Digital transformation: "Swiss - out of the comfort zone!"
X.DAYS On March 16 and 17, 2016, 450 managers met in Interlaken for the X.Days, which have recently been under the responsibility of the NZZ. The twenty invited speakers were able to meet the expectations raised by the invitation to tender.
Young entrepreneur Julia Bösch from Outfittery impressed the jury with her business concept.FROM CHRISTOPH OGGENFUSS*The X.Days at the Hotel Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken are increasingly developing into an event institution that belongs in the calendars of open-minded executives. The general theme of Strategy & Digital Transformation is of course a hot topic at the moment, but it would be premature to attribute the success of this conference solely to the current hype. Rather, it is noticeable that the selection of topics and speakers is very careful and SMEs also feel well catered for, something that is often neglected at other top conferences.Digital transformation of SMEsFor example, the presentation by Walter Oberhänsli, CEO of the Zur Rose Group, on the first day of the conference was absolutely refreshing. In an entrepreneurial and innovative way, he explained how he successfully set up Switzerland's first online pharmacy in a regulated industry and the "regulatory obstacles" he had to clear out of the way. Such contributions definitely encourage SMEs to tackle the upcoming path of digital transformation. The presentation by young entrepreneur Julia Bösch from Outfittery was also remarkable in various respects. How this business concept was able to turn the latent reluctance of men to shop for clothes into a positive experience is convincing. The men attending the conference were greeted with an initial offer by e-mail afterwards - it doesn't work without sales orientation.Crash course on the darknetThere were more top speakers on the second day of the conference, of which I would like to single out just two: Jamie Bartlett and Keren Elazari. Both knew how to present rather unattractive topics with negative connotations in an attractive and understandable way. Jamie Bartlett was able to give the participants a crash course on the darknet within 25 minutes and present its opportunities and risks very clearly. The 34-year-old Keren Elazari from Israel, on the other hand, dealt with the somewhat offbeat topic of hacking and convincingly demonstrated how valuable hackers are for improving the security of software. And when Tesla invites hackers to a competition at a conference in Las Vegas with the task of hacking the electronics of the Tesla S in front of an assembled audience, it becomes clear that this approach also requires a corresponding corporate culture - the kind of error culture of the digital age.At the end of my conversation with Alec Ross (see below), I wanted to know how he explained the somewhat hesitant acceptance of the topic of digitalization in Switzerland. His answer was short: "You're doing very well here - you need to get out of your comfort zone."________________________
"Software has the potential of weapons"
Three questions for Alec Ross, digital strategist for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
MK How would you describe the dimension of digital transformation?ALEC ROSS The first industrial revolution was about land as a resource, the second was about iron and the current revolution is about data. The main difference to the first two movements is that in both cases it was a question of scarce resources. Data is an unlimited resource. Imagine that 90 percent of the data available worldwide has been generated in the last three years! I want to use this comparison to illustrate the scale of the digital transformation.MK What ethical questions do you ask yourself about digitalization?ROSS In the digital world, software ("code") has the potential of weapons - cyberweapons. There are no standards or agreements in this area, which I see as a threat. Artificial intelligence and thus algorithms can also be increasingly used as decision-making agents in the future. As soon as decisions are made where morals, values and ethics play a role, their use must be viewed very critically.MK What circumstances are conducive to the development of digital transformation in companies or organizations?ROSS I have experienced time and again that comparatively small things with low expectations have developed much better than expected and have been able to create a strong dynamic. This in turn means that experimenting with lots of small things is more effective than searching for the "next big thing".
