Diagnosing the Digital Infection
The Swiss Insider 05.04.2020 #insidersdoitsmarter
Dear Insider,
The world has gone ga-ga for digital.
Yes, the entire world…head-over-heals in love with all things digital.
And that was long before the coronavirus came along.
A smartphone in every hand, a Wikipedia entry for everything under the sun (including the sun…just saying…) and more online webshops than you could ever fit into a physical store.
We’ve all been warned about the dangers of digital addiction and the way this new “bug” is infecting our social lives and our mental capacities.
And then the coronavirus came along. Now we suddenly have a very funny relationship with digital. We hate its omnipresence, but we know that without it…well, we prefer not to think what our economy - the Swiss economy, the European economy, yes…even the world economy - would be like without Zoom, Trello, Teams, Slack, Dropbox, Grammarly and so on and so forth.
In Switzerland, the relationship is perhaps even more complicated. Yes, people love their Facebook, Instagram (another picture of the Matterhorn PLEASE!) and Uber. But being insulated from world-wide competition means Swiss businesses can live in harmonious isolation from the more predatory digital giants of the world (yes, that means Amazon and co…).
Swiss business leaders like to complain about the slow pace of digitalization in the country - and they are right. So much of what is done today with paper, printers and little yellow card readers (*cough-cough* PostFinance…) could be done much better with truly advanced digital tools.
Now we have corona to help kickstart the revolution! Horray!
And yet - even has e-commerce companies celebrate and brick and morter stores race to shift to online shopping - we are not completely sure that the simple process of “digitizing” the normal business world is what we need.
Especially when our closets are full of fancy clothes already and we have no way to show them off to anyone… In the end, the prediction of a new addiction to digital shopping may be vastly over-rated…which would not help anyone.
One thing is for sure - the digital addiction which we bemoaned so heartily before the corona lockdown hit has certainly become less of a concern than it was before.
What is more important is figuring out how digital fits into the world that is to come…
Go Ahead…
Tell someone about The Swiss Insider - you can do it.
Profiles in Digitalness
A closer look at two people who are using their digitalness to influence Swiss business today…
If the corona crisis has taught us anything, it is that business is still a very personal thing. Until robots completely take over our finances and decide what clothes we wear, what food we eat and where we go to relax - those business decisions are done by people.
As Switzerland (and the world itself) is learning - when people are removed from the equation, businesses suffer.
But the corona situation has also highlighted - to a greater degree than ever before - how the digital world is capable of facilitating the personal connections that make the business world go round.
Here are two people who are proving that point…
Alain Berset - Swiss Minister of Health
No man (or woman…sorry, Simonetta Sommaruga…) is currently influencing Swiss business more than Minister of Health Alain Berset…
The Pioneer
He seems so very Swiss. And in many ways, Alain Berset is most definitely a prime example of his country’s citizens.
He is also the main face of the government’s fight against corona, even as Federal Council President Simona Sommaruga leads the way and Minister of Economy Guy Parmelin implements the country’s recession-fighting measures.
After being the first in Europe, to ban gatherings of over 1 000 persons (thus cutting football, concerts and political gatherings off at the knees), Alain Berset has continued to chart new waters.
His Instagram challenge, which kicked off immediately after the Federal Council announced its strongest measures, took the “Stay at Home” message onto the digital “airwaves” faster than anyone would have expected.
Background
The 48-year old Minister of the Interior hails from Fribourg. From there he moved on to study political science and economics in Neuchâtel.
Elected to the Federal Council almost 10 years ago, he has provided a socialist, yet balanced viewpoint in his time in Bern.
The Digital Way
While his hairline might seem to indicate otherwise, Minister Berset’s readiness to jump in and leverage the power of social media to spread his message help prove that even at almost 50 years of age, he gets it.
The same “person-to-person” effects that have helped spread the deadly virus are also the basis of network effects that make social media so effecitve.
Of course, good old posters, stickers on the floor in supermarkets and pharmacies and leaflets in the mailbox also work when they have to. But the digital way is starting to prove its worth.
So even as the Fribourg native continues to keep the lid on “free movement of people” around the country - with harmful effects on business - he also serves up a powerful example for a new generation of Swiss business.
Even small businesses should now understand - thanks to corona - how much more effective and efficient it is to do it digitally.
How many will get infected?
Tom Hanan - Founder & Managing Partner of Webrepublic
Speaking of the digital bug, Switzerland’s top digital marketing and advertising agency is run by a pioneer - a man who seems to understand what it means to “go viral”…
Background
As one of a two-man team that held down the fort in the early days, Tom Hanan knows a thing or two about starting out small. He was the first of Google’s team to be hired in Switzerland.
It was this experience at the search engine giant that provided him with the motivation and insight to start Webrepublic, with its focus on SEO, digital media and analytics in 2009.
Did his time studying astronomy in the US have anything to do with his present success? Maybe, maybe not…
Gazing at the stars surely did not hurt when it came to reaching for them…and designing a company logo!
The Pioneer
In an industry that, according to PwC, reached nearly 3 billion CHF in 2019, Webrepublic has carved out a dandy niche for itself.
After starting out with a focus on search, the company has grown into a full-blown digital agency - an area where most Swiss businesses still find themselves woefully lacking.
With 180 employees and 15% growth year on year, the sky does truly seem to be the limit for Webrepublic.
Doing Digital in the Age of Corona
The million-dollar question is now, of course, whether an advertising agency of this size can survive in the age of corona. As the industry itself sits several notches down the foodchain, it’s not hard to imagine that when big brands start to wither, the first thing that goes is their advertising budget.
On the other hand, there has never been a greater need for digitally-savvy businesses. If anything, the drastic measures imposed by governments have highlighted the need for the analogue world to grow up.
Webrepublic and its founder are ready to help.
The Numbers Game
All the numbers that matter in these troubled times…
1,3%
One of the big questions hanging over the Swiss economy is how the red-hot real estate market will pull through. Up until the current crisis, there seemed to be no ceiling in sight. Now that things have taken a downturn, big lenders are asking mortgage owners to pony up…at least a little bit more. The rate for a 10-year loan increased from 1,02% to 1,3% as of March 2020.
27%
The United States may be facing drastic blows on the economic front thanks to the coronavirus, but its banks aren’t going away anytime soon. In fact, JPMorgan seems to be growing like there is no tomorrow (and there might not be…). According to stats recently released by Dealogic, the American financial giant has gobbled up 27% of market share in the investment banking space - in Switzerland. Too bad, so sad, Credit Suisse and UBS…
500 CHF
Want to stay safe? So does everyone… Except some (obviously) are better equipped financially do so. For them, Le Bijou, the luxury Swiss hotel chain is offering specialty quarantine appartments with all (yes, all…including Covid-19 test) the amenities. That will run you a cool 500 CHF a night…and up.
⏩ Share the numbers…
Give the gift of knowledge - share this edition of The Swiss Insider with a friend or colleague.
Make them smart - and yourself look even smarter.
1,3 million
American businesses know little about it - but the well-organized system of “kurzarbeit” or government-supported furloughs has seen a ground-swell in numbers as social distancing has taken a toll. Over 1,3 million Swiss workers have now applied for benefits under the system.
70 000
The collatoral damange from the corona crisis has hit small businesses in Switzerland particularly hard. But even among them, there are different levels of suffering. Those on the higher end of the pain scale are the self-employed. Over 70 000 recently applied for crisis financial support - even if in most cases it won’t be enough to cover all the costs that businesses such as hairdressers have to deal with.