Business Forum 2016: The digital transformation reaches SMEs
The fourth edition of the FHNW Business Forum once again met with great interest and was this time entirely dedicated to the topic of digitalization.
No customer says no when they are part of the process.
The forum was opened by Prof. Dr. Ruedi Nützi, Director of the FHNW School of Business, who welcomed the approximately 250 participants in the packed auditorium of the FHNW Olten Campus and pointed out the 150-year success story of Swiss industry, which is now facing completely new challenges.
From Kodak to Instagram
The keynote speeches were given by Urs Rickenbacher, CEO of Lantal Textiles, and Roger Wüthrich, Head of Digital Business at Swisscom. The latter went through the history of digitization in fast motion, starting in the 1950s. He showed how global megatrends combined with new business models are driving digitization and will soon also reach SMEs. Today, he said, it is primarily a matter of keeping an eye not only on competitors, but above all on new trends and opportunities for digital business models.
In the following workshops, individual areas of digital transformation were addressed, such as financing options for SMEs, innovation in the context of Industry 4.0, the use of business software, cloud solutions, etc.
Trends in digital marketing
Special attention was paid to aspects of digital marketing, from user experience to content marketing and the role of social media to automated marketing processes. All of this was always "broken down" to the financial possibilities of SMEs, i.e. cost-effective solutions were proposed that are also financially viable.
No customer says no when they are part of the process
The second keynote speech was given by Urs Rickenbacher, CEO of Lantal Textiles AG. The Langenthal-based company has a global market share of 65% in aircraft interiors (seats, curtains, etc.). In addition to various major airlines, its clientele also includes the American presidents (interior design of Air Force One).
At Lantal, customers are involved in the process right from the start in the spirit of Industry 4.0: After an initial meeting, they are presented with equipment variants in an app, which they can then select and order directly online. In this way, they have an early influence on product design.
You can find out more about events at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW at www.fhnw.ch
