The ecosystem is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2018. Watch insiders speak of a novelty, a holistic approach, in terms of interconnectivity of Swiss Made elements and Internet-of-Things security. Both partners certainly show enough expertise to produce micro-objects.

The Neuchâtel Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) is working on ecosystems for digital miniaturisation. The research centre combines operating systems that are evident for data transmission with development elements that optimise both energy consumption and security aspects.

The Swatch Group also wants to eliminate weaknesses in operating systems for smartwatches and other IoT objects that are still in circulation today. According to Swatch CEO Nick Hayek, today's smartwatches, which run on Apple Watch or Google's Android Wear, are still too clunky and "consume far too much power". In addition, smart devices are insecure.

Nick Hayek, Swatch Group, on small, intelligent Swiss watch objects (Video: YouTube)

Miracle cure for Swiss industry?

If the two partners succeed in developing an efficient operating system, it could be a breakthrough for the Swiss high-tech industry. Nick Hayek is also raving about "vanadium", a miracle product that is set to revolutionize the world of batteries. The vanadium battery developed by Swatch subsidiary Belenos could store 50 to 100 percent more energy than conventional batteries of the same size.

In addition, the lower voltage of those batteries provides more safety because they cannot ignite.

Absolutely secure operating system?

The future, as yet unnamed operating system is supposed to guarantee "absolute data security and comprehensive data protection" because it is being developed autonomously by US software giants. It is supposed to get by with very little power consumption. For communication, Swatch and the CSEM are relying on "ultra low-power Bluetooth". And unlike other operating systems, it should be developed for a long service life - as well as not requiring regular updates.

Furthermore, according to a CSEM press release from February 2017, the watchmaking group not only wants to develop an operating system, but also create its own chips for data processing and transmission, as well as other development tools - together with its research partners. The first products are to be launched at the end of 2018.

CSEM is already working on developing IoT applications with low energy consumption. In the future, however, the focus will be on a complete ecosystem at the smallest level.

www.csem.ch

The outlook for their own company - 53% expect a positive business development for their company - is assessed much more optimistically than that for the industry and the economy as a whole. Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Wunderlin, President of swissVR, says: "The discrepancy between the assessment of the outlook for one's own company and that of the industry indicates how great the confidence is in one's own efforts to master current challenges and in the success of one's own company."

Strategic top issues of the BoD

96 percent of the board members surveyed confirm that they currently play an active role in defining corporate strategy - and thus comply with the legal mandate. The majority of respondents were positive about the competence of the board of directors in strategic matters. However, 30 percent believe that individual members may be out of their depth when it comes to strategic issues. The proportion is considerably higher among SMEs than among large companies.

Optimizations and strategies

Board members have to deal with a wide range of topics and set priorities. According to the survey, the most important topics in the last twelve months were increasing efficiency and optimizing internal processes (43%), developing a corporate strategy (36%) and personnel challenges at Executive Board level (35%).

For the next year, the respondents only expect a comparably high importance for the efficiency topic. On the other hand, digitalization, market and sales strategy, and talent management will gain in importance in the future.

Swiss focus on innovation

The majority of the innovation focus is on service and product innovations (58% and 47% respectively). Swiss companies already seem to be following the global trend towards a service society with its strong focus on the development of new services. However, the traditional focus of many Swiss companies - the development and improvement of new products - continues to enjoy a high priority.

The fact that many board members also consider process and business model innovation to be important (30% and 22% respectively) is an indication that Swiss companies are already increasingly innovating beyond the product and are driving innovation in other parts of the value chain (including services, processes, marketing). Furthermore, a large majority (86%) of the surveyed BoD members underline that suitable employees and the right know-how are an absolute priority in order to pursue successful innovation activities. (Study "swissVR Monitor 2017")

SentinelOne, the cyber threat, machine learning features, endpoint security specialist, is now adding a Deep File Inspection (DFI) engine to its Endpoint Protection platform. The new functionality can identify sophisticated cyber threats as well as prevent their execution, and also performs powerful, real-time static analysis.

With the new DFI Engine, SentinelOne offers the only next-generation endpoint protection that combines advanced static prevention with dynamic behavioral detection - seamlessly on a single platform. The DFI Engine is based on SentinelOne's award-winning machine learning technology and has already earned its endpoint protection platform top marks in various validations by independent testing institutes AV Comparatives and AV-Test. In addition, the platform has been recognized as the first certified antivirus replacement for macOS.

machine learning technology

"Traditional antivirus solutions have long been no match for today's sophisticated and file-based malware, which spreads much faster than new signatures can be created," said Tomer Weingarten, CEO of SentinelOne. "With the SentinelOne Endpoint Protection platform, organizations are not only able to strengthen their defenses against known and unknown malware - all without performance-hogging scans and signature updates - but they are also able to improve their overall protection against attacks from any direction while streamlining the management of their endpoint security."

By combining powerful machine learning technology and research, IT and security managers can now benefit from SentinelOne's multi-layered approach to protection. This enables file-based malware to be detected and defended against before it executes and independently of signatures.

DFI Engine's signatureless static prevention is supported on Windows, macOS and Linux endpoints.

www.sentinelone.com

With BI 4.0 and new features of its proven all-in-one platform for efficient decision making, BOARD is introducing disruptive approaches such as data storytelling, real-time collaboration and cognitive search to remedy the situation - live in seven cities.

Business intelligence tools are usually used to visualize data in the form of reports or dashboards and make it available for further analysis. Crucial insights can often only be gained after interpretation by the user. To address these challenges, BOARD recommends getting ready for the age of BI 4.0 and adopting disruptive approaches such as data storytelling: It combines the three key elements of data, visualization and interpretation into a powerful story that exponentially increases the value of insights and provides the foundation for effective and sustainable decisions.

Voice input

To find data and correlations quickly, the user is also supported by BOARD's cognitive search function - an intelligent search through the entire content of the BOARD database, which can also be conveniently controlled by voice input.

More information about the Board Roadshow, which will also stop in Zurich on May 2, 2017, can be found at this Link

A customer who regularly takes a holiday in the mountains could be provided with data on local events or the weather in real time by intelligent platforms such as Watson, and receive a completely individual holiday offer depending on their media usage. Marilies Rumpold-Preining, IBM Watson Customer Engagement Executive for Germany, Switzerland and Austria specifies:

"Watson can simply process a wealth of data, enabling it to make novel correlations and generate new ideas that even an experienced marketer wouldn't think of so quickly!"

Find substitution products

In addition, Watson could not only control the content of the customer approach, but also make individual suggestions in terms of channel and frequency. According to Marlies Rumpold-Preining, communication rules based on the credo: "If a customer has bought product A and B, he will then be offered product C, because he should also like that" would soon be a thing of the past.

"Digitization combined with cognitive technologies or artificial intelligence holds enormous advantages for retailers in addressing their customers," says Melisa Hadzic, Head of Internet World Messe. "After all, it would be a great added value for the shop operator not just to assume or guess what his customers want, when and where. The retailer who masters this task first will gain immense competitive advantages."

New business models

In summary, it is not a good idea for retailers to put off digitizing their business. Especially in retail, whose points of sale are increasingly converging, so many touchpoints with the customer are created from which companies can learn as in hardly any other industry. Retailers who want to grow and still be successful in 10 years' time must therefore invest in a digital infrastructure now and begin to deal intensively with the topic.

Dr Jens-Uwe Meyer, innovation thought leader, author and management consultant explains, "SMEs need to learn to turn the clock back to zero hour and ask themselves 'If they were to start the company today - would it be the same?'" He adds, "Business models are not just being digitized, they are being completely reinvented.

This process will not stop.

With new technologies, companies will be forced to continually rethink and reinvent their business models in the coming years."

More about Big Data development, about Artificial Intelligence (AI), cognitive computer systems in retail can be found at forums of the Internet World trade fair, which takes place from 7 to 8 March 2017 at Messe München.

www.internetworldmesse.de

Dee Richartz is the new director of managed security services for EMEA at Rackspace. (Image: zVg)

Infrastructure security and reliability are central to customer satisfaction with cloud services. Richartz and her team provide custom-fit solutions to help customers meet their tactical and strategic security objectives. With a dedicated team of monitoring and response specialists, customers can achieve lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over comparable internal and external solutions.

Cyber Defence Portfolio

The Managed Security offering supports and protects customers' IT environments from Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and other cyber attacks. "Cyber security is clearly one of the biggest challenges facing all businesses today. That's why I'm very proud that we're launching our Cyber Defence portfolio," said Richartz.

"With attacks now much more targeted and difficult to detect, customers are faced with the mammoth task of how to maintain their defenses amid new technologies flooding the market every day. Comprehensive protection based on cloud platforms is therefore becoming increasingly important."

The decision to recruit Richartz to Rackspace demonstrates the company's continued efforts to drive expertise and manpower. This year, Rackspace is expanding its Customer Security Operations Center (CSOC) in the UK. Additional security analysts will then support the US CSOC. This move will help Rackspace provide full host and network protection, vulnerability management, intelligent threat detection and compliance support to its managed security customers.

http://www.rackspace.com

The VR glasses provide information on the SMI, currencies and other important key figures in a 360-degree perspective. (Image: swissquote)

Using the virtual reality glasses, users can see information such as the SMI, currency pairs and important key figures in 360-degree perspective; they can take a closer look at securities by selecting them with their eyes. With the help of the Trading VR app, the user can carry out all the activities for which he otherwise uses the Swissquote app using VR glasses and "customise" them according to his needs.

A concept with a future?

If the user is a Swissquote client, thanks to Fast Trade technology, they can access their profile, check their account balance and execute an order using eye tracking. This technology makes it much quicker and easier to execute a trade, as certain criteria are pre-configured, such as the investment amount. This amount is CHF 5,000 by default. Once a stock has been selected, there are two more steps to complete a trade: One must click on "Buy" with the eyes and confirm.

Paolo Buzzi, CTO of Swissquote: "Our trademark is to always be at the cutting edge of technology. The trading VR app is a testament to our innovative strength. VR glasses have not yet reached the masses. Nevertheless, it is important for us to learn about this environment, because it allows us to improve our apps on other devices. A new development in one area usually leads to innovations in other areas. The Fast Trade tool, which was originally developed for VR glasses, will be used in our app for the Apple Watch and in the Swissquote apps for smartphones in the next step."

Owners of VR glasses will soon be able to use the service via iPhone and Android devices. Find out more about the Swissquote app here

Dr. Stefan Debortoli, lecturer of the project seminar "Data Science" and former research assistant of the Hilti Chair for Business Process Management under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, was enthusiastic about the students' work: "This seminar offers our students the unique opportunity to apply their knowledge of "Data Science" by means of practical projects and real problems in companies.

Data Science in practice

18 students from the "Data Science" major worked closely with the companies Rawr, Senseforce, Reachbird and Avira for one semester. The task of the groups, each consisting of four students, was to solve relevant, real and specific business problems using their knowledge and skills from the field of "Data Science".

In cooperation with the start-up Reachbird, co-founded by supervisor Dr. Stefan Debortoli, a fully automated platform for the referral of social media influencers to brands, the future data scientists analyzed over 500,000 social media posts to find out which characteristics of a social media post lead to a higher customer interaction rate (like or comment).

With the German company Avira, one of the leading antivirus and security software manufacturers, the students used the analysis of gigabytes of error reports to try to find out how customers react in the event of an error, for example, which errors typically lead to an uninstallation and thus to a lost customer.

At Senseforce, a company that provides analytics for Industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT), a team examined gigabytes of machine-generated data from mobile harbor cranes to identify potential failures early on.

Study course in demand

The Information Systems program and the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Liechtenstein have received several awards, in particular when students won the international Accenture Campus Innovation Challenge, the SAP Inno- and DemoJam at the world's largest SAP conference TechEd, or the AIS (Association for Information Systems) Award for Innovation in Teaching by Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke.

Since 2015, there have been two specializations to choose from, one in Business Process Management and one in Data Science. The students and graduates are in high demand as important specialists in the region and are best prepared for their future in an internationally networked, digital world through the English-language Master's program.

You can find out more about the Data Science training or about the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSc) under this Link

The "Fit2Procure" method helps companies assess relevant factors of procurement projects. (Image: depositphotos)

The continuing strength of the Swiss franc, high costs and a potential lack of labour in Switzerland are increasing the pressure on Swiss SMEs to expand their international procurement. The Export Risk Monitor 2016, a survey by the Bern University of Applied Sciences and Euler Hermes, shows that many companies are expanding their international procurement. This allows them to reduce high costs and benefit from the weaker economy in many emerging markets.

The app "Fit2Procure/F2P" - available for iPhone and Android - supports companies in the analysis phase of international procurement projects by answering the following basic questions: How attractive is a target country for international procurement? How well is the own company prepared for international procurement?

An analysis of relevant factors

It supports the analysis phase up to the SWOT (analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) before the actual strategy definition. With this method, companies can prepare the relevant information to develop a sourcing strategy for a country.

The method contains two dimensions: The external dimension shows the opportunities and threats of the foreign procurement market, while the internal dimension shows companies their own strengths and weaknesses with regard to international procurement. This dimension in particular is often underestimated.

One strength of the method is that, in addition to the potential of a foreign procurement market, it also clearly shows how "fit" a company is for international procurement.

Four results

The user answers the following questions in the app:

• Target country
• Company
• potential suppliers

Key indicators from the World Bank are used to support these questions. The user receives four results via the app:

1.) Independent weighting

Individual weightings can be carried out independently of each other. These can then be compared with each other. This leads to interesting discussions especially in the points where team members have given strongly differing answers.

2) SWOT country analysis

The SWOT shows the most important opportunities of the target country, threats of the target country, strengths of the company and weaknesses of the company. These serve as a basis for further discussions in the strategy building process of the company.

3.) Status of the company

The status of the company in the attractiveness/ability matrix ("country sourcing attractiveness/ability to source internationally") is shown, calculated on the basis of the weighting/rating of the questions.

4.) Standard strategies

Specific goals (such as "start internal improvement project") serve as a basis for further company orientations.

Based on the answers, the supplier ranking is created. The potential supplier with ranking 1 shows the most evaluation points.

Advantages of the F2P app

Advantages of the app are its simplicity and the standardized questions with defined answers. Company-specific questions can be added The app brings up all the important factors related to international procurement. The app enables well-informed decision making for the assessment of new procurement markets.

The app is already being used by students during study projects and by companies, for example, during visits to potential target countries.

The F2P APP was designed at the Bern University of Applied Sciences by Prof. Dr. Paul Ammann. Further details and specifications for the app can be found at www.fit2procure.ch

At "Alliance4YOUth", the transfer of knowledge does not end with the end of training or studies (Image copyright: CHEP Deutschland GmbH)

CHEP, the world's leading provider of pallet and container pooling, is continuing its commitment to the education and training of young people in 2017. The aim of the HR Youth Strategy, which has been pursued since 2014, is to facilitate career opportunities for young people through national and international projects and internships, vocational training programs and traineeships in parallel with their studies. Another focus is on professional exchange with educational institutions and universities in the field of logistics as well as their financial support. In addition, CHEP is a co-founder of "Alliance4YOUth", a private sector initiative launched by Nestlé in 2014 to combat youth unemployment in Europe.

Practical experience & knowledge transfer

In cooperation with the European University of Applied Sciences (EUFH) in Brühl, CHEP is currently offering six students "training-into-the-job", in which they go through all the important stages of logistics and retail management in the Palette and Automotive & Industrial Solutions divisions. Launched in 2008, the trainee program is an integral part of CHEP's commitment to supporting young people as they enter the world of work.

In addition, CHEP Management contributes to the exchange between theory and practice through lectures at the EUFH Brühl. As a member of the entrepreneurial advisory board of the logistics management course, CHEP advises on the selection of course content, e.g. on the topic of digitalization.

Cooperation with the BVL Campus

CHEP also offers the opportunity to gain initial work experience at an international level. For example, four students from the Logistics Management course at Cologne University of Applied Sciences were able to combine theory and practice in a jointly defined six-month project at CHEP Automotive & Industrial Solutions.

CHEP has had an intensive partnership with the BVL Campus, the association of education and training institutions of the German Logistics Association (BVL), since 2012. In addition to designing and equipping the seminar room in 2016, CHEP promotes knowledge transfer with committed young professionals in exchanges with the BVL Student Regional Association and in fireside chats with BVL graduates, the so-called BVL Young Professionals.

The meetings focus on a lively exchange on logistics topics, particularly in the areas of innovation and sustainability, essential components of CHEP's business model.

 "Alliance4YOUth: Commitment at European level

A firm pillar of CHEP's commitment to offering young people prospects for the future is its membership of the "Alliance4YOUth" initiative. A total of 200 companies are setting an example against youth unemployment: since 2014, jobs and training have already been created for a total of 115,000 young people, with the aim of creating a total of 230,000 by 2020. The "Alliance4YOUth" event at the European Parliament in Brussels in November 2016 brought together representatives from the European Parliament, youth organisations, the education sector and companies. This included HR managers and trainees from CHEP, who took part in discussion panels and workshops.

www.alliance4youth.org

Recently, SEMSEA also offers data science services. In order to further optimize the services in the area of search engine marketing, the team was therefore expanded by a data science specialist, which additionally deepens the offer of the AdWords experts and accordingly offers new possibilities of data management and data analysis - the basics for a successful AdWords campaign.

Excellence in search engine marketing?

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the only market form where supply and demand meet in time. In addition, search engine marketing can be planned, budgeted, measured and is directly targeted at the target group, which minimizes wastage.

The tools offered free of charge for search engine marketing are extremely diverse and have powerful functions. However, in order to master them perfectly and achieve optimal results, you need excellent knowledge of the system, the mode of action and the interaction of the technology with the content to be marketed.

Actual excellence in search engine marketing can only be achieved through years of experience, accumulated and constantly updated special knowledge, a distinct knowledge of marketing and sales, as well as a professional, experienced and flexible team that operates close to the customers and understands and implements their needs excellently.

Premium agency for Google AdWords

In 2010 SEMSEA decided to specialize in Google AdWords. The only logical choice, after they had recognized the complexity and dynamics of this special area of online marketing in their daily work. And the popularity of the customers proved them right: in all areas, the company has since been able to record solid, organic growth.

Today, as a premium AdWords agency, SEMSEA provides C-level services (in terms of both content and form) in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. If required - via partners - also internationally. As proven experts for Google AdWords and search engine marketing, users appreciate the high quality and services.

More information about SEMSEA Suchmaschinenmarketing AG: https://www.semsea.ch

Up to now, management has often relied on performance drivers such as benchmarking programs or employee participation in the company's results to increase productivity. This often achieves only unsatisfactory results. With a change in attitude, according to the authors, performance can be increased by up to 100 percent.

Decisions

Our everyday working lives are often characterised by little scope for decision-making, strict corporate hierarchies and increasing acceleration. Managers move in a world with a focus on problems.

Sven Voelpel is Professor of Business Administration at Jacobs University Bremen as well as a visiting professor in over twelve countries on four continents, including St. Gallen, INSEAD and Harvard University. Fabiola Gerpott works as a scientific consultant and received her doctorate in business administration from Jacobs University Bremen.

Now the authors want to turn the often strategic tunnel vision of managers on its head, help to develop a positive attitude. What's more, they show how to use this to create value in management. They prove the "positive effect" with numerous practical examples and give concrete impulses for action for leadership, teamwork, strategy development or the development of a new corporate image.

self-test attached

With the self-test "Mindset Optimism" every reader can place himself on the action field of the positive effect.

Although for some the goal of optimistic realism may seem paradoxical at first glance, after reading it is clear: it is precisely the union of intuition and rationality, of intense feelings and focus, of optimism and implementation orientation that allows sustainable creativity, performance and satisfaction to emerge. The authors encourage us to initiate positive changes in the world of work.

The book "The Positive Effect" will be published by Campus Verlag on February 16, 2017. You can find the current spring preview under this Link