The majority of customers are more patient than expected. For them, the quality of the information is more important than the response time. 59 percent of consumers are prepared to wait five minutes or longer to speak to the employee best qualified to deal with their query.

Companies also have an opportunity to actively contact customers. After all, 45 percent of consumers have already abandoned an online purchase because of a question that arose. The overwhelming majority of 91 percent of consumers surveyed would have been pleased if the company had contacted them in this situation. However, only slightly more than half of companies (57 percent) actively contact customers.

Solving the customer's problem has top priority

Consumers and companies agree on some points. For example, resolving the customer's concern is the top priority for companies (71 percent) and consumers (72 percent). A good half of consumers (53 percent) are rather or very satisfied with the resolution of their concern. The second most important factor for high satisfaction is the professional competence of employees, as 70 percent of the company representatives surveyed and 68 percent of consumers agree. "Even if the views of consumers and companies diverge in some cases, they agree on one thing: the most important thing is to resolve consumers' concerns quickly and competently," sums up Heinrich Welter, Territory Vice President EMEA Central and General Manager of the DACH region at Genesys.

Chatbots are becoming more and more important. But there is still skepticism about them and human employees are still relevant. For example, 39 percent of consumers think it is important for chatbots to hand customers over to human employees if a concern cannot be clarified. "Companies must therefore be prepared to constantly adapt to current conditions. Today, it is crucial that companies optimize the way they serve their customers," Welter continues.

Source and further information: Genesys

The commercial vehicle market in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein grew by 13.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021. After 9,462 new registrations in the same period last year, 10,702 are on the books as of the end of March - and thus even 228 more than in the first three months of the pre-crisis year 2019, according to the latest surveys by the industry association auto-schweiz. Demand for motorhomes is also stronger; these continue to benefit from the trend toward individual vacations during the covid pandemic and provide a jump of 31.6 percent in passenger transport vehicles.

Commercial vehicle market with positive outlook

The economic environment for rising demand for transport vehicles is definitely in place, says auto-schweiz. The latest economic forecasts by the federal government's group of experts and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's economic research unit (KOF) predict growth in gross domestic product of between 3.2 and 4.7 percent for 2021. After the Swiss commercial vehicle market was hit much harder than the economy as a whole with a drop of 13.5 percent in the Corona year 2020, the recovery after the crisis could now also be stronger. This is because a catch-up effect is foreseeable in terms of companies' investments in new vehicles. In view of the previous year's figures, which were impacted by showroom closures, auto-schweiz therefore expects the recovery in the Swiss commercial vehicle market to continue in the coming months.

Demand for light commercial vehicles in particular is growing again, with an increase of 11.9 percent. This means that 7,772 new light commercial vehicles hit the road in the first quarter, compared with 6,944 in the same period of the previous year. The 11.9 percent increase is attributable in particular to the heavier vehicle groups between 2.6 and 3.5 tons gross weight. Only heavy commercial vehicles are slightly below the level of the first quarter of 2020, at 7.7 percent or 75 units.

Heavy commercial vehicles: delayed effect

In the weight classes above that, heavy material transport vehicles, however, the previous year's level of 976 registrations was not quite reached. However, the 7.7 percent decline to 901 new trucks and semitrailer tractors is manageable in the volatile truck market and could already turn into a plus in the second quarter, according to auto-schweiz. The first three months of 2019 went exceptionally well with 1,093 new registrations, the gap to this pre-Corona quarter is correspondingly high at 17.6 percent. However, a four-digit number of new heavy commercial vehicles in a quarter already seems within reach again in the further course of the year.

General increase in vehicle in-transit

Together with the 56,497 passenger cars, a total of 67,199 new motor vehicles were put into circulation in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein in the first quarter of 2021. Compared to the previous year's figure of 64,914, this represents an increase of 2,285 new registrations or 3.5 percent.

Source: auto-schweiz

In order to honor the succession of companies, the Initiative successor bus 2020 Phoenix Award for long-term Swiss entrepreneurship. After its successful premiere, it will be awarded again this year. It honors Swiss SMEs that have achieved the entrepreneurial feat of succession planning over a period of at least 100 years. They are given the stage they deserve. In most cases, these companies had to overcome more than one crisis and rise anew like "Phoenix from the ashes".

For the potential of long-term entrepreneurship

The focus as potential winners for the Phoenix Award is on the one hand on Swiss SMEs that have been entered in the Swiss Commercial Register for 100 years in the respective year, i.e. this year since 1921. These can be determined via the publicly accessible entries.

At the same time, as many companies as possible whose founding took place 100 years ago or in 1921 without an entry in the commercial register should be included as possible prize winners. These are cordially called upon to until May 30, 2021 at carla.kaufmann@companymarket.ch to report if they meet these criteria:

• Founded in 1921
• Swiss SME
• Independent of the Group or privately managed

From these companies, an expert jury with representatives from entrepreneurship, science and the media will determine the winners of the Phoenix Award 2021 in the following categories

• Innovation/disruption/renewal capability
• Team performance
• Social/economic contribution

The winners of the award, which will be presented for the first time in 2020, are the Distillerie Louis Morand & Cie SA, Martigny, and the Rüetschi AG, Aarau.

Phoenix Award as motivation and inspiration

"Especially in times like these, positive examples of long-term entrepreneurship, as embodied by the Phoenix Award winners, are the best motivation and inspiration for all entrepreneurs to keep at it and find (new) ways to ensure the continuity of their own company. With their own stories, they all write a piece of Swiss corporate history and contribute to the preservation of the economic substance," says Carla Kaufmann, summing up the intention of the Phoenix Award. The experienced succession expert and partner of Companymarket AG launched the Succession Bus initiative in 2018. This comprises an extensive range of information and further training. This includes personal 1:1 expert* interviews via video call, the Follow-up magazinewhich is published in cooperation with the leading Swiss SME trade magazine ORGANISATOR as well as Succession Practice Workshops as an online platform for sellers and buyers with information and further education around the crucial steps of business succession.

The goal of both variants of assessments is identical: to gain information that will help to make the right personnel decisions. However, the methodology is fundamentally different. Analog assessments usually last at least half a day to three days and are conducted by one or more assessors. Proper online assessments work with various tests and questionnaires to be completed in one hour. The tests and questionnaires are then evaluated by experts.

Which is better?

One thing should be said at the outset: All assessments require professional experts to conduct them and the appropriate methodology. Any assessment is useless if it is not valid and reliable, i.e. if it does not measure what it is supposed to and does so reliably and meaningfully.

Online assessments vs. analog assessments

In the following, the respective assessment will be examined to see how well it performs in the following criteria.

• Objectivity: The point for objectivity clearly goes to online assessments, since here the expert has no direct contact with the candidate, cannot build empathy, and can thus make a recommendation to the recruiters, free from his gut feeling and personal impression.
• Scope: Analog assessment centers have an advantage here. They not only perform analyses, but also simulations. For example, a good assessor can use a role play to see how well a candidate masters a difficult management situation, incorporates gestures and facial expressions, or how he or she communicates. Of course, candidates are aware that they are being observed, which could influence their behavior. However, competent assessors are very good at setting up the right setting and interpreting it correctly, so the bias in this discussion is negligible. However, it should be noted that the client of the assessment can also gain information on how a candidate communicates or how they appear overall - this is what introductory interviews are for. Nevertheless, the point about scope goes to the analog assessments.
• Cost: An assessment always costs, not only a lot of money, but also time for the candidate. If the candidate is still employed, it can be quite difficult to miss one to three days of work in order to carry out an assessment. The online assessment is the clear winner here. The financial costs of the digitized version are lower across the board and candidates benefit from flexibility in spades. Candidates are free to do the assessment where and when they want and need a maximum of one free hour.
• Efficiency: This means obtaining the greatest possible return with the least effort. In the case of assessments, the return is meaningful information that is needed to make the right decisions. The effort, the time and financial costs that one has to bear.

The costs for an online assessment are considerably lower than those for analog assessments. The quality of the analyses is comparable, however, online assessments are more objective. Analog assessments can be more comprehensive (but do not have to be). However, it is not always necessary to create even more extensive analyses and is therefore not a decisive factor in making the right personnel decision. For these reasons, the online assessment is clearly the winner in this category: the performance is comparable and more objective, although the costs are lower. The additional scope of an assessment in the traditional sense is not always needed, which is why it is not worth investing more and more there.

Online assessments: advantages outweigh disadvantages

Overall, analog assessments or assessment centers are still justified in a few cases. For example when the most comprehensive analysispossible is required, or if the client would like to delegate the entire recruitment process. However, the latter is not possible in my eyes, never really justified when you think about the extent that one wrong personnel decision can have.

To the author:
Noah Werder is an employee at Outvision GmbH. Outvision helps companies to make the right personnel decisions and relies fully on online assessments. Scientifically tested online tools are used. www.outvision.ch

What is the state of "digital maturity" in Swiss companies? The international software manufacturer ABRA addressed this question. More than 60 companies from various industries participated in a survey conducted for this purpose. Around 90 % of these were Swiss companies in the German-speaking economic area. The company sizes varied from commercial enterprises to medium-sized companies. The survey covered 11 topics such as strategy, organization, customer experience, product innovation and collaboration. External factors and the effects of the pandemic were also taken into account.

Digital maturity: still a lot of work to be done on processes

The survey shows that the majority of Swiss companies are aware of the importance and urgency of digital change. 73 % of the companies surveyed consider digitization to be crucial for future economic success. However, there is still a need for action with regard to process integration, system-supported evaluations or the use of digital opportunities for interaction with customers - e.g. social media, marketing automation.

Effects on business models

The topics of strategy and organization, with an assessed relevance of 84 % and 79 %, respectively, reflect the awareness that digital topics and digital projects must find their way into business models. Of the SMEs surveyed, 71 % are aware that products and services must also be digitized. However, they are cautious when it comes to process digitization (see chart below).

Transformation is a matter for the boss

Almost 80 % of the companies are clear that the digital challenges of the future cannot be mastered without information technology and appropriate transformation management. However, one-third of respondents feel that the influence of digitization in business plans is still too low. Overall, however, management is given a good report card on the extent to which it deals with digital transformation.

Source and further information: ABRA Software AG