Is Your Digital Transformation Human?

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There have recently been many articles published on the subject of how best to embark on a digital transformation project, which is unsurprising given the current context. Where ever we go, we see examples of digitalization, some successful, some less, but do we stop and ask ourselves how they came about and whether they really fulfilled their original objectives? In addition to this, the history and the culture of the company involved play a major role in such a transformation, but these are factors which may not be apparent to outsiders – perhaps not even to the very clients, who are affected by the changes.
This in turn explains why some projects run aground, as clients “vote with their feet” and transfer their loyalty to another supplier, who seems more aligned to their requirements and expectations. Did something change while the project was already in full swing or were the parameters ill-judged from the outset?

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MF Alliance Interview with Olivier Antoine, POST CyberForce

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Could you kindly introduce yourself?
I was Chief Information Security Officer and Head of the Advisory team at EBRC from 2008 to 2015, since 2015 I have been in charge of the Information Security Management team within the CyberForce department of POST Luxembourg. The ISM team implements, maintains and monitors the Information Security Management System for all POST Luxembourg and POST Telecom entities. In close collaboration with Risk Management, Personal Data Management, Compliance and Legal, the ISM team focuses on information security risks and their governance. In my job, I like the fact that I constantly need to monitor the evolution of the standards, rules and regulations, which apply to our entities. My activities also allow me to share my knowledge of cyber security with POST employees to raise their awareness of information security.

What motivated you to become part of the MF Alliance?
As soon as I arrived at Post, I was put in touch with MindForest and more particularly Benjamin because I was looking for a partnership with a company that would allow me to carry out fun and entertaining awareness activities. After a few years of collaboration, the idea of a partnership came naturally to us in order to reproduce what we had carried out internally at Post for our respective customers.

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Presenting online? Engage Your Audience!

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March 2020: From one day to the next millions of employees, managers and company owners have been progressively thrown into the world of virtual communication: online meetings, online presentations, webinars, virtual breakfasts and happy hours. There are a wide variety to choose from. 

Applications allowing online video interaction such as Zoom.us, Webex and Livestorm  have suddenly been flooded with registration requests while their stock value has soared to new records. As an example, Zoom.us stock value has practically doubled in the last 3 months. 

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Digital Workplace Culture – The Future is Now!

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Are you envisioning to go digital with your company? Then you have probably set up a transformation strategy and have it planned through. Well done!
Yet have you also taken your current organisational culture into consideration? If not, then your transition towards a digital future will most probably be in danger.
Did you know that a recent McKinsey (2016) study has shown that the biggest hurdle companies have to face when going digital is actually their own culture?

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Old Ways Won’t Open New Doors!

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Sometimes the effects of an occurrence are not immediately visible, this does not necessarily make them less important, it just means you need to take time to understand what is happening. Here is an example: on the Galapagos Islands a variety of turtle lays its eggs in the sand, it has done so for thousands of years. Every year hundreds of little turtles hatch and run down to the sea. This is still the case, at face value nothing has changed, until you learn that the temperature of the sand defines how many male and female turtles hatch. Thanks to global warming, this fine balance has been disturbed and now many more females hatch than males – so although you cannot immediately see this difference it is nevertheless there and will have a huge impact on the long-term future of this variety of turtle.

This may also be the case in a workplace context. The recent crisis has sown an environment of fear; fear of the invisible, fear of the unknown, fear of what is to come.

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MF Alliance Interview with Pedro Castilho, Verbalius

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Pedro, could you briefly introduce yourself?
I am the founder of Verbalius Sàrl, a company dedicated to executive coaching in public speaking, debating and public relations skills. As a tireless connector, I’ve been involved at board level in the International Junior Chamber and Indian Business Chamber Luxembourg and I’m currently a board member of the International School of Luxembourg and a mentor with the Incubator of the University of Luxembourg. After a career spanning two decades in banking and with 25 years experience in public speaking, I’ve made it my mission to help people to become successful public speakers.

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Team Building – Favorisez la cohésion d’équipe à distance !

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Le travail à distance, et plus particulièrement le télétravail, tend aujourd’hui à se généraliser avec le développement des nouveaux outils digitaux. Ce choix présente de nombreux avantages à la fois pour l’entreprise et les collaborateurs, mais il y a également des conséquences à ne pas négliger.
En effet, le travail à distance ne favorise pas le développement des relations interpersonnelles, les interactions entre collègues ou avec la hiérarchie, il ralentit la communication directe et les collaborateurs peuvent ressentir un sentiment de cloisonnement et d’isolation par rapport à leur environnement de travail. Cela entraîne la perte des objectifs collectifs, le partage des connaissances, mais surtout la culture d’entreprise.

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Culture – Collaborators – Clients – the 3 C’s that Spell Company

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Everyone is currently talking about digital transformation, as this is indeed the next logical step forward, but one should not forget that every lasting construction needs good foundations without which it will not withstand storms or any other unexpected events. Taken in a corporate context, this means building on the existing structure, on the lessons learned, on the effectiveness of your teams and their past achievements in order to cocreate the next steps. In doing so, some elements will be retained, some transformed, others replaced following analysis of needs in comparison with the current situation and expected future challenges, then it will be possible to start to define where the journey is leading. At the outset it will be difficult to maintain an overview of all the different elements, but this is where an existing strong corporate culture can make a vital contribution, particularly if teams are used to being innovative and adaptable. As with any change project, by explaining the why, teams will be inspired to strive for solutions to ensure the long-term sustainable future of the company and therefore their jobs.

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#Digital Pro: Take Your CSR Strategy Online!

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In the past major advances in manufacturing processes and technology have regularly been hailed as precursors of undesired change and upheaval. When the printing press was invented, when steam engines revolutionised factories and travelling and more recently when the Internet took off. In actual fact each such event has hailed a new period of advancement and progress, but it is always easier to recognise this with hindsight.

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Digitalisation: Will it be Your Organisation’s Accelerator?

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Working from home – it has been all over the news and certainly the spread of COVID-19 has had its effect. However, the concept of working from home is far from being brand-new since it has been around for a couple of years now. It is rather the speed by which companies have had to adapt their internal organisation which has had such an impact. Being forced to digitise within a couple of days has encouraged companies all around the world to promote their digital agendas. So now, the question has been raised, how one can benefit from this swift change in habits to redefine corporate organisation in a meaningful way?

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