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digitalswitzerland is pleased to present new research conducted by AMOSA (Arbeitsmarktbeobachtung Ostschweiz, Aargau, Zug und Zürich) on career changers who choose to re-skill or upskill in ICT professions. digitalswitzerland concludes that career changers are an important segment of the ICT labour market that need more attention.
The problem of the shortage of skilled workers in ICT professions will not solve itself – new forms of career entry are needed. In this context, career changers are of great importance, as a new publication by AMOSA shows.
In 2020, around 243,000 people were employed in ICT occupations in Switzerland. Since 2010, ICT employment has seen an impressive growth of around 50%, compared to an average growth of only 10% in all non-ICT occupations. Despite this tremendous growth, there is a high demand for ICT professionals.
According to current forecasts by the Institute for Economic Studies (IWSB), the future demand for ICT specialists cannot be met either by immigration or by the Swiss education system. It is clear that lateral entrants are in demand. To create a sustainable path for a successful transition into the growing ICT industry, it is worth taking a look at some key figures.
Career changers in ICT professions are surprisingly common. Only one in three ICT professionals originally started their careers in the same profession. While some of them came from related ICT professions, nearly half of ICT professionals began their careers outside the ICT field.
The significance of these figures can be seen in a direct comparison with other professions, which are also affected by a shortage of skilled workers: Among the 25 occupations with the highest shortage of skilled workers, the proportion of career changers reaches just 37 percentage points. This shows two things: First, ICT is and will remain a sector with a promising future. Second, the doors in ICT are open and the profiles are diverse.
Although career mobility in ICT professions is widespread compared to other professions, there are still significant differences between the various ICT professions: Career changes are very common today, for example, among instructors in the field of information technology (proportion of career changers: 93%), managers in the field of ICT services (91%) or technicians for ICT operations and user support (86%). In contrast, graphic and multimedia designers are comparatively more likely to remain in their originally learned profession – only 42% are career changers.
A striking diversity of original occupations can be observed among career changers. Apart from workers who were initially trained in another ICT occupation, a significant proportion of today’s software and application developers or analysts originally began their careers in related technical fields, for example, as engineers (13%) or electrical installers and mechanics (3%), but also in non-technical occupations as office clerks (3%) or business administration specialists (3%).
Among those now working as ICT operations and user support technicians, transitions from other ICT occupations are common: Many workers originally learned a profession in software and application developers or analysts (10%) or other ICT professionals (8%). However, career changes from non-technical occupations such as office administrator (9%) or salesperson (3%) also occur relatively frequently.
A significant proportion of these occupational changes are transitions from occupations with similar skill levels and require retraining rather than upskilling. But transitions from occupations with lower or higher skill levels are not uncommon either – especially among those who now work as ICT operations and user support technicians. The fact is: with targeted re-skilling or upskilling, new pathways into IT can open up for less qualified employees.
While older age groups and women are (still) underrepresented in ICT occupations, they are more likely than younger age groups and men to have come to this field from occupations unrelated to the subject.
This is an indication of the urgency of promoting women in STEM fields (mathematics, information technology, natural sciences, technology). This is because women can be recruited for computer science even from professions outside the field: the potential for women to enter the field in Switzerland is therefore high. With targeted support for girls in STEM fields, this potential could be tapped at an earlier stage – turning career changers into entrants.The differences between the age groups can be explained primarily by the fact that older workers have been in the workforce longer and have therefore had more time for reorientation and further training. In addition, the hurdles for career changers may have increased in recent years due to more specific and higher job requirements.
This is why Lifelong learning becomes all the more important. The numbers show: The need is great, but so are the demands. But a career change is feasible.
Ensuring a high-performing digital workforce of the future drives our activities. Education and lifelong learning sit at the heart of this. We are committed to offering easily accessible resources in upskilling, reskilling and training. We also work to spotlight the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) when it comes to our future skilled workforce. Supporting learners of all ages is a key commitment of our mission to make Switzerland a leading digital innovation hub.
Offers from digitalswitzerland such as the lifelonglearning.ch platform and the Boost Programme provide the necessary support for this.
More Information on AMOSA and their latest publications can be found here.
Digital Day will be held throughout Switzerland for the fifth time.
After the 6-week preliminary phase, which is entirely under the motto “learn and join the conversation”, the national Digital Day will be celebrated on 10 November.
On Digital Day itself, around 150 events will take place, from exciting discussions via livestream and podcasts, to on-site events at over 30 Swiss-wide venues. Digitalisation is in the spotlight throughout Switzerland.
GITEX Technology Week, the Arab Emirates’ most important trade fair in the electronics sector, will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 17 to 21 October.
Among the 4,500 exhibitors and over 750 startups, the SWISS Pavilion, organised by digitalswitzerland, Swisstech and T-LINK, will be showcasing over 12 companies.
Three-quarters of the Swiss population want to improve their digital skills following their experiences with home office, distant learning and online shopping during the Corona pandemic.
For employees, this is also about participating in the digital transformation: Six out of ten respondents to a representative survey expect the Internet and technology to create new jobs. In view of such prospects, the basic attitude toward digitisation remains positive.
The fifth edition of the Oliver Wyman study “Switzerland’s Digital DNA” is published as part of digitalswitzerland’s Swiss Digital Day.
In partnership with Bilanz, Handelszeitung and PME, digitialswitzerland is once again celebrating the 100 people changing the face of the Swiss digital landscape.
The 100 Digital Shapers have shown bravery and commitment to digitalisation in extremely challenging times. As we transition into this post-Covid period, we asked our Shapers about their views of the digital future, how Switzerland can stand out and what advice they would give to their 16-year-old selves.
Corina Schedler is the co-founder of Code Excursion – a female coding school. A self-taught web developer, Corina has developed a community that teaches women the basics of programming. She is passionate to support women who wish to make a career shift into the tech industry.
Q: If you could give your 16-year-old self one piece of advice (career or life), what would it be?
A: “Success is what you define it to be. So define it as the sense of wonder or joy you feel while doing something. Don’t study for good grades but for what interests you. In the longterm people pleasing will lead nowhere. Get to know yourself, notice the moments of passion and trust your intuition. Be intentional about your decisions because your choices have a bigger impact than you think.”
Raphaël Brunschwig is the Chief Operating Officer at the Locarno Film Festival. He focuses on how digitalisation plays a transformative role in the strategic development of the festival, a process which has been sped up due to Covid-19. An exciting future lies ahead for events that no longer follow a traditional framework.
Q: Where do you think Switzerland can make the most impact on the digital innovation stage?
A: “Switzerland’s great strength lies in its neutrality, its expertise, and its tradition as an abiding place for reflection and exchange. We are therefore faced with an opportunity to present ourselves as a place that poses the question of ethics with respect to the digital revolution. And this puts us in a unique position. As Kissinger put it, if the Enlightenment was an ideal in search of the tools by which we might realize our potential, the digital revolution is an incredible toolkit desperately in search of a guiding philosophy. We therefore have the strength and credibility to be a land that reflects and engenders reflection on the great changes taking place in the world and the digital realm.“
Melanie Gabriel is Chief Marketing Officer and Co-founder of Yokoy, the all-in-one spend management platform. Melanie is passionate about streamlining and simplifying payment processes using AI. Last year, Yokoy secured 1.7 million Swiss francs in seed funding which has allowed for scaling and exciting market expansion.
Q: What are you most excited about for digital innovation for 2021 and beyond?
A: “There have been many breakthroughs in artificial intelligence recently. A firework of innovation can be observed. Increased computing power and the availability of large amounts of data are opening up gigantic new possibilities for machine learning. This will revolutionize many areas. Think about medicine or the financial sector. Especially in fintech things will change rapidly.”
Theodora Dragan is Data Protection Officer and Legal Counsel at the CyberPeace Institute. As Chairperson of the Swiss section of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and co-founder of the Swiss DPO Association, Theodora’s mission is to strengthen data protection systems against cyber attacks, and to support organisations in striking the right balance between their own interests and individual rights and freedoms.
Q: If you could give your 16-year-old self one piece of advice (career or life), what would it be?
A: “Show kindness and compassion to yourself and others, and do not allow yourself to be defined by your success or by your defeat. Accomplishments are just as fleeting as failures – so try not to take either too seriously. In the famous words of celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Luc Haldimann is Founder and CEO of Unblu, a Conversational Platform for Financial Services. It empowers financial institutions to increase online conversions and deliver better customer experience. As a board member of the SwissICT association, Luc promotes the exchange between software providers, users and specialists, and as a consultant he supports software companies in offering their digital solutions.
Q: Where do you think Switzerland can make the most impact on the digital innovation stage?
A: “Besides biotech and pharma, Switzerland provides a great environment for innovation at the intersection of financial services, privacy, and security. The accelerating need for digital transformation provides a massive chance for us to build software based services for the future of trust between people and machines. We have lived through two decades of online and mobile automation. It’s time to add the human factor back in.“
Naomi MacKenzie is Co-founder Kitro, a state-of-the-art imaging solution that provides instant analysis of your food waste. Initially focused on the catering industry, Kitro has now further expanded its customer segment to work with medical centers. As a trainer and speaker at Venturelab, Naomi also trains and supports start-ups on their way to future success.
Q: If you could give your 16-year-old self one piece of advice (career or life), what would it be?
A: “Learn how to code ;). Don’t stress about things you can’t change.”
Harry Halpin is CEO of Nym Technologies, which has the mission to establish privacy as a default for online communications. When Harry worked at World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) / Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with every major Silicon Valley company on web standards, he saw how badly companies managed to protect the privacy of customers. In his opinion, there is only one way to maintain the right to privacy: with cryptography. It is his aim to make the advantages of encryption available to everyone.
Q: Where do you think Switzerland can make the most impact on the digital innovation stage?
A: “Switzerland is a country remarkable due to its decentralization of government and its focus on privacy. It’s self-evident that cryptocurrency is the future of financial technology, and that less and less people trust Silicon Valley due to surveillance. As the world enters crisis, let’s not forget chaos is a ladder. As an American entrepreneur who left MIT to found a startup in Switzerland, this could be a benefit for Switzerland, as long as it increases it is favorable regulations for fields such as cybersecurity and cryptocurrency.”
Denis Morel is Head of the eGovernment Business Unit at Swiss Post. An exciting time for Denis’s team, Swiss Post’s e-voting project should be ready to launch in early 2022. Denis places key importance on trust and transparency for the project to be a success. He believes that eVoting will improve opportunities for participation in the voting process.
Q: What will be the biggest change in the world of digital and the way you work in the next 10 years?
A: “Digital innovation requires the ability to accept mistakes and to learn from them. It is particularly important for the government and state institutions, which are building high, secure critical applications. In Switzerland, the “Mistake Culture” (or better the “Improvement Culture”) is mainly missing. All actors in Switzerland (Politics, Media, Government, Enterprises and People) have to change to this culture. This will be, from my point of view, a big change in the next ten years for a successful digital transformation in Switzerland.”
Agnès Petit Markowski is founder and CEO of Mobbot. Agnès’s mission is to help reduce the impact of the massive use of concrete in infrastructure. Mobbot has created innovative technology for the robotization and automation of sprayed concrete. As a result, a concrete element weighing one tonne can be printed in less than ten minutes.
Q: What are you most excited about for digital innovation for 2021 and beyond?
A: “Crisis helps the adoption of a change. The pandemic has favoured the digitalisation of many sectors. Now, the most exciting time will be the post-Covid era. What surprises me however, is that we still have “Chief Digital Officers” or ”Digital Director” roles or departments within companies. Digitalization should be part of our DNA. It is neither a department nor a job title.I think the post-Covid era will help to accelerate this change for many companies.”
Florian Falleggger is Co-Founder at Neurosoft Bioelectronics. Florian and his team are developing the next generation of soft implantable electrodes to interface seamlessly with the nervous system. Advances in this field offer the potential for medical devices that can restore the impaired functions of the nervous system through electrical stimulation or recording of neural tissue.
Q: What are you most excited about for digital innovation in 2021 and beyond?
A: “I believe medicine will see a revolution in the standard of care by integrating new digital solutions in the treatment pipeline. By accumulating and combining different data streams directly from patients, new personalized and more precise therapies can be achieved. Additionally, data that is collected from large groups of patients can be used to discover new bio-markers for novel treatments.”
Read the full interviews with all 100 Digital Shapers in this dedicated Bilanz publication.
The fourth edition of the Digital Competitiveness Summit took place yesterday, co-organised by digitalswitzerland, EPFL and IMD.
As part of this event, the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2021 was presented, with a special focus on Switzerland. Switzerland defended a strong position with its 6th place overall ranking and remains in an excellent standing in an international comparison. Analysis focused on the results and discuss how Switzerland can stay competitive within a fast-changing environment.
A warm introduction and welcoming words was offered by Rüdiger Urbanke, Dean of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL, Jean-François Manzoni, President of IMD and Natacha Litzistorf, Municipale de la Ville de Lausanne.
The welcoming speech was one to trigger question and debate: “To digitalise or not to digitalise? That is not the question” and delivered by, Nuria Gorrite Présidente Conseil d’Etat Vaudois.
The Summit welcomed Prof. Arturo Bris, Director of the World Competitiveness Center and Professor of Finance at IMD who gave a Presentation of the Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2021, with a specific focus on the Swiss results.
Three leading experts in digitalisation also took to the stage and shared key statements from the academic, economic and political fields in a panel discussion.
It was also an exciting launch of Digital Day 2021 with a special video message from Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation.
The last six weeks have been very busy with a wide variety of learning and dialogue activities leading up to Digital Day on 10 November. One of the most important initiatives during this period is the ‘Upskilling Commitment’ made by our partners.
We invited partners to dedicate 1-4 hours of time to all or a selected number of employees to join in Digital Day activities. This means anything from online talks to physical events happening at more than 20 Swiss-wide locations. We extend a warm thank you to the following partners for their dedication and commitment to our learning initiative: Accenture, Amt für Wirtschaft Kanton Schwyz, APG SGA, Atos, Chain IQ, Cisco, Civic Lab, Club de Ginebra, Cognizant, digitalswitzerland, eFachausweis, ELCA group, ewz, EY, Federal Council (Foreign Ministry Switzerland, FDFA), Green.ch, Hays, Heads! International, HES-SO, Huawei, IBM Switzerland, IMD, JobCloud, KPMG, Kudelski, LEXR Law Switzerland, Microsoft, Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, Miraex, Moneycab, Pro Juventute, Ringier, RUAG, Sherpany, Siemens, Sir Mary, Snowflake, Swiss21.org, Swisscom, swissICT, SwissSign, UNICEF, Università della Svizzera italiana, We Talents, Wenger&Vieli, Zentralbibliothek Zürich.
By reaching a very high number of Swiss citizens, we can have a real impact on the upskilling of the Swiss population. To date, 45 members have committed and in addition 156,000 employees have been reached.
Explore all results of the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking here.
All images courtesy of Alain Herzog.
In partnership with Bilanz, Handelszeitung and PME, we are delighted to celebrate the 100 Digital Shapers who are driving digital innovation and change.
A huge congratulations to these inspiring thinkers and doers who continue to push boundaries and are working to transform the future of Switzerland.
Read the full interviews with all 100 Digital Shapers in this dedicated Bilanz publication.
Switzerland is proud to have a rich and diverse community of innovative digital thinkers. Here is the list of all ten categories:
Explore previous editions of the 100 Digital Shapers and take a look at the nominees from 2019 and 2020.
One of the things we are most proud of at digitalswitzerland is our extensive member network. These are the people with their finger on the pulse of the latest digital topics. We’ve invited these experts to become part of a new expert community for media engagement.
Our experts are ready to address specific questions that go beyond what’s googleable and have build extensive knowledge and expertise in their given topic area. They can provide opinions, food for thought and insights on a wide range of digital topics. These include; Cybersecurity, eGov / Infrastructure, Robotics & Hardware, Blockchain & DLT, Digital4sustainability, Trust in society, e-Health and AI & Data Insights.
For media requests or comment, email info@digitalswitzerland.com to connect with one of the experts.
Discover our experts on our landing page.
Startup Days 2021 brought together 600 participants, including investors, founders and crucial players at the Kursaal Bern to engage in a diverse programme of events, all focused on boosting the Swiss startup ecosystem.
As a proud partner, digitalswitzerland ran two sessions on the topics of decarbonisation and collaborative innovation. The sessions had the aim to inspire the entrepreneurial audience to face the challenges identified in both topic areas head-on and make the most of these opportunities.
During this panel, we showcased tangible multi-stakeholder innovations from the perspective of an SME, a corporation and an incubator at startup days. The expert panel included Ulrich Schimpel, Chief Innovation Officer, IBM Switzerland, Urs Stender, Managing Director, BlueLion Incubator, Michael Breitfeld PMP®, Head of Process Optimization, Schweizer Salinen AG Guillaume Gabus, Co-Lead Leap, digitalswitzerland and Stephanie Tauber Gomez, Co-Lead Leap, digitalswitzerland. Navigate here to learn more about how Leap enables organisations to harness the power of collaboration and watch the full session below.
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In this second digitalswitzerland session, leading experts did a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges of achieving Carbon Net-Zero. The role of technology and innovation to achieve this goal was scrutinised. How startups can support innovation help and position themselves on this journey also enjoyed a lively debate. Panel contributors included Isabelle Tschugmall CMO, Communication & Partnerships Global Green Xchange, Ion Karagounis, Lead New Economic Models and Future Affairs, WWF Switzerland, Eliana Zamprogna, CTO, Migros Industry and Matthias Zwingli, Head Startup & International at digitalswitzerland.
We took the opportunity to speak with Startup founders, entrepreneurs and risk takers who are a vital part of the Swiss ecosystem. And now over to them….
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This group of entrepreneurs explain how startups are responsible for pushing innovation, creating jobs, are the backbone to the Swiss economy and more.
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Founding a startup brings many opportunities and challenges. What’s the one piece of advice entrepreneurs would offer to budding founders?
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Technology has the opportunity to shape our future. The big question is what industry Switzerland will lead on?
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Early memories of technology stay with us. Find out what our founders thought of as they took a trip down memory lane…
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The world is taking steps to open up once more. Social interactions and physical events are becoming a part of our lives again. Being back on site brought many emotions.
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The next Startup Days take place on 18 and 19 May 2022. Sign up for the #SUD22 list. You will be alerted to early bird tickets sales and get information on event updates, speakers and special event highlights
digitalswitzerland has a dedicated Startup Enablement Programme. If you are interested to find out more about exciting activities and to expand your network, click here.
The digitalisation industry suffered from the crises of 2001 and 2008. In 2020, it is flourishing. Office work becomes remote work. Paper-based processes become online workflows. Factories and supply chains continue to run thanks to automation. We are about to take a 10-year leap into the future. This will shower us with productivity gains. We can even offset our covid costs this way.
In the spring of 2020, a letter from the venture fund Sequoia on the Covid crisis circulated in the tech industry. Memories of the 2001 and 2008 crises resonated. Sequoia suggested: Batten down the hatches. Prepare for the storm. Downsize.
I understand Sequoia’s letter. I lived and worked in Silicon Valley from 1998 to 2007 and through both crises. The dot-com crisis wiped out almost all start-ups in Silicon Valley. Streets and restaurants were empty, similar to the Covid crisis. Then there was the shock of 9/11. I left my employer McKinsey & Co and turned around a company. I lowered the cost base, built a new product and attracted investment.
From this experience, I founded Zattoo in 2005. I picked up the pace. There was a lot of interest in our offering. We expanded. We hired. We were a small sensation.
The financial crisis of 2008 came abruptly. All startups, not just Zattoo, were hit without warning because they didn’t have time to scan the environment for macro threats. Startups are fully occupied with user growth, product design, revenue growth and building the organisation.
Since there was no more venture capital available in the market, I even sold my flat in San Francisco in January 2009 to pay Zattoo’s content bill. The money was sitting between the US and Switzerland for about two months because the banks didn’t trust each other any more. I was able to pledge shares to raise cash for the company. I was able to convince Tamedia (now TX Ventures) to come in. With inventiveness and cost discipline, we were finally able to gain a foothold in 2010. Zattoo has since grown organically as an SME by about 20-30% a year.
After overcoming this crisis, I built up Zattoo’s Board of Directors. As president until 2019, I dedicated myself to, among other things, keeping the company crisis-resistant and recognising danger signals in advance. I hoarded cash to be able to help the company in case of an emergency. The TX Group took over the majority in April 2019. I relinquished the presidency. We continue to develop the company together.
When I first heard about Covid in January 2020, I was initially spooked. Memories of 2001 and 2008 flared up. I asked myself: How can Zattoo cope with the impending pandemic? The pandemic could lead the advertising industry to curb, delay, rebook or stop its spending. The cloud systems of Zattoo and the telecom industry were not designed to run autonomously for long periods of time. Even worse developments were conceivable.
I consulted my acquaintances, including an executive from McKinsey & Company China in February 2020. In conversation, we came up with a predicted decline in GDP to -3%, and Swiss GDP actually fell to about -3%.
It looked even more threatening in the short term, but it recovered during 2020. It recovered because we were able to keep working thanks to digitalisation. There was no need for an emergency programme at Zattoo or many tech companies. On the contrary, the tech industry was booming.
In the short term, innovations are overrated. The dot-com crisis of 2001 was a crisis of disillusionment, so to speak. In the long term, however, innovations are underestimated. In 2020, thanks to digitalisation, we have just lived through the first crisis in which we were soft-bedded by robots: a moment for the history books.
The economy, education, health, defence, finance, transport and energy were more crisis-resistant in 2020 thanks to digitalisation. Digitalisation is finally in full bloom:
The cloud allows collaborative work on letters, presentations, spreadsheets and more. It relieves us of server administration and provides better load distribution and higher availability than if we administered the servers ourselves.
The cloud is growing rapidly. Office work is increasingly done on Google Docs or with Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud. Privately, over a billion people now use the Apple Cloud. For all loads that are elastic or fluctuating, and for all workpieces that are handled by several actors at the same time, the cloud makes sense.
Zattoo itself offers examples of cloud services: Instead of storing recordings locally, our viewers access our cloud. Ideally, only one master copy is needed of many recordings that would all be the same. This saves money. Our B2B customer base (telecommunications and cable companies) also uses cloud services: instead of feeding TV signals from satellites via so-called headends themselves, they use our cloud service. Out of many thousands of headends in Europe, which all do roughly the same thing, it will ultimately take a handful in the cloud. Since each headend involves an investment of about CHF 10 million and ongoing costs, this saves a lot of money.
Online retail and delivery services are growing strongly and sustainably. Once users have broken old habits, opened a user account and ordered online, it is easy for them to order the pre-configured shopping basket again. Once they have practised the new behaviour, they stick with it.
GDP fell by CHF 25 billion in 2020; it will rise in 2021. A capital injection of CHF 70 billion flowed from the federal treasury. Let’s take this sum as a yardstick and ignore how this money from the economy ends up back in the state, because it will sooner or later. Let’s see if we can make it up in 10 years: That would be CHF 7 billion per year, or 1% of the gross national product in Switzerland of about CHF 700 billion.
This is possible: Assuming 700,000 remote workers, this amounts to CHF 10,000 per capita per year. We can achieve savings in these areas:
For Switzerland, remote working can be the salvation from our graphical constraints. Employees can be geographically distributed throughout Switzerland or abroad. We no longer need to limit recruitment to a 100km radius around the workplace. Remote working opens up a larger pool of candidates for recruitment and promotes diversity and specialization. With remote working, it becomes cheaper to establish a startup in Switzerland.
Remote work increases employee satisfaction. Deloitte-Switzerland studies from 2020 and 2021 show: A majority of employees want to work in a hybrid way and by no means want to give up the benefits of remote working. Employees have lost a considerable amount of time commuting – they no longer want to bear this burden. They enjoy the freedom of working in places with low costs and high quality of life – this opens up new perspectives. They save time through fewer obligatory business trips. Remote work makes it easier for women to re-enter the world of work by allowing them to divide their time between the office and home.
Remote work preferences are not the same across age groups, and they also differ between industries and countries. In Japan, the loss of the “presence culture” is a major challenge. An anecdote from Japan was brought to my attention. A boss had never organised a video conference from home and asked if it would be possible for his assistants to help with this task. This type of work was always done in the office by specialists. For traditional bosses, remote work is a challenge.
There have been other times: in 2013, the then boss of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, was still trying to get employees away from remote working. “Innovation happens in the pressure cooker of Yahoo’s development centre in Silicon Valley,” is how I would summarize her words. She saw innovation as a contact sport. Innovation is now possible online because the tools of work have improved.
The IT industry is now seizing the opportunity to offer employees attractive working conditions with remote working. It is by far the best prepared for this. Other sectors have also discovered that remote working works. Security is better than feared. So far, no new data has emerged from private banking.
Corona has done more to accelerate the digitalisation of Switzerland than all the digital initiatives we have had so far. From maybe 10’000 remote workers in Switzerland before the Covid crisis, we have made a leap to over 1 million (out of a total workforce of almost 5 million). When we talk about 700’000 remote jobs over the next 10 years, we understand the scale of change.
The digitalswitzerland initiative, the CH++ science initiative, Open Data Switzerland, the industry association asut and others can help us carry the momentum from covid digitisation. They can contribute to the flourishing of Switzerland with inspiration and know-how transfer.
We know this: a clever strategy is announced, and we fudge about it because we like it differently. Does our force of habit now nullify the benefits of COVID digitization? Shall we return to box 1?
Let’s start with ourselves. We’ve learned how to organise ourselves in a home office. A zoom room would be ideal. We’ve learned to cook food, plant seeds, bake bread. Ideally, we would have our own garden. We travel more individually, less in groups. A camper would be perfect.
We improvise in the way we teach. An age-appropriate mix of face-to-face and online teaching would be ideal:
We may say to ourselves, “my stock portfolio has gone up, my real estate is worth more now, I don’t need to put up with the new world of work.” Or we’ve been ruined and can’t do it anymore. The Covid crisis is causing older workers in particular to leave the workforce.
For us to reap the benefits of digitalisation, we need to break the habit of returning to old-fashioned offices where we wear headphones to work intently. Instead, let’s reinvent offices and embrace the remote working opportunity that served us well during the Covid crisis.
About Bea Knecht
Bea Knecht digitalises media services with her start-ups Zattoo, Genistat and Levuro. Genistat employs experts in media data science. Levuro employs experts in social media engagement. Wingman is a VC fund she supports: By Entrepreneurs, For Entrepreneurs. Bea Knecht serves on the boards of the Society for Marketing and CH++ and is a member of the Federal Media Commission. She is a recipient of the IAB Lifetime Award, the Best of Swiss Web Award and the Emmy Award.
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