The motto for Ergon’s 2019 “Beer, Bytes & Beats” summer party was “A connected world: working together to boost value creation”. In the presentations, several heavyweights from Swiss business explored how cooperation and collaboration are changing in the age of digitalisation.

Our connected world constantly provides firms with new opportunities to accelerate value creation. Competition is being redefined. Companies are creating ecosystems that enable them to meet their clients’ needs far more comprehensively than any individual firm could in isolation.

Digital platforms are replacing traditional business activities, sales channels are being redefined, and value chains are fusing together within these new ecosystems. Modern technologies such as big data, cloud computing and machine learning are opening up new capabilities. And all these changes are coming about more quickly than ever before thanks to flexible, scalable systems.

The ecosystems arising today will provide the building blocks for the industrial sectors of tomorrow. Large-scale capital investment – traditionally a key barrier to entry for many enterprises – is being swept aside by far-reaching customer networks, and big corporations have long since realised that market share alone is no guarantee of a secure future. Innovation, a flexible response to change, agility and cooperation are required to stay ahead of the curve. Connected thinking forces us to breach organisational silos, drive cultural change and develop cooperative working methods. Collaboration and partnership are key factors in accelerating value creation, and organisations that turn a blind eye to this fact risk missing the boat amid the rapid proliferation of ecosystems.

Speakers

Impressions of the Ergon summer party 2019