BPA Solutions has developed an end-to-end QMS software on Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint & Power BI, bridging the gap in Microsoft's offering for quality management solutions. By leveraging existing technologies used by collaborators on a daily basis, we make everyone engaged in the QMS. BPA's software helps organizations shift to Quality 4.0 by bringing people, processes and technologies together.

Moving to a Cross-Functional Team-Oriented QMS Software

With Microsoft Teams, organizations have begun to create new ways of increasing productivity with cross-functional and cross-organizational teams, including external clients and suppliers.

We developed new innovative features to use the QMS alongside discussion flows. Users interact with the QMS while they're discussing in Teams, avoiding frustration to deal with too many emails.

Meeting Your Unique Needs With An Agile QMS Software

As quality experts, we designed an agile QMS software to meet various organization's unique needs. This is thanks to modular components and flexible workflow automation. Clients have full control of changing the software while adopting the best QM practices possible.

Achieving More With Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint & Power BI

Microsoft constantly brings new technologies into the market and innovates the way organizations will work in the future. When using Microsoft 365, our QMS software directly benefits from these technologies. BPA continually explores new areas to use innovative tools in the context of quality management, like AI to find the right documents by asking common questions to a chatbot, prebuilt Power BI reports, and generic Power Apps for incident and audit management.

Five Reasons Microsoft 365 is the Right Technology for Your QMS

1. Trusted: Microsoft 365 is trusted by millions of companies worldwide. It's a secure and scalable platform to run your QMS with no legitimate IT risk.
2. Engaging: Running your QMS software on the Microsoft tools used by collaborators in their daily work will drastically improve adoption and make everyone an active participant of your QMS, without changing users habits.
3. Innovative: Companies bring their QMS to the next level and discover new technology areas, like cross-functional teamworking, instant discussions, cross-technology process automation, artificial intelligence and business intelligence.
4. Secure: Microsoft has spent billions of dollars to make Office 365 a robust cloud platform while providing the best security for your QMS data.
5. Cost-Effective: By leveraging acquired Microsoft technologies, organizations will drastically lower costs compared to third party QMS software and maximize return on investment.

Contact BPA Solutions for a free trial or sales@bpa-solutions.ch or +41 24 524 25 40.

The question of why sustainability is relevant can hardly be asked these days without being reminded of the responsibility we all have to society. This makes it all the more exciting to ask what is meant by sustainability in the first place - especially with a view to production and trend topics such as Industry 4.0. The question is therefore not "why" but rather "how.

Ecology and environmental protection

Let's start with the most obvious one, the environment. Sustainability in this environment means that I only use the raw materials and resources that are absolutely necessary. This applies to materials and machines as well as to personnel and energy. In the case of energy, the connection with the environment is most obvious, since most forms of energy directly result in pollution of the environment - exhaust gases or at least CO2 are produced. Therefore, sustainable production quickly calls energy management to the fore. Energy management means knowing your energy consumption and optimizing it to the best of your ability. This essentially includes measures to increase efficiency.

For example, based on known consumption, a decision can be made to produce a product only with the machine that requires the least energy to do so. Another measure is to reduce waste to zero so that no unnecessary energy is consumed. It is also important to avoid losses in the distribution of energy; for example, the piping system for compressed air is regularly checked for leaks.

Energy management software helps manufacturing companies to systematically record all consumption and allocate it to the respective consumers. In this way, energy-guzzling resources as well as orders with high energy requirements can be identified. To do this, energy management must either be integrated into the manufacturing IT or at least be able to access order-related production data. Ideally, energy management is part of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), but there are also solutions that can be operated stand-alone. In addition to the recording and analysis of energy consumption, the focus here is particularly on correlation with order data and machine statuses. For example, energy management can be used to determine how much energy a particular order consumes and then calculate key figures that indicate how much energy was used to produce an individual item. The correlation with machine states allows conclusions to be drawn about possible waste during non-productive periods. It may be possible to turn off selected machines, or at least parts of them, when there is no production on them. For example, the conveyor belt that transports finished parts away or the handling robot that removes parts from the mold can be stopped temporarily.

Economy and efficiency

It is obvious that lower energy consumption protects the environment. It's just as obvious that you can also save money by using less energy. After all, energy doesn't just cost money - in recent years, prices for energy of all kinds have also risen enormously. Increasing competitive pressure in the manufacturing industry means that companies are now willing to use any means to reduce production costs. Alongside the careful use of raw materials, increasing energy efficiency is therefore a second measure with high potential for success.

Here, too, synergies between energy management and other manufacturing IT functions become apparent. Another exciting aspect in this context is the handling of energy quotas. If certain quotas are purchased at low prices, they have to be used in defined periods. This requires energy-oriented production planning, which an MES such as HYDRA from the manufacturer MPDV can also provide. At the same time, the planning can also be used to avoid load peaks, which also result in additional costs for energy procurement.

Particularly in the energy-intensive industry, certification according to DIN EN ISO 50001 ensures that further cost advantages are granted in energy procurement. Of course, such certification is initially costly - in terms of time and money. However, manufacturing companies should not miss this opportunity - especially if they are obliged to establish and operate an energy management system according to DIN EN ISO 50001 due to their high energy consumption.

Long-term and continuous improvement

It is also true for measures to reduce energy consumption that long-term and continuous optimization is more sustainable than a single action. Energy adds another aspect to the continuous improvement process (CIP) that already exists in most companies.

In addition to internal CIP measures, there is also the so-called 1.5-degree climate target. According to this target, global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030. Since CO2 makes a significant contribution to this and production companies with their energy consumption have a significant share in this, the aforementioned measures ultimately also make a contribution to climate protection in the long term.

Author:
Markus Diesner is Senior Marketing Specialist Products at MPDV. More information on resource efficiency and energy management is available here: https://www.mpdv.com/de/nachhaltige-produktion/

Already in the fall of 2021, the IT company Boss Info was one of the first Swiss SMEs to successfully implement the "digital IPO". By achieving CMTA certification, Boss Info now succeeds - again as one of the first companies in Switzerland - in introducing a high standard. "The CMTA certification is another important step in our strategy," begins Simon Boss, CEO of Boss Info. "If our Boss Info tokens are to be traded on renowned digital marketplaces in the future, this standardization is important. We have succeeded in this with the CMTA certification."

CMTA certification creates confidence for investors and business partners

The CMTA certificate stands for the successful adherence to and implementation of the standards set by the eponymous, independent association set standards. So investors and business partners can now be confident that Boss Info shares have been tokenized under Swiss law, securely and to the highest technical industry standards.

CMTA is an independent association established by leading players from the financial, technology and legal sectors in Switzerland to create common standards for the issuance, distribution and trading of securities in the form of tokens using distributed ledger technology. CMTA is one of two bodies recognized in Switzerland for establishing security standards for the tokenization of assets, especially shares, and offers certification to issuers accordingly. For this, CMTA as a body is considered with trust by well-known companies as well as by lawyers and the financial market.

Important partners contribute significantly to success

On the way to CMTA certification and the adaptation of the statutes, Boss Info was accompanied by two important partners. While technology partner mt tippet was instrumental in providing the technology and technical testing, took care of Lenz & Staehelin around the legal audit. "I would like to express my sincere thanks to both partners and CMTA for the goal-oriented and pleasant cooperation in this pioneering project," concludes Simon Boss.

Source: Boss Info

On September 22, the winner of the Annual Report Rating 2022 was chosen in Zurich. The building materials manufacturer Sika emerged as the overall winner. A total of 238 companies were evaluated by four juries. The special "Text" prize was also awarded for the third time. The award went to Phoenix Mecano's annual report.

Annual reports of the largest companies evaluated

Jury president Hans-Peter Nehmer presented the winners with their certificates during the ceremony. For the first time, a newly created trophy was also presented to the overall winner. The Swiss Annual Report Rating is conducted annually by HarbourClub - Chief Communications Officers. Around 200 participants took part in the event.

The Swiss Annual Report Rating includes the annual reports of all listed companies represented in the SPI. The list is completed with the companies of the 50 companies with the highest turnover, the 15 insurance companies with the highest premium volume and the 25 banks with the highest balance sheet total and comprises 238 companies in 2022. This sample was evaluated successively by three juries. First, by the Value Reporting Jury of the Institute for Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich, headed by Prof. Dr. Alexander F. Wagner; second, by a Design Jury under the patronage of the ZHDK and headed by Jiri Chmelik Noir Associates. Then a final jury headed by Hans-Peter Nehmer, President of HarbourClub and Head of Corporate Communications at Allianz Suisse, judged the twelve best annual reports - print and online - selected by the preliminary juries.

Sika: A winner from "nowhere

This year's overall winner literally comes out of nowhere. In the last ten years, with one exception in 2014, Sika has never made it into the illustrious circle of the twelve best annual reports that the final jury had to review. But the analysis of the results in the two categories Value Reporting and Design reveals it clearly. Sika has improved its ranking in Value Reporting by 20 ranks and takes first place in this category with its 2021 report. The improvement in rank is even more evident in the Design category. Here Sika was able to gain more than 50 places compared to the previous year.

Sustainability reporting is getting more and more space

Hans-Peter Nehmer: "At Sika, as with many of the best annual reports, sustainability reporting has developed into key content in corporate publishing. Our final jury recognized striking improvements in the 2022 annual reports. More and more companies are making the leap to a new communication approach - from abstract, defensive "justification communication" to credible, holistic and thus effective sustainability reporting."

The rating was made possible by the organization partner Linkgroup and the support of Antalis, Apostroph Group, PwC and SIX.

Source and further information incl. download option of the award-winning annual reports: www.gbrating.ch

Most of the time, hackers set the pace. They are fast, ruthless and often have the most sophisticated tools for their advanced attacks. For companies, the challenge is not only to counter the threats with the appropriate technologies, but to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals themselves. Factors such as home offices and mobile working, which have developed rapidly recently, make this more difficult. This is because mobile communication outside the company network creates completely new attack surfaces. To ensure data protection, the security of mobile devices and the integrity of data transfers, companies need to know the biggest risks - and contain them from the outset. Communications provider Materna Virtual Solution shows the ways in which dangers to corporate data are imminent. The company develops and sells the applications SecurePIM, SecureCOM and the security architecture SERA for iOS and Android.

• Questionable Apps. According to Materna Virtual Solution, there is still a great danger lurking in the app stores of the major providers. Applications that open the door to malware after installation or read out confidential data are still among the main reasons for data leaks. But even everyday apps from well-known manufacturers, such as popular messengers, can become a problem if the privacy settings are incorrectly selected. They are then able to access sensitive data and possibly pass it on.
• Unpatched vulnerabilities in operating systems. If security vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems remain unaddressed, for example because they are unknown to the manufacturer, cybercriminals have an easy game. These so-called zero-day attacks exploit the undetected vulnerability to steal data or inject malware.
• Phishing attacks. In addition to technological risks, employees themselves are still a frequently chosen and lucrative target for attackers. Calls to action in fake emails, short messages or websites tempt employees to disclose confidential data, such as passwords. Also due to the increasingly advanced phishing methods, employees should receive regular training on this type of attack.
• Unprotected networks. Working in a café or hotel has long been commonplace, but all too often employees still use open WLANs or hotspots. What seems convenient at first glance, however, plays into the hands of potential attackers: unencrypted communication allows them to intercept data and steal sensitive information. 

"For ultra-mobile working to work, employees need to access data from anywhere and at any time," explains Christian Pohlenz, Security Expert at Materna Virtual Solution. "And that's exactly the crux of the matter, because getting from A to B involves numerous vulnerabilities. That's exactly why hackers love the new working models so much. The answer to this is end-to-end encryption. Container solutions have proven to be the measure of all things: They create a shielded area on mobile devices that is protected from access and ensures maximum security - and are thus a big step ahead of the hackers' tricks."

Source and further information: Materna Visual Solutions

The heating and hot water consumption of buildings alone accounted for nearly 40% of the country's total energy consumption in 2020. This means that buildings have an important role to play in achieving the goals of the Climate Strategy 2050 of CO2 neutrality, which was enacted by the Federal Council in January 2021. The effort required to achieve this goal is considerable, but there are several approaches to support and guide municipalities in their efforts to reduce the energy consumption of buildings as well as to improve the quality of the energy consumed.

Interactive map based on public data

Navitas Consilium is an energy and climate consultancy based in Valais and specialized in building level data processing. In combination with the public data of the Building and Housing Register (GWR) provided by the Federal Statistical Office, it is now possible to display the share of renewable and imported energy as well as the amount of greenhouse gas emitted during the heating of the building stock using maps per municipality. These results allow to provide a monitoring and comparison of the energy transition of the municipalities, with the possibility to visualize the progress through maps and indicators. Gabriel Ruiz, director of Navitas Consilium, recalls that the availability and quality of the data of the building and housing register are the responsibility of the municipalities. Therefore, he invites municipalities to update this information, adding, "We are able to regularly update our calculations to show the evolution of each municipality towards the global energy goals."

Share of renewable energy and local resources

In Switzerland, a renewable energy supply promotes local resources such as solar energy, heat pumps or Swiss firewood. The more local resources are used, the less the dependence on energy from abroad. Concerning the heat production for the heating of the buildings and the hot water, the imported production sources are to a large extent concentrated around fuel oil and gas. These sources currently provide more than 30% and 25% of the energy procurement of the building park. One of the published maps illustrates the share of renewable final energy for heating and hot water of the municipalities' building stock compared to the estimated total energy. The legend indicates the percentage of renewable energy.

Low share of renewable energy in densely populated areas

The interactive map shows, for example, that the most densely populated areas of the country, such as the Swiss Plateau, the Lake Geneva area, the Rohne Valley, Ticino or the Rhine Valley, have, overall, a lower percentage of renewable energy for the energy procurement of the building stock than the rest of the country. According to the available figures, the percentage in the 10 largest cities of the country does not exceed the 28% mark, while the value for the whole of Switzerland ranges between 2% and 84%.

Among the 10 largest cities in the country, Lausanne has the largest share of renewable energy (28%), followed by Zurich (24%) and Basel (24%). These results are largely due to extensive district heating networks. These networks are fundamental tools to cope with the energy transition, and therefore cities foresee large investments in this area in the coming years. In rural and mountainous areas, it seems easier to consider energy procurement that is more respectful of the environment and less dependent on energy importation. On the other hand, in densely populated areas, grid energies and individual fossil heating systems have been used because of their small footprint and high energy density. Another available map depicts this situation, where imported energy is mapped in relation to locally produced energy.

Greenhouse gas emissions generated by heat consumption in the building stock

With its Climate Strategy 2050, which is based on the Energy Perspectives 2050+, the Federal Council has decided to reduce GHG emissions to net zero (climate neutrality) by 2050 in order to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. These targets apply to every GHG-emitting sector.
As mentioned above, the building stock represents a crucial role in the reduction of carbon emissions. The solution to this is a reduction of energy consumption coupled with the procurement of better quality energy with less GHG emissions. An interactive map showing the situation of GHG emissions8 in relation to the heat demand of the building stock can be consulted on the Navitas Consilium website.

Relationship between the share of renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions

The GHG emissions in the procurement mix of the building stock are coupled to a high degree with the share of renewable energy. In the areas where renewable energy is used more, the GHG emissions are lower overall. Among the large cities in Switzerland, Bern emits the fewest GHGs in relation to the area of its building stock, followed by Zurich, Basel, Lausanne, and Biel. The cities that have a share of renewable energy below 10% generate higher GHG emissions overall.

As the maps published by Navitas Consilium show, conditions can vary greatly from one municipality to another, depending on the geographical environment and the climate neutrality measures implemented. Overall, the building stock of Swiss municipalities has some catching up to do before the goals of COP 26, to which Switzerland is a co-signatory, are achieved. These targets include zero carbon emissions and a share of 100% renewable energy for heat production.

The interactive map is available here: https://www.navitas-consilium.com/de/zero-carbone

Although the industry has long since identified the potential of digitization, many companies will still rely on paper-based process documentation in applications such as assembly, maintenance or quality inspection in 2022. However, analog documentation means immense effort in creating, providing, using and updating documents. But static digital documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or even ERP systems often have the opposite effect of what was intended: they only increase complexity and lead to a multitude of operational problems such as additional work, version chaos or a lack of transparency in workflows. A supposedly simple tool, the digital work instruction, can help maintain or increase the competitiveness of industrial companies. Only companies that are digitally clever in meeting current and future challenges will be able to survive the increasing shortage of skilled workers caused by the impending wave of retirements of the baby boomer generation, the accompanying battle for young talent, and the ever-growing complexity of operations.

Processes documented step by step and digitally

With the help of the Connected Worker Platform, the company supports Operations1 The "Arbeitsanweisung 4.0" (Work Instruction 4.0) helps industrial companies to master existing challenges: Thanks to media-based and multilingual step-by-step instructions, processes can be carried out securely. These are integrated end-to-end with the existing store floor IT and enable process-related knowledge to be stored in the cloud. To name just one of many results, training times for new employees or changed responsibilities can be shortened enormously. In addition, even inexperienced employees are given the chance to reliably carry out complex processes.

Documentation is so natively integrated into the processes that its effort can be reduced by 95% and work efficiency and satisfaction can be increased accordingly. "Work Instruction 4.0" builds a transparent and understandable bridge from the order to process execution to progress monitoring and incident management.

New Whitepaper "Work Instruction 4.0

Employees who carry out their work using Work Instruction 4.0 report enormous simplifications in process execution: Explanatory visual elements such as images with markings, videos and various other elements are integrated into the interactive instructions, making the former "reading material" much more catchy and easier to understand. In addition, Work Instruction 4.0 defines access rights and uses a simplified digital approval process to make the relevant documents available only to those employees who actually need the information.

The whitepaper "Work Instruction 4.0" with a lot of valuable information from Operations1 is available for free download at here. For example, Operations1 provides further information in its own podcast "Future-Proof Operations"hosted by Benjamin Brockmann, Co-Founder & CEO of Operations1. There, topics on trends, stories and people in digital manufacturing as well as the latest insights and solutions are discussed.

Companies must provide their junior managers with the skills to recognize changes in the company and its environment from which new challenges could arise at an early stage, as well as to tackle new challenges courageously. And finally, it must be a matter of successfully managing the areas entrusted to them in a changing environment. In doing so, companies often struggle with the problem that although they can sensitize their junior managers to the complexity of the environment in which they operate and the multi-layered nature of their management tasks in seminars, this complexity and multi-layered nature cannot be experienced in classic seminars. This is why the young executives do not develop the behavioral confidence they need for their (future) leadership work.

Making complexity tangible

That's why, in the fall of 2021, a global technology company that supports Machwürth Team International (MTI) in human resources development decided to conduct a business simulation as part of its leadership development program, in which participants would

• experience the complexity of the environment in which leadership takes place "live", so to speak,
• Try out different problem-solving and management strategies,
• reflect on their actions together and
• identify and try out alternative approaches so that they ultimately have a larger repertoire of actions and their behavioral confidence increases.

In addition, through their trial actions in the business simulation, the junior executives should develop a sense of where there is still a need for development in themselves and in the team if they want to have the desired effect as a leader.

Acting unerringly in a changing environment

First, the human resources developers at the company worked with the project managers at MTI to modify an existing business simulation program so that it reflected the challenges facing the company. The program was adapted to the specifics of the company and its market, from sales developments, production and personnel data to so-called "black swans" - unexpected events such as the Corona pandemic and its economic consequences - so that the simulation could work with real data and reflect several economic periods.

The central challenge was defined as: The company is under high pressure to innovate because its market is changing rapidly and technical progress is constantly enabling new solutions to problems. As a result, the company's strategies and business plans have an ever shorter shelf life. So the divisions also have to regularly rethink and readjust their strategies as well as their processes. This gives rise to the following challenges for managers, among others:

• You need to recognize the need for change early on.
• In addition to their employees, they often have to win over the areas with which they cooperate and their superiors as fellow campaigners to set a new course. And:
• Managers must coordinate their actions and act purposefully as a team.

Learning to manage complexity

Once the preparatory work was completed, a three-day workshop was held in December 2021 with twelve young managers from the company. It started on a Tuesday afternoon. The participants first reflected together:

• What is the function of leadership?
• What are the prerequisites for achieving top performance as an organization over the long term in an era characterized by change? And:
• What demands does this place on leadership?

In two teams of 6, the participants each created a collage that illustrated these connections. These were presented and debated in the plenary session. Afterwards, the two Machwürth consultants who led the workshop introduced the simulation program to the participants. They also explained the content setting to them. Afterwards, the participants received their role descriptions in the business simulation so that they could already think about it in the evening:

• How do I adequately perform this role and
• what behavior should I show as a leader?

When assigning roles, care was taken to ensure that the young executives were deployed in areas alien to their specialist discipline. For example, production managers became purchasing managers and HR specialists became finance managers. This was to prevent the participants from relying primarily on their specialist knowledge when tackling the challenges in the business simulation. After all, this was not intended to deepen their technical expertise; rather, they were to learn how to remain capable of acting as managers and teams in a complex environment characterized by numerous interdependencies and changes.

The actual business simulation began on Wednesday morning. It consisted of five 90-minute simulation phases, each of which was followed by modules in which the participants reflected on their approach and behavior in the simulation under guidance or dealt with a topic relevant to managing departments. During the business simulation phases, one of the two groups of participants always acted as the management team, while the second group observed them and then gave them feedback. In the next phase, the roles were reversed: the second group continued the simulation while the first group observed it.

The participants are sometimes actors, sometimes observers

In the first phase of the simulation, the content setting was: The company is running smoothly and its business is stable. However, the first weak signs indicate that the general conditions will change in the foreseeable future. Central questions to which the executives were to find an answer in this phase were:

• How do I behave as a manager (or management team) in such a situation? And:
• How do I recognize changes early on that could result in new opportunities or risks?

The members of the second group observed the members of the first during the simulation. Afterwards, their actions were reflected on in plenary before finally the Machwürth consultants gave an impulse lecture on the topic of "Recognizing changes early on", in which they once again clarified it for the participants:

• What tools/methods are available to identify change?
• At what levels can they occur?
• How to evaluate the registered changes in terms of their relevance for the company? And:
• What responses to potentially relevant changes are possible/appropriate?

The second simulation round followed in the afternoon. Now the second group of participants was active and the first was observing them. The setting was now: The company's business continues to be stable, but the signals that the environment in which it operates is changing are intensifying. In the business simulation, the executives were now faced with the challenge of deriving concrete information from the environmental signals as to whether certain courses might need to be set anew in their own area or in the organization; in addition, to seek discussion with other executives as to whether they were registering similar signals in their area, in order to subsequently start a dialog in the management team as to what measures might need to be taken. This simulation phase was followed by another round of reflection in the plenary session, in which the participants also reflected on their cooperation and interaction. This was followed by further input from the Machwürth consultants - this time on the topic of how information about impending changes can be collected, sorted, structured and evaluated in order to identify the need for change.

The pressure to make decisions and take action increase

The two simulation phases on the next day also followed this pattern. In the process, the need for and pressure to make decisions and take action became greater and greater - for example, because important key figures such as sales and orders on hand suddenly showed negative signs or competitors launched new, strong competitive products on the market - so that finally, in the fourth phase of the simulation, it was obvious to (almost) all members of the fictitious organization:

• "If we had not committed to a changed approach and taken initial precautionary measures in Phase 3, we would have slid into a crisis." and
• "If we don't reset the course now, we won't achieve our medium- and long-term goals as an organization."

When dealing with the associated challenges in the business simulation, the managers were able to pull out a "consulting card" if necessary and contact a Machwürth consultant. However, the consultant only gave them the specific information they were looking for and pointed out possible alternative interventions. Afterwards, the executives had to decide for themselves whether these were goal-oriented. In addition, the consultants sometimes stopped the simulation at significant events, whether at the process level or at the level of cooperation and interaction, by means of a "time-out" in order to reflect with the participants on what had just happened and to safeguard the learning processes.

Safeguarding and expanding what has been achieved

In the fifth and final simulation phase on Friday morning, the aim was to check whether the change measures taken were having the desired effect; and, if so, to ensure their sustainability and that the newly designed processes, procedures and structures had the necessary stability. This was again followed by a joint reflection on the simulation in the plenary session, before the Machwürth consultants again gave input on how change processes can be managed - at the personal and organizational levels. In doing so, they regularly referred to what the participants had experienced in the simulation - also in order to create the memory anchors that are important for transfer. In a detailed final round, the participants then summarized once again what they had learned most during the last few days and what they would like to transfer from what they had learned to their everyday work. The workshop was then concluded.

Through the practical business simulation, the company succeeded in increasing the sensitivity of its young managers to the complexity of their management tasks and the numerous interdependencies that have to be taken into account in this context. In addition, the targeted testing of various management, behavioral and cooperation strategies increased their ability to act in an environment characterized by change. The technology company benefited directly from this when, following the outbreak of the Ukraine war in February 2022, not only did procurement problems intensify. That's why it decided: Business simulation should henceforth be a fixed component of our management development - worldwide.

Author:
Hans-Peter Machwürth is Managing Director of the internationally operating training and consulting company Machwürth Team International (MTI Consultancy), Visselhövede (www.mticonsultancy.com).

Sharing one's opinion, asking awkward questions, admitting mistakes, voicing criticism or making an unusual suggestion - all of these involve a certain risk for the person speaking out, even in the workplace. But it is precisely there that it is crucial for innovation and advancement that employees dare to speak out. Without fear of being laughed at or punished. This is where psychological security comes into play. Psychological safety exists when team members perceive the team as a safe environment in which they can take risks. To enable teams to develop their psychological security in a targeted manner, researchers from the Institute for Data Application and Security IDAS at the Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH, in collaboration with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, have developed and tested a training program. This is now available to the public. 

15 minutes to train the psychological safety

In developing the program, the researchers drew on findings from basic research as well as their own further investigations. They created a series of short exercises and had them tested by a total of 50 teams with 4 to 22 members each. Participants included teams from companies such as Swisscom, SBB and Digitec Galaxus AG. Every Monday for six months, the participants received an e-mail with instructions for an exercise and short questions about the previous week's exercise. Each exercise took about 15 minutes and could be divided into one of three categories: Skills exercises, in which a new behavior is tried out; Reflection exercises, in which team members are asked to think about a specific aspect; and Team exercises, in which something new is worked out in the team or new behaviors are tried out. 

Better performance and more innovative power

In order to be able to demonstrate the effects of the exercises, the researchers conducted online surveys every two months. For comparison purposes and to be able to identify and exclude operational environmental factors, a control group consisting of 12 other teams from the participating companies also took part in the trials. These teams did not complete any exercises, but only filled out team development questionnaires. The effect of the training on the psychological safety, performance and innovative strength of the teams was demonstrated by the surveys. In contrast, no significant changes were found in the control group.

The complete training, consisting of 24 exercises including instructions, is available to the public free of charge and can be used independently. www.psych-safety.org

Empty pipelines in the east and idle nuclear plants in the west, for example in France, are causing horrendously rising prices and massive supply bottlenecks. This not only jeopardizes the energy supply of IT and thus IT security as a whole, but also the vital interests of our society as a whole. Societies with a high level of digitalization maturity are hanging on the umbilical cord of IT. We have long since crossed this "virtual" line. And IT, in turn, hangs on the drip of a smooth energy supply. Large parts of our economy, our infrastructure and our social services are unable to function without stable IT support. And IT needs power from the socket - whether we like it or not. IT security must therefore be thought of first and foremost as IT resilience. And the conditions for this are currently very poor.

IT networks depend on supply networks

Instead of blue-eyed voluntarism and tactical mirror fencing, we need strategic foresight, geopolitical sobriety, concentration on what is necessary and a complete renunciation of ideological blinkers. One thing is clear: The events of the last few weeks have shown us how much our society, based on the division of labor, depends on a secure energy supply. We have always known this, but we have been very successful in suppressing it. There was no reason to burden ourselves with this unpleasant certainty in boom times. But now it's payday and the bill is being served. Right at the top, it lists the dependencies we have entered into with IT and the digitization of all areas of life for our livelihoods. What happens in a digitized warehouse if the IT control system fails? Just try to access a high rack without a robot. Nothing can be done manually. Even if, for example, urgently needed spare parts for pipeline pumps were stored there, we wouldn't be able to find and access them. What happens in hospitals, waterworks or waste disposal companies without secure, i.e. simply running IT? The list could be continued indefinitely. Critical infrastructures are more or less digitized. Without functioning IT, they will have to cease operations just like value-added businesses with hundreds of thousands of jobs. A bleak picture, admittedly, but with a not inconsiderable probability factor.

An end to daydreaming

IT security therefore means first and foremost security of supply. In our euphoria about digitization, we took this for granted. But this naïve optimism has come to nothing. The more digitized modern societies become, the more they hang on to the energy-hungry IT umbilical cord. Digitized functions, however, cannot be replaced by manual intervention. This is conceptually intended and correct within the digital logic. But woe betide us if the energy supply is missing. In 1973, we were still able to have a car-free Sunday. In 2022, an IT-free weekend? Absurd. Even seemingly mundane activities like milking or refueling would no longer be possible. The idealizing notion of the reversibility of technological developments turns out to be a romantic illusion in the case of IT and digitization as well. Instead of dreaming of a roll-back, it must be given a more stable foundation. IT resilience starts with the conveyor systems and pipelines, the wind turbines and solar plants, the power plants and supply networks. And this fundamental form of IT security urgently needs to get to the top of the to-do agenda.

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

The Swiss Digital Initiative (SDI) is an independent, non-profit foundation based in Geneva, founded in 2020 by digitalswitzerland and under the patronage of Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer. The initiative was created in 2019 as a result of the first "Swiss Global Digital Summit" on ethics and fairness in the digital age. The SDI pursues concrete projects with the aim of securing ethical standards and promoting responsible conduct in the digital world. It brings together science, politics, civil society and business to find solutions that strengthen trust in digital technologies and the actors of digital transformation.

Digital Trust Label" lighthouse project

The Swiss Digital Initiative has so far been managed by Niniane Paeffgen. After three years since its founding, a period of development and leadership, the current managing director will leave the foundation as of November 2022. She will take some time off to devote herself to new tasks afterwards. The highlight of her tenure was the launch of the world's first digital responsibility label, the "Digital Trust Label". The aim of this lighthouse project is to create awareness for the handling of digital data, privacy and artificial intelligence and to carry this out from Geneva into the world. With the project "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" and "Corporate Digital Responsibility in Practice", other concrete projects have been developed and implemented with renowned partners such as HEAD Genève and IMD Lausanne. Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Digital Initiative and former Federal Councillor: "We sincerely thank Niniane for her tireless commitment and work for the Foundation, but also for the positioning of Switzerland and Geneva in the fields of digital ethics and trust. Thanks to her commitment, the Foundation is well positioned for the future."

Swiss Digital Initiative enters a new phase

Fathi Derder will drive the international positioning of the SDI and the label, according to the foundation. With the operationalization and the awarding of the label to the first twenty digital trust pioneers, the SDI is entering a new phase, it continues. A strong focus is now on the further development and international scaling of the Digital Trust Label. A committee of experts was recently recruited in an open application process. Under its leadership, the label is to become an internationally recognized standard for trustworthy digital applications.

Fathi Derder brings expertise from the intersection of politics, business and society. As a journalist, former member of the National Council, managing director and co-founder of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, he possesses "the political sensitivity, the necessary experience and motivation to write the next chapter of the Swiss Digital
initiative," the foundation says. SDI President Doris Leuthard: "We are proud that with Fathi Derder we were able to win such a high-caliber, as well as competent and committed personality. This confirms the high status that the SDI has achieved after only a few years."

Source: https://www.swiss-digital-initiative.org/

The study "Diversity & Inclusion as a Competitive Advantage" addresses the relationship between diversity, inclusion and corporate competitiveness. The goal of the reviewers was to test the following hypothesis: Companies that implement diversity and inclusion strategically are more resilient and more successful in the long term than companies that do not pursue such a strategy.

Social commitment has positive consequences

With the help of various research questions, the ZHAW reviewed existing literature and empirical data and also addressed the economic, managerial and political perspectives. The findings of the report confirm that strategic management of diversity and inclusion enhances the competitive advantage of companies by increasing their creativity, innovation and brand attractiveness and reducing the shortage of skilled workers.

One of the reviewers is the head of the Center for Competition Law and Compliance at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Patrick Krauskopf: "The report scientifically demonstrates how diversity and inclusion positively influence the competitiveness of companies and thus creates an important link between social commitment and business development.

Expert opinion simplifies implementation in practice

But why is a scientific report needed to advance society's commitment to equality? "In the study, we create a solid foundation that helps to enable a development towards more diversity and inclusion in practice," explains Simone Müller-Staubli, initiator of Swiss Diversity.

Swiss Diversity and the ZHAW are supported by the Equal Opportunities Office of the Canton of Zurich and BKW AG, the energy and infrastructure company based in Bern. Sonja Michel, Business Transformation at BKW, explains BKW's commitment with the fact that a huge variety of personalities, cultures and experiences come together in the internationally active company: "We support the study with the goal of ensuring that as many people as possible can work in equal-opportunity and inclusive corporate cultures. Because on the one hand, the study promotes understanding in our company about the connections between diversity and economic success. On the other hand, it also provides other Swiss companies with valuable recommendations for action for their strategic diversity management."

Inspiration for Swiss Companies in Diversity and Inclusion

The results should inspire Swiss companies to stand up for a diverse and inclusive corporate culture. Patrick Krauskopf emphasizes that it is essential to treat diversity and inclusion at the highest level: "Strategic diversity and inclusion management is needed that goes beyond the HR departments and is anchored in all areas of the organization. After all, increased equality of opportunity benefits the company economically.

This finding is central to the Equality Office of the Canton of Zurich: "For us, the key to confirming the cost-effectiveness of inclusion and diversity is to use this study to show the economic progress. In this way, we can implement diversity and inclusion convincingly and more comprehensively," says Head Helena Trachsel.

Source and further information: www.swissdiversity.com